So tomorrow is St. Valentine's Day. In the spirit of that wonderful holiday, I've decided to write a blog entry - that, and I'm embarrassed that, not only has Bryan written since the last time I have, but Will has written twice. Lol.
This is the story of Saint Valentine, as remembered by me, as told by other people, and supplemented with probably much truer facts from Wikipedia.
According to Wikipedia, "Saint Valentine (in Latin, Valentinus) is the name of several martyred saints of ancient Rome. The name "Valentine", derived from valens (worthy), was popular in Late Antiquity. Of the Saint Valentine whose feast is on February 14, nothing is known except his name and that he was buried at the Via Flaminia north of Rome on February 14. It is even uncertain whether the feast of that day celebrates only one saint or more saints of the same name."
The story that I remember comes from my pastor. She told us that Valentine was imprisoned and sentenced to death. During all of his imprisonment, he wrote copious amounts of love letters to his family and friends, expressing his undying love for all of them, and probably some other things like how boring it was to sit in prison all day. And he probably mentioned God a few times, as well. The idea is, acccording to my pastor, that we celebrate St. Valentine's Day on the anniversary of his death to honour not only his outstanding love for all around him, but God's love for all of us and our love for each other.
How true is that story? I'm sure that the Wikipedia research I am about to do will address that... [all of the following facts come from here.]
The feast of St. Valentine was first established in 496 by Pope Gelasius I, who included Valentine among those "... whose names are justly reverenced among men, but whose acts are known only to God." As Gelasius implied, nothing was known, even then, about the lives of any of these martyrs. The Saint Valentine that appears in various martyrologies in connection with February 14 is described either as:
A priest in Rome,
A bishop of Interamna (modern Terni), or
A martyr in the Roman province of Africa.
The first time we really hear any sort of story about him, or see a picture, is 1493 in the Nuremburg Chronicle. He was imprisoned by Claudius II, or Claudius Gothicus when he discovered that Valentine was aiding Christians, who were, at the time, persecuted, in Rome. During his imprisonment, apparently Claudius "took a liking to this prisoner" , but when he tried to convert Claudius, he was sentenced to death. He was beaten, stoned, and beheaded, somewhere around 269, 270, or 273.
English eighteenth-century antiquarians Alban Butler and Francis Douce, noting the obscurity of Saint Valentine's identity, suggested that Valentine's Day was created as an attempt to supersede the pagan holiday of Lupercalia. This idea has lately been contested by Professor Jack Oruch of the University of Kansas. Many of the current legends that characterise Saint Valentine were invented in the fourteenth century in England, notably by Geoffrey Chaucer and his circle, when the feast day of February 14 first became associated with romantic love.
The official list of Catholic saints, the Roman Martyrology lists seven Saint Valentines, and the Russian Orthodox Church has more.
a martyr (Roman priest or Terni bishop?) buried on the Via Flaminia (February 14)
a priest from Viterbo (November 3)
a bishop from Raetia who died in about 450 (January 7)
a fifth-century priest and hermit (July 4)
a Spanish hermit who died in about 715 (October 25)
Valentine Berrio Ochoa, martyred in 1861 (November 24)
Valentine Jaunzarás Gómez, martyred in 1936 (September 18)
The Legenda Aurea of Jacobus de Voragine, compiled about 1260 and one of the most-read books of the High Middle Ages, gives sufficient details of the saints for each day of the liturgical year to inspire a homily on each occasion. The very brief vita of St Valentine has him refusing to deny Christ before the "Emperor Claudius" in the year 280. Before his head was cut off, this Valentine restored sight and hearing to the daughter of his jailer. Jacobus makes a play with the etymology of "Valentine", "as containing valour".
Ultimately, his holiday was removed from the Catholic calendar because he was too unknown, but some groups of Catholics still celebrate his feast day in a religious context.
