I will NOT walk 500 hundred miles

Today has not been my day. In fact, it hasn't been my week. Which double sucks because my birthday was on Tuesday and it should have been an AWESOME week. My typical week (if there is such a thing - maybe I should say "on average") usually starts out kind of crappy and sludges through the middle okay and then about Thursday or Friday - or Saturday, things start looking cheerful and bright and sunny. The "sunny" part is literal for the last couple of weeks actually. It's been raining for days and nights on end most of the time I've actually been here. Cold for May, too. I would trek home, arrive in soaked pants, then relieve my misery by taking a hot shower, putting on warm fuzzies, and drinking hot cocoa.

Anyway, enough about the weather. Back to me. So I'd been really needing an oil change and my brakes have been acting funky. I could stop okay, it was just with lots of complaints - squeaking and shuddering. I don't know much about cars (they get me from point a to point b) but I was pretty sure that brakes weren't supposed to act like that. Colin and Dad had differing opinions of what might have been the problem, which I found slightly confusing ("there's more than one brake thingy?") but it turned out it was a brake thingy. Deciphering the Midas check sheets, the brake fluid was low, and rotors (I think the front ones) were very rusty and brake pads (again, front ones) needed to be replaced too. I was holding my breath when they rattled off what was going to be fixed, praying it didn't cost as much as my dad said it might. It didn't - less than half of that. Still, having a car is one of the easiest ways to burn money.

So all was dandy. I even got a ride to the library to work. A couple hours later, they called and said it was ready, so I walked back. My plan was to drive it back to my apartment then take the bus or walk back to campus and work the rest of the day. Things never go according to plan. I got to Midas and when I was trying to pay, I found out that neither of my cards would work. Well, that was annoying, but then again I've never paid such a high sum at once before. I called one of the banks which required an account number I didn't have with me and I didn't have the number for the other bank. So I said I'd try to go work it out and I'd be back later.

I went and checked the balance at bank #1. It was lower than what I was trying to pay Midas. So then I walked back to campus and decided I would work until the 3:15 bus to my apartment. Back home, I tried to transfer money into the account so that it would be enough (and more). I did it online and even called to double-check that it would work before walking back to Midas. They said it would after 4 so I hung out for a few minutes, finally squeezing some time in to talk to Colin, then headed back out the door. Midas tried the card again. Declined again. I was ready to scream. So I called the bank - again - and after them being catty with me, they said it should work in another 20 minutes. I sat for twenty minutes and stared with glazed eyes at the TV that was tuned into "My First House." In addition to the payment mess, I had gotten up and out the door earlier than I had in months, walked in circles, and hadn't had a moment to relax (I even ate lunch while I edited and manned the phone - I was bribed by a cupcake while everyone else went to lunch at once). 21 minutes later (just to make sure it would work), we tried it again. I was honestly more surprised than anything else when it actually worked. I left weary but relieved, in a car that was very happy.

In all, I worked 4.5 hours today and walked probably no less than 8 miles. On the plus side, I finished "The Gospel According to Luke" which was ... entertaining, but I'm excited to be able to move onto "The Book Thief" which was a birthday present to myself. And I can't think how miserable it would have been to do this in cold wind and rain like we had yesterday. And now my car has normal brakes! I still find myself coasting and being real gentle to them though. Probably a good habit, both for gas and brakes, but it's nice to know that I can slam on them if I need to without them slipping like they did just this morning.

Colin is coming down tomorrow! Yay! And he's not bringing his laptop or going to do any work while he's here! Yay! Next weekend, we go North to see people we love and have an amazing time! Yay!

Stupid mornings.

In the morning, one must be allowed to put the syrup in the refrigerator, it must be physically impossible to spill coffee in your bag and on the carpet, and the bus must be timed so that it reaches your stop whenever you show up.

And I had made a nine o'clock appointment for an oil change and brake check tomorrow. I must be insane.

Pour Becca

Social cookie

http://www.reallifecomics.com/archive/080408.html
This I can relate to - especially when my most promising friendship in town goes on a cross-country road trip starting next week. *sigh* I love webcomics.

Other news: it rained today. Or rather, yesterday, since it's after 1 a.m. I've got a good grip on my final, after a hours or so of agony and confusion trying to understand what appears to be the level between theory and practice - like, pre-practice with categories etc etc.

I can't wait to see Colin tomorrow night. And to be done with this semester in less than a week.

I baked cookies tonight. Originally, they were going to be chocolate chip cookies, following this recipe "Award-winning soft chocolate chip cookies". I had to pare down the quantity, limited by "only" 1.5 sticks of butter ... well, it turned out that I didn't have vanilla pudding but "Devil's food" (really chocolatey) pudding mix. They are soft and slightly like cake because they don't spread at all (I recommend squashing them). It's a little too much chocolate for me (I also used dark chocolate chips). They are better than a couple other attempts but I still can't figure out what recipe I used at home in Charlevoix - I loved those cookies. They were the best. Maybe I can find the recipe somewhere when I visit the family next time. I gave some to Celeste and Grant tonight when Celeste came over to discuss the big ideas behind the final. (Grant is her husband. He sat and crocheted, occasionally commenting.) I felt especially socially awkward even though I'm normally comfortable with them. Other than a brief visit from Rachel in January, and Colin of course, I haven't had anyone come visit me. I am afraid I'm losing my ability to carry on a coherent verbal conversation. Eek.

