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Oh, boy…I rarely complain on this blog, but MAN I hate it when some songs are overplayed…the same six songs have been played in Kelly’s side of our room. Not just all afternoon…not just all morning…but all weekend long. All weekend. “Leaving On a Jetplane,” “Miss Jones,” “If You Want It,” “Sweet Home Alabama,” “You’re Everywhere to Me,” and one other. All afternoon. All yesterday. All evening. All Friday. Now, don’t get me wrong, they’re wonderful songs…but all weekend? All six? For up to nine hours at a time? I’m so glad I have my Discman, so I can blast Moby, David Bowie, REM, any of my 56 mixes, or any of my 20-some soundtracks in my ears when I can’t take it anymore…oh well, if this is my first complaint on my blog, then I really should be grateful to have my roommate. And I’m especially grateful to have Kelly after hearing horror stories such as Lynn’s roommate from last year, who wouldn’t even let her CS major roommate flipping TYPE after certain hours. And Kelly’s not at all like Becca’s roommate, who says LIGHTS OUT at NINE, and LIGHTS ON at SEVEN, meaning Becca has to be DEAD QUIET during those hours. Honestly, who needs 10 hours of sleep a night? Anyway, my point tonight is, living with people teaches you a lot about…how people live. That some people are content listening to the same six songs all weekend, and some people simply do not function without 10 hours of sleep, and so forth. I love my roommate…I just don’t love six songs all weekend~

Brunch was good…I ran into Grant while in line, we made plans to go to dinner at the Village this week, that should be groovin’. I also ate lunch with Sarah, a really nice girl in my Art 141 class. She’s a senior. My Art 141 class mirrors Ms Madden’s Photojournalism in that I’m the only underclassman in that group. I loved Photojournalism since I was the only sophomore in a class of seniors, and I love Art 141 because I’m the only first-year in a class of upperclassmen. It’s great. Sarah’s great too…she’s a media studies major, told me why I should be a media studies major (a possibility!). So yes, I was rocking.

Then I came back, studied for the Math 30 test all afternoon. Our Math 30 test is this Wednesday, I’m scared. So that’s why I studied, see. It makes sense. I had three welcomed interruptions during the afternoon: one from Mandy, who went with me to Motley for some Green tea, one from myself, who decided to go downstairs on the hamster wheel for half an hour, jogging 1.6 miles, then the last one from Becca, who couldn’t take her Core paper anymore and decided, if we didn’t go for a walk, she would go insane. So, I took her around the parameters of our building.

I then read a bit. Then Camille and I did some voice newspaper stuff. We then went to dinner, then Becca, Mandy, Camille, Katie, and I gathered round and peer edited everyone’s papers. I think Camille’s is the best of our lot, though I didn’t get to read Mandy’s since she had to leave. Everyone gave me some wonderful comments, and I think my paper is a lot stronger because of it.

I then went to a study break my peer mentor, Alex, was holding with her roommate, Sarah. They were baking cookies. I showed up, then had to go to church, so I went there. A woman professor said our homily; she was very profound. Then I came back, talked to Alex and Sarah for a little longer, and then I finished my Core paper. Now that that’s done, I’m going to bed~

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I did not sleep in as late as I was hoping to; I woke up around 11, lied in bed for almost half an hour, then got up. I then vacuumed, dusted, that sort of thing to the dorm. You all criticize me for my neat tendencies, but hey, we get ants pretty easily here, so you have to keep up, Kelly and I decided.

Then I headed down to brunch with the gang. I had an omelette. Omelettes are so good. We stood in the Stained Glass room, also known as the Bikini Room, and sat there trying to figure out why it was called the Bikini Room. We were all sitting there, trying to see the bikini pattern in the stained glass windows of our dining hall.

�I�m not seeing it,� I said to Mandy.

�I don�t even know what you�re looking for�� Mandy said.

�Oh, wait, I see it!� Becca shouted. �NASTY!�

�I still don�t see it�oh, wait! OH!�

Needless to say, we were cracking up a CMC guy who was having breakfast in the Stained Glass room/Bikini Room.