Legenda Aurea still providing no connections whatsoever with sentimental love, appropriate lore has been embroidered in modern times to portray Valentine as a priest who refused an unattested law attributed to Roman Emperor Claudius II, allegedly ordering that young men remain single. The Emperor supposedly did this to grow his army, believing that married men did not make for good soldiers. The priest Valentine, however, secretly performed marriage ceremonies for young men. When Claudius found out about this, he had Valentine arrested and thrown in jail. In an embellishment to The Golden Legend provided by American Greetings, Inc. to History.com and widely repeated, on the evening before Valentine was to be executed, he wrote the first "valentine" himself, addressed to a young girl variously identified as his beloved, as the jailer's daughter whom he had befriended and healed, or both. It was a note that read "From your Valentine."
So it would appear that my pastor's story was nothing but a faerie tale, but that's okay.
As I've been doing this 'research', I've noticed a lot of allusions to Chaucer, and now, it would appear, I am about to find out what, exactly, Chaucer may have done to create this chocolate and hearts holiday.
In his Parlement of Foules [Parliament of Fowls], a poem to commemorate the first anniverary of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia, Chaucer wrote "For this was sent on Valentine's Day, when every bird cometh there to choose his mate." "Readers have uncritically assumed that Chaucer was referring to February 14 as Valentine's Day; however, mid-February is an unlikely time for birds to be mating in England. Henry Ansgar Kelly has pointed out that in the liturgical calendar, May 2 is the saints' day for Valentine of Genoa. This St. Valentine was an early bishop of Genoa who died around AD 307."
Chaucer's Parliament of Foules is set in a fictional context of an old tradition, but in fact there was no such tradition before Chaucer. The speculative explanation of sentimental customs, posing as historical fact, had their origins among eighteenth-century antiquaries, notably Alban Butler, the author of Butler's Lives of Saints, and have been perpetuated even by respectable modern scholars.
The bit about the Medieval period and the English Renaissance is also extremely interesting, and I just wish I could quote the whole thing, but that would be silly. Check it out; it mentions the "High Court of Love" established in Paris on 14 February, 1400 and love poems, the fact that Ophelia mentions the holiday in Hamlet [1600-1601], and John Donne using bird imagery in the same way that Chaucer did.
The late seventeen hundreds to early eighteen hundreds ushered in the wave of mailing pre-written Valentine's Day sentiments to women, and 1847 saw the first mass-produced valentines for sale in the United States.
The U.S. Greeting Card Association estimates that approximately one billion valentines are sent each year worldwide, making the day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year behind Christmas. The association estimates that, in the US, men spend in average twice as much money as women.
The article goes on to talk about Valentine's Day traditions in North America and England, and it has a section for Similar Days for Honouring Love all over the world.
But I love Valentine's Day. Obviously, I'm a huge fan of purple and pink and heart shapes and chocolate, so how could I go wrong? Not to mention getting letters and candy ;D But it's so much more than that. It's a day to celebrate love in all of its forms, and that is precisely how I spend it. It doesn't have to be about romantic love, and it doesn't have to be about "Singles Awareness Day" or any of that. Never having had a boyfriend does not mean I can't celebrate my love for so many other people. I love my friends and my family to death, and I wouldn't be who I am without them. That is why I celebrate Saint Valetine's Day.
It feels go to be reminded that somebody cares about you. With that in mind, go out and tell the people that you love that they matter to you! Tell your best friend or your mother or that hobo on the street that you love them! It can really brighten someone's day :D
And now for another installment of 'guess what silly thing I did today'.
I skipped showering last night because by Sunday night, the showers are mad disgusting. I went to my classes, and got out at 2:30, ready to take an awesome, clean shower. So I hopped into the stall and did my stuff.
As I was getting out, I remember remarking upon the fact that I hadn't shed so much as usual, and wow, look how little time I took, even though I washed my hair.
And then I went back to my room. I got dressed, and then I started brushing my hair.
Ew. What is this white stuff coming out with every stroke?
Shoot.
So back in the shower, to rinse off the conditioner, which I had left on the whole time and forgotten to rinse before actually getting out the first time.
*Bow*
Completely unrelatedly... I am really excited! Today was the first meeting ever for a brand new, coming-this-spring club at my college: Conn Garde! [If you didn't guess by the really lamey pun title, it's a fencing club!!!]
