Yesterday I spent about...4 hours watching the first two series of Black Books which was created by Graham Linham and Dylan Moran. It's a fantastically awesome series about three misanthropes. Bernard Black run Black Books, a used bookstore; Manny goes bonkers and starts working there and Bernard's friend Fran spends a lot of time hanging out in the shop. They live drinking, smoking and being all around ridiculous. The characters remind me a bit of a British It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia at times, the humor isn't as dry as some British comedies can be. It made yesterday pretty damn awesome as I started sinking into being depressed.
Speaking of being depressed...I went to counseling yesterday morning, like most Tuesdays. Prior to I did that stupid thing where I sleep for four hours. Seriously, I think it's a retarded side effect from quitting smoking. I don't know, it's really friggin' annoying. I woke up at 6, I was able to get back to sleep, but being awake was not plesant. It's not like I didn't feel rested, but I know me and I know my habits so I don't understand why I keep waking up after only four hours of sleep.
In councling I spoke about what's gone on over the past week including going to a festival this past Friday and going to a youth church thing. I can appreciate where the group is coming from by using rap to make the youth feel closer to the message [it was a predominantly black church group] but I don't agree. It sounded mostly like hardcore rap which seems a little counterproductive. What I mean is, if it sounds like gangster, shoot-'em-up rap and you can't understand what's being said, how do they know the message they intended got across to the youth? If you look at my track record of music habits I'm across the board, except for hardcore rap. I never liked that sound, it has never been pleasing to my ears so I was judgemental. If you remember my earlier blogs about my opinion of religion I was already going in judging. I tried to get with it but I couldn't. When the speaker got up on stage to preach I was more or less fine with the message. He spoke about not giving up because something is too hard. That's the Devil's work getting you off your proper path. That I could get behind. I could not agree with his use of a cancer analogy.
For the newcomers, my mother died from cancer. I don't like talking about cancer in that ambiguous manner that if someone died from it, they gave up. Bull-fucking-shit. My family and I never 'gave up hope' we held out candle for my mother the entire time she was ill. We prayed, our church prayed, her co-workers prayed. She's now on a prayer list or something with some church, still. People have not forgotten us. There were a lot of people who didn't give up praying for her. The doctors did the best the could and ended up trying to keep her pain manageable. She died because of science. Why do I not want to accept it as God's will? I'll tell you. I don't want to accept it as God's will because I still needed her. I still need her.
I have met a lot of people who care, who will give me advice and help me should I ask, and even if I don't ask all the time. That's all well and dandy but my mother is still dead. It's not the same. If God cared about me than why did she need to die? So I could grow up? What's going to happen in my life that I couldn't stay naive for a few months longer, a few years longer.
Why did she have to die, science can explain. The massive amounts of chemicals in her system took their toll on her body, it could not take it anymore. Her kidney's stopped flushing water from her blood; her lungs deteriorated from pneumonia getting a hold of her chemotherapy weakened system and her body was too far deceased and disconnected to continue. Her body knew it was time, it tried to keep up but it couldn't repair itself fast enough. The thought that biology happened, that it's the natural order of life and death, that all living things die at some point made me feel better than saying 'God wanted her to come home.' Science gives me answers. I believe in science. I believe in some deity getting things started and is now sitting back or just plain gone and this world continues circling that fucking star. Science has yet to give us all the answers. I can accept that. I mean, if the universe started from the 'Big Bang' where did the elements come from for that initial beginning? If they came from an even earlier universe, what happened to that one? And where did that one come from?
We don't know, so I believe in science as far as it can give me an educated answer. It might all be wrong but it makes enough sense and seems plausible enough for me.
I left counseling this morning with my counselor asking me to detail how I felt as my mother was sick, when she died and after. Thankfully I have so many damn blogs and journals it's kind of like aggregating it and maybe writing something new, or taking this. Not too sure yet.
I left counseling and killed some time until I went out to Jerry's Art-Arama to get supplies for my color theory class. I spent $184 to get my supplies, giant 19X24 bristol, color aid, pencils, triangle, compass and a shit ton of 'other'. I did get to save abut $20, my friend who is now dropping the class, is letting me borrow some things for the duration which is pretty sweet.
Now, the trip back from Jerry's, which is out in Virginia Beach was an interesting and highly irritating one. Remember how I said I was slipping into depression last night? Well it reared it's bastardly ugly head. Fucking bastard. People's driving was irritating me and my friend tried to give me some advice on how to deal with it. It didn't help. I was in the middle of being depressed, being told just about anything does not help. We were stuck in traffic because of an accident on 64 and people just kept irritating me. My friend couldn't placate me and was actually counter productive. When I cry I don't want to be told it's fine to cry, I like rationalizing things out. I like words, I like taking the elusive and explaining it to the best of my ability. Why? It focuses me. It keeps me in control. I like being in control.
That's not to say I don't let myself go and go with the flow of things. I have been stepping out of my box, out f my comfort zone for a while, trying new things. At the festival I tried crawfish, I went back to a church for the first time in three years, I've gone out with people I don't know. I have no problem feeling joy, happiness, bliss, anger, irritation, depression. I feel, I like feeling with words. Tears do nothing. No, crying doesn't make me feel better, I hate crying, I hate it when I cry, it's like I've lost control in an unpleasant way. Science on wikipedia gives me a few answers but not much is going on right now to really prompt this. It's irritating and I really can't stand crying.
And looking at that and knowing me I can now predict a few things. As I said yesterday I knew I was getting depressed. As I cried I said I was feeling depressed. I've written more journals in the past few weeks than I have in a while. Writing is one of the things I do when I'm depressed, I'm trying to put my feelings into words, trying to work through it. Writing about any thing that comes to mind. [Yes, I want 'any' and 'thing' to be separate words]. I've been depressed and I'm PMS-ing. I'm not as hard up about candy unless I'm pms-ing, and I want peanut butter. It was never chocolate for me, always peanut butter. At the moment it's peanut butter M&Ms, yeah there's chocolate, but it's about the peanut butter. It's usually Reese's Pieces, I know these things.
So I'm in my car, trapped in my traffic, in the Virginia heat [with A/C], and I'm crying and depressed. My friend it telling me it's fine. It's not fine. It's never fine when I cry. Very few of my friends have seen me cry and it's always when I can't put my frustrations into words.
I hate crying. Period.
I dropped him off, came home, and made a 16 oz Cosmopolitan in a water-bottle. I downed it in an hour and rolled around on my bed drunk and doing nothing on the internet until I decided to see Toy Story 3. I have been thinking about not seeing it, but in the long run I had to. It was awesome. I didn't like that the three trailer's before the movie were for 3D flicks, I saw Toy Store in classic 2D and these trailers seemed like those movies weren't going to be distributed in 2D, I assume they will be but we'll see. One of these days on my movie blog I'll put up my opinion about 3D and elaborate on my distaste for it. And if you pop over to my movie blog, you can see my opinion on making pseudo 3D/CGI animated films, as critiqued by the Smurfs movie slated for next year. I also have some ideas about photo-realism, which can fit into that blog but will get it's own, because that owl movie looks creepy (it had human eyes..wtf?!? -ovular-). But, I don't like barn owls, their faces are disturbingly flat, and the movie seems to 'star' a barn owl. Joy. Or it's a masked owl...I don't like the flatter faces. The other things I noticed in the trailers is that there are two animated movies for this summer/fall that seem like they're supposed to be sympathetic to villains. The Will Ferrel one, Mastermind or whatever (...'it's BIG for a reason'...great, penis envy jokes); and the Steve Carell one, Despicable Me (reading this plot, this seems weak. I like the beginning idea, but where it goes, not as much). I think the trailer could be made stronger if the minion characters said the word right, instead of tailoring it to kids, if they broke it down on the screen for the kid to learn the damn word and not having the minion stumble on the word then having the announcer say it correctly.
