I am so excited! I just got back from the college and I found out that I am 3 classes away from graduating! 3! I have history 110 and 111 and then I have French 101 all over again. Of course, before I transfer I also need another lit lit class and to retake English 102 to get a better grade.

I'm a good student, if somewhat of a procrastinator. French 101 was the last class of the day on Mondays and Wednesdays and I just couldn't bring myself to go enough so I had to drop it. I actually loved the class but I fell behind, which sucks because I'd be that much closer to graduating if I didn't have to take it AND I sold my book so I will have to buy it again in Fall. That sucks, but it's my own fault.

English 102 was not my fault. I probably would have gotten a B but I showed up at 4 to drop off the final and my final paper in which I was arguing about how Hamlet would be redecorating his room and using the text as well as artwork and other things to back me up. What a wierd paper. Because the teacher had an appointment on our last day of class he extended the turn in time to another day. Unfortunately he said by NOON and having shown up at 4... I basically screwed my chances of passing that class. I am surprised I didn't get a failing grade and I am actually very sad that I let this teacher down since in 98 when I had him for 101 (that's pre-marriage and pre-baby) I was being diagnosed with migraines and on all sorts of medications for it and accidentally turned in a copy of one of my previous papers instead of the paper that was due, and ended up getting a C. Then to make matters worse, when I had him for 102 I promised that I wouldn't screw up again. hahaha. yeah right.

So. 5 classes and I will be over at CSUB working on my bachellor's degree. Whee!! I'm sad because the email I sent to my current instructor re: the research paper and should it be in blog form on writing research papers or should it be on how the traditions of storytelling and morals from religion are being replaced with fantasy books and movies such as Star Wars, etc, was bounced by the craptastic sever they have at the college.

And now for the Happy Feet...

There's yet another cg animated movie coming out this year, it's called "Happy Feet" and the trailer is very amusing. It looks like it will be a cute film. Think "March of the Penguins" meets "Drumline." The trailer is available on iTunes and you can get it on the official website: http://www2.warnerbros.com/happyfeet/ It looks like it will be fun. You will probably want to view the trailer through iTunes or through the quicktime page http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/happyfeet/hd/ because the trailer on the official website is TINY!!!

Take care, angela

I am feeling vengeful.

See, once upon a time I had a fair weather friend who finally showed her true colors. And it ended badly (of course it did--- with her involved how could it not end badly??)

So her ex husband is on the phone with me and all my rage just comes flooding back into me. Seriously. I want to go punch something. So I looked her up on myspace (why do people even bother with myspace? it's a freaking eyesore) and omg I have never been made to feel nauseaus by writing so quickly in my life.

Her hero? She say's it's her mom.
This would be find and dandy. IF SHE HAD SPENT THE LAST 15 years telling me what a cow her mother is, how evil her mother is (and I know this first-hand) etc etc etc. *barf*

grrrrr

In further news, Barry has his surgery date, he will be having laporoscopic hernia repair on bilateral hernias March Fourth. He is, of course, terrified out of his wits. :)

grrrrr argh. I hate(d) my computer. But now I lurrrrrrrrrrve it. Cuz it's new!! I have a new computer, lalalala.

If only new computers could arrive @ your house with all of your favorite programs already on them and ready to go.

If only new computers weren't finicky little bastards about hooking up to your internet.

If only your new (hp) computer would recognize your old (but still kinda new) (HP) printer.

But... the high of having a sweet new HP Pavillion with a 515 Intel Pentium 4 processor, 512MB of memory, 200GB hard drive, DVD rw with LIGHTSCRIBE, and a beautiful desktop friendly flatpanel display that could compete with the widescreen flatpanels we used in the multimedia lab... *swoon* my my my. Other than that we're good.

My poor SP7--- I recieved your stuff and loved all of it! Megan enjoyed the candy too. :) I will have a pic soon, along with a pic of my new toy (hehehe) I feel like I have been a bad SP because I haven't mailed anything--- I'm bad bad bad. I need to get to the post office and soon.

BUT I have a question to ask everyone.

I have a research project that I need to do for this semester of English 103 (Guerrilla Tactics in Rhetoric as the intsructor puts it) and I cannot decide on what to do it on. It's driving me mad and between you and me I think that this is what lies at the heart of my troubles as far as paper writing goes: what to write about. The term "research paper" makes me break out in an ice cold sweat and want to run, screaming from whatever building I am in at the moment I hear it. Hahaha.

So. We were instructed to write about 100 or so words on 3 topics. I chose (of course) knitting, travelling, and food. But on my way home from picking up the pervert(dh) in San Jose we talked about doing it on fandom. More specifically, StarWars fandom.