You all don�t have any idea what I�m talking about, do you? Okay, so last night, Dan and Mike were telling us about the Stained Glass Room (this dining room in Malott that has, as its main feature, three gorgeous stained glass windows facing the sunset). However, if you look at the stained glass windows right, you can make out a pattern that looks like a woman�s torso wearing a bikini. It looks�skanky.

But yes, we were cracking up that CMC boy while we were trying to see the pattern. When we left that room we could hear him laughing behind us.

This afternoon�devoted to Core. I sat in the Browsing Room, staring at my iBook�s blank Word document, pacing the room, sitting down, writing a sentence, pacing the room some more, and so forth. There was a nice Santa Claus puzzle that, when I was really stuck, I would take apart and redo while chewing over what I wanted to write next. I think Santa Claus makes an excellent muse. In fact, we should all have a Browsing Room with a Santa Claus puzzle in it�it does wonders for writing. Anyway, I FINISHED ME CORE PAPER! w00t.

I felt so liberated when I finished. It�s been cold out here, so it was a good day to write. It was that kind of cold where you feel coziest inside, under a blanket. As a tribute to the hideously cold weather, we all took a study break around 3 to get hot Chai tea at the Motley�mmmmm, Chai. No one makes Chai quite the way Motley to the View does.

After relishing in my happiness at finishing the Core paper, I read it aloud to make sure it made sense�then we went to dinner. Dinner was pretty good, a little starchy for me though. I�m not used to starchy.

Then the Pomona bastards tortured Becca, Camille, Katie, and me for two and a half flipping hours. They made us go to this convention with Anne D. Smith (actor for this t.v. show, West Wing). I hadn�t even heard of this lady before they told us we first-years were required to go. Right, so the auditorium at Pomona is really pretty, that�s what I�ve decided. You step inside and the ceiling is painted to look like the night sky, with constellations such as Orion, Pisces, Taurus, and Gemini winking at you. The auditorium seats are red velvet, very pretty. That was the epitome of my Saturday night: admiring the Pomona auditorium.

Anna D. Smith claimed she was �objective� in all her �journalistic� endeavors, yet why were we getting so much feeding in on minority rights? I daren�t explain it. She put me to sleep, and when I woke up, it was time to go (thank God). I felt like a two-year-old forced to sit through Mass.

My mood was not improved by the fact that she showed up 40 minutes late to her own event. That was due to traffic, she claims.

John (Camille�s boyfriend) said that most colleges force first-years to go to these events so that it makes the guest feel welcome. Basically, by making the house full of unsuspecting first-years, it makes the speaker feel �popular.� Pathetic. We�re getting Spike Lee coming in Monday, that should make up for this pitiful event.

So yeh, after that, I went home, hanged out in Katie and Camille�s dorm for awhile, then called Mom for awhile. It felt so lovely, talking to Mom. I can�t wait until the family visits in October. Mandy�s still very homesick, mostly because she has a cold right now, we had a good cry together this morning. Yep. Sweet home, Alabama�.where the skies are so blue�sweet home, Alabama�lord I�m coming home to you�

Then, Kelly and I watched the first half of The Princess Diaries, we�ll finish that sometime tomorrow though~

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I had more borked dreams last night; am not posting them here though.

Math 30 was an unqualified disaster today. It started cool—the professor was just lecturing on derivatives…(hi/ho)’=(hodhi - hidho)/hoho…I don’t think I’ll ever forget that one…

Then at the end of class, we had something like 20 minutes. And then the professor said, “Hmm. What to do? I know! Let’s take a pop quiz.” So, we did. And as I was on number 3 of 4, the professor said, “okay, pencils down.” So, I guess at best I would have gotten a 60 percent. However, after that heart attack, Professor Chaderjian said, “oh, by the way, I’m not collecting this one…”

Right, so I guess it was just a big wake-up call, on my part RE: how much STUDYING I have to do for the test on Wednesday. That sucks.

This afternoon I worked on a Core paper. Yep. Core papers suck arse.

Cusk is an anagram for suck. Interesting observation.

We had dinner with some Mudders, that was so much fun! Lia, Matt, Nick, and one other guy, ?I think his name was David or Mike? were all really nice…I love Mudd people. Maybe that’s why I spend most my Friday and Saturday nights with them.

I came home, worked on the Core paper. I’m on the bottom of page 3 as of now. This sucks.