I've been missing fencing so much. This is the weather and the sorts of days that I have been fencing in for the last four years, and days seem a little empty without it. Like, what's the last week of summer without marching band camp and/or cramming summer reading? Same, weird feeling.
It was just an informational meeting, to see who's interested, etc. The club needs to be approved and get funding for the spring term before we can do anything, really. But just the idea that this might happen [and that I'm not the one who has to go through the headache to organise all this, thank you so much mysterious organisers!] is so exciting!
This weekend was fairly bizarre for me. I got back from Boston on Thursday morning, as I've written, so Thursday was a long and sleepy day, and Friday just seemed to be an extension of that. I kept messing up my days of the week because of the trip [feels like such a weekend thing to do, lol], and when there were no classes on the weekend, I was pretty confused.
I went Christmas shopping on Friday afternoon at the Crystal Mall. I've presents for Dan, Bo, Kelsey, Wendy, Andrea, Ariana, Najam, and also for Mum, sister, Sara [mailed that today], Liam, and Paula. I will get other Livingstoners' once I'm back home. On Friday night, we had Ballroom Club, but I really wasn't in it that night. Plus it was samba, which I suck at / don't love. After that, though, Dan and I ended up watching Paprika, because I had only ever seen the first half and Dan K. back home always speaks so highly of it. Trippy movie, man. It makes your brain kind of confused.
I dedicated much of the rest of the weekend to actually accomplishing things, because I felt so unaccomplished due to that concert. I wrote a song [it's pretty awesome] for music theory, and I compiled my presentation for gender & society, which is on ads. I also skipped Sunday Sundae [aaaugh why!?] because it was too cold to bother to walk to dinner. [Bad reason. Stupid.]
Today was a fairly chill day. In gender & society, I just had to watch other people's presentations [which, in turn, made me think about how to make mine better, yey!]. In German, we had a review session, clearing up a lot of issues with the cases [English speakers, be so glad we don't really have dative and accusative cases and gendered nouns! AAH SCARY!]. I fell asleep during lunch, and then in music theory I performed my piece on the clarinet, and two other people's. Then I just got to sit back and listen as everyone else performed theirs [or had someone else do it]. And then that is when the shower story occurred.
I had dinner down in south tonight, and when I came back, I fell asleep again. Meh. Why? I don't know. It's not like I haven't been sleeping or anything. Oh well. And then I went to the fencing meeting!
So last night, Sunday night, was pretty eventful. We had a cookie decorating party in the common room at eight, and an all-house meeting at nine, and then Dan taught me how to play Diplomacy. I haven't played yet, but I've been taught the rules, and I am prepared for the big games both Dans have awaiting for me in the January and February months... *eep!*
And then we went to sleep.
And then it was 4:30, and I rolled over so that I was no longer facing the wall in my sleep. I probably wouldn't have woken up, but I heard someone shuffling around on a mattress. My initial reaction was that it was one of my roommates, but it sounded like it was coming from more-or-less below me, rather than over there or over there, so I roll a little more and peer over the edge of my bed.
And there's a body there.
I mean, on a mattress, asleep. But still. In the darkness, I couldn't figure out who it was at first and my brain was so confused. I tried to go back to sleep, but my brain kept saying, "There's a person over there!" and I kept rolling back over and staring at him for seconds at a time. I figured out it was Dan, but I still had no clue how he got there, or how I'd slept through it, since he'd clearly dragged in a mattress from student storage on which to sleep.
I asked him in the morning. Apparently, the heat in his room doesn't work, so his roommate is pretty sick now. He was going to sleep in the common room, but Wendy saw him, long after Kelsey and I had gone to bed, and she invited him to stay in our nice, warm room.
But I'm still wondering how I didn't wake up.
This was a very non-linear post. Welcome to the inside of my mind... this was more like my diary than anything I've ever written here.
If you are interested, the most recent posts at Not Studying are:
Today is just one of those good days you always hear other people talking about but you never get the chance of experiencing for yourself. You know?