Also, when we present the research project it can't be in standard 8-10 page written form. It has to be something else. Any suggestions?

angela

quin·tes·sence (kwĭn-tĕsəns) N.

1. The pure, highly concentrated essence of a thing.
2. The purest or most typical instance: the quintessence of evil.
3. In ancient and medieval philosophy, the fifth and highest essence after the four elements of earth, air, fire, and water, thought to be the substance of the heavenly bodies and latent in all things.

I was watching last Thursday's episode of ER and the title was "The Quintessence of Dust" and I just loved it. :) So I am using it in my title.

Tonight I walked to the postbox to get my mail. I love taking this walk--- which shows you just how far I have come since the surgery. Sure, I have lost 54lbs, but I have gained a quiescence that is rooted deep in me now. I never took the leisurely walk before because I had TOO MUCH TO DO! I was TOO BUSY. But now, the walk is something like a restorative for my psyche. It calms me and brings me inner peace. I can cuddle my inner child and all of that bs. :) All spirtual psych stuff aside, it's been wonderful for me.

Tonight was no different, except that it was. As Megan and I rounded a corner we came across the young lady who walks our dog (she's 11 or 12 I think) and Megan begged to go with her. I said yes and off they went. I was left to do something I have never done alone... finish the walk.

As I walked alone I noticed all the kids playing, the way the shadows lengthened as the sun slipped beyond the horizon, and the smells of the neighborhood. I was trasnported back to my childhood when the moment the streetlights came on was the MOMENT I had to be home and inside, OR ELSE. I remembered stopping the production of mudpies in my friend's yard because it was time for Punky Brewster and how in the evenings of the whole week I was at Outdoor Science School (camp during the school year) all me and my bunkmates could talk about was how we were missing ALF.

The smells of the neighborhood washed over me and although it's just the 11th of February it felt and smelled like summer. There was the clean smell of cut, wet grass mingling with the smell of dirt from the playground; someone was doing laundry and the enticing smell of downy frolicked on the breeze. But the most intoxicating scent that hung in the air, bold and seductive was the charcoal and beef smell of a barbecue. It wafted in the air flirting with my senses coyly, tempting my sense of smell and making my belly rumble.

It was very nice. The package from my SP7 waiting in my mailbox wasn't bad either.

Thank you sp7! I will post pics later. But for now, the olympics beckon

Well I made it through the first night of the Olympics. I felt this vast sense of awe and amazement (the same one I feel every time it's time for the Olympics) watching the parade of nations. I felt part of a singular entity--- all over the world people were watching or had watched the same thing I was, but this time I was connected to over 3000 other people, because I had my knitting sitting in my lap and I was about to embark on an adventure.

I knit for the whole 3:45 of what I watched of the opening ceremonies, until I ran out of yarn. I ended up killing 2 skeins of fun fur completely and 2 other skeins most of the way. I am on row 10 of the first set of *inc 1 st at the beginning of every row for 20 rows* or the area where the back legs attatch. Right now my bear fur rug is more of a stripey polar bear than anything else and more than anything I wish I could remember where the hell I put all of the fun fur that people donated me.

Pictures to follow in the am. :)

thanks to Delly Bean

webdreamy -- [noun]: A poltergeist sent back in time to change the course of history forever 'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

i absolutely LOVE my definition. it rocks.

Daniel Powter's "You Had a Bad Day"

But you know... listening to it just makes me feel even crappier, instead of "singing a sad song just to turn it around" it just keeps getting worse.

It's some major blah blah nasties. I am pretty sure it is a mixture of SAD, hormones, and malnutrition. Gotta get me some damn vitamins.

Angela

So I am feeling stressed and depressed. Woo hoo. Well last night I tried to go to sleep but the damn dog got caught on a tree again (no this is not a dream this is real life) so I had to go rescue him. Apparently Roadkill doesn't understand how to manuever backwards once he gets his tie down caught on anything. So once I did that I thought, "screw it, let's have some tea" because I haven't had my nightly cuppa in about a week or so. While the pot was boiling I went to the bathroom and decided that I would take a little extra help getting rid of my headache.

At that point I was not thinking clearly--- I swear. I ended up taking some of Barry's valium (crap shhh don't tell) and then the Zicam in my tea. Dumbass Dumbass Dumbass, I know I can hear you ALL saying to me. Dumbass. Yep. By the time I finished my tea I was kind of out of it. I had to hold the wall to walk to my bedroom. BUT!! I did sleep. Right through Astronomy lab, and the first two hours of kindergarten. :( And then I came home and slept some more. LOL.