Then we all went to Mudd where this non-alcholic party was going on…there I ran into a few Mudd guys. I spent most the evening hanging out with a Mudd guy named Dan…he was really sweet. We all went down to the Mudd Hole (this restaurant under Platt Dining Hall)…we all being Becca, Katie, Nick, Dan, ?I’m not sure of his name but I’ll guess David or Mike?, and me. That was so much fun…we ended up hanging out for close to three hours, and left only because Mudd Hole closes at 2a…

I love hanging out with Mudd people…so much fun. I mean, where else will they play Ayumi H.’s “Trauma” to dance to (and not by request)? 132~

Q: How many Mudders does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
A: 15…one to measure the amount of torque it takes, one to add up the dimensions in the room, one to calculate the exact wattage of the light bulb…and so forth….

Q: How many Pomona people does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A: One…one to stand on the chair, and hold the bulb straight up while the world revolves around him or her; thus, screwing it in~

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Added a photo section to the 1,000 hit extravaganza….click here to view.

Hmmm it looks like Google is having a birthday. Funny observation: when you are looking at the net at the hour of midnight, you get to preview all the things that the online community will be observing tomorrow. In the dead of the night.

The dead of the night…our dorms are really quiet, now that I think of it. I’d say our dorms, due to the thick walls and the fact that few Scrippsies will find themselves playing crappy rap music day in and day out, are very quiet…and I hear the first-year dorms are the loudest of the lot. Last night I went upstairs to the upperclassmen dorms of our hall…I don’t think you would had guessed there were any inhabitants in the dorm! It was like a ghost-dorm or something…one of our dorms is haunted, by the way. I think I’ve mentioned it before, but here is the full story: in Toll Hall’s Browsing room (Toll is the original building to our school), there is this chair that supposidly Ellen Browning Scripps died in. Although Ellen Browning Scripps has never visited her own campus, they moved her chair down to Toll’s Browsing Room in memorandum (can’t spell…) of her. And, well, so the story goes, students, on several occasions, have seen Ms. Scripps sitting in the Browsing Room, reading some books. This story freaks out Camille; she lived in a haunted house all her life and is therefore scared of ghosts.

You should hear some of Camille’s haunted house stories. I consider myself a skeptic of such things and she really did freak me out~

Thanks once again to Cristal for putting in the comment feature on my blog! Now, I want you all to put in your two cents for me; that’s the object of the comment feature…hmm, it doesn’t seem to be working now (maybe that server is down at 1 in the morning or something)…but, anyway, if you see it up, make sure to use it! Don’t do it for me, do it for Cristal!

Becca’s sick…poor thing keeps moaning and saying, “I feel like shit.” Then she goes back in her dorm. The two of us played Buzzword Bingo today…that was pretty funny, as usual. I have a few things to add to THE BOOK, but that probably won’t happen until sometime next week. Oh well. I’m hoping to delete THE BOOK blog once I’m done with its other site, but that might be awhile…yes, they like to load the work on us here. I think the professors delight in making sure we have no weekends or something. “Oh, it can’t be that bad,” says the skeptic, but, well, here’s the run-down of this upcoming week: CORE paper, 5-6 pages due Monday; CORE reading, 70 pages; Math 30 test Wednesday, 10 or 20 percent of grade; Writing 50, Research Paper Exercise 3; Writing 50 1P paper, due Tuesday; Writing 50 reading, 90 pages; Art 141, two Photoshop lessons (which I did tonight—yay!); Art 141, 50 pages of reading; The voice, 1 article due, 5 photos due; The voice: DEADLINE NEXT WEEK!!!!!!!!!

I really shouldn’t complain how busy I am though. I mean, hell, it is self-inflicted. Somehow. And part of the fun is, everyone in this dorm has the same feeling right now—the professors somehow syncrinize their tests and papers and the like. Meh, this week will probably be about the worst of it, save midterms and finals. So, that’s the good news. And I think next month, since I spent about an hour yesterday recruiting writers for future months, I won’t have to pick up the voice articles, so I can actually focus on other things instead.

