Song of the Month: "When I Fall" by the Barenaked Ladies
Song of the Day: "Love Like Winter" by AFI (Note that this song will be despised come January, because I'll be sick of winter by then.)
In all honesty, this week has been the most unfun yet, despite a plethora of highlights. This is due to the fact that I have been staying up much later, eating much less, more sporadically, and fighting a sinus thing which I haven't been winning because of my inadequate self-care. So, with that being said, my Monday sucked, my Wednesday night sucked, and Thursday during the day sucked to. I was thanking God all week for the three day weekend.
Despite feeling physically miserable, I have had much to be pleased about. Last weekend, as you may know, I spent with my Dad. We went to see a production of Man of La Mancha, which was fantastic. Ironically, I wore my Gatsby shirt to the show and it occurred to me that both James Gatsby and Don Quixote have significant parallels as characters. Both being delusional idealists, I naturally find myself inclined toward both characters. Eventually, I need to read Don Quixote, but preferably after I read I Once Was Lost and The Wind in the Willows. (Also need to read Frankenstein, Dracula, and a novel Haley recommended. Ah! Too many books!)
My weekend was fantastic, as Grandma made me a splendid dinner Saturday night and Aint Kathy took Dad, myself, James, and David to a Turkish restaurant with amazing food. The restaurant is owned by a man named Ibrahim Parlak, a man who was granted political asylum by the United States after being imprisoned and tortured by the Turkish government for 17 years because of alleged connections to a dissenting group in Turkey. However, as the United States has tried to get more on Turkey's good side, they have declared said group as a terrorist organization, despite the fact that this group poses no threat to the United States whatsoever. Now, the immigration courts are planning to deport him, but there is a petition online (which, as a legal citizen, I was happy to sign and comment in paragraph form on page 39) to keep him here with his family and his restaurant. I tried to find a good, non-biased article online about the situation, but I'm not sure what article Aint Kathy found that we read last weekend. The petition itself, though, does a good job of outlining the situation, and I do have the link to the petition. Please check out the situation, and if you feel the same way I do, please sign the petition. http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/freeibrahim/index.html.
Okay, now that I've gotten my social justice out of the way for the week, I can celebrate two other events that occurred last weekend. The first is the stash of rosemary and olive oil bread now sitting in the freezer here waiting to be baked for me. ^_^ The second is ALL OF THE BEATLES ALBUMS REMASTERED! I love just looking at them, but they sound fantastic too. Especially White Album Disc 2. If anyone wants old copies of my Beatles CD's, now I don't have anything to do with them. Email or comment letting me know if you want any of the following:
Rubber Soul
Revolver
Please Please MeHelp!
Beatles for Sale
Abbey Road
White Album Disc 1Past Masters Vol. 1 & 2
The White album and Past Masters have labels, because 1 is the original CD and the others my Dad just made to look like the original CD's. Can't pass up that deal, can you?
In addition to being sick on Monday, it especially sucked because it was the last Salsa class. I have definitely learned my share and look forward to teaching Emily (and whoever else asks) what I know. It's sad, my Monday night motivation has vanished. But no worries about my physical activity: capoeira will definitely keep me busy. Thursday night we had a guest come with musicians and he led us all in some basic moves and we even got to participate in a roda, which was so exciting. I was very honored to get my ass kicked by this guy, as he was amazing. Though I doubt I can ever get that good, I look forward to improving to the point where I can spar slightly less newbishly with a guy like him. If it hadn't been for capoeira on Thursday, my entire day would have just been miserable, but it was so much fun and we did it for two hours, during which time I forgot that life existed outside of that room.
A very spiritually inclined week. At girl's bible study we were challenged to actively apply 3 fruits of the spirit to our daily lives this week. I decided to pick the ones I felt I was struggling with most at the time, since anyone could potentially fulfill any three fairly easily, or so I think. What's sad is I know the seven deadly sins better than I know the fruits of the spirit. Goes to show that we view sin as more fun.