But now I am half awake and hurriedly typing away at blogger instead of my damn paper.

Want to see a horrific comic I made for school? It's all about my writing process...

CLICK HERE

You'll like it, if it makes any sense, which I hope it does. Blah it's so much fun to be in a wierd English class. I am also going to post paper one, not that all of you are incredibly interested in my writing... but maybe someone will read it and call me a dumbass.

ciao! angela (the major dumbass)

Finally Friday! So today I amused myself by taking a trip to Supercuts and getting my hair cut. Yeah. Eh hem. Let's see how well that went:

Actually, not too badly. We'll have to see how the haircut holds up after I get it soaking wet and my hair springs back into badly behaved action. Today has been a long pisser of a day. I am tired, exhausted, and generally cranky. But my hair is nice, I have groceries, and the house is clean. What more could a chubby girl want?

I decided to join the YarnHarlot Knitting Olympics, are you ready? I am actually going to attempt to cast on the bearfur rug and cast it off during the Olympics. That's 68 inches of bearlicious rug, and the rules say nothing about sewing up so I am good. It works out to 4.25ish inches an evening, which shouldnt be too hard on size 15 needles with a woolease/funfur combo. Hahaha, here I come Olympics!

This week I have been very glum. I went to see Hostel yesterday with Will and had a great time. It was, as to be expected, very bloody, very graphic, and very nasty! So of course it cheered me right up. I laughed my head off at one part that was all tense with dramatic-y goodness (is she gonna give him away, oh no!) and then the innocent bystanders get splattered with blood. If I had been on the set I wouldn't have been able to contain my glee. "No! No! We need more blood! More blood!!" On a side note, I think that Barry and Eli Roth would get together cuz they have a similar sort of personality/sense of humor as evidenced in their scriptwriting.

My favorite two lines from Hostel were as follows:

"He got groped by Edward Saladhands!" this was so freaking hilarious I almost died laughing---seriously, it took me a good five minutes to stop laughing. Edward Saladhands. LOL.

"I hope bestiality is legal in Amsterdam cuz that chick is an effing sow!" ok so this one is mean but at the same time it struck me as amazingly humorous.

contrast this against one of my favorite lines from Roadkill
"Oh, I don't know. Those guys never give you any help and besides, it's not like he knows anyone in the cutthroat world of the badmiton tournament" (which btw was edited from "anyone in the porn industry" because the actress and her fiancee felt the porn remark in a horror movie was inappropriate...) rolling eyes.

Anyhow... let me know what you think about my hair--- I feel like I could take washington dc by storm, if Barry was ever to have a seat in the house of lords... well hell, I'd have to sport this hair cut again. If you don't get my crack... I mean I have politician's wife hair. See below:

I bet some of my readers are like me and they get sick of hearing me say "I've been depressed lately"

The sad thing is I know that cleaning my house could get me a little out of my doldrums but try as I might I am having a hard time CARING. God.

I was writing to my secret pal, regaling her with stories of Gargomel the neurotic (he's only been with us a week and we've given him a neurosis... amazing since guinea pigs are supposed to be lovable and friendly little critters) guinea pig. Yesterday evening after I returned home from yet another horrible attempt at going to the uppity bariatric *ahem* support *ahem* group I set Gargomel down for some floor time and he promptly claimed the realm beneath the couch as his kingdom. At which point I had to lay seige to Castle Berkeliner. Lucky for Gargomel it was after 10pm and I didn't have much fight in me... so the battle sat, waiting to be resumed another day.

That, dear readers, would be today. Knowing my opponent as I do, I cannily strew carrots and celery around the battlefield, and laid in wait for the tenacious Gargomel to come out from hiding in the Castle Berkeliner... which he did, repeatedly. I curse the fact that I outweigh him by about as much as the Earth outweighs the Moon, as he is far more fleet of foot than I. However, I have a brain capacity to go along with my gregarious size and eventually my foe was conquered, returned to his cage, and tortured with many horribly off key renditions of pop songs as I sat ON the Castle Berkeliner and entertained myself with American Idol on tivo.....

Since we're talking guinea pig... I think mine is crazy. Note that he once tried to drown himself in a glass of blueberry pomegranite juice (trying to drink it of course) and that today as I sat down to my supper of six cheese product filled Bugles he began to sing in what can only be considered painfully mournful chirps until I popped a Bugle through the bars of his cage. It was the first time he stuck his nose between the bars of the cage and begged for food. It was adorable. Later, when I dined upon two mouthfuls of frozen cheesecake (yum!) he began to prance and sing again so was given the barest taste of cheesecake and now I have ruined him forever...