Umm yeh. Katie and I had lunch at Pitzer today. That was really good! I had a grilled portebello mushroom with fried zucchini, and a salad on the side. The vegetables are really fresh at Pitzer, probably because that’s all the liberal students eat. But yes, Katie and I decided they definately make the best lunches. Tomorrow night we are going to try a dining hall at Pomona if we can all swing for it. It’s like a mini-adventure here, discovering all the dining halls in the CMC campuses. Katie and I both came back; however, compulsively repeating, “I love my campus…I love my campus…I love my campus…” There’s something about going on other campuses—even the really pretty ones—that make you appreciate Scripps even more. I know that was a really, really snobby thing to say, but on the positive side, we love our school!

In Art 141, after discussion, Professor Macko decided to cut off the lecture, and she took us downstairs to the Scripps musuem where we listened to lectures from artists in the area. Professor Macko is really cool that way—she has us make sure we are staying “metro” and getting out…she likes to make sure we’re not studying too much that way ~_~

Anyway, the lectures were really good! One was by a photographer professor showing his work displayed in the musuem, “Big Ken” is his nickname. The other lecture was by “Little Ken,” who had this thing on digital imaging. Both professors/artists were very talanted, and their lectures were quite interesting. I liked Big Ken’s picture of one of the Californian highways…and Little Ken said some very profound things on how art moves into science/science moves into art. I liked that concept.

Writing 50 was mostly discussion on Silent Spring…we’re reading some pretty cool things in that class. It’s nice to get a bit off Frankenstein though…in Core they keep using it though. Damn you, Frankenstein. Camille screams every time you mention the F-word, and I don’t mean, “fuck.”

Mandy and I had dinner at McCalister, with Fr. Wayne and the Catholic community. There was lots of pizza, and we talked a lot. The people there are very nice, quite amusing. I love the feeling of community in the church. It’s a small group, and Fr. Wayne is determined to make us feel very comfortable there. I’m not used to feeling so familiar with my priest and Catholic community, but I really like it at the same time. I mean, at St. Andrew’s youth group we sort-of knew everyone’s name, but already there is a lot of bonding in McCalister that not even 12 years of St. Andrew’s people got. I can’t really explain it…Claremont’s just cool like that. I guess that’s why they keep it small, so that the individual may develop through a tiny, nurturing atmosphere. I feel like I’m in a secret club that way.

Mandy was feeling a bit homesick, so Teddy decided to spend the night with her so she might feel a little better. Teddy brought his own pillow and everything.

Mandy and I also discovered an exercise room in Scripps—right across from our dorm, and open until midnight! We’re so there in the evenings. So, we were there today…I worked on the walking/jogging machine, walked/jogged 1.5 miles for 1/2 hour while reading. It feels so good to move the body; that’s the reason I do it, if anything.

Then I studied a bit, went to the Motley and brought Mandy back something (poor dear is freaking out over our Core paper…most people are…myself included, to some degree…). Then I did some Photoshop, took a shower, and now am off to bed. I feel like such a wuss, going to bed at 1a, but whatever, I’m tired. i have been getting about 8-9 hours of sleep per night this entire time here (WAAAY more than high school)…I want to try to get a lot though, so I don’t get sick. Night, all~

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PS The Site Meter is at 999…eh, good enough! WELCOME TO THE 1,000 HIT EXTRAVAGANZA!

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(and now Cristal takes over the blog…) WOW this blog really gets around doesn’t it? LOL… MUAHAA. Cheesecloth.

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12 more hits and we’ll be having a 1,000 hit extraveganza on Blogger! So, everyone, I want you all to make sure you’re getting your hits in so that the Site Meter (scroll to the bottom of this page, in case you’re wondering) hits 1,000 soon! I’ve got all sorts of surprises planned for all of you. It will be a blast!

This morning we played Buzzword Bingo in the Core lecture. I got the first Bingo (”humankind,” “Nature,” “inequality,” progress,” and “philosophy”), but then we decided to play Blackout (where you get as many Bingo’s as possible). I think Becca hit two Bingos that way, so she won that round.