So, Toy Story 3, fantastic. It was also hella depressing. It was also hella brilliant. I loved the toys that were there in the the day care, I loved how things played out. It was all really well written an animated. I don't want to spoil much, but I do with that more had been done with Bonnie's toys, they were awesome. And great voices all around. I could have gone with the Spanish Buzz joke, it went on a bit too long for me and seemed to be a little contrived, but outside of that bit of nit picking I enjoyed everything. It was written on a kid's level, but was great for adults without it needing to be vulgar, a la Shrek.
Yeah...I came back home and wrote all this out. It's taken me a bit more than an hour. So today was a roller coaster of hell, kind of. But I feel better now that I've written..something! See, crying doesn't help, words do!
Jasmine P.
Showing posts with label day in review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label day in review. Show all posts
June 30, 2010
December 24, 2009
2009 in Review and Reflection
This year has been tumultuous. I gave myself the beginning of an education in movies and cinema. I've read a bit, more comics. And I made my biggest life change in a while, I switched college majors. If you care enough for more detail and a lot more griping, feel free to read the archives, this is a gloss over of the year.
From the top, January. I decided back in January that I was going to watch 365 movies in the year, more or less, one for every day of the year. I had a short lead, but then school happened and my plans came crashing down. I continued on and it was rough depending on how classes were going. I stuck to my own DVDs for a long while, but eventually stated renting more movies. I switched my rules to those on the View Askew boards after about three weeks. It's been a fun and interesting challenge. My super fucking awesome Creative Zen X-Fi got stolen by one of my roommates friends on the gatdamned Inauguration Day, which is fucking bull shit. I stopped talking to her seriously after that shit. We'd been on rocky terms since the previous November, as far as I was concerned. It was also no skin off my back to not talk to her anymore; we were never really that close to begin with. In late January, I believe, I followed Seph_Hunter on dA, which plays into other things throughout the year. Movie wise I was all across the board watching any random movie on Video OnDemand or new DVDs I had. It’s when I went through my age of watching 90’s ‘indie cinema’ by that I mean I started with Robert Rodriguez’s movies. I went through most of his by the end of February, then switched gears to Kevin Smith and on to Quentin Tarantino.
February was cold. More movies were watched and I planned for a surgery for my hidradenitis suppurativa. Gearing up for surgery sucked, aside from the pain killers, those were still nice. I apparently drank with Ian and Nicole, that’s when we crashed at Ian’s place. In February is also when we went to the VIWFA tournament in Charlottesville, VA. That was a pretty fun trip. I was really bothered by the hidradenitis. Shit fucking hurt, was itchy and uncomfortable. Ahh, I had my random driving adventure to Elizabeth City because I was bored one night. Really uneventful. On the movie front I worked my way through Kev Smith seriously, then Tarantino. The Kev Smith movies lasted a while.
March, had my surgery. I loved the morphine, and being relatively stoned for the following three to four weeks. Yup, I kicked off my month with a surgery at the tail end of spring break. That fucking sucked. I was in so much pain, I’m still periodically in a lot of pain. I paid a lot less attention in my English class after Spring Break because we had gotten into poetry, and I was bored with the poetry. I wrote about food for a journal. It’s so friggin’ trite, I was too out of it to really write properly, but I tried to. Movies were more Kev Smith then a bunch of things that have very little to do with one another.
April sucked. I got depressed about not having my mother once more, but I did write a bitchin' poem 'An Abecedarian About April' yeah, rockin' the alliteration in the title for the win. I bought a show called 'Dead Like Me' and got into an awesome conversation with Seph on Twitter about Bryan Fuller, which has since lead me to being a Fuller Fan. I've since watched most of his shows on DVD, or Hulu, depending. It's been sweet. Fuller’s stuff has been amazing. Seriously, watching Dead Like Me got me through my depression that I assume was related to my mother’s death from 2.5 years ago. I felt a lot better once I finished the show, then drove to Hampton for some friggin’ Waffle House at 5am, and I made it back before traffic. It was alright. April was the awkward that was the sentencing of the rowing club for being idiots. It really was horrible to have to listen to these other students explain their guilt or innocence to us, then have to lay down the punishment, knowing that campus could change the ‘verdict’ if they felt so inclined. Hmm, April was the end of the semester, that’s when I started finding and watching more Emile Hirsch movies. Sexy boy. April, when my heart was broken by a boy I actually knew. Well, the breaking was in May, but it started in April. April’s movie connection seems to just be Robert Downey Jr. flicks, which is just fine with me. It went from Jake Gyllenhaal to RDJ with Zodiac as the linking film. That’s something I started working on, having some sort of theme across the movies aside from the director. The theme was pretty much just actors.
From the top, January. I decided back in January that I was going to watch 365 movies in the year, more or less, one for every day of the year. I had a short lead, but then school happened and my plans came crashing down. I continued on and it was rough depending on how classes were going. I stuck to my own DVDs for a long while, but eventually stated renting more movies. I switched my rules to those on the View Askew boards after about three weeks. It's been a fun and interesting challenge. My super fucking awesome Creative Zen X-Fi got stolen by one of my roommates friends on the gatdamned Inauguration Day, which is fucking bull shit. I stopped talking to her seriously after that shit. We'd been on rocky terms since the previous November, as far as I was concerned. It was also no skin off my back to not talk to her anymore; we were never really that close to begin with. In late January, I believe, I followed Seph_Hunter on dA, which plays into other things throughout the year. Movie wise I was all across the board watching any random movie on Video OnDemand or new DVDs I had. It’s when I went through my age of watching 90’s ‘indie cinema’ by that I mean I started with Robert Rodriguez’s movies. I went through most of his by the end of February, then switched gears to Kevin Smith and on to Quentin Tarantino.
February was cold. More movies were watched and I planned for a surgery for my hidradenitis suppurativa. Gearing up for surgery sucked, aside from the pain killers, those were still nice. I apparently drank with Ian and Nicole, that’s when we crashed at Ian’s place. In February is also when we went to the VIWFA tournament in Charlottesville, VA. That was a pretty fun trip. I was really bothered by the hidradenitis. Shit fucking hurt, was itchy and uncomfortable. Ahh, I had my random driving adventure to Elizabeth City because I was bored one night. Really uneventful. On the movie front I worked my way through Kev Smith seriously, then Tarantino. The Kev Smith movies lasted a while.
March, had my surgery. I loved the morphine, and being relatively stoned for the following three to four weeks. Yup, I kicked off my month with a surgery at the tail end of spring break. That fucking sucked. I was in so much pain, I’m still periodically in a lot of pain. I paid a lot less attention in my English class after Spring Break because we had gotten into poetry, and I was bored with the poetry. I wrote about food for a journal. It’s so friggin’ trite, I was too out of it to really write properly, but I tried to. Movies were more Kev Smith then a bunch of things that have very little to do with one another.