Tech update: (more for personal record keeping than informing people)
I tried to reinsert my older memory stick. The new one works fine but I need more memory for HandBrake. I know it clicked in on both sides and it seemed to be all good. Then I tried turning on my computer. And all it did was beep. Once. Thrice. Thrice. Once. Whir a bit like it was thinking. Then just sat there absolutely still. I tried again. Same results. So either the slot is bad, I put it in wrong, or the stick is seriously screwed up. One last possible solution was that I was supposed to repartition (read: backup, do the resizing, then put all my files back on) before I stuck the stick in. I'll ask Colin tomorrow or whenever. I was hoping to be able to return "Hairspray" to the library since it's due tomorrow but looks like I'll have to renew it. Oh well - I've got more time on my hands next week, especially after Wednesday, if I do indeed take that whole time to do the final.

Alright, my eyes are scratchy. I'm going to head for bed now.

A people photoblog of the last four months

I thought I'd attempt to post a blog with some photos. More will be put on facebook, but but this entry is people-themed with some narration. I'm pretty sure the transition between blogger and livejournal's gonna flunk out and I don't want to post it all over again (I hate LJ picture blogging) so to make life a little easier for most of you, try going here for the fancy picture stuff.

I'm putting these in chronological order, starting with this first picture taken at the aquarium cafeteria in Chicago on January 21, Martin Luther King, Jr. day. I met up with Amanda, Tom, and Sessily and we toured the aquarium and science museum which were open for free that day.

















This is one of me and Colin the following weekend in Bloomington. He was trying to get me to make a face.

















We went to Kalamazoo late February where Colin gave a talk about his company, most of which over my head but I got to sit in the back and make fun of him with his parents, especially when he was being a smartass. While he was talking to people afterwards, I met up with Kelsay and we made our way back to her apartment where this picture was taken of her and Kiki. We ate dinner with the Alworth family and Ashley at the Saffron. Later that night, we played Scrabble and watched Xena with Lenya and Kelsay (and Kiki, of course).

































This is a picture of Rachel, Colin, and Emily in the back of their family van. Emily was visiting K College as a prospective student. Funny thing is, she told me that she was just there to make her parents happy - in the end, she decided that's where she was going. She's also doing LandSea like her big brother and her parents.

















A couple weeks later, I had my spring break, so Colin and I headed north to Charlevoix and had a lot of fun, especially with William but also with the rest of my family. This picture shows Laura and William standing inside the local grocery store next to a sign that promises that some weird porcupine cartoon dude is sold there. William had run into the store and waved from inside, not realizing the advertisement right next to him.

















Later, some of us were a bit wild in the library; William is sitting in the children's section, pretending to be scared and not know where Colin is. I love both of these silly boys so much.

And that's my awesome blog slideshow of the pictures I took of people the last four months! I think I should go get some work done now ...

Spring ANEW is the motto of the season

I have actually tried to post a few times in the last five months. Really. I even logged in and wrote a few sentences before (a) I got distracted and/or overwhelmed or (b) my browser crashed.


I'll try to avoid either of these pitfalls this time and maybe, just maybe, you'll get a real post from me. Oh, the weird "boing" post was to test the linking between blogger and livejournal. I thought I'd type over here where livejournal wouldn't be able to cause problems. So even if it did, I wouldn't have lost the production of my efforts. It may not be an LJ problem ... I might just be paranoid; my browser tends to crash every once in awhile, but not enough to propel me into taking action against it. Here's to me being tech-savvy.


I occasionally read people's posts but not lately. Last night, Becca asked me to read a particular post, so I went to LJ.com, wrested my password from some obscure, dusty corner of my mind, and signed on. Then I read and enjoyed the wild, quirky amazing-ness that is all of you and wondered why the heck I don't do that more often. It's exactly what I have needed, especially some of those dark, dark days I've had this winter and don't want to think about too hard.


Let's see - short and sweet version:

I chose IU. So now I live in Bloomington in a studio apartment with a view of trees. I am almost done with the semester. I have a couple assignments and a take-home final left to do. I think my brain's already on vacation, which doesn't help things. School's all right and quite a bit different than K. Have had classes only Mondays and Tuesdays, but each session is three hours long. Very few social connections, but now have three new phone numbers. Spend as many weekends as I can with Colin the boyfriend. That'd be the comp sci major who's tall and skinny, also graduated from K last spring, and does his code monkey thing in Chicago area. It's his birthday on Saturday. It reached 80 degrees F here today and I'm sticking around for the summer (yes, I have a/c), taking a class during the second session.


Other near-future plans you all might be interested in keeping tabs on: visiting K-zoo early May, spending Memorial Day weekend at Colin's family cabin in northern Wisconsin, seeing Becca in South Range, attending my sister's HS graduation stuff, and distracting Becca during the weekend of June 7th by being all touristy at the Pictured Rocks. I think that's it. Besides the projects and such that I plan to occupy my time with this summer, like hiking and running and artsy stuff and reading.


I think that's a good enough re-entry...


Oh if any of you need an excuse to procrastinate, I've made a website for class. url: http://ella.slis.indiana.edu/~kjlarsen/home.html Nothing real cool (although I do like the format). There's a link to a pathfinder (kind of like a pre-project, exploratory bibliography - librarians apparently make them) that I made for another class about how global warming is affecting the Arctic's geopolitical situation.

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