It started last night. I just finished reading two articles for Gender & Society, and was about to go to sleep, when I checked my email. There was a message from Prof. Jafar, telling us, "Since this is the third day of snow and freezing rain where I live and this weather is expected to continue (with hazardous driving conditions) until tomorrow afternoon, I have to cancel class tomorrow (Monday). We'll cover our scheduled reading on Wednesday." That made me incredibly happy as I drifted off to sleep.
This morning, I woke up naturally at about 7:15, and had trouble staying asleep untill my alarm went off at 9:30, but that was okay. It meant I was well rested and ready to go. I had breakfast with Livy and Brendon, and the fact that I love Raisin Bran makes that all the better.
After breakfast [and not going to Gender & Society], I went to German, where we had a test. I don't hate tests. In fact, most of the time, I rather like them, as long as I have a decent mastery of the subject matter, which I did. His tests are always fun because he acts out what he's saying [give us a slightly higher chance haha], and they involve a lot of creativity. So I handed it in and left class - it was only about five minutes early, but I was, once again, the first one done, which is a great feeling. Heheee.
Then I went on an adventure! It's been over a week since I got permission to get a practise room key, but the permission is in the music building and the keys are in campus safety, which is, apparently, in the middle of nowhere. So, having free time, I finally decided to find the place. I rode my bike all over the place, and just as I was giving up, I found it. And I also found out that the hours on Mondays were 1-4. So I went back.
I also went to Cro to check my mail, and I found a package from Mum. ♥♥ Lots of little knick-knacks, some popcorn, and a small letter... it made me very happy. :D
I went to lunch and ate raisins with my sandwich and I had some fantabulous chocolate chip cookies. So good :3
I had my music theory class, which was mostly review for our test on Wednesday, but it was so hot in there. OH MY GOSH. So hot. Lol. So she had us stand up and move around a little, and she opened the door, 'cuz she could tell we were all dying a little bit. After I had done what she wanted [she gave each student one question down the line, basically], I sat on the floor, and it was so cool. Not cool like 8) cool, cool like cold. It felt really nice =P By the end of the exercise, I'd convinced Patricia to join me, who, in turn, got four other kids to sit with us, too. Good class.
After that, I caught up on Internet happenings. It's really a simple life, hahaha. I'm going to watch last week's episode of Glee, finish the last chapter of Brave New World, study German, work on my theatre scene, watch Jeopardy!, House, and Castle. It's going to be wonderful.
I don't know, today just feels so great, you know? It's a really nice day, and I'm happy. This has to be the happiest I've felt since I've come here [besides, you know, when I was back at home], and it's so reassuring to know that I can feel like this here. :]
Have a wonderful day!
Coming soon: Fall break, dancing!, talking about the new blog [hahhh], Tempest, Fall Weekend, and more!
Oh man, I finally updated O: Lol, I've actually been working on this for a long time, as you can see, and wrote every entry on the day of the title. I didn't put it up because I hadn't compiled all the videos and pictures I'd wanted to. But now I have, and here you go! Don't hate me too bad.
Wednesday, 9 September.
Today was pretty awesome. First, I didn't have to go to my Gender & Society class. Of course, it's a shame to miss it, but I'm glad that I didn't have to wake up for it lol. My German homework that's assigned for Friday is very easy: find the weather for Friday morning in some German speaking city. I picked Vienna. If you're wondering, they're going to have a high of 74 and it will be mostly sunny.
I went to my mailbox today, too, because I was expecting a package from Mum. She was going to mail me two books. What I wasn't expecting was a BULBASAUR POSTCARD FROM SARA ♥ !!! That totally made my day, because, as awesome as the package was, I was not expecting the postcard. My package included the two books I'd asked for and also the last installment of Fruits Basket ♥ and some little things for school like a super awesome portable stapler and tape dispenser that sticks to stuff with suction power. Don't worry, she knows how easily amused I am, so these were good gifts =P . Oh! And SOCKS.
Music theory class was total B.S. because we only went over everything we "learned" from the reading last night. Which was NOTHING. KILL MEEEE. Only when I'm in that class, though; please arrange it so I live for the rest of the week. I biked around, ran a few errand-type-things I had to take care of, and biked to an early dinner, just for the fun of it. Then I came right back to the dorm and did all my theory homework just because I knew I wouldn't want to be bothered with it later. Ew.