April sucked. I got depressed about not having my mother once more, but I did write a bitchin' poem 'An Abecedarian About April' yeah, rockin' the alliteration in the title for the win. I bought a show called 'Dead Like Me' and got into an awesome conversation with Seph on Twitter about Bryan Fuller, which has since lead me to being a Fuller Fan. I've since watched most of his shows on DVD, or Hulu, depending. It's been sweet. Fuller’s stuff has been amazing. Seriously, watching Dead Like Me got me through my depression that I assume was related to my mother’s death from 2.5 years ago. I felt a lot better once I finished the show, then drove to Hampton for some friggin’ Waffle House at 5am, and I made it back before traffic. It was alright. April was the awkward that was the sentencing of the rowing club for being idiots. It really was horrible to have to listen to these other students explain their guilt or innocence to us, then have to lay down the punishment, knowing that campus could change the ‘verdict’ if they felt so inclined. Hmm, April was the end of the semester, that’s when I started finding and watching more Emile Hirsch movies. Sexy boy. April, when my heart was broken by a boy I actually knew. Well, the breaking was in May, but it started in April. April’s movie connection seems to just be Robert Downey Jr. flicks, which is just fine with me. It went from Jake Gyllenhaal to RDJ with Zodiac as the linking film. That’s something I started working on, having some sort of theme across the movies aside from the director. The theme was pretty much just actors.
May finished off the school year, and lead into summer school. I finally had the chance to watch the hell out of movies, and I did. The semester was over, I was taking one summer school class and that was twice a week in the mornings. Maybe it was three times a week, I can’t remember anymore. During this time I went out on a date with the guy from April, then he never calls nor answers his phone when I call. I hold out for another month before cursing him and giving up. The last Monday of the month is a naming ceremony at my mom’s office, they decided to honor her memory by naming a meeting room after her. I was able to return home after finish a final paper and moving into Jon and Josh’s place for the duration of the summer. It was nice to see my Gramma, since it’s too long of a drive to get up to New York. Well, I’d be cool with it if I was hanging with friends, I don’t really want to just go up on my own, especially not from Norfolk. Movies watched were following Hirsch, and picking up old movies that I’d been thinking about watching.
June I did nothing for most of June except for sleep, not take care of my surgery sites, then I went to Wisconsin for a week. I had my first drink in a bar out there, too. I was out there for the Summer Wetlands Association’s yearly conference. It was an excellent opportunity when I was still seriously thinking about becoming a botanist. I had been on the fence, but that kept me in the botanical frame of mind until I returned to Norfolk when I ultimately changed my mind. My biggest reason for changing my major is that being a botanist isn’t really what I wanted out of life. I wanted to draw cartoons and I finally decided to accept what I’d known all along, that I shouldn’t be a scientist, that I should hone my craft and become a comic artist. Back in Norfolk I proceeded to lounge around every day because I had nothing to do. I marathoned the first Pushing Daisies in early June the bought season 2 when it finally got released on DVD. That show and Wonderfalls, which I watched earlier in June, had me loving Lee Pace. Fucking adorable man right there. June movies were Emile Hirsch, then random other it seems. Most months didn’t have a theme that lasted more than a week.
July was more of the same. I was a lay-about. I went to Borjo, drank coffee and befriended more of the employees. Most constructive thing I think I did was rip into a poorly written letter that someone a part of Avatar wrote that was reposted by a movie critic who had criticized the movie back in July. It’s December, I’m not digging the movie. I know plenty of people are, but I don’t want to see it. The story doesn’t sound that interesting and why do non-mammalian creatures have breasts? I could go on and on, but the sooner I let it all go the sooner I can get past the bit blue cat-people bull shit. July has a lot of action-y movies. Some ridiculous movies, and movies that I was finally getting to while renting more movies from specific directors, or written by directors but directed by someone else. July also features Al Pacino; I watched The Godfather Trilogy and a lot of his movies from when he was younger.
August I went home got a new pair of glasses made, and rear ended someone when I came back to Norfolk. That sucked. The car I had in between was nice. A Pontiac something or other. When Dorien came down to sign off on the check for repairs it was his birthday, so I took him to lunch at IHOP. That’s nothing really special, but he doesn’t go often because the nearest one to us home in Reston is out in Vienna. It was nice being just the two of us. I showed him the place I’m currently staying in down at school. Time passes, classes started and I had one hell of a first week. I had to rush my moving because Jon came back early, I was trying to get class stuff straightened out and I thought something was wrong with my car. Getting fencing up and going was hell because Rec Sports decided to claim we hadn’t turned in things that I knew had already been turned in. That got going, then I got to drive home late as all fucking hell on Friday for my father’s wedding on Saturday. August movies were more Pacino and more action for the most part, it seems, and some Bruce Willis because seeing him as a cop, or in generall running round and shooting people pretty much always makes for a good time.
September was awkward as all hell because that’s when my father got married to someone with the same first name as my mother. I really did not like being there. It was really weird. I had to start tuning it all out to keep from crying. Not from the beauty, but from it being awkward. I started playing songs in my head after I’d stopped making faces at my little sister. The reception was fine, then there was a little shindig at the house with the family and friends. I made it back t Norfolk safely after this drive, just tired of having done the drive twice in one month’s there abouts. Classes settled down, and I spoke with the advisor for Art, and learned what I’d have to do to change my major. I explained that I wanted to draw educational biology comics to sell to school systems. I wrote my rant with the best title, ‘I’m a Judgemental Scunt’ about my opinion about current women’s fashion. September’s movies were Directed by Edgar Wright, features Robert DeNiro, or filled whatever other odd requirements I was interested in then.
October was more class and Fall Break in which I drove home and hung out with Alex. I can’t of anything really special that happened then. I got into Woodstock a lot in early October. I watched the documentary and bought the soundtracks which are the live recordings from the day. Watched some Guy Ritchie flicks, was all across the board for movie viewing. Watching what I could when I could. I was depressed for half of October which led into doing nothing interesting. I got a kidney infection and missed 5 days of classes. I had some insane cabin fever from that. I pray I don’t get another kidney infection ever, that was just really annoying after a while.
November, I get over the infection and turn 21, but can’t drink because I’m still on antibiotics. After that, I drink, that Saturday actually, with Brian and other Borjo people at a benefit for Jon who got concussed over the summer. It was fun drinking my first time legally, but I didn’t drink enough nor fast enough to get drunk and that did make me sad. It was great to hang out with people and not be a lonely bore. Classes sucked, I hated English all semester and Thanksgiving rolls around. My drive home is made exponentially better because I pick up Alex for the drive, so being in the car for five hours is nothing because there’s a distraction, and he’s driving. My brothers give me a new phone as a belated birthday gift, and then I spend about half of Wednesday and Thursday cooking for dinner. I got mad stressed out from cooking and latent depression and PSM all rolled into one big mess of boil emotion and hatred which spilled out when I yelled at Miguel on Friday. That sucked. Fuck, I was so gat damned depressed for the rest of the day and accomplished very little over break. November’s movies were across the board again. I sought out some Cohen Brothers stuff but all in all just interesting movies that I heard of around or I’d been sitting on getting around to watching.
December finished out classes. There were some minor adventures with people from Borjo and a random adventure on my own. I spent a lot of my time outside of class in Borjo, chatting up the employees more and just being a presence there. I fed my caffeine addiction like whoa but it was a great place for down time after classes. I think I’m becoming closer friends with people there, I really hope it’s not just in my head because that would be lame. I finished up classes and took finals, one of which sucked a fucking lot. I spent more time working on Cinema hoping to get it up online for early 2010, but I’ll get around to my art in a bit. Actually I have not much else to say, the month isn’t over, there’s another week and a day until the end of the year, hell the end of the decade. Moves were all over, and as of December 24th I am 3 movies from accomplishing my goal. I will continue to count until the year is over, then it will all be posted together as one mega post before I start up for 2010 with the same goal, just different rules.
