We Came to Learn the Sea

So there's a few things I want to put in this journal. One thing is reactions to things that I watch/read, because I feel like it's fun to do that. Another is a record of how my summer is going.

I saw The Hunger Games last week, and it was particularly fun.  I really liked all of the acting (particularly Jennifer Laurence as Katniss), and, to be honest, between how it was shot and the acting and the way it showed and developed that world, I really liked it more than I enjoyed the actual book, which was a fun read, but not anything earth-shattering, whereas the movie was excellent.  I feel like the story that it tells is just better for a movie.

I've been watching Once Upon a Time and Smash. I've finished the season of the first and am still about halfway through the season of the second. The former is just all-together really solid and fun, with good acting and well drawn out interpretations of the fairy tales(*coughDisneyMoviescough*) and how they all fit together. I love all of the parent-child relationships, especially. The latter has a lot of promise and great characters, if they would just stop sleeping with one another and being catty. Which is probably the main reason other people actually watch the show. Go figure.

I just read Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson, which is mostly about dead animals and mental illness.  It's very David Sedaris-esque, but a bit more surreal. Her blog is also fun, though her style gets a little monotonous for me after having read a couple hundred pages of it.


Okay. My summer plans.

I'm growing a garden this year. A humongous, could-feed-a-family garden. I'm growing beans, carrots, lettuce, chard, spinach, soybeans, tomatoes, fennel, eggplants, zucchini, radishes, arugula, corn, and something called sunberries (a form of huckleberries.) That's if I'm not missing something. Before I got to Vermont from school, my Dad tilled a huge amount of earth for me to grow these on, and over the last couple of days I have removed the stones from that earth and raked it to get out more stones. Soon we need to form the beds, and then I think I can finally start planting.

Oh, and that list does not count the herb garden that I am planting separately, which includes rosemary, basil, parsley, and shiso, and probably other stuff that I haven't gotten yet. We've been hitting plant sales, which is wonderful, including one by a friend of the family who had a stroke recently and who we probably won't ever buy plants from again because this will probably be his last year due to the stroke and heart problems, so it was very emotional for me to go buy plants from him one more time.

I'm also planning on doing a lot of hardcore baking this summer. Lots of bread, possibly some other things. I want to hit up a Japanese grocery so I can do some Japanese cooking, but time will tell if I get a chance to do that at all. I'm definitely going to try to make Tiramisu. I've got good ladyfingers and an espresso machine, and I can probably find some mascapone, so why not?

The main purpose of this summer, though, is to work on my health . . .which I've kind of been putting off. I want to find a good psychiatrist, it's just that I've had such bad experiences that I'm not sure I can bring myself to try. But I will.

And that's all I feel like typing right now. See you.

I'm back in Vermont now, and I will in fact be returning to SJC as a senior.  In fact, apparently I was being so silly that Mr. Maistrellis, my language teacher would not stop teasing me about thinking I was going to be kicked out.  ("Do you always let personal fears overcome logic?")  So we packed up, drove home, got back here at 5AM, and I promptly developed a cold.  I think all the stress in my body just finally fell away and all I was left with was sickness.  That's my not medical at all me being stupid explanation of events.  So now I'm at home, listening to NPR and reading about the history of sushi when I should be reading War and Peace.  I hope to have an eventful summer, and may post the details here later.

See you all!

It's been a very, very long time since I've posted on here.  More than a year, but, well . . .here I am again.  I don't know why I decided to show up on livejournal again, since most of the things that kept me here are either gone or irrelevant, but I'm sitting here waiting for lab to start thinking about all the things I need to do and I decided to post.

Maybe I'll be active again.  Who knows?

Well, here's what's going on with my life:  I'm almost done with junior year of college, my father and I are totally reconciled, and I am going home in a week for a full summer.  I've had a major internship last summer since I last posted, and that was a big deal, but also really stressful, so I'm just going to go see a psychiatrist, a dentist, and a driving instructor this summer so I can perform some much-needed self-maintenance.

I've also done badly in school this year and I'm terrified of being asked to leave.  I'll find out Monday.  So, yeah.  That's my life.  I need to go take a shower and do things, but, who knows?  Maybe I'll be back here again.