And Victor called! He finally told me I could start going to group lessons at the Niantic Arthur Murray. But I tried to figure out the bus schedule, and it wasn't so easy. Then I realised that I might not be able to go at all because it seems the bus to Niantic only runs until early evening, before the classes even start, so forget about getting back. I might call a taxi service, or maybe just give up the idea entirely [though I feel bad, putting everybody involved through all the effort :'( ], or maybe try to convince Mum that I can bring the car back with me after I visit home *coughcoughcough*.
Oh yes, I never watched Heaven, and the phone people still haven't showed up.
Tuesday, 8 September.
Today was so chill. I had my theatre class, so I got to sleep in until about 9:30. I was ready by 10 and so I had breakfast in the Smith dining hall, which is like three steps from my dorm. Theatre class was fun. We did some mini-performances and I got quite embarrassed when I received a lot of compliments. I'm not very used to that at all. We had lunch in Knowlton again today, but despite sitting at the Spanish table, we did not speak Spanish. That's probably because there was no one at that table that we didn't know, hahaha. It's 3:24 now as I write this, and I've long since finished all my homework, besides a quick Music Theory article I was supposed to find [but I came here instead...], oh well. I'll do it eventually. I really hope I can watch Heaven tonight!! :D
"I said play it, bitch!"
Monday, 7 September.
I had my first Gender & Society class today, which was really cool. The teacher seems very chill, and she seems to remind me a bit of Madame Steffener. Also pretty great, she said she'd be out of town on Wednesday, so we don't have class again until next Monday.
We called the people to fix our phone and TV again. Hopefully they'll show up tomorrow. -.-
We had lunch in Knowlton, the language dorm. We had to sit at the Spanish table because French was full and we don't actually have a language in common between Najam, Kelsey, and me.
I also had my first Music Theory class. Apparently, I've had some awful scheduling mix-up v__v;; Oops.
I think I found my audition song! I'm going to see "As Long As He Needs Me" from Oliver!, but obviously not in the same key as in the musical >~< . I can sing it decently, I hope.
Sunday, 6 September.
It's so weird being here. Certain things about it seem so wrong or so temporary. I can't bring myself to call my room or dorm 'home' or even 'house' because it is not either of those things, physically or emotionally. I'm hesitant to call the people here my 'friends' because they're not. I've known them for a week. Everything I do feels temporary. Even using this laptop as opposed to my old one, which is still at home, feels like, oh well it's not really my laptop. Showering in these little tiny stalls. Trying to go to the bathroom while other people are in the room. Thinking of doing something like band without Jesson or Bryan or Greg.... And feeling like, oh, I don't need to get too attached to these people... I have my real friends back at home and I'll see them soon enough. It's all so bizarre. I'm here. This is my home for the next four years. And yet...?
Saturday, 5 September.
Today was... wow. I got to sleep in :D That's always a plus, lol. Kelsey wasn't around all day, and I basically spent the day moving between my room and Harris for food. When Kelsey finally came back, I was pretty happy [yay, company!].
We went to dinner [we being Benito, Andrea, Tanaha, Kelsey, Najam, Kevin, Eric, and me]. Najam told us a funny story about how he was playing a guessing game earlier that day. He had a card with an animal on the back, and he had to give his friends clues about what the animal was, so he said, "Okay, it likes peanuts." Tanaha guessed "Elephant" and Najam said, "You're right, it's an elephant." The picture was of a rhinocerous.
Back in the room, both Kelsey and Wendy were doing homework. This upset me because I had no one to talk to =P But we had a little drama, about which it would probably be impolite for me to go into detail. After three hours of uncomfortable silence and complaining, I went to the boys' room. That was a nice change because Eric and Benito were cracking up, and I could make noise O: Benito dragged me to a rave, which was fun. I actually danced *everyone gasp!*. After that, I watched House at like 12:30am with Eric and Ben and some other people. It was season four, episode two, which is the one where the intern games begin. If that means anything to you. Then I came back and went right to sleep :]
Friday, 4 September.