As for my artwork for the year. I created some new no-world characters and a lot of characters for Cinema. I’ve spent about half the year re-working the characters, refining the art, and thinking about the stories to get it ready for being posted once a week with the hopes of updating more often up to three times a week by the time I graduate. For the uninitiated Cinema is a comic revolving around 4 high school juniors, their day to day school lives and their film making hobby. The story will not be presented in any true chronological order instead each chapter will for the most part deal with an event in their lives. Some chapters will be the movies they have made. After having spent this past year watching movies from mostly America, but from different times and seeing different motivations and ideas Cinema is also a celebration of the cinema and of comics because I love both. Over the past 6-7 months I have worked to round out the world and the characters much more. Aside from the initial 4, then their supporting I have increased secondary and tertiary characters so the world of the comic can work much more smoothly and logically. When the comic is posted I will be happy to share it with the internet.
Aside from working on Cinema this year I have taken some of my perfect story worlds and added chaos and rifts. They were too saccharine and one a couple was together nothing could shake them. That I’ve shaken up a little. Some characters have new family members and some have new friends. There’s no more story than the characters themselves but they will be put to some sort of use. I have started using new supplies this year, nib pens and ink. I like the challenge for these pens and my work and learning more about drawing comics and working in general. I think from this past January I have improved in making my character designs stronger and more unique. I think my inking in improving and aspects of my anatomy works out better now than it did before. I’ve been drawing more in the style required for Cinema than anything else, but I feel that the improvements can still be seen across different cartoon styles. I have officially changed majors from biology to art and look forward to what challenges await and improving my work.
I don’t like the idea of making resolutions for a new year, a thought I’ve touched on before. What I will say about, for, 2010 is bring it on. Bring on your joys, your pains, your sorrow and your happiness. I will do my best to succeed and to not lose to you New Year. I Look forward to getting Cinema online in the coming months and to my artwork improving. I look forward to the freaks and geeks I’ll meet, to the disagreements and the change. I look forward to personal growth and the chance to prove to people that I am the adult I pretend to be, that I’m better than that. Most of all I look forward to new adventures both small and large. It’s another year, like so many past, but there’s still something nice and shiny about it all. Life will happen. I’ve bought my ticket, I’m ready to take my ride.
Jasmine P.
August 10, 2009
Adventures in Virginia Aug 10
Well, this morning on Twitter I announced my plans for the day as follows "morning all! time for New Glasses Adventure, Lease Notarizing Adventure, then 'Back to Norfolk Adventure. too bad it's not that exciting" apparently only 14 hours ago around 8 am.
Things went off normally. Got dressed, went to the bank to get my cosigner lease papers signed by Dorien, but the notary wasn't there, so we went over to the UPS store and got that taken care of. I went my separate way from my brother and was going to get my eyes checked out, but of course, Hour Eyes doesn't open until 10, and not 9, so I went over to the Safeway and got a Doubleshot plus, and some doughnuts. Munched on those in the parking lot than went into Hour Eyes. Sadly, one of the guys who works there that I normally see since I'm normally there in the evenings wasn't working, but oh well. Got checked in and had those fucking annoying tests. The one with the puff of air, and the one with the green rays around a red dot that goes in an out of focus. Went into the exam office and I apparently had the same doctor I had last year. Got my eyes checked out, and apparently my eyes have gotten a wee bit better, so my new glasses will have a smaller reading section of the bifocal lenses. Cheers, motherfucker! I picked out a nice new frame it's black and a bushed bronze. They're half rimmed, which makes me happy that I can finally find half-rimmed glasses for the size of my lenses.
I head back home and to my horror I see my brother on the naked side, thankfully from the side, but then I can see him man-tits. They hang, it was gross! ugh. I get my shit together, clean up the living room then head out in the midst of lunch hour traffic. it takes me almost an hour to get gas, wash my car, and get some food before I take the County Parkway instead of the beltway to I-95S.
On the actually interstate, the traffic moves pretty rapidly. I'm going at 80mph for most of the time. Before I actually get to 295S I stop in Ladysmith for some caffeine, tea and to use the euphemism in defense of the impending traffic I know I won't miss. Back on the road the congestion I'd been in the middle of was way away and the road was mostly clear.
Things are going well enough. I'm making alright time, it's going on 4 and I'm out in Yorktown, about 45min from Norfolk without traffic. With traffic, about and hour and a half. Seeing that things are getting on the congested side, my windows are open and I've hit the bored mood that happens from driving when I kind of don't care anymore and just want to get off the road. I'm looking for my Golds because I figure I'm going slow enough to be able to smoke one. Things are slowing down and my car is going faster than I thought and I rear-end this little piece of Taurus. Fucking a, indeed.
We pull off to the side of the road and I'm shaky. I get out of the car and look at my hood which is now mashed up behind one of the bumper bolts, and the bumper is cracked. The lights look a little cracked, but end up working fine. I go to the kid I hit, he just turned 20 at the beginning of the month. We exchange information and call the cops who take 30 min to get to us so we're out in the sun with traffic blowing past us. I have a smoke while we're waiting.
The cop, a state trooper, get there and checks out both cars an writes no report and we don't have to go to court. I mean, it gets filed and everything, but I don't have to go to court for riding too close to the kid, and he doesn't have to go to court because his license is expired.
I was a bit of a wreck, I was shaking and I started crying. I'm still not sure why. The left side of my neck aches a little and even now I kind of want to crack my back. My neck seems a little stiff when I look the left, but I think I'm pretty much alright. I figured I'd go to the hospital tomorrow if it seemed necessary.
Getting into Norfolk I just want to go to sleep. I'm tired from sleeping 5 hours and then driving for 5. I call Dorien while I'm in tunnel traffic, and later send him some photos. I take some of my own and call AllState. That takes me another hour and I'm just plain worn at this point. On Thursday I go to get AllState to check it out and hopefully soon I'll have a rental and my car will be fixed.
And on top of this I have work orientation in the morning. Promptly at 9. I'm cuttin' out and going to bed now. Waking at 7 to get ready, and hopefully have the time to swing by Borjo for a cup of coffee, or at least for something to eat. I'd rather be drawing.
On a happier note, my Pacino and J. M. Barrie biographies arrived while I was gone, along with my Threadless tees. Cheers! Josh bombed the apartment and killed a whole mess of roaches. downside? They're migrating to my room, fuckers. Duke was fine, and I think Josh may have watered my plants, if so, awesome. I need to dead head the peace lily. Soon. I watched Bonnie and Clyde. Horrible. Horrible flick. I think that's just about everything. I think I'll doodle right quick, then to sleep. Sweet, sweet sleep.
Jasmine P.
Things went off normally. Got dressed, went to the bank to get my cosigner lease papers signed by Dorien, but the notary wasn't there, so we went over to the UPS store and got that taken care of. I went my separate way from my brother and was going to get my eyes checked out, but of course, Hour Eyes doesn't open until 10, and not 9, so I went over to the Safeway and got a Doubleshot plus, and some doughnuts. Munched on those in the parking lot than went into Hour Eyes. Sadly, one of the guys who works there that I normally see since I'm normally there in the evenings wasn't working, but oh well. Got checked in and had those fucking annoying tests. The one with the puff of air, and the one with the green rays around a red dot that goes in an out of focus. Went into the exam office and I apparently had the same doctor I had last year. Got my eyes checked out, and apparently my eyes have gotten a wee bit better, so my new glasses will have a smaller reading section of the bifocal lenses. Cheers, motherfucker! I picked out a nice new frame it's black and a bushed bronze. They're half rimmed, which makes me happy that I can finally find half-rimmed glasses for the size of my lenses.
I head back home and to my horror I see my brother on the naked side, thankfully from the side, but then I can see him man-tits. They hang, it was gross! ugh. I get my shit together, clean up the living room then head out in the midst of lunch hour traffic. it takes me almost an hour to get gas, wash my car, and get some food before I take the County Parkway instead of the beltway to I-95S.
