Monday, November 30, 2009

It's gonna be a bumpy ride....


The wireless is down all across campus. So until they get it fixed, I'm stuck begging ethernet cable usage off of people in order to get homework done or holing myself up in the library at the computers. I'm sooo looking forward to the next week or so while they try to fix it....
Not really.
At least I got to relax at home with working internet access for the weekend. Now I have to deal with stress over getting work done and turned in for classes on top of unresponsive internet and a cold. I'm either going to annoy the heck out of my room mate or become very well acquainted with the computers in the library. Maybe both....

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Thankful Giving

I am so thankful that I was able to go home for Thanksgiving. It was so great to see my family and friends and eat wonderful, flavorful food. I was able to spend time with my older brother and introduce him to my favorite Indian restaurant back home. And I went and saw Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day with my dad and my brothers as well as The Blind Side with most of my extended family on Friday (I wanted to see The Fantastic Mr. Fox, but somehow got shut down.... but The Blind Side was a really good movie too). I had a beachfront Thanksgiving and didn't have to really wear warm clothes all weekend. And I was able to hang out with most of my chamber choir from last year (and sing Christmas carols and Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day while making s'mores and goofing around). I ate at In-N-Out yesterday and had coffee with one of my really good friends and I somehow managed to visit my church this morning for a little bit before I had to run to the airport in order to go back to school. It's been a great visit and I can't wait to go back in a few weeks for Christmas Break and see everyone I couldn't see and spend even more time with people other than a few rushed minutes.

Wednesday:
(driving to the airport)
(waiting for flight #1 to Portland)
(getting a head start on Othello for Reading)

(flying over Oregon. watching random mountains pop out of the ground. quite different from the nearly continuous hills and mountains of California)

(Facebook for 3 hours....)
(goodbye Oregon!)

(flying so high, you can see the moon mid-afternoon above good ol' California)
(getting picked up from the airport-HOME!)

(I missed my puppies so much!)
Thursday:
(palm trees and sail boats and sunshine on Thanksgiving)
Friday:
(Starbucks in the morning=love!)
(banana stickers are so awesome these days!)

(reading Time magazine....)
(we play Canasta all the time in my family)
(the neighborhood cat, Calisto)

(driving to see The Blind Side. my cousin is quite odd....)
(at the movie theatre, I discovered that my 8-year-old cousin and I can basically wear each other's shoes. and that my 13-year-old sister now has bigger feet than me. why am I so short??)



(I got my younger brother for the annual cousin Secret Santa. it's not so much of a secret anymore because I couldn't really read his handwriting and had to ask what he wrote down....)
(we drove home so I could go to my choir reunion. my camera decided to essentially fail me and almost none of the pictures I took were in focus. but I had lots of fun with my friends.)
(my little brother tagged along 'cause most of them are his friends too)
Saturday:
(IN-N-OUT!!!!!!)
(I've been craving it for a really long time and I finally got my In-N-Out cheese burger)
(good things)
Sunday:
(driving to the airport)

I'll be boarding soon for my final flight back to school. I've been spending the past 4 hours sitting at my gate in Portland with a cold. Having a stuffed up nose on an airplane is not fun. I thought my head was going to explode when we were landing in Portland....

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

smooth sailing

Airports are interesting. Lots of people and luggage and me in the middle freaking out about check-in. And then I realized that it was actually very easy and got over it. Aside from check-in anxiety, I'm actually a bit of a pro when it comes to airports by now. I travel a lot. But this is my first time flying "solo." So far it's been fairly easy and I'm just hanging around until it's time to board in about 45 minutes. I've been up since 6:00 so I'm kinda tired, though. I'll definitely be sleeping on the plane. And reading War Without Mercy for my Pacific/Asian history class during my three hour wait in Portland. Or Othello. Othello isn't so dry. All that can really be certain for today is that I will be home by the end of it and there will be many a Nutri-grain bar eaten today. Cheers.

Monday, November 23, 2009

a homecoming

LESS THAN TWO DAYS 'TIL I GO HOME!!!!!!!!

I'm quite excited. I get to see my family and friends. (And drool over Sean Patrick Flannery....)

All I can talk about over these past few weeks or so is going home and what I'm going to do once I'm there. It just turns into my go-to conversation topic. I think some of my hall mates are getting annoyed with the constant mantra of "home home home!" coming from me while I practically bounce in my seat from excitement. And now the last few days of classes are here until I can get on a plane and fly down to sunny Southern California! I only have one more class tomorrow and then I have to finish packing and setting my room in order so that I don't leave a big mess lying around for five days.

