parenthesis and pants.

Last night I realized that the last couple of months have been strangely reminiscent of my first year at UCLA, almost completely because of my speechies. I used to lay on the ground in the hallways in Hedrick Hall (3 North, Baby!), and talk to people I loved for hours, regardless of the hours worth of homework I had to do. I'm pretty much doing the same thing now, only I get to sit in my office or peruse the squadroom. Yay for moving up, and yay for reliving the very, very best of times (Cheers, Charles Dickens). In example, last night I almost peed on myself when Anna McD literally appeared out of a trash can and I literally ran away (similar to that time I tried to go see The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which is a horrible, horrible movie). I have not laughed that hard for a long time (or been so near to heart failure). There you go, Emmap. I totally blogged about it.

Christmas break cannot come too soon, but the above realization is going make it full of miss-age. I think that's one of the two best benefits of Facebook: 1) alleviation of school break friend miss-age, and 2) flat out stalking.

Thank God for academia and weeks that kinda* end on Thursday. Only two assignments and fourteen and a half hours left.

*This weekend, we (as in Baby Thesis** and me) are trying a new plan: the library.
**SD is helping me brainstorm for a Thesis name. Sadly, they don't have books of options for these things. Results coming soon.

--buelsy (ready to take a big, fat sleeping pill)

catch up time.

ITEMS I LOVE ONLY BECAUSE THEY ARE VEHICLES FOR KETCHUP:
-Hard boiled eggs
-Scrambled eggs
-Eggs in general
-Hot Dogs
-Hamburgers
-Chicken McNuggets
-French Fries
-Sweet Potato Fries
-Hash Browns
-Breakfast Potatoes
-Potatoes in general
-Onion Rings
-Cheese Curds
-John Kerry

The No-Drinking-Till-My-Thesis-Is-Born Idea: Decision made. I will not drink until my thesis is turned in to the graduate college. HOWEVER, there will be three preexisting non inclusions to this plan. 1) 1-2 California Christmas Break Instances (in which it would be socially awkward to politely refuse), 2) Valenslime's Day (what's love without a little drunk?) , and 3) Complete-And-Utter (udder!) Nervous Breakdowns. Important Note: These are not intentions to deviate from The Plan, but rather last resorts designed to prevent my admittance to a mental health facility (we really just can't afford that). Furthermore, these non inclusions will be limited to 2 drinks of choice, and will not resemble binge drinking, which I learned from a persuasive speech in Oral Comm. today is very bad indeed.

In other (less interesting) news, I started taking vitamins again and now my stomach wants to kill me. Literally. It is attempting to end my life right now. Vitamins and I apparently do not get along. Ow.

I'll be in my office until late Thursday evening, doing all of the work that I failed to complete over Thanksgiving "Break." Then on Friday, best day of all days, I will collapse face down for several hours and be assumed comatose by A. Then I will doing Anything-But-School for several more hours. This may or may not include: Christmas Present Shopping, Christmas Card Making, Hat Knitting, and Writing More Blog Posts With Too Many Unnecessary Capitol Letters.

--buelsy (ouch. my life hurts.)

boo-yah.

This is very, very rad. I think along with singing, graphic design is the talent I envy the most.

I had a little bit of a break-through yesterday in the category of not smoking. I was standing in the elevator and when some random person got on at the first floor*, I thought: You reek of cigarettes. Reek! REEK! Up until now, the smell of cigarettes was like a particularly cruel waft of forbidden fruit. And don't get me wrong, it's not like the smell of cigarettes bother me now. I just don't really want to smoke them. It was hard to stop smoking in the Midwest, mostly because people still smoke in bars. At least here in Christmas Island. I think I made it though. Cigarettes reek.

*In a three story building, elevator use should be contained to basement to third floor trips only (barring special situations in which stair use is physically impossible or unwise. Like sciatica.).

I'm being snuggled by two very neglected kitties right now. It is lovely, and everything that Friday Funday is about. Oh, and Vietnamese food. And a Netflix movie called "The Incident at Loch Ness," which has the potential to be a fab duo. Speaking of duos, GO PANTS! (And by pants I mean my speechies who are in Peoria, IL this weekend, undoubtedly tearing it up). Exciting stuff.

I have a crush on: Michael Keaton. Almost time to watch my favorite/most embarrassing movie ever, Jack Frost. On that note...

Now that Halloween is over, all of the stores have begun to set up Christmas trees and Christmas merchandise at an alarming rate. There's really only a month of school left if you don't count Thanksgiving break. I remember when I was first at UCLA, academic quarters felt like forever, which was a good thing because I was having such a great time. At this time each year I would take comfort in the fact that there were still 2 whole quarters left! The fact that the speed of time increases with age is what fascinates me the most about life, and makes me the most sad. I can already sense the incredulity that must accompany turning forty: Already? Already?

Well, that was a depressing tangent. Back to nicer things, like Gilmore Girls reruns that A lets me watch without too much grumbling. He loves me.

--buelsy (no thesis today, folks)

word association.

I like Google's dependable sense of holiday spirit.