     For Spring Break, I've followed my boyfriend home to Santa Fe.  It's really awesome out here.  Last Sunday, we climbed Atalaya, the larger of the two mountain trails that start out on the St. John's Santa Fe campus.  It really was beautiful up there.  I'm from a state that has mountains (green, specifically), but Camel's Hump, while beautiful, really is no comparison to the mountains out here.  It has also been a very long time since I had gone on a hike, and I really miss doing so.  My hands turned into small balloons for an hour or two due to the altitude, but it was worth it.

       Tuesday we spent all day hanging out with botanicalmoment and drinking tea at a Tea House, which I wish I could visit on a more regular basis, because it had as many teas as one could imagine, with a very nice atmosphere.  It was really nice to get to hang out with botanicalmoment , and we ended up wandering for a while looking at plants and art and chatting about anything.  We pretty much left my poor boyfriend behind conversation-wise, as we are both extremely obsessed with botany and I kept asking her about different plants because her knowledge of west coast plants currently surpasses my own. 

     That night we went to a play at the Santa Fe campus.  . . .it was weird.  There were two one-act plays, both written by students.  The first one was a murder mystery that consisted mostly of puns.  It had one fun running gag and a fun ending, but was really awful otherwise.  The acting wasn't exactly bad in that it seemed that the actors were being directed to overact, but the writing was just annoying and the directing not particularly helpful.  For example, the cast were seated on the stage, rather than on the raised platform on the stage, making them difficult to see unless you were in the front row.

     The second play was well-done for what it was, and comparatively very good.  It was about a gay clone that falls in love with his mother.  Yes.  It was.  I am not making that up.  If that seems contradictory . . .well, it sort of was in the play, too.  It starts out with a tense family conversation between a pressuring father and his son at the dinner table, with his mother and friend just awkwardly sitting there, watching.  It is mentioned that the father runs a eugenics company.  Then the son and his friend reveal that they are gay lovers and the father runs out muttering about gene clusters.  Then it turns out that the son is a clone.  Also, he's not actually gay, his father is, and his (surrogate) mother has been paid to be his mother his entire life.  Then the son asks his mother if she has any maternal affection for him, she has she did, but only in character.  Then they make out.  Then the gay lover runs off in a huff, and they both end up beating up the father.  Then the son says he's going to leave town and kisses his mother again.   . . .it was WEIRD.  However, the acting was remarkably good, especially the mother, and the play really wasn't taking itself at all seriously.  ("I can't look at your face because it reminds me of his face but I can't look at his face because it's buried in her face!"  Also, the father and son are named Eugene.

     Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were spent working on a draft of my Sophomore Essay, which I finished Saturday morning.  I'm not at all sure it's any good, and I'm probably going to look over it again after posting this entry, but I fired it off to Mr. Beall, so we'll see what he thinks.  Saturday afternoon - evening we hung out with botanicalmoment again, pretty much just chatting and eating frozen yogurt.  It's been really great to see her.  Yesterday . . .I'm not even sure where yesterday went.  I managed to read some Descartes, but didn't do much else.  I'm going to try to be more productive today, especially since I have two prize entries to write in addition to my normal work.

     My boyfriend's family has been trying to "plug up the holes in my film education," so they've been showing me movies that they think will accomplish this:  My Fair Lady (which was really fun and contained Audrey Hepburn), 12 Angry Men (which blew me away.  It makes use of everything it has and does it perfectly,) A Fish Called Wanda (which was a fun movie to watch, but I'm not sure how much I actually liked it,) L.A. Story (which I liked considerably more than A Fish Called Wanda, mostly because it just had a fun sense of humor that it never really lost track of,) and the first half of Judgment at Nuremburg (which I will finish tonight.)

    
     On Wednesday we're going to go see Tent Rocks and eat dinner at Upaya Zen Center with botanicalmoment , and then we're heading out for a road trip on Thursday to see Chaco Canyon, heading to Taos on Friday, and then going to some mineral springs place.  We head back Saturday, and my boyfriend and I fly back Sunday.  Other than fun, this means two thing:  One, I need to try and finish any work I need to today and tomorrow.  Two, I will hear about my internship when we get back, supposedly.  I will try not to think about it during the trip so that my head does not EXPLODE.