I slept rather poorly last night, but I got to sleep in this morning, which was great. My class was Elementary German at 10:25 am in Blaustein. I found it okay, miraculously. German is an intimidating language o___o;; and starting the class in a completely foreign language is equally as intimidating. He told us, "Guten Morgen! Ich heiße Jim McFarland. Wie heißen Sie?" And we all had to answer him O__O;; Lol. But I'm very excited. And I have easy homework: learn colours lol.
I ate lunch with Najam, Andrea, Benito, Eric, and Tanaha. We wanted to eat in Knowlton, because we would sit at the French table there and speak French! But it was closed. So we spoke a little tiny bit of French in Harris instead, lol. Kelsey went home for the weekend, and I basically just fooled around in my room all afternoon, until I realised it was evening and would probably be wise to get some food. I ate alone, but decided to wait for Najam. He was slow though, and I ended up dining with Dan [not the one from Montclair... oh this is going to get too confusing too fast o_o], Kevin, Bo, and two new acquaintances, Brian and Jesse. After that, Dan, Jesse, and Bo and I went to see if the game room was open yet. It wasn't. I ended up going to an a Capella concert for about half an hour; it was amazing, but too stuffy, so I left. It's crazy how many people turn up at these a Capella performances!
After that, I came back here. All in all, a boring day. As I sat at my computer, Najam walked in. Apparently there was something of a party going on in his room, but he had to read EIGHTY pages for bio and asked if he could study in here for the time being. So of course, I let him. After a while, though, Benito came in and apologised to him. He was saying things like, man, we made those roommate agreements, what I did wasn't cool, you just have to say something, you know 'man I gotta study,' and we'll leave. I felt like that was really mature of him, and... well I don't know. I just liked that he did it. And the party moved down to South Campus somewhere, just like that.
Thursday, 3 September.
Today, I got to wake up at 9:30. That was fabulous, except I skipped breakfast. I found my theatre class after much searching. Awesome two hours. At the end, I got talking to this kid, Dan. Turns out, he's from Montclair! And he used to date Blair, lol. He knows a few people from my school and he's even seen a play or two LHS. Pretty awesome, lol. We had lunch together, and met up with Najam, Eric, and Kelsey, and also Benito. Dan and I made waffles, and the waffles have CAMELS on them O: It's really awesome :3
After lunch, we went back to the poster sale, and I bought yet another, larger, cooler, A Clockwork Orange poster. Heh. Since we'd both finished the day, Kelsey and I basically hung out all day and didn't do much. We took short naps, and some random girl just walked into our room -- it turned out to be Tanaha, but Kelsey and I were semi-sleeping, so we were freaked out -- because apparently Wendy gave her our key -.- We had to a Convocation ceremony, which is basically a reverse graduation lol. It was awful. I read A Brave New World and Bo was sleeping [and snoring]. We decided to skip on the whole-school-and-then-some picnic, and we ate in Oasis, the snack shop in Cro. I had a toasted bagel :] I'm still full lol. We haven't... done anything... all night, lol.
Wednesday, 2 September.
Today I had to register for classes. Registration opened at 8:30, and you sure as heck had to be online ready to go when that clocked turned. Well, in our room, we had so much trouble even just getting in the page. After a good fifteen minutes, I still hadn't even logged in. So I had to go to D'Larys' room to do it. I missed out on the "Introduction to Mathematical Thought" class, but, eh, small loss. I've ended up with my freshmen seminar, "Gender and Society," an acting class, "Elementary German," and "Foundational Theory for Musicians." I have to go buy books, which is going to suck.
Oh. I bought books. The day sucked. We bought all these posters at a poster sale. I bought two from A Clockwork Orange and one from Taxi Driver.