As you may or may not have realized, I had a momentary break through at the laundry room last night and consequentially felt very confident for my Prospectus Defense today. It went pretty well. My thesis is semi-different than what I thought it was, but in a good way. I have more clarity and direction now. Yay. I also have some catch up work to do on my supposedly three-fourths of the way done Method Chapter. Boo.

Speaking of "boo," happy Halloween. There's a party in the squadroom, complete with streamers, costumes, and an ouija board. I, in the spirit of adding to the party, am going to bring a hefty bit of grading that needs to be done by tomorrow morning.

Speaking of tomorrow morning, effectively, there are only two more days of Oral Communication to teach. The rest are "speech days," when they get to do the talking. There would be three left, but I'm tapping into professional liberty and canceling class so that K, A and I can drive to NCA in Chicago a day early.

Speaking of early, I want to take a muscle relaxer because my back has functionally "quit," but I have to wake up early, and in my world, muscle relaxers last about fifteen hours.

Speaking of hours, only 24 hours until Friday Funday, complete with Netflix, wine, vietnamese/thai food, and lots and lots of brain cell inactivity.

--buelsy (where's the candy?)

weekend edition #1

Friday Funday was alright—it could have been better. I ended up working on c-h’s paper until about six thirty a.m., and consequentially zonked out until mid-afternoon. Come to find out, the sleep schedule screw-up may have been in vain, because c-h didn’t even take the masterpiece on her debate trip (the whole point of finishing by eight a.m. Friday morning). It is still sitting untouched in her mailbox. In response to this situation, I kind of want to punch myself in the face. But moving on.

Several good things did happen during FF: (1) Target shopping, (2) J won his first football game, (3) Package from Bare Escentuals was finally* retrieved, and (4) A made a dinner that was not Thai, but still fab.

*Read post about the horrors of the U.S. package delivery system and weep.

A LINE FROM A SURVEY I TOOK IN 2005

"6. macs: if i could dedicate my body to the study of macs, i would."

I still feel that way.

CONCLUSIONS

• I like reading NY Times retractions. Nothing like the mistakes of the mighty.
  
• The Con by Tegan and Sara is brilliant. Best songs: The Con, Nineteen, Dark Come Soon, and Call It Off.
  
• Bare Escentuals: totally worth the over-pricing.
• I am addicted to Ambesol. This is because during stressful (all) times I chew my mouth to shreds. Neither of these conclusions can be good.
  
• My parents have broken into the world of text messaging.
  
• 43things.com is nice, but needs better aesthetics.
  
• I cannot get through another day of my life without purchasing the MLA Style Manual and Guide for Scholarly Publishing. This is sad because it costs $23.75, which is exactly $1.25 short of qualifying for FREE Super Saver Shipping.
• I need warmer socks.
  
• Fall in the Midwest: beautiful.
• Thai food tonight at Messy Manor.
  

--buelsy (against cold ankles)

caramel apple coma.

My new favorite thing to do is print out my Google Calendar and cross things out with blue marker when I finish them. The physicality of it makes me feel like I'm actually getting somewhere in life. I also like caramel apples. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

HUGE PROBLEM WITH THE WORLD: package delivery. Let's face it, most of the package-receiving world works from roughly nine o'clock until five o'clock Monday through Friday. It is very likely that they will not be home to receive their packages. Worse yet, a missed package generally not available to be picked up until shortly before the pick-up location closes. This creates a very small window of pick-up opportunity, often resulting in two or three more days of this unproductive cycle. Based on these sad facts, I propose a new system of package delivery. When something is ordered online or via catalog (who does that?), the eager customer will be given the opportunity to specify their package for "delivery" or "pick up." "Delivery" will be an exact replica of the crappy system as it now exists, available for use by those few lucky souls who are happy with the status quo. In the "pick up" option, however, the package will come to the nearest UPS, FedEx or Royal Air Mail* location. Upon its arrival, the customer will be emailed, and they can pick it up at their convenience... say, their lunch break that very day. I don't know about you, but I firmly believe this change would make the world a better place. In fact, let's move it to Number One on the Que of World Change. Forget Africa. Forget world peace.

* I ordered something from England. It's brilliant. Check it out.

PLANS FOR FRIDAY, MY DESIGNATED DAY FOR "MENTAL SANITY"

• Make a small exception to the Friday-No-School Rule and work on c-h stuff until approximately 3:00 a.m.
• Sleep.
• Work out.
• Watch Gilmore Girls while doing Girl Stuff.
• Do Girl Stuff: take a bath, do nails, put on good smelling lotion, blow dry hair, apply new (and over-priced) make-up, put on an "outfit."
• Girl Stuff pretty much includes everything in the way of personal care that is usually sacrificed for academia.
  
• Wander the aisles of Target with no general purpose.
• Call J.
  
• Call Snakemouth.
• Call San Diego.
  
• Eat Thai Food with A.
• Drink wine.
• Play with cats.
  
• Watch Transformers and Knocked Up (Thank you, Netflix. I do adore you.)
• Sleep more.

I love Fridays, but they go by very fast. Kind of like summers and Christmas. They are glimpses of the nice parts of life.

--buelsy (back to the books for twelve more hours)