So here's what I've got planned so far:
Wednesday- Spend all day in airplanes. (ugh) Land around 4:00-ish. Go to dinner with the family (including my older brother who doesn't live at home anymore but is still in the area, unlike me) at my favorite Indian restaurant. Go see Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day with my dad and older brother. (so excited! Sean Patrick Flannery!!!!)
Thursday- Go down to my relatives' in New Port Beach for Thanksgiving feasting.
Friday- Spend more time with the relatives and hang around at my grandparents' house. Get grilled about college life and whether I have a boyfriend or not.... (ugh) Then drive back home around 4:00 in order to get ready for a Chamber Choir Reunion! (I get to see all my lovely choir nerds!!!!)
Saturday- Hang out around town and probably see friends from school who are in town. Go to a party at my friend's house that evening and see even more people from school and back home.
Sunday- Hopefully go to church and see everyone there that I miss terribly. Go to the airport and spend the rest of the day in airports and airplanes. (3. HOURS. in the Portland. airport.... ugh!)
And sprinkled all throughout there will be trips to In-n-Out and possibly shopping and Starbucks and chocolate chip pancakes and napping on the couch and cuddling with my puppies! It's going to be GLORIOUS! Especially since it's going to be in the 70s and 80s while I'm there. Yay!!! That means shorts and dresses and no coats!!!! My friends who've lived up here their whole lives think there's something wrong with me because I think 70 degree weather in November is normal. But it's not my fault I come from a fabulous area with great weather for most of the year. I'm getting used to the 30s and low 40s.... I just miss the sun. And I'm definitely going to get it when I go home on Wednesday!

Friday, November 20, 2009

ending and beginning

Today marks the end of registration and the end of the tiring school week. Today, the weekend begins! So what do I do after my last class? I catch up on this week's episodes of Bones and Fringe on Hulu. They were really good too. I love those shows. I didn't really have much else to do. Everyone who had registration (one of my friends called it "regifrustration") today were busy selecting classes and stressing over the whole process.

Thankfully, everything worked out with my own registration yesterday. I was really thankful that I had transferred credits from my American Sign Language classes that I took in high school. There were a lot of classes that were full when everyone was registering tonight. So a lot of my friends are on waitlists. I got into all of the classes I registered for. It should be a good schedule. I'm getting some easy-ish classes out of the way for my major and one of my minors. And I'm taking a SHAKESPEARE course!!!! I was so glad I got into that class! I'm just kinda bummed the Creative Writing class I wanted was full.... I've been dying to take one for forever since they never offered them at my high school. But I'll just take it next year.

(watching Bones and Fringe)

(it was a very relaxed day today. a jeans and t-shirts and cardigans kind of day)
"It is important that students bring a certain rafamuffin, barefoot irreverence to their studies"
~Jacob Chanowski
(it's an old Juicy Couture perfume ad but my friends ripped it out of an old magazine and gave it to me because it reminded them of me and we were being goofy at our dorm activity that night. but I really like it anyway. I loved that campaign with all the colors and whimsy and funky stuff going on. I taped it to the wall.)
(current book for my Honors Reading class. the newest Toni Morrison. I like it. it's different compared to all the other American Slave Narratives/Fiction that is out there already. she set it in the early days of slavery, not around the Civil War like most others.)
(I love love love pockets. in anything. especially cardigans and dresses.)
(trying new camera angles....)
what I wore: shirt-Alloy, striped cardigan-Target, skinny jeans-Pac Sun, bracelet-Forever21

(5 days 'till I go home for Thanksgiving!!!)

Thursday, November 19, 2009

new places and old friends

So first off, I am registering for classes in about an hour. But there's issues with the web site so I'm kinda freaking out. Hopefully everything turns out okay and I can get the classes I need and want for the rest of the year.... yikes!

And second, I've been really anxious to go home since Fall Break (a few weeks ago). I know a lot of people up here that came to school with other people that they knew from their areas of from their own high schools. I'm the only one from my area or school up here. So I get kinda lonely. However, one of my friends from high school goes to the other university in town. We've been meaning to get together and hang out since school started, but we've never had the chance. Last night, though, I was driving around with some friends and we decided to have dinner at his school since we have the same meal plans and our food comes from the same company and it would all work out. So I called my friend and we decided to meet up and finally hang out. A whole bunch of scheduling conflict got in the way, but we finally managed to hang out around 9:00 last night after everything was said and done. It was a lot of fun to see him and talk and catch up. I was kinda jealous of the couches they have at the coffee shop at his school, but mine's smaller and the campus is less complicated, so I win! We had to wait for him for a little bit while he had a meeting, so my friend and I had an impromptu photo session with the statue of his mascot in front of the field there.

(we made "bull dog faces")
(oh! what big feet you have!)
(and then tried to ride on his back.... we're too short....)
(this is what I wore yesterday. I need a new coat. I wear this one everyday 'cause it's all I have for this weather. but I won't give up wearing skirts and dresses, even if it's 30 degrees all the time!)
what I wore: dress-Forever21 (modified into a skirt), tights-American Apparel (by way of my older brother), hooded peacoat-Alloy, ballet flats-American Eagle
(pictures taken at Gonzaga University)