We came back, found a necklace in the stairs, and smelled smoke. It got stronger as we entered our floor, which worried us, considering this is substance free housing. We knocked on someone's door to ask about what we should do with the necklace, and when she opened the door, the scent grew stronger, flooding out and surrounding us. We kept our cool but freaked out once we were in our room =*( And then, after that, we were just chilling in our room when we hear a scream. Wendy turns and looks out the window just before we hear a crash. Kelsey and I are a little slower to the window. Wendy shouts that that girl just hit a parked car! She went out to help, while Kelsey and I watched from the window. We were so freaked out, we didn't know what to do. We couldn't get a good view to see what state she was in, which only made us freak out more. Wendy went to the emergency room with her. We went out to see the damage on the pick-up truck, and it looks like it was hit by a small car! Kelsey called her dad and I called Viggi. So much freaking out in one room o__o;;
Two hours later, on Skype with Vigg the whole time, we had to go to a house meeting, which, in itself, was awful. We came back. I showered, and Najam was in there the whole time, singing "This Little Light of Mine."
Tuesday, 1 September.
Happy September! Today I slept through breakfast again >_<;; I was just so tired. I did, however, hear the national anthem playing at eight in the morning. That was fun. I woke up finally at 10:30. I muddied around for a while until I had to go to an adviser meeting at 11:30. That went well, but I don't know what to do about French. Classes are being picked tomorrow.... I just hope the Internet doesn't die before I can submit O: I went to check my mailbox because I was told that the college puts mail in them to get us to go see if we can get it. Mine was full of a few papers, a letter regarding my AP scores, oh, and a condom. "Proper attire is required for entry" decorates the wrapper. I asked around all day though... no one who has been to their mailboxes have found condoms inside. Then I ate a sandwich for lunch. On my way back, I met Andrea, and we decided to meet at two to get our IDs. I tried to set up my television [finally!!] but I don't have an extension cord I can use :( and I can't get the cable to work. Long story, though. At two, I went to get my ID. Well... it looks like me, at least. We went to Cro to look at books, but I was lazy and didn't buy any. We chilled out for a while and went back to my room while I tried to fix the cable but to no avail. We went to dinner with another friend and Marisa even came and sat with us too! We had to go to a skit series which was AWESOME. There was a performance of some Michael Jackson - Beat it and Thriller. It kind of made me miss Bryan :P Check out the video!
Oh, and after the skits and such, I was attacked by flying condoms. One just flew from the sky and landed on my lap. Another was slingshotted [is that a verb? lol] into my chest -___-;; I'm starting a collection, and I have plans for it.... mwahahha. But I can't say them online because it's a surprise O:
We came back to the dorm and hung out for a while. I met some kids, one of whom is a big Switchfoot fan, which was awesome. Alex. He said he was going to perform in Open Mic Night and that he might play "The Shadow Proves The Sunshine." I told him that if he did, I would wear the shirt.
So at ten, we went to Open Mic Night. I taped a comedian and Alex. Alex actually gave me a shout out and asked me to stand up, which was quite embarrassing and I turned pretty red. Any way, check out his rendition of this awesome song.
After a few more acts, we headed 'home.' And we basically did nothing. A little hanging out, a little chatting, but nothing huge. And now it's time for bed. Big, early day in the morning.
Every day since Saturday.
On Saturday I woke up at 5am and headed out at sixsomething. It was a long car ride, but I got to eat a bagel. Also, there was torrential downpour hurricaine weather for much of the drive, which is really scary! When we showed up, around 10ish, we were greeted by some very enthusiastic [and wet] sophomores in ponchos, and a dancing camel. I moved in and met my roommates, who seem great. Kelsey is very nice, and Wendy knows everyone, so our room, being SO HUGE, is something of a social centre between the hours of 10 and... three. Ew. But Kelsey and I have learned to appreciate sleeping! *Yawn* I'm making other friends, too, but I'll write about them more later. Here, enjoy my photos thus far.
My name is Kathleen. I'm on winter holiday after my third semestre at college. Sometimes, I wonder why I'm not British. I'm currently attempting to work my way through geekdom.
You can also find me at some of these places: Facebook, Twitter, Xanga, GMail, and you can IM me at chi we fork gun, on AIM. For other programmes, just ask, 'cuz I've got those too. I'm not going to post my address or mailing address or phone number here, but if you want those, too, just ask!