At chapel hour, Rev. Luckie decided to talk about the Sabbath, and how it was actually created for us. God knew we needed rest at the end of the week, as he did at the end of his, and therefore he gave us the Sabbath to recreate ourselves. She then made the connection between the words "re-creation" and "recreation," and so chapel hour was spend playing Wii sports, molding play dough, and blowing bubbles. Thanks to Wii sports, we have discovered that Barrack Obama is better than Jesus at tennis, but Jesus is pretty good at bowling. (I challenge all of you with a Wii at home now to create other historical figures with WiiMii's.)
Wednesday too, was active. Intervarsity cohosted with the Atheist, Agnostic, and Nonreligious group a discussion between atheists and Christians. The two co-presidents of the latter group were the panelists for the atheists and representing Christians was one of the bible-study leaders and a professor from University of Illinois. The discussion went alright. Unfortunately, the more interesting topics never really came up. What was interesting about it, though, wasn't so much the discussion, (though the professor was amazing and made me wish I had his class) but some of the observations I found myself making. Atheists, I've noticed, who tend to be heavily involved in atheistic organizations or dedicate much of their time to being atheist, tend to be reactionary. Two clarifications on that last statement: 1) I am not saying that atheists themselves are reactionary, there are plenty of atheists out there who simply don't believe in God. The ones who tend to be outspoken and active about it, though, are generally reacting directly to a religious experience or experiences. My logic here is that when Christians form groups, the idea is to advance in their faith. Atheism's only real advancement can be in their argument, since there isn't much advancement in what isn't there. By forming groups, the point is more to advance knowledge in the argument against God and, therefore, the more active atheists are reactionary. 2) I am not using the word "reactionary" as synonymous with "aggressive," because that simply is not the case. The atheists on the panel were hardly aggressive, and most aren't. Reactionary simply means they are responding to the existence of religion. Being reactionary is not necessarily a bad thing either, debate is healthy for the mind and challenging conventions is important in a society. Therefore, on both of these premises, I am not making a criticism of atheists active or not, I am simply stating an observation. The reason I'm spending so much time on a disclaimer is because I know just how many atheists read this, and I truly don't want to offend anyone. The easiest way to do this would be not to mention it, but the integrity of the Web Wall Journal would be damaged if I didn't share my thoughts, now, would it? Therefore, a disclaimer is in order for me to express these thoughts to those I love both atheist and Christian alike.
Anyhow, my other thoughts revolved around how easy it is for a discussion to develop into a debate. Some people really are incapable of discussion, because they cannot resist giving the last word to somebody else. Other people are willing to ask questions and absorb answers. I am a discussion person, though as I said before, there's nothing wrong with a debate. However, there is a time and place for a debate and it is not when other people are waiting to ask questions. I love debaters, they make life so much more interesting, (hence why so many of you reading this fall into that category) but it is so important to acknowledge when you are that type of person and either learn to taper it for the correct occasion or just avoid occasions when it is inappropriate.
Now, this Wednesday was the highlight of my week, and not because of this discussion, but because Randel visited! I am getting quite good at my tour-guide skills here for IWU (they should be paying me for all of my shameless promotion) and I gave Randel, Sanders, and the respective parental units a tour before they took me out to eat (yeah! No Saga!) and then to ISU. I was actually very impressed, they have a beautiful campus. Too big for me, though. I'm glad I am where I am. Oi, seeing Randel was nice and I can tell I miss everyone back home. Looking forward to Thanksgiving break when I can bother everyone and nobody can stop me from sentimentally hugging everyone! What's funny is I send out these updates once a week stuffed with information about what I've been doing, and they still don't feel competent to explain everything I've been doing. I feel like I have so many stories. Randel, hope I didn't talk your ears off too much! I'll try to taper my excitement down a bit over Thanksgiving. `Twas awesome seeing you!