Speaking of my internship, I've been trying to sort out the summer.  There's an apartment I'm trying to sublet (the same one I lived in last summer,) and I've been trying to get housemates together.  Since nobody knows yet what they'll be doing this summer, I've spoken to five people and gotten one confirmed, and several possibilities.  We shall see what the future holds.

Huh. This has been dead since August. I don't know why I feel like posting now, except that I'm sick and bored.  I stopped updating because I didn't people were reading, but now I don't care.  I want to update for me.

About half an hour ago I experienced severe muscle pain in my stomach. Essentially, I was reduced to a state of lying my upper body on the table and not moving. noxelementalist and my Math Tutor rushed to my aid.  I'm kind of worried I was too abrupt with the latter, but I think he understands, considering.  My boyfriend then walked me back to my dorm, which is on the other side of campus.  Now I am laying on my stomach and feeling better, unless I move to any other position.  Great.  I sound like a tragic heroine.

Other than that, not a whole lot is going on.  I'm applying for an internship at the Smithsonian that I think I stand a decent chance of getting (fingers are crossed here) ,and I've been working on a project with a tutor I don't have class with, bleaching and staining leaves.  So far we've gotten to the stage of mounting slides.  Mr. Maistrellis told me that one of my slides looked professional, and I swear, that man is enough like a grandfather that it's hard not to swell up in pride when he compliments you.  (Actually, being Greek, he does resemble my grandfather, who was Sicilian.)

I keep meaning to make a map of back campus and use my dichotomous key to identify and then label all of the trees, but I will probably be meaning to do that up until I graduate.  I need to find more time to botanize.

Speaking of which, my roommate showed me StumbleUpon, which is disturbingly addictive.  I've been just setting it to botany and spending hours reading articles.  Did you know that in California there are 8 albino redwoods?  Since redwoods sometimes reproduce by sprouting from a parent tree, these albino trees, unable to photosynthesize,survive by sucking nutrients from the parent tree.

Also, there is a berry in West Africa that makes acidic things taste sweet.  It's marketed as a sweetener in Japan.

Also, my music class is amazing.  So is Chaucer. . . .I should really elaborate there.

Oh well.  Maybe later.

Okay, so, this next school year I'm going to try to update this again, and switch from the occasional long entry to probably a pretty short entry every two days or so. We'll see.

The school year starts in 17 days now - Yes, I've been counting down. I have realized that it is really hard for me to sit down and learn outside of a structured environment - I need something breathing down my back to motivate me. . .otherwise I pretty much end up sleeping all day. Although, my job more or less leads to my sleeping all day anyway. I love my job, but I am looking forward to being able to shift my lifestyle, because while I'm less exhausted all the time than I was at the beginning of the summer, it is extremely tiring. On the other hand, due to this experience I am now vaguely considering joining crew next year, because I feel that if I can take waking up at six for seven hours of gardening, I can take waking up at five for two hours of rowing. There's a huge difference between a short period of intense workout and a long period of less intense workout, but I've gotten generally stronger and more in shape over this summer, so I'm going to go through the learn to row program, and then we'll see. Most likely, I'll just end up doing aikido, but I need to do something physical next year, and it isn't going to be fencing, for several reasons. Aikido is something I reasonably experienced with, so I will probably return to it, but crew intrigues me.

Anyway, I have not reviewed as much as I intended to this summer, although I have been able to reach the major turning point I needed to with math, I think. So, this weekend will pretty much be my studying Ptolemy and Greek. Also, baking bread. Also, re-reading Genesis. Also, sleeping. Sleep is good.

Thursday I missed class for the first time.  It was Seminar, too.  I'm not happy about that.  I managed to become suddenly ill at about 6:30pm, and sleep until about 10, which is when seminar ends.  My black hat attended without me, however, worn my by boyfriend.  Mr. Higuera apparently told him that it made him look rakish, and that the hat should take notes for me.  Unfortunately, it did not, though I am told I did not miss a very good seminar.  Nonetheless, I wish I hadn't.

Also, the reading was the first part of Theatetus, which is mostly about knowledge and perception, something I would have loved to discuss.  Ah well.  Tonight's seminar is on the second half.


