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Apparently, knitting was the hobby that I most desperately wanted but never knew it until now. I've spent far too much of my time the past few days knitting up a storm, watching movies, and going to bed far too late at night.

In fact, I've knitted all the way through

My Best Friend's Wedding (as previously mentioned)

The Devil Wears Prada (better than expected)

Desk Set (classic Hepburn/Tracy: she's a librarian, he's the computer engineer who's making her job obsolete)

"Studio 360," featuring interviews w/ Tom Stoppard, Isabelle Allende & Darren Aronofsky

"This American Life," about reruns in everyday life

Bleak House - all 15 hour-long episodes of the Gillian Anderson-starring BBC series (highly recommended)

Other projects:

dropped computer off for repairs

gradually writing and sending New Year's cards

tentatively planning for Columbus visits, including New Year's Eve activities

baking

sleeping

reading Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (Christmas present!) and yuletide stories

first haircut since August, which required a 40-minute wait (sigh)

I'm ready to spend time with people who aren't family, thanks.

The "Twelve Days" meme!

For perseph12, a fine gal who celebrated a birthday yesterday. She was my official MHC Big Sister, and she'll be back for commencement/reunion, and I just can't wait to see her. :)

( *ta-da!* )

Smarties makes conversation hearts now. (I know! WTF?) Sadly, it seems the company is still mastering the art of choosing "conversation" phrases. For example, what do you do with a heart that says "HAPPY FACE"? I get that we're in the age of technology and text messaging here, but when you're passing candy hearts back and forth? You can't just smile at the person as you pass them one?

The Smarties are also oddly depressing. Yesterday, I got one that said "LONELY". No punctuation, just a simple statement. Just now, I have a "CHEER UP". Maybe it goes with the Lonely one? In fairness, that's only two that are depressing. But..."ANGEL FACE"? You're kidding, right? "PRETTY EYES", I'll let slide, compared with the others; "Hot", "Be My Girl", "Sweet Heart", okay. "BE MY LOVE" is a little too Marlowe for my tastes -- my English major is showing again, I know -- but it almost works.

"I'M HOOKED"? The appropriate response to "Angel Face," I guess.

I'm horribly tempted to do a seventh grade-style short story. Somebody give me a prompt, and I'll write a story from a roll of Smarties hearts...if we're out, then I'll use all ten from this entry.

Guess what I'm supposed to be doing right now? *points to icon* Internet, I wish I could quit you!

Happy New Year, all! Lets cross our fingers and hope for the best.

(Hi. I'm an optimist.)

What I mean is, best wishes for a fantastic 2006 and all that. A lot of us will graduate and find jobs and write theses and start doing great things with our lives.

Before all of that happens, I just want to say one thing: I need to stop going to parties that end with people throwing up. It's really getting old.

Happy Birthday, sadai!

You're the best academic cheerleader* and Suzuki partner that a girl could ask for. Hope you have a fabulous day full of good times and all that jazz!

Is there any birthday present better than a Friday without Suzuki? :)
*...with the notable exception of mirror_dancer, my personal Thesis Cheerleader, who uses the power of interpretive dance to keep me working. *g*

I'm really just not in Tom Stoppard mode today (which is a problem, 'tis true), so I'm doing a fabulous 21st b-day update instead. Because, hey, milestone and all that. (Plus I have energy now -- yay coffee and naps -- but clearly don't want to waste it on writing a paper.)

Birthday, Round 1: The day started off well, last Friday, but the evening turned into a bit of a bust. Kloss, Kristy and I enjoyed a most excellent birthday dinner at an Italian place in town (topping off my week of pasta meals with one that I didn't have to cook myself :) ). There was wine and it was happy.

( And it continues...into Round 2 )

And that's why I accomplished nothing today. On the up-side, I get to see my mommy tomorrow, AND we're having sushi. Hooray!
-

Happy (early) St. Patrick's Day!

I've been in Canterbury since Tuesday afternoon, and the weather's just lovely. (I'm expecting it to rain cats and dogs today or tomorrow, in order to make up for the beautiful SPRING days we've had.) People were very confused when I returned from visiting Kloss and Kristy in the fall, without having been to Canterbury Cathedral. At the time, I blamed the short length of my stay. The truth is, the cathedral just doesn't compare to the thrill of sitting around Kloss's kitchen, shooting the shit. Seriously. (Having seen the cathedral now, I can say that for certain. It's not that the cathedral is boring, or even somehow less cool than sitting around and trading gossip; it's just that it's not any more exciting.)