Now, if this update has not touched controversial soil just yet, I have one more thing. Thursday, believe it or not, was actually a good philosophy class discussion. (Only took two months...) The more I'm reading out of Legalize This!, the more I find myself frustrated indignant with the current legal policies relating to drugs. I had a facebook status earlier in the week about how my 70 lb sister takes prescribed drugs that could kill me, yet marijuana has never killed anyone on its own, and it isn't legal for even doctors to prescribe. Those of you who know me can attest to the fact that I'm not really that into drugs: they haven't really interested me for recreational use that much. However, even I can think it's wrong to punish drug users who have not hurt anyone except maybe (debatably) themselves. I got a handful of responses to this status, but the most interesting one was definitely from Trevor (whom I hope won't sue me for reproducing the comment here in this update) below:
"What's interesting is that the federal government has apparently forgotten why it pretty much banned the cannabis plant in the first place: to protect tobacco. Now that everyone is out on a witch hunt against tobacco smokers I get the feeling that the notion of protecting that particular cash crop is done for. So in theory cannabis should have been legalized again, but the reasons were so twisted to justify the ban that now even Congress has forgotten why it's predecessors actually banned it in the first place."
Again, I'm all for abstaining from drugs, but that doesn't make everything our government rules just.
(I stated earlier that I'm a discussion person, but on this topic, I think I'd be perfectly willing to debate.)
Backing off the controversy here for a bit, my weekend, thankfully, started Thursday night. After capoeira I spent from 8:30 to 2 with Michael and his friends, whom I was very pleased to discover were very enjoyable people. It's hard not to love people who will converse with you about qualities Hitler's generals and William T. Sherman shared. It was a great start to a relaxing weekend, which I spend writing an essay, completing German homework, and, on Saturday, eating lunch with my mom and Papou before giving them a tour of my campus. Because Sarah (and 70% of the campus) went home for the three-day-weekend, I was privileged to enjoy a very quiet weekend of peaceable solitude. Last night I watched A Prairie Home Companion (the movie) with Dane from Intervarsity. (The one thing I didn't expect to find here was someone who has listened to A Prairie Home Companion on the radio, but life is full of pleasant surprises.)
And, here is the important part of what I did this weekend, I finally typed up the modern-day Christ story and it is attached to this email. The last week (or two?) I have conveniently forgotten to attach a story. Even if I had remembered, I probably wouldn't have attached the only story that seemed relevant to my life at the time because "Intimate Friendships" has a very, very select audience. (The very few of you who know the story should also have at least a vague idea of why that one has been on my mind.) I also won't be attaching a story next week, as a favor to you all. You'll understand when you open the attachment for this week. Please keep in mind it is unedited and feedback is always appreciated.
Now, until my quiet weekend comes to a close, I will go and write letters. In the meantime, everyone take care and I look forward to hearing what you all have to say!
Janna
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Youth Ministry and My Professor Trimming Bushes
10 October 2009
My youth ministry class yesterday was extremely disappointing and made me pretty angry. I genuinely enjoy all of my other classes and used to enjoy this class as well until yesterday when we had two new teachers who are going to teach the rest of the semester. They are not from the college and they are quite terrible. At the end of the five hour class they had us all say something that we learned and I couldn’t think of anything. I ended up mentioning something that I had already thought about before so that they would let me go. The class was a complete waste of time and I didn’t even agree with some of the material we went over. On top of that, the class reminded of high school all over again. We were talked to as if we were in high school and our homework was to regurgitate exactly what we had just discussed. The class was so terrible that I left outraged which is a shame because I was really excited about the class before. I figured that I would give them another chance before I drop it but the more I think about it the more I am considering not even going back next week.
On an upside I just walked past one of my professors on my way to the grocery store and he was trimming the bushes. They were really overgrown and made the sidewalk useless so this great guy who, among other things, has a PHD from Harvard was nice enough and humble enough to trim the bushes for us all. What an awesome guy!
Dave
My youth ministry class yesterday was extremely disappointing and made me pretty angry. I genuinely enjoy all of my other classes and used to enjoy this class as well until yesterday when we had two new teachers who are going to teach the rest of the semester. They are not from the college and they are quite terrible. At the end of the five hour class they had us all say something that we learned and I couldn’t think of anything. I ended up mentioning something that I had already thought about before so that they would let me go. The class was a complete waste of time and I didn’t even agree with some of the material we went over. On top of that, the class reminded of high school all over again. We were talked to as if we were in high school and our homework was to regurgitate exactly what we had just discussed. The class was so terrible that I left outraged which is a shame because I was really excited about the class before. I figured that I would give them another chance before I drop it but the more I think about it the more I am considering not even going back next week.
