mydarling

You know what? Just once in these last few weeks I'm going to Community College, I'd like to be able to sleep in. I can't tell you the last time Mommy or Dad took me in at the regular time - 9 AM on Monday/Wednesday, 8 AM on Tuesday/Thursday; I've woken up at 6:45 AM everyday for the past few weeks in order to leave the house by 7:30 AM, and I've haven't gone to sleep before midnight AT ALL, a true rarity for me. So as a result I'm incredibly exhausted, but weary of taking a nap because I end up taking really long naps and have too much to do this weekend for that to happen. But we'll see how things go.

( I don't have much to say re: American Idol & CSI:NY. )

I decided to give up on my American History term paper. It was really only acting as an extra credit assignment, and I'm doing a lot better in the class that I orginally thought I would before the semester began, so if I do well with the last few weeks of the semester, I should end the class with a 3.9, around a 90%, which is still good. I was just getting frustrated doing the assignment - I waited until a few days ago to start doing research, and I also had Film research to do, so I didn't have a lot of time to go digging and actually read sources, and the topic I was given seemed pretty easy, but actually required a lot of research. So now I'm just going to focus on my Film paper (which is probably going to be the death of me) and my final paper in English - which is going to be pretty tough because I can only have one internet source and I haven't been doing as well on the other two papers as I hoped I would. *crosses fingers that everything goes smoothly for the next three weeks*

Oh, and I hoped on the bandwagon and got a tumblr - though I'm not sure what I'll use it for!

One week without an update, woo. I've been keeping up with the flist and twittering quite frequently over the past few days, but never actually had the time or the energy to post an lj entry. I have a lot to say, so here's a rundown of what's happened over the past week:

1. Monica made her confirmation last Saturday, taking the name Hope. It's different (usually candidates take a saint name; I choose Catherine, Graham choose Anthony), and I don't know if this was a factor in her decision, but it was one of the themes of Obama's campaign - and if she did, I'm so proud that she's showing her political pride. Both get-togethers were incredibly loud with all the little cousins running around, but relaxing enough that I could lay on my bed and read and do homework without getting incredibly frustrated. It's rare that extended family comes to visit us, and there's a possibility that we aren't going to Omaha this year, so it was nice to see everyone.

2. Grandma took me shopping at the mall! It was a lot of fun getting to spend some alone time with her, and she paid for everything, which was a huge plus. I got two scarves (this one and this one) as well as this top (in a fun print) from American Eagle. H&M yielded a sophisticated black light-weather jacket, a grey boatneck sweater, and a short sleeved white button down. And I bought clip and magnetic earrings at Claires, since I don't have piereced ears but would like to wear earrings occasionally; I'm still getting used to having them on. I feel so sophisticated with all my new purchases!

3. My parents are in Scotland visiting my dad's great-aunt Mary this week; they'll be back tomorrow. When she came here last July, she begged my parents to come visit, and they decided this would the best week to go since Grandma's already in town for Monica's Confirmation. I miss them dearly, but there is one upside to them not being here: I GET TO STAY IN THEIR ROOM. And let me tell you, it is absolutely wonderful. I've likened it to staying a hotel room by yourself - bigger bed, large private bathroom, TV in the bedroom. There was nothing better than watching The Daily Show in bed and just turning off the lights and going to sleep. Plus, almost all of the shows I usually watch were repeats this week, so I'd watch Countdown with Keith Olbermann and The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC and get obsessed. It was awesome.

4. ( I watched American Idol and the ER finale. )

5. Registered for all of next years' classes at Grand Valley; it was quite possibly the most stressful thing I've ever done. I got shut out of all the broadcasting courses I was recommended to take, and it turns out I can't take the marketing course they recommended for me until I'm at least a junior. So I've planned to take as many political science courses as I can this year (for my minor) to get those out of the way, and take broadcasting/communications courses afterwards. Either way, I'm pretty pumped. I can't believe I'm actually going to be a student there in a few months!

6. Wrote my entry for inrevelations - it's here if you'd like to read it. Despite my early assumptions that my story was going to suck compared to other entries, it turned out really well - I even surprised myself by writing over 1,000 words! The next challenge involves photos as prompts, which I'm absolutely thrilled about, because I do really well when writing with a visual prompt. Plus, it's getting me back into writing things (that actually sound good), which is ace.