A friend of mine has recently compiled a list of grievances against me, including comparing him to a Catholic schoolgirl(it was not the kilt, it was the knee-high socks that led me to this remark), joking about wishing to photograph him posing in his customary bathrobe(he wears it instead of a coat) with his core group(which is entirely female), and making (joking) inquiries into his personal life.  He has decided that the proper penalty is that I purchase for him a teddy bear.  As this would be the most ridiculously cute thing in history, I intend to go out and do so this afternoon.  I have not decided whether it is inappropriate yet to present it to him before Lab(we both have a tendency to get there ridiculously early, so it would not be while class is in session.)  I have decided, however, that it would be inappropriate to purchase one that is either pink or decorated with a heart, especially as I have a feeling that this would only add to his list of grievances against me.


The Troll 2 and Casablanca movie screenings were both ridiculously fun, though I actually found the former to be the more enjoyable, mostly because there really were some hilarious comments being made.  Also, it genuinely was just one of the worst things I have ever seen.

Today was a day that basically ended up doing a complete 180. I woke up at about 7:30 after staying up until one(by no fault of my own, I had a very strange and bad stomach cramp while in someone else's room and was unable to walk for a couple of hours, delaying my eventual sleep.) I then got up, went to a math class that I had prepared for, but not as thoroughly as I should have and thus had a rather miserable experience, mostly because I was completely exhausted and had a pounding headache. I then went through lunch rather groggily, at which point autophage offered caffeine to ethelflaed  and I by means of espresso.  This was pretty much the turning point of my day.  After that, I was in a much better mood, and went excitedly to lab, only to find that it had been canceled, as had almost every other Freshman 1:00pm lab, with the exception of my roommate's, which makes me feel somewhat guilty, but it does mean that I and about six of my friends got to have an EPIC SNOWBALL FIGHT on the quad, which ended both in a random reporter taking our picture and us trekking over to CVS so I could get hot cocoa.  I have to say, I seem to be a very dirty fighter in terms of snowball fights, as I was guilty both of grinding a fistful of snow into one person's face(as the person is about twice my size and ridiculously strong and resillient, as well as having an immune system of steel, I feel no guilt about this), and of turning a deadly face off into a completely random yet adorable hug(as I am dating this person, I feel no guilt about this.)  The best moment was probably when one of our friends, a very tactically minded aspiring mad scientist, went to his room to get his gloves.  This resulted in the rest of us crowding around the entrance to his dorm with snowballs in hand.  He saw us from the window, so he was prepared, but not unscathed.  Also, it eventually turned into three females versus three males, though that ended poorly for us, as none of us girls had particularly good aim.  Or vision.

And then, there was cocoa, cookies, and good conversation!

Classes are going all right.  Our Parmenides seminar last night really was not very good.  Or rather, we had two brief, clumsy conversations on the dialogue, separated by a completely unrelated conversation about morality and human nature, which was actually very good, but COMPLETELY IRRELEVANT.  Our Greek class is pretty awesome, though - we're going to be moving onto real translation before long.  I didn't get as much reviewing done during my unfortunately climactic break, but I have almost nothing to do tomorrow, so I hopefully will then.  Math, well, math is awesome, but I have my own issues with it.  I should be able to resolve those soon, though, I hope.  So far, this is looking to be a good semester, and I definitely feel steadier and more secure than I did at the start of the year.

I am very much looking forward to this weekend.  My boyfriend is screening a ridiculous and horrible movie, Troll 2 on Friday, there's an impromptu Casablanca showing Saturday afternoon, and Sunday, several of my friends and I are going to go to the mall for the day.  I am very much looking forward to all of these.

Also, I have been watching a lot of the new Doctor Who.  It is awesome.

I used to talk about fiction, or about unimportant things quite a lot in here, but now it seems I talk mostly about my life. For that reason, it seems best to lock this journal for the use of only people I am friended to. I am starting to become a bit more reserved in who I friend - I used to be very lenient and open about it, but as my circle of friends becomes more centered in reality and less in the internet, this is less the case. Still, everyone I am friended to currently I certainly wish to keep, and anyone who feels they should be friended to me, feel free to comment here.

Thank you.

The last year, for me, has been a mixed bag, but quite exciting.

May the next year, for all of you, bring whatever it is that you are looking for.

I apologize for my silence, and I will post here again in more detail in the morning. But for now, Happy New Year, Happy 2010, and I hope that you are all having a great deal of fun.