Most of my time has been spent sitting around talking about random things, catching up on MHC gossip and legitimate issues like the ongoing budget failure, and squeeing about how awesome it would be if some of us ended up in the campus apartments for next year. (We find out on Friday -- yay!) My other major accomplishments were reading Stoppard's The Real Thing (homework on break, yes, I know) and starting a Facebook group for campus techies ("I Sold My Soul to the Theatre, and All I Got Was This Lousy Black T-Shirt"). Big things, folk. Big things.

I had a great time in Bath; huge thanks again to Dorothee and Bridget for hosting me, and keeping me entertained as much as possible (while allowing me ample time to entertain myself, which I appreciate). I finally made it to the Roman Baths (totally worth it) and experienced a Sally Lunn Bun (which was slightly less worth it but ultimately saved by the lemon curd topping). My fabulous British vacation has been fabulously low-key, but I like that. Vacations are supposed to be relaxing.

I'm getting a lot of reading done, taking a lot of naps, and finally catching up on all my delayed correspondence from earlier in the semester. My pen pals in Chile and Scotland have a little something-something to look forward to in their mailboxes, as will many of mes amis aux Etats-Unis (once their postcards are purchased and written -- still behind on the Americans, sorry). There's a very good chance that I could finish all of my break-time homework, which would be amazing, since I'll have two papers and a proposal to produce within a week of my return.

Furthermore, Kloss, Kristy and I have decided that we need to facilitate the return of karaoke to the MHC social world, and that our housewarming party/Kristy's 21st birthday bash will be the perfect venue to do so. Consider yourselves warned, and start practicing now. *g*

Let the record show that I successfully completed my Christmas shopping today, Dec. 22nd, a full two days early (*frantically rechecks mental list, likely forgetting someone*). I even wrapped about half of my gifts. Go me! This is a personal best in recent years, when I've been among the desperate souls trekking to Toys R Us on Christmas Eve to fight over Legos.

I'd like to thank llogan, who invited me to join in on his last-minute shopping Tuesday afternoon; and Dad, who fielded multiple phone calls while I tried to figure out what to get for an 11-year-old brother I haven't seen in a year; and Dad's girlfriend, who I woke from her nap this afternoon to verify her coffee bean preference. Also, thanks to Stauf's coffee roasters and Heidi's Homemade (pet treats) for being within walking distance of my house, which allowed me to finish my shopping despite the approximately 2" of snow accumulated on the streets post-plowing (and 6" on the sidewalks, sans shoveling).

Further adding to my good mood: the GHPL interlibrary loan system, which granted me a copy of The Muppet Christmas Carol, which I watched this evening to truly get into the holiday spirit. A holiday staple in Dad's house (the other one being Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol -- razzleberry dressing, anyone?), I hadn't watched the Muppet musical spectacular since middle school. I can still sing along with all the songs, the boring 'romantic' song is still boring, and the comedic stylings of Gonzo (as Charles Dickens) and his sidekick Rizzo the Rat still make me chuckle. Michael Caine is my most favorite Scrooge, and really holds his own with Kermit the Frog (Bob Cratchit).  Awww. Warm fuzzies!

Best Variety news item ever:
RHYS-MEYERS TO BE KING
Eye's mini sets sights on Elvis
"Bend It Like Beckham" star Jonathan Rhys-Meyers will soon belt it like Elvis. Brit thesp has signed on to star as the king of rock 'n' roll in CBS' upcoming mini[series] "Elvis."
Heeeeeeee. *stupid grin*

I'm in an internet cafe across the street from Victoria Station, waiting for kmmatero and kakloss to arrive. The weather's crap (although it's not raining at the moment), I'm definitely getting sick again (toted the classy roll of loo paper around the house yesterday, as am too cheap to buy kleenex), and I'm still utterly sleep-deprived...but I'm so, so happy to be on vacation!

And in London, which just makes it even cooler. My housemates may be on more exotic trips (Italy, Greek islands, Amsterdam, Egypt) but dammit, I get to see people from school.

No solid plans yet; theatre, shopping, art/history museums...whatever we can come up with. We'll see.

Papers? They're finished, at least. Not going to worry about it now. However, will definitely be starting work on papers number two as soon as I get back. :) (See? I'm trying to change my procrastinatory ways! I get points for trying, right?)

Updates will continue through the weekend, of course. My poor neglected journal.