7. Still busy with school, as always. I've only got a few weeks left, so my professors are trying to cram as much as they can into these last few classes - another exam, paper or project - all due within the next two weeks. Thankfully, all of my finals are either non-comprehensive or in-class essays, which takes a huge weight off my shoulders when I'm distracted over the fact that I'll be nearly done. So I probably won't be updating on here very often (I want to pour all my writing efforts into school assignments) until school is done, not that anyone really cares. I'll still be twittering lots, so if you want, follow me!

I've been in the worst mood lately. I don't know if it's the lack of sleep, the school-related stress, the fact that no one in my family gives a damn about my needs, Natasha Richardson's death, the news about these AIG bailouts, sheer boredom, or a combination of all these things, but GAH. I don't think I've needed a vacation from everything more than I do now. Unfortunately, I do not have the time or money to do so. That will have to wait until I'm done with school in May.

Tomorrow, I plan on taking a Mental Health Day - not thinking about school at all and instead watching various season 2 episodes of The West Wing, as well as attempting to work on my inrevelations assignment, which I've had for almost a month but barely thought about due to writing papers for school AND a major case of writer's block. I'm still pretty clueless on what to write, but the fact that it's due sometime next week might just motivate me. At least, I can only hope.

Oh hey. So I just found out that Pixar is FINALLY making Toy Story 3 (after almost ten years of waiting!), and I decided to do Toy Story 2 for my Film journalistic review (SHUT UP, it's a good movie), so here, have the bloopers from Toy Story 2!


It's been years since I've actually seen the movie (our DVD copy is scratched up), but the bloopers are my absolute favorite thing - nearly ten years later, and I still crack up every time I get to see them. I love the bits with Mrs. Potato Head putting all these random things inside Mr. Potato Head, especially the blue Play-Doh!

I'm pretty much cured of the sickness I had towards the end of spring break, whatever it was - although now I've developed a cough, much worse than previous ones. It seems to be decreasing, which is always a good sign, but it's gone on a lot longer than it should. I'm debating whether or not to bring it up with Mommy and see if I can get it checked out, but I'm pretty sure she'll just tell me to let it run it's course because it seems to be getting better. No one has mentioned anything during the 590633246 times I coughed over the past few days, especially those times I was coughing so hard I could barely talked, so I'm guessing I shouldn't really worry about it. I just hope I'm better soon, because I haven't been in the best mood lately.

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( Weekly television round-up. )

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I was hoping my Amazon order would be here earlier this afternoon, since I checked the website as often as I could to see where my stuff was at and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it arrived at the post office earlier this afternoon, when it wasn't expected until Monday. But it hadn't arrived at my house yet, which means that if it's in town, it'll be here tomorrow. At least, I hope so. If it doesn't get here until Monday I'm going to be pissed, because I'll spend the weekend thinking about that instead of all the school things I have to do this weekend.

Now if the Converses I ordered could get here in less than 11 days, I'd be golden.

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I have not done any homework today, despite how eager I was yesterday to get working. I planned on doing my Anthropology exam today (just to get it out of the way) and typing up part of my English paper, but of course, none of that happened - I showered and listened to music all day while anxiously checking on the status of my Amazon order. So the revised plans now are to do the Anthropology exam and essays tomorrow and my English paper on Sunday and Monday morning, if I need it. I also have my Film review, but I'm going to save that for Monday/Tuesday and turn it in on Wednesday because a) I still have no idea what I'm going to do, thus the need for extra time, and b) I really don't want to watch the movie we'll be watching that day. I think I can still do well if I turn it in later - the professor hasn't penalized anyone for a late assignment yet, I probably won't be the only one turning it in late, and I have late coupons if absolutely necessary. So we'll see how it goes.

Since Joshua Lyman sadly got his ass kicked by House in the previous round (it was an unfair match, in my opinion) and thus messing up my entire bracket, I have decided to through my support behind everyone's favorite fake newsman, Jon Stewart. Because he's awesome! There's also this, which is not only my favorite moment from The Daily Show, but possibly the funniest thing I've ever seen. And despite watching The War Room twice and absolutely loving it, my opinion of James Carville can always be summed up by Jon's impression in that video. REALLY.

Yesterday was the real "last day" of my spring break :( Both Graham and Monica are around this weekend, so it's gone back to being super-stressful around here. I no longer can get the computer to myself for long periods of time, stay up until midnight and wake up at noon (like I did last night), or spend the days bumming around in my pajamas doing absolutely nothing. Plus, we "spring forward" an hour tonight, which is totally going to mess up my already-screwed up sleep schedule. Great.