Kelly and I went to the overnight hosting lunch. Basically it was a group interview with people wanting to do overnight hosting. What we are going to do is, we are going to take prospective students and have them spend the night in our dorm. We also show them around during the evening/morning that they stay. Steffany Perez (the lady who interviewed me when I was a prospee—I think very highly of Steffany) oversees the overnight hosting, so she and Sofia (our R.A.) had lunch with us. Steffany told us that this year we are having even more prospees than last year, which is boggling her mind, because she thought she saw the worst of it last year. I guess it’s just showing a common fact—more people want college, so it’s a given that more people are going to be applying to college. Now, with Scripps and the Claremont colleges, there really aren’t that many small, liberal art schools in the west, so I think there is a growing demand for western liberal arts colleges. The result is, since the Claremont colleges are pretty much the ONLY liberal art colleges out here that are, if anything, a little well-known, the demand is growing more and more. Also, there is a lot of expansion happening out west, so we need to consider that as well. The result? More people are choosing Scripps (yay!).

Right, so about an hour ago I got an email from Sofia saying that Kelly and I made the cut; we get to be overnight hosts. I’m looking forward to it!

Art 141 was a little frustrating. Not by too much, but just one little detail. I don’t mean to undermine anyone, but I had to share an iMac with someone today, and the person hadn’t even started with the Photoshop lessons (I was on Lesson 7). This person also kept asking me dumb questions that had he or she read just ONE of the lessons, this person would have known quite easily how to do it rather than asking me every two seconds. Mind you, I actually like this person very much, but was a little exasperated with her constant questioning.

So, eventually I just went ahead and used the computers upstairs in the lab. I finished the lesson (THE MIRACLES OF THE HEALING BRUSH/PATCHING TOOL ARE PHENOMENAL! OKAY, ANYONE WHO DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO USE THESE TOOLS, YOU MUST LEARN THIS! EMAIL ME IF YOU WANT TO LEARN!). Then I worked on the special surprise for you all (another reason I’m anxious for you to start the 1,000 hit extravaganza).

Writing 50 really surprised me. We had draft 1 of our paper due in that class and I honestly expected my paper to be ripped apart, hated, and condoned by two of my peers since we had to turn in two copies. Ms Caples always undermined peer review, saying that it’s a professor or teacher’s lazy way out of r/r-ing a student’s essay. However, Professor Retseck collected one copy of our papers, and she had us exchange with one peer the other copy. Professor Retseck read one of our papers, and the peer read the other copy…it was a wonderful exercise! I felt like I got excellent feedback from both my peer and my professor—very cool. I walked out of the class smiling.

Dinner was pretty good…not much more to say on that topic. I got in the mail a package from the Spa Shoppe (thank you, Lee!), a letter from Cristal, and two letters from Dad. That made me feel special.

After dinner, I took my Core paper and Writing 50 paper to the Writer’s Haven…I love that place! It really helps get my gears going, the mentors are VERY helpful with my writing and help me acheive my goals.

Then I finished my second draft for Writing 50, and I then went online, talked to Jessie-chan. She told me that Sarah’s brother, Andrew, has three tumors in his back…let’s all say a prayer for Andrew before going to bed, okay? Did you know that prayer has been scientifically proven to work, by the National Science Foundation? Those who get prayed for have a 30 percent better successful rate than those who do not get prayers. So, I’d like Andrew to get a 30 percent better chance that his cancer will turn out okay.

After that, I went to a Study Break downstairs, in the Rec Room. The theme was “Back to Kindergarden.” We colored, had snacks (graham crackers, juice, pretzels), played Twister, and watched Toy Story 2. I brought back my colored picture of Strawberry Shortcake and hung it on the wall~

There is a huge fire going on in the mountains of Claremont—it’s not close enough to hit us, especially considering it’s traveling north, not south, but man, it’s ugly looking. The entire ridges of the mountain are aflame, and you can see it quite dramatically. Becca and I looked at it at dusk tonight, and Becca said that last time she saw something like that was in Hawaii, when a volcano was erupting. Pleasant~

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This morning I got up and felt like singing! But before then, I had a dream about someone (won’t say who! Bwahahahaha!). I dreamed this someone was in agony and feeling very, very depressed about something unsettled. So, I gave that person a hug when I got out of bed. I reached into the air, pretending to hug that person, and gave that person a small kiss on the cheek. Then I said, “It’s okay, [person]. There’s no need to be upset at all.” Then, I swear, I think I felt that person on the other end relax and heave a big sigh. It made me happy.