On the actually interstate, the traffic moves pretty rapidly. I'm going at 80mph for most of the time. Before I actually get to 295S I stop in Ladysmith for some caffeine, tea and to use the euphemism in defense of the impending traffic I know I won't miss. Back on the road the congestion I'd been in the middle of was way away and the road was mostly clear.
Things are going well enough. I'm making alright time, it's going on 4 and I'm out in Yorktown, about 45min from Norfolk without traffic. With traffic, about and hour and a half. Seeing that things are getting on the congested side, my windows are open and I've hit the bored mood that happens from driving when I kind of don't care anymore and just want to get off the road. I'm looking for my Golds because I figure I'm going slow enough to be able to smoke one. Things are slowing down and my car is going faster than I thought and I rear-end this little piece of Taurus. Fucking a, indeed.
We pull off to the side of the road and I'm shaky. I get out of the car and look at my hood which is now mashed up behind one of the bumper bolts, and the bumper is cracked. The lights look a little cracked, but end up working fine. I go to the kid I hit, he just turned 20 at the beginning of the month. We exchange information and call the cops who take 30 min to get to us so we're out in the sun with traffic blowing past us. I have a smoke while we're waiting.
The cop, a state trooper, get there and checks out both cars an writes no report and we don't have to go to court. I mean, it gets filed and everything, but I don't have to go to court for riding too close to the kid, and he doesn't have to go to court because his license is expired.
I was a bit of a wreck, I was shaking and I started crying. I'm still not sure why. The left side of my neck aches a little and even now I kind of want to crack my back. My neck seems a little stiff when I look the left, but I think I'm pretty much alright. I figured I'd go to the hospital tomorrow if it seemed necessary.
Getting into Norfolk I just want to go to sleep. I'm tired from sleeping 5 hours and then driving for 5. I call Dorien while I'm in tunnel traffic, and later send him some photos. I take some of my own and call AllState. That takes me another hour and I'm just plain worn at this point. On Thursday I go to get AllState to check it out and hopefully soon I'll have a rental and my car will be fixed.
And on top of this I have work orientation in the morning. Promptly at 9. I'm cuttin' out and going to bed now. Waking at 7 to get ready, and hopefully have the time to swing by Borjo for a cup of coffee, or at least for something to eat. I'd rather be drawing.
On a happier note, my Pacino and J. M. Barrie biographies arrived while I was gone, along with my Threadless tees. Cheers! Josh bombed the apartment and killed a whole mess of roaches. downside? They're migrating to my room, fuckers. Duke was fine, and I think Josh may have watered my plants, if so, awesome. I need to dead head the peace lily. Soon. I watched Bonnie and Clyde. Horrible. Horrible flick. I think that's just about everything. I think I'll doodle right quick, then to sleep. Sweet, sweet sleep.
Jasmine P.
July 7, 2009
Wanderin' 'Round Wisconsin
Monday.
I'm up around6 so i can take my time-ish, getting ready, bandages are still hell. I wake up Janelle when proceed downstairs and across a covered walkway, and around to the convention center. I meet Ralph and Scott P. and Alani, some of the metors. Ralph hadn't been at the thing on Sunday, so I think I was the first mentee to meet him. I then actually get into the introductory plenary session that's to get the ball rolling on everything. The introduction is fine, but the speaker, some woman who's presenting some information about Wisconsin wetlands. The woman was a horrible speaker. Now, I can't remember what I disliked about it, but I ws not enjoying listening to her, so I stepped out a minute earlier than the session ended.
There was some time before the first mentor-mentee thing that frank had set up for us, so I bought some terrible coffee from the hotel. Mein gott, it was bad, burnt to high hell. Waste of money. The session the mentors had for us was specifically about being a minority and getting minorites interested in the sciences. It was interesting enough. I had a short conversation with one of the speakers after this, but I'll get to that.
That session broke and we were free for lunch and whatever else we felt like doing. There's a rumor of free sandwiches upstairs, so I get one, then leave the other girls and wander back downstairs. In the convention center I run into the mentors, Kellen and Jennifer. The mentors and presenters were heading out for lunch, so I lead the group to the Great Dane, the third time there in as many days.
This time we're seated outside. I'm situated between Ralph [i think] and Dwayne, one of the speakers. Ken is there, Alani, one of the other speakers, Frank, I think both Scotts. I hve a grilled cheese sammich and some fresh vegetables. The conversation started about what the speakers had to say. I think I mostly listened. Can't remember it all. It was a fine lunch. We had back to the convention. I pop into a few more sessions before going up to the room to relax and change before the Student Mixer on the roof of the Convention Center. I see some fucked up shit on the news then go to the mixer itself. The food is alright. I eat enough for it to be my dinner.
I leave the mixer because it's hot as hell, and go back to the room. I stay there for a bit, then want to wander down state street, but not alone, so I go back to the roof of the CC and find some people there. I decide on ice cream, and the Scotts, Alani, Chelsea and I think Janediy leave with me, thinking ice cream would also be good. As we're walking I start explaining to Scott L., Chelsea and Janadiy the awesomeness of fencing, then we realize that Scott P. and Alani are lagging. We all stop and wait for them, then Alani tells us something bad has happened. By the end of the week I've pieced together that her mother got ill, well that's my assumption. We're all kind of down for a moment, and I point out a lady bug in Janadiy's hair. We've had a moment of silence, not knowing what to say, and this ladybug and the rest of the walk are a small reprieve for Alani. We all continue to a locally owned place in the middle of State St.
Scott L. ducks out because he needs to catch the tram back to his hotel, but Alani, Scott P. and Janadiy continue walking with me to the Walgreens down the hill. I'm in need of tape because I forgot to topp it into my bag before flying out. Tape and some edibles it's back up the hill to the hotel. It's late now, around 11 or something. I retire to my room and relax with the internet before going to bed.
Tuesday
I spend my morning on the internet, not wanting to go to see any of the speakers. I finally leave the room because of a session with the mentors. This is an interesting affair and it's treated as a dialogue between the mentors and us undergraduates. I can't remember what I did between this and the evening dinner. I remember, I sat in on parts of sessions. One I had to leave because the girl was so nervous that I couldn't stand listening to her. I felt bad for her. She knew her information, but was incredibly uncomfortable speaking in front of a crowd. I think I popped in and out of presentations until sitting in the hallway and chatting with people. Today was the first day of poster presentations. I didn't have one, but I did mingle and look at other people's posters.
The dinner was alright. Chicken something or other. The speaker was much better than I'd previously thought. He was a journalist and wrote a book based off of research about treaties and such in relation to the Great Lakes. How it was diverged and what not. Pretty damn interesting.
After dinner most of us undergrads went out down State Street. This night we shop together a little, I think, then hit a bar that cards me and lets me in. I end up buying a bunch of $1 drinks because it was easier than trying to think of mixed drinks to order, and lot cheaper. We leave this one after some time, and go into a second one. I don't feel like staying, and walk back on my own. This is the night my walk took forever. I stop and pee in a Greek place, and make it back to the hotel safely. I crash, it's going on 2am I think.
Wednesday
I get up early, proving to Nakoa and Freddy that I'm not so lazy as to no go to some speakers. I can't remember what I sat in on, but I go to a few. Needing caffeine I buy a espresso from the hotel. I should have learned my lesson from the day before, but apparently I hadn't. Hmm, today there's the luncheon for the mentors and mentees and that's pretty chill. Sandwiches, soup, a potato salad. The food was right tasty. The conversation amusing.
After lunch I hang out in the hallway waiting for the second career session to start. I chat with some people and pop in and out of sessions for a bit. I also collect some swag from the exhibition hall. I go to the afternoon career session. This one is much more formal than the one from the day before was. I was also really tired an started dozing. I felt a little bad about that.