I had to be actually productive yesterday, since I hadn't done anything school-related the entire week. I printed out a few sources for my research paper (which I've decided will be on realism in The West Wing - an absolutely ace topic, given it's been something on my mind lately since I re-watched the last two seasons and has actual sources for me to cite.) I didn't do the research proposal yet, but it won't take as long now that I've got a topic in mind, so I'm planning on doing that during my break on Monday. I'll annotate the sources sometime this weekend, along with reading those stupid, unrelated-to-the-class essays and writing summaries and answering questions about them. But I did watch The War Room and Annie Hall last night for my Film review, both of which were incredibly good. I have a feeling I'm going to have a hard time picking a film to write a journalistic review on.

The Office was pretty meh this week, but ( American Idol was surprisingly good. )

I'm still sick, by the way. And I think it's getting worse, which is absolutely great when I have to go back to school. Really.

1. I haven't updated in four days. But I have a good reason: SCHOOL! I had a shitload of writing assignments to do this week - my final copy of my first English paper, journals on Mystic River&cinematography/Traffic&editing/No Country for Old Men&sound (I'm recommending two of those three films, can you guess which ones?) and essays for American History. I had to skip one English class and both Human Relations classes this week to get it all done, which I'll probably pay dearly for. But everything's done and handed in, so there's not much I can do about it now.

2. Started spring break yesterday. It seems really weird having spring break in early March, when I've usually had a small break in mid-February and then a longer one around Easter. But I've come to the realization that "no school" means not having school and that I shouldn't complain about not getting as much time off as Monica and Graham - not having breaks means I'm done with school earlier! So I'm just going to spend this week relaxing, since I really need the break. I contemplated going somewhere, but I really don't have the money, so I'm planning on staying home, marathoning season 7 of The West Wing and working on my inrevelations assignment. Oh, and attempting to get through a mountain of English homework that the professor decided to load on me.

3. I thoroughly enjoyed Obama's fake State of the Union. It was just so positive and a nice contrast to the State of the Unions I've listened to in the past (which would be two, both Bush's. I didn't get really excited about politics until I started watching The West Wing sophomore year and the 2006 midterms.) Although I may of also had a ton of fun with it given that a) Dad and I made fun of how many times Nancy Pelosi stood up to applaud, b) Mommy asked "who's that?" when a politician she didn't know showed up on screen, which allowed me to show off my knowledge of who's who in the Obama administration, and c) Rahm Emanuel did a post-speech interview with Brian Williams on NBC (in which I had to contain my fangirlishness since my parents were still in the room.)

4. Speaking of the Obama administration, WHITE HOUSE INTERNSHIPS. I'm semi-seriously considering this as one of my internship options once I get to Grand Valley. I could totally apply for it now, since I fit all the requirements, but I think I'd have a better shot once I've had a little more college experience and I have a job and a more complete resume. I really don't know what my chances are, but it wouldn't hurt to apply. Just keeping my options open.

5. ( My two favorite moments from this weeks' television. )

6. I'm giving up getting food from college's cafeteria for Lent. I make a sacrifice to fulfill my Catholic obligation, plus I save money: win-win-win! I think I'll be able to get through it, since the fact that I blew through most of my gift card within a month and a half solely on food from the cafeteria, taking my own food to school (right now it's just a big bag of baby carrots, since that's the only quick and easy food we have in the house.) I'm also going to try and see if I can extend this "no eating from the cafeteria" thing a few more weeks after Easter, since I'll be done at this college by then. And saving money is really important these days.

At the library right now. I haven't actually stayed here longer than a few minutes - I came in briefly a few weeks ago to pick up The Thumpin'. I really don't like using the computers here (the one at home or the ones at school are a heck of a lot better), but I'm making do. I picked up Anderson Cooper's book Dispatches From the Edge (thus continuing my streak of reading political non-fiction/memoirs) and the sixth season of The West Wing on DVD. Season 7 was already checked out, and I'm nearly done with the 6th (only about 5 eps left, plus I watched the finale this morning when it was on Bravo), but I can watch them on TV instead of the computer, in time to spend spring break marathoning it. That is, if I don't have tons of homework to do then. I've got two weeks to figure something out.

( a few television related thoughts - House has sort of redeemed itself! American Idol continues to be lame! a fave character returns to 24! Lost! Plus, I think I could be a better scheduler that the NBC guys. )

It's Conan O'Brien's last show tonight :(((( I'm buying this and this to remember it by.