Then, I worked a little on The Voice newspaper. After that, I went to math. Because everyone in that class is dumb (well, okay, not dumb, but not understanding the homework at the same time), Professor Chaderjian didn’t assign any more homework and spent most the time answering questions. So, Camille and I have no homework tonight since we did it all the night before! As Camille said, “the day is mine!” We did; however, go to Office Hours just to make certain we got the right answers (100 percent for both of us! See why you have a math buddy?).

Then, I stole some food from Malott, and then Camille and I headed down to the Huntley Bookstore, where Camille dropped off some film, and I picked up some prints. After that, I read for about an hour. Now I’m waaaay ahead, this kind of sucks. Because now I’m sitting here thinking, “I should study. I should study. I should study.” But there’s nothing to study: my writing paper is done, I have a thesis for Core (that paper is due Monday, and I thought it’d make a good weekend activity), my reading is done, I’m even ahead on the Photoshop lessons Professor Macko has us do independently.

So, I decided to do my body a favor, and I went swimming in the pool. That felt really good. After that, I did my Core paper for a bit, then we went to dinner. The line there for this pasta meal was worse than some of the Disneyland lines I’ve seen. The pasta was good, though Camille and I somehow ended up with double shots of oil, which was a bit nasty towards the end of the meal. Katie and Becca really liked their pasta though. Mandy decided not to fight the line, and had roast beef and potatoes instead.

After that, I went to the lab and scanned in some photos for you all to peruse. Yes, I did some photoshopping to it, too, mostly Gradients, Sponges, Curves, and a bit of masking as well. The first picture was not too good, though. You all have to tell me what you think! Anyway, if you didn’t get the photo album, it’s because I don’t like you. No, I’m kidding! Kidding! email me and I’ll get back to you. I also gave THE BOOK a new look (though soon that one will all be on geocities).

After that I was not very productive. I just kicked back, talked to some people on AIM, catching up, the like. Always fun~

Our showers. The showers in the GJW Hall are very nice. Most things at Scripps are very nice, but I always find myself appreciating the showers here. Located in the bathrooms (dur), they look a little like bathroom stalls. You can hang your bathrobe on the door to the stall, naturally. As you walk in, there is a little shelf that comes down—that’s meant to be a shaving-stool. You walk behind the curtain, and there are the lovely showers. And, the showers feel pretty new since this is, after all, the “New” Hall.

I know, it’s a weird thing to comment on how one enjoys his or her showers. But I just would like to let you know, Ms Gabrielle Jungels-Winkler, I appreciate the showers you financed~

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Which HP Kid Are You?

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Heh…last night was funny. You’ll have to ask me why though; it’s not your business if you don’t know!

Right, so, I got up a little early for me (10:30a!!! Yeesh!) then went to brunch with the gang. Then I studied. I worked on a craptacular Writing 50 paper…I really don’t like what I’ve written, but I imagine I can get people to chop it up for me.

Then I did some calculus, that was beautiful. I had dinner…then did two Photoshop lessons from the book (I know channels and extractions now!). After that, I went to church. Fr. Wayne is his usual jolly self. We took pictures of the community. Thursday is a pizza dinner over at MacAlister…I signed up. Then Becca, Katie, and I went to the Motley for non-caffienated beverages. I had this thing called Mint Starlight; it was SO yummy. It gave me the hiccups though~

Did I mention…I’m learning a lot right now. It’s not just the classes; it’s the way people are. And it’s the way people act or behave in this world. I still can’t get over how people can conduct their lives this way, or that way, with that much or little sleep, or that much or little food to go with it. It’s just all the little quirks; people are so human. I would not guess the same people in class are the same people in the dorm or at the parties…it’s just life, I guess. People love to deceive. It’s a big game, really. I suppose it all boils down to Plato’s Cave: we live in a world of appearance. We are trapped people looking at mere shadows on the wall, and what we see we believe to be the truth~

By the way, I learned what it means to be speaking British. Here is an example of speaking British:

“If I like British, this nation is functioning. Indeed, British is interesting.”

If you can find the pattern, I’ll give you a cookie…email me on the subject!