I head off on my own for dinner. It's one of those days I get after being around people for too long. I need to be alone, so I go to eat alone. I'm sorely mistaken when I get back to the room. Janelle and Jennifer are up there. I grab my books, the Ames one and Public Enemies, and head downstairs. I get a glass of cranberry juice from the bar. They're nice and give it to me for free. I just sit and read for a while. Enjoying being on my own for an hour or two. It's pleasant. I'm tired, it's about midnight, so I go back upstairs, but Jennifer is still there. I'm fighting my antisocial urge of being rude and chat with the two of them before finally going to sleep.
Jasmine P.
I'm up around6 so i can take my time-ish, getting ready, bandages are still hell. I wake up Janelle when proceed downstairs and across a covered walkway, and around to the convention center. I meet Ralph and Scott P. and Alani, some of the metors. Ralph hadn't been at the thing on Sunday, so I think I was the first mentee to meet him. I then actually get into the introductory plenary session that's to get the ball rolling on everything. The introduction is fine, but the speaker, some woman who's presenting some information about Wisconsin wetlands. The woman was a horrible speaker. Now, I can't remember what I disliked about it, but I ws not enjoying listening to her, so I stepped out a minute earlier than the session ended.
There was some time before the first mentor-mentee thing that frank had set up for us, so I bought some terrible coffee from the hotel. Mein gott, it was bad, burnt to high hell. Waste of money. The session the mentors had for us was specifically about being a minority and getting minorites interested in the sciences. It was interesting enough. I had a short conversation with one of the speakers after this, but I'll get to that.
That session broke and we were free for lunch and whatever else we felt like doing. There's a rumor of free sandwiches upstairs, so I get one, then leave the other girls and wander back downstairs. In the convention center I run into the mentors, Kellen and Jennifer. The mentors and presenters were heading out for lunch, so I lead the group to the Great Dane, the third time there in as many days.
This time we're seated outside. I'm situated between Ralph [i think] and Dwayne, one of the speakers. Ken is there, Alani, one of the other speakers, Frank, I think both Scotts. I hve a grilled cheese sammich and some fresh vegetables. The conversation started about what the speakers had to say. I think I mostly listened. Can't remember it all. It was a fine lunch. We had back to the convention. I pop into a few more sessions before going up to the room to relax and change before the Student Mixer on the roof of the Convention Center. I see some fucked up shit on the news then go to the mixer itself. The food is alright. I eat enough for it to be my dinner.
I leave the mixer because it's hot as hell, and go back to the room. I stay there for a bit, then want to wander down state street, but not alone, so I go back to the roof of the CC and find some people there. I decide on ice cream, and the Scotts, Alani, Chelsea and I think Janediy leave with me, thinking ice cream would also be good. As we're walking I start explaining to Scott L., Chelsea and Janadiy the awesomeness of fencing, then we realize that Scott P. and Alani are lagging. We all stop and wait for them, then Alani tells us something bad has happened. By the end of the week I've pieced together that her mother got ill, well that's my assumption. We're all kind of down for a moment, and I point out a lady bug in Janadiy's hair. We've had a moment of silence, not knowing what to say, and this ladybug and the rest of the walk are a small reprieve for Alani. We all continue to a locally owned place in the middle of State St.
Scott L. ducks out because he needs to catch the tram back to his hotel, but Alani, Scott P. and Janadiy continue walking with me to the Walgreens down the hill. I'm in need of tape because I forgot to topp it into my bag before flying out. Tape and some edibles it's back up the hill to the hotel. It's late now, around 11 or something. I retire to my room and relax with the internet before going to bed.
Tuesday
I spend my morning on the internet, not wanting to go to see any of the speakers. I finally leave the room because of a session with the mentors. This is an interesting affair and it's treated as a dialogue between the mentors and us undergraduates. I can't remember what I did between this and the evening dinner. I remember, I sat in on parts of sessions. One I had to leave because the girl was so nervous that I couldn't stand listening to her. I felt bad for her. She knew her information, but was incredibly uncomfortable speaking in front of a crowd. I think I popped in and out of presentations until sitting in the hallway and chatting with people. Today was the first day of poster presentations. I didn't have one, but I did mingle and look at other people's posters.
The dinner was alright. Chicken something or other. The speaker was much better than I'd previously thought. He was a journalist and wrote a book based off of research about treaties and such in relation to the Great Lakes. How it was diverged and what not. Pretty damn interesting.
After dinner most of us undergrads went out down State Street. This night we shop together a little, I think, then hit a bar that cards me and lets me in. I end up buying a bunch of $1 drinks because it was easier than trying to think of mixed drinks to order, and lot cheaper. We leave this one after some time, and go into a second one. I don't feel like staying, and walk back on my own. This is the night my walk took forever. I stop and pee in a Greek place, and make it back to the hotel safely. I crash, it's going on 2am I think.
Wednesday
I get up early, proving to Nakoa and Freddy that I'm not so lazy as to no go to some speakers. I can't remember what I sat in on, but I go to a few. Needing caffeine I buy a espresso from the hotel. I should have learned my lesson from the day before, but apparently I hadn't. Hmm, today there's the luncheon for the mentors and mentees and that's pretty chill. Sandwiches, soup, a potato salad. The food was right tasty. The conversation amusing.
After lunch I hang out in the hallway waiting for the second career session to start. I chat with some people and pop in and out of sessions for a bit. I also collect some swag from the exhibition hall. I go to the afternoon career session. This one is much more formal than the one from the day before was. I was also really tired an started dozing. I felt a little bad about that.
I head off on my own for dinner. It's one of those days I get after being around people for too long. I need to be alone, so I go to eat alone. I'm sorely mistaken when I get back to the room. Janelle and Jennifer are up there. I grab my books, the Ames one and Public Enemies, and head downstairs. I get a glass of cranberry juice from the bar. They're nice and give it to me for free. I just sit and read for a while. Enjoying being on my own for an hour or two. It's pleasant. I'm tired, it's about midnight, so I go back upstairs, but Jennifer is still there. I'm fighting my antisocial urge of being rude and chat with the two of them before finally going to sleep.
Jasmine P.
July 3, 2009
Wildin' Out in Wisconsin
After regaling the Ficus with tales of Wisconsin, I think I might hop to and get started on writing about that week before it gets too far away from me. From the other entry, before my heartbroken and voyeuristic rant, I left off from the night before leaving for Madison, WI.
After sobering up and waiting for my flight, between Norfolk and Detroit was uneventful. There was that weird bitch who wanted to wait in a longer line, but that was before the flight. I had an aisle seat which was pretty chill. I stayed awake the entire time and read through my new Esquire after I finished the SMod I'd been listening to. In Detroit I was originally worried about not being able to find my next terminal, but they were damn near side by side. from A-2 to A-7, so I grabbed an overpriced sandwich from Quiznos because it had been 12+ hours since my previous meal. I chilled and hopped onto my second flight. This time I was closer to the front of the plane, still in the aisle, and this plane was only 5 seats across, unlike the first which was 6.
In Wisconsin there was some trouble at the airport because the courtesy phones were being worked on or something, so the lady at the information desk called the hotel for me, and I waited. It took the kid about 30 min to get me, then it was just the two of us in one of those vans. DC sniper style, plus windows. Hmm, a regular van, I dunno. I checked into the hotel and freaked out because my check card was mia, but at some point I'd put it into the larger pocket where cash goes instead of behind my liscense. All was good about and hour later. I checked in and fucked around on the internet for a while.
Starved, I got a map and left the hotel on my own, striking out to find something cheap and close. I ended up going to the Great Dane, a bar, and order some pretzels. They were huge puffy pretzel sticks and in store made mustard. The pretzels were tasty, and the mustard a different experience. It had horserdish in it, made it some spicy shit. Seriously. My sinuses were clear, every time it tuched my tongue my mouth watered and my eyes teared. The bartender was nice and kept asking if I wanted anything else, I drank water. In retrospect I might have been able to get booze, but it was well enough that I hadn't tried for it.
Finished with my snack and adventure I headed back to the hotel and soon met with my roommate Janelle. I was quiet and wary, probably from being tired. I dunno. We both took naps and were the last to show up for dinner with Prof. Day, who I may or may not refer to as Frank for the rest of this post. Anywho, it's Frank, myself, Janelle, Chelsea, Freddy, Nakoa and Kellen at dinner this evening. Jenediy[sp] and Jennifer don't arrive until 10 so we go out without them for a group dinner.
We all walk down state street and decide on an Italian place. The conversation is tame, compared to the rest of the week. Freddy tells a bunch of silly stories and so the jokes start. Making fun of him. He said 'i don't know why, but girls keep giving me things' or silly things like that. After dinner Frank goes back to the hotel and our group continues down State St. where we just look around. Some of us buy some very tasty gellato from a local place. We keep on down the hill, eying places to check out later. I see a hat place called 'The Stuffed Feather' and decide to go there the next day.
We all walk all the way down the hill before some of us go back to the hotel. The boys, Nakoa and Freddy, keep walking around and find a bar eventually, apparently, from what they tell us later. Janelle and I chat a bit before going to sleep.
Sunday, June 22.
I wake sometime mid morning. I hang in the hotel for a while, until I'm too hungry to not wander, and eventually leave, heading down State St. where I go to the hat place. I buy my awesome new corduroy cap then head to the Noodle Company for lunch. I think now I wander back to the hotel so I can register for the week and get my name tag and program. Originally I'm not on the list for my field trip, so I get that sorted out. I then hang out in the lobby before the unndergrads and their mentors all meet up. Here there's a preliminry introduction to the rest of the mentors. I meet both Scotts there, Rebecca, Ken, Jacoby, and Alani. Ralph is late, I forget why.
Our big ole group heads to the Great Dane for dinner. The food is fantastic. I buy a chicken pot pie. Mmm, tasty. I spend the evening chatting with one of the Scotts, not registering there are two of them. I think I make and interesting impression on Scott L. who ends up being one of my favorite people to chat with for the entire week. Also at my table are Nakoa, Ken, Frank, Chelsea, and Jenediay. There was another man there, but I'm not sure who. The conversation goes from out ages to our interests. It's loose and fun.
After dinner the mentors roll out, and use undergrads walk down State St. to the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus is. Their student center sells beer. I drink some horrible weak miller light then decide I'm really not a beer person. Freddy tries to give me crap about it, but I defend my point that I think beer tastes horrible, and that I like real alcohol, liquor and such. We all walk back because we have an early morning.
Back in the hotel Janelle and I end up staying up for a time on out computers. Janelle is apparently having a fight with her boyfriend and stays up until 4. We're supposed to go to the plenary session in the morning. I try to sleep, and do succeed for the most part, sleeping until I need to get ready.
----
Ooh, so much writing for only two days. I'll continue on my play-by-play of the week after sleeping seeing as how I have things I need to do in the morning and would like sleep myself. Next post, Monday and the plenary session until...Tuesday or Wednesday I presume. It depends on when I start writing. Geez, this post is so epically long.
Jasmine P.
After sobering up and waiting for my flight, between Norfolk and Detroit was uneventful. There was that weird bitch who wanted to wait in a longer line, but that was before the flight. I had an aisle seat which was pretty chill. I stayed awake the entire time and read through my new Esquire after I finished the SMod I'd been listening to. In Detroit I was originally worried about not being able to find my next terminal, but they were damn near side by side. from A-2 to A-7, so I grabbed an overpriced sandwich from Quiznos because it had been 12+ hours since my previous meal. I chilled and hopped onto my second flight. This time I was closer to the front of the plane, still in the aisle, and this plane was only 5 seats across, unlike the first which was 6.
In Wisconsin there was some trouble at the airport because the courtesy phones were being worked on or something, so the lady at the information desk called the hotel for me, and I waited. It took the kid about 30 min to get me, then it was just the two of us in one of those vans. DC sniper style, plus windows. Hmm, a regular van, I dunno. I checked into the hotel and freaked out because my check card was mia, but at some point I'd put it into the larger pocket where cash goes instead of behind my liscense. All was good about and hour later. I checked in and fucked around on the internet for a while.
Starved, I got a map and left the hotel on my own, striking out to find something cheap and close. I ended up going to the Great Dane, a bar, and order some pretzels. They were huge puffy pretzel sticks and in store made mustard. The pretzels were tasty, and the mustard a different experience. It had horserdish in it, made it some spicy shit. Seriously. My sinuses were clear, every time it tuched my tongue my mouth watered and my eyes teared. The bartender was nice and kept asking if I wanted anything else, I drank water. In retrospect I might have been able to get booze, but it was well enough that I hadn't tried for it.
Finished with my snack and adventure I headed back to the hotel and soon met with my roommate Janelle. I was quiet and wary, probably from being tired. I dunno. We both took naps and were the last to show up for dinner with Prof. Day, who I may or may not refer to as Frank for the rest of this post. Anywho, it's Frank, myself, Janelle, Chelsea, Freddy, Nakoa and Kellen at dinner this evening. Jenediy[sp] and Jennifer don't arrive until 10 so we go out without them for a group dinner.
We all walk down state street and decide on an Italian place. The conversation is tame, compared to the rest of the week. Freddy tells a bunch of silly stories and so the jokes start. Making fun of him. He said 'i don't know why, but girls keep giving me things' or silly things like that. After dinner Frank goes back to the hotel and our group continues down State St. where we just look around. Some of us buy some very tasty gellato from a local place. We keep on down the hill, eying places to check out later. I see a hat place called 'The Stuffed Feather' and decide to go there the next day.
We all walk all the way down the hill before some of us go back to the hotel. The boys, Nakoa and Freddy, keep walking around and find a bar eventually, apparently, from what they tell us later. Janelle and I chat a bit before going to sleep.
Sunday, June 22.
I wake sometime mid morning. I hang in the hotel for a while, until I'm too hungry to not wander, and eventually leave, heading down State St. where I go to the hat place. I buy my awesome new corduroy cap then head to the Noodle Company for lunch. I think now I wander back to the hotel so I can register for the week and get my name tag and program. Originally I'm not on the list for my field trip, so I get that sorted out. I then hang out in the lobby before the unndergrads and their mentors all meet up. Here there's a preliminry introduction to the rest of the mentors. I meet both Scotts there, Rebecca, Ken, Jacoby, and Alani. Ralph is late, I forget why.
Our big ole group heads to the Great Dane for dinner. The food is fantastic. I buy a chicken pot pie. Mmm, tasty. I spend the evening chatting with one of the Scotts, not registering there are two of them. I think I make and interesting impression on Scott L. who ends up being one of my favorite people to chat with for the entire week. Also at my table are Nakoa, Ken, Frank, Chelsea, and Jenediay. There was another man there, but I'm not sure who. The conversation goes from out ages to our interests. It's loose and fun.
After dinner the mentors roll out, and use undergrads walk down State St. to the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus is. Their student center sells beer. I drink some horrible weak miller light then decide I'm really not a beer person. Freddy tries to give me crap about it, but I defend my point that I think beer tastes horrible, and that I like real alcohol, liquor and such. We all walk back because we have an early morning.
Back in the hotel Janelle and I end up staying up for a time on out computers. Janelle is apparently having a fight with her boyfriend and stays up until 4. We're supposed to go to the plenary session in the morning. I try to sleep, and do succeed for the most part, sleeping until I need to get ready.
----
Ooh, so much writing for only two days. I'll continue on my play-by-play of the week after sleeping seeing as how I have things I need to do in the morning and would like sleep myself. Next post, Monday and the plenary session until...Tuesday or Wednesday I presume. It depends on when I start writing. Geez, this post is so epically long.
Jasmine P.
April 29, 2009
A Good Day
Today, over all has been a good day.
It's two years to the day...well, by the time this is posted, two years to yesterday that my mother died from organ failure after her body succumbed to pneumonia and cancer. I thought I'd be more upset about it, but I wasn't I took a moment not too long after noon to think about her, then I went back to the rest of my day, thinking my mother would rather have me happy then to dwell on her death. I spent my afternoon straightening up my room because Paul was going to see it. Paul is the guy referenced in the other two journals. I think I can use his name now.
Anywho, today I woke up and chilled. Took care of a few things, and was late to geology because I magically could not get to that class on time this semester. At least I was there, unlike last semester where I skipped. Hell, I skipped it a lot this semester too, but I was there for the last day of class. I went to class and then left so I could hit up the mall to buy AJ a graduation gift.
I got him a $50 gift card to Barnes & Noble then came back to campus. I hung out with Elizabeth for about an hour before I made it back to my own apartment to chill before hanging out with Paul. I made up the certificates then went to meet Paul outside. He was sweet enough to text me saying he'd be late. I assume traffic was a player in that. Then he called, I guess, saying he was there. We walked around for about 40 min, just chatting and walking around campus.
We roll over to IHOP and I tell him about my brothers and father a bit. He tells me a bit about his family. We're the first to arrive at IHOP closely followed by Jay and Allison, then Nick, Casy and Sean. We get a table then others join us. Nicole and Andrew, a friend of Seans. Glenn, A friend of Drew's then Ian and AJ. Dan shows up about an hour later. It's a usualy night at IHOP. Lot's of chatting and lots of fun and perversion.
Our waiter is awesome and splits the bill, two meals per bill seeing as Tuesday's are buy one, get one free. Paul pays for his, but my meal is on his ticket. The group makes plans to go over ot Jay and Allison's and as we're leaving IHOP Paul and I end up chatting with Drew and Nicole about Drew's broken window. This Saturday, someone broke into his car to steal his radio. He wasn't able to get the window fixed today.
We're out there chatting about cars for a while when this homeless man comes up to us and takes twenty minutes to get to his point of asking us for money. We give him maybe three dollars in change, he then keeps talking to us. It was a little awkward.
Paul drives me back to campus and we chat about nothing really. He gives me a hug before I get out the car, and both of us are apparently bad at farewells, because we said good bye a few times, and I wished him luck at his job interview for tomorrow. It was all pretty damn disconnected, but he did say he'd call to tell me how the interview went. And we agreed to make plans to hang out together again, so I think the next time will be more of a date. Yeah. It was nice. Man, I still feel special, and I think really dating him would be nice.
Even though it's been two years since my mother died, today wasn't a bad day. Better than last year, whatever I did. I'm glad I'm not as depressed as I was last year around this time.
Jasmine P.
It's two years to the day...well, by the time this is posted, two years to yesterday that my mother died from organ failure after her body succumbed to pneumonia and cancer. I thought I'd be more upset about it, but I wasn't I took a moment not too long after noon to think about her, then I went back to the rest of my day, thinking my mother would rather have me happy then to dwell on her death. I spent my afternoon straightening up my room because Paul was going to see it. Paul is the guy referenced in the other two journals. I think I can use his name now.
Anywho, today I woke up and chilled. Took care of a few things, and was late to geology because I magically could not get to that class on time this semester. At least I was there, unlike last semester where I skipped. Hell, I skipped it a lot this semester too, but I was there for the last day of class. I went to class and then left so I could hit up the mall to buy AJ a graduation gift.
I got him a $50 gift card to Barnes & Noble then came back to campus. I hung out with Elizabeth for about an hour before I made it back to my own apartment to chill before hanging out with Paul. I made up the certificates then went to meet Paul outside. He was sweet enough to text me saying he'd be late. I assume traffic was a player in that. Then he called, I guess, saying he was there. We walked around for about 40 min, just chatting and walking around campus.
We roll over to IHOP and I tell him about my brothers and father a bit. He tells me a bit about his family. We're the first to arrive at IHOP closely followed by Jay and Allison, then Nick, Casy and Sean. We get a table then others join us. Nicole and Andrew, a friend of Seans. Glenn, A friend of Drew's then Ian and AJ. Dan shows up about an hour later. It's a usualy night at IHOP. Lot's of chatting and lots of fun and perversion.
Our waiter is awesome and splits the bill, two meals per bill seeing as Tuesday's are buy one, get one free. Paul pays for his, but my meal is on his ticket. The group makes plans to go over ot Jay and Allison's and as we're leaving IHOP Paul and I end up chatting with Drew and Nicole about Drew's broken window. This Saturday, someone broke into his car to steal his radio. He wasn't able to get the window fixed today.
We're out there chatting about cars for a while when this homeless man comes up to us and takes twenty minutes to get to his point of asking us for money. We give him maybe three dollars in change, he then keeps talking to us. It was a little awkward.
Paul drives me back to campus and we chat about nothing really. He gives me a hug before I get out the car, and both of us are apparently bad at farewells, because we said good bye a few times, and I wished him luck at his job interview for tomorrow. It was all pretty damn disconnected, but he did say he'd call to tell me how the interview went. And we agreed to make plans to hang out together again, so I think the next time will be more of a date. Yeah. It was nice. Man, I still feel special, and I think really dating him would be nice.
Even though it's been two years since my mother died, today wasn't a bad day. Better than last year, whatever I did. I'm glad I'm not as depressed as I was last year around this time.
Jasmine P.
April 21, 2009
Quick Update
I spent today living in the lap of music. Great music. Things I could sing with.
After another grueling days of classes, I ate dinner on my own and walked out to the E. River and smoked some Golds, listened to the last few SMods I had waiting, and watched out over the water. There was lightening dancing through the clouds, which was awesome to see.
After the SMod was done I decided to hang out there for a short time longer and sang with some music. Some great songs that I will never tire of singing with. It was a great evening. So pleasant spending time on my own and singing as loudly as I wanted. I sang with Drunk Again, Sway, Welcome home, Western, Ban the Tube Top and I'm sure one or two others. It was just plain nice.
Tomorrow I'm going to shoot for a glory that I'm not too sure is necessary anymore, but it won't kill me. Maybe I'll finally win one.
Well, nothing interesting has happened, so like the title says, a short update. Cheers bitches.
Jasmine P.
After another grueling days of classes, I ate dinner on my own and walked out to the E. River and smoked some Golds, listened to the last few SMods I had waiting, and watched out over the water. There was lightening dancing through the clouds, which was awesome to see.
After the SMod was done I decided to hang out there for a short time longer and sang with some music. Some great songs that I will never tire of singing with. It was a great evening. So pleasant spending time on my own and singing as loudly as I wanted. I sang with Drunk Again, Sway, Welcome home, Western, Ban the Tube Top and I'm sure one or two others. It was just plain nice.
Tomorrow I'm going to shoot for a glory that I'm not too sure is necessary anymore, but it won't kill me. Maybe I'll finally win one.
Well, nothing interesting has happened, so like the title says, a short update. Cheers bitches.
Jasmine P.
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