On an upside I just walked past one of my professors on my way to the grocery store and he was trimming the bushes. They were really overgrown and made the sidewalk useless so this great guy who, among other things, has a PHD from Harvard was nice enough and humble enough to trim the bushes for us all. What an awesome guy!
Dave
Monday, October 5, 2009
Web Wall Journal #7
Song of the Month: "When I Fall" by Barenaked Ladies
Song of the Day: "Miss Murder" by AFI
It was a few years ago now, on a Lake Michigan beach, when I first witnessed this art form. The sun cast soft pink upon the sand as it dipped behind clouds and toward the water to the west. Dad, Nathan, Demetra, Aint Kathy, James, and myself heard the sounds of a drum ensemble from farther inland. Still dripping, we meandered across the cooling sand until we found the assembly of congas, bongos, and djembes. The rhythms were enticing, subtle for the conclusion of the day, with the potential energy latent for the time being, and I was content for the while simply to watch them. Then two young men stepped forward and crouched. With the rhythm behind them, they wove back and forth, then began to spar—but not the way I had seen one spar before. Their movements were coordinated and deliberate, each offense and evasion perfectly timed to follow the beat set by the drum ensemble in the background. The scene was enrapturing and I could not take my eyes off of this foreign spectacle of dance and martial art.
Why do I tell you this story? It was that night that I first witnessed the Afro-Brazilian martial art known as capoeira, and afterward, I never saw anything like it ever again. Now, three or four years later, I am learning how to do it.
Sarah discovered the class last week and went to check it out. When she mentioned it, I immediately remembered that night on the beach and decided, yes, despite my limited athletic ability and lack of background in martial arts at all, I was going to take the class. So, on Wednesday, I went to my first capoeira class. Though my legs were sore for two days afterward, (yet another testament to all the sports I never played) I am absolutely going again this week. Though salsa makes me just as tired on Mondays, I can feel capoeira wanting to alter my body. The two combined are definitely going to keep me more physically in shape than I've probably been since junior year, when I was obsessed with the weight room.
To celebrate my rediscovery, my latest mixed CD is called Capoeira. It's not a CD that will go out to everyone, not like Blasphemy, because it is a specifically tailored mix. Some of you are aware that Nathan presented me with a challenge over the summer, to make him a mixed CD of songs he didn't know that I knew he would like. Well, with Nathan, music is either pass or fail, so it was a bit of a project, but I know him well enough that I only had one "bad" song on there. (My brother will never like Pearl Jam, so I have come to accept that fact.) Capoeira came about in a similar fashion. Last Saturday after watching Stalingrad, Michael mentioned that he was actually a bit picky about music, and didn't necessarily like it when people made him mixed CD's, because it was always the music the CD maker liked. How could I resist that challenge? So, I took a little bit from basically every mix I've made in the past year and decided to see if I can pull it off.
On the topic of music, I seriously recommend some lyrics checks for song of the month. "When I Fall" takes this perspective of a seemingly prosaic character and intertwines him with these incredible emotions and thoughts. The song itself is beautiful, but the lyrics are just poetry. As for the song of the day, it may end up being the same group for a while. AFI has now grown to be a compulsion and I cannot get enough of it. I haven't reacted so obsessively toward a music group since HIM my freshman year of high school. For some reason, the group just really works for me right now, though I am limited thus far to one concert CD. (This will be changing ASAP if my life depends on it.)
Also, as far as weekly perks that go along with this, I acknowledge that last week I failed to attach any writing to the email. That was because I forgot, but even if I had thought about it, I don't think I would have attached the story that was on my mind all week: "Intimate Friendships" is a story I wrote for a very small group of people, and it would have felt wrong sending it out to almost 30 people. So, we'll just say no story last week was appropriate. This week, I'm attaching a story I wrote my sophomore year of highschool, a mile-marker in my developing perception of the world and people called "Condemned Beauty." Next week, I should be sending my latest (now finally finished work) "Blind to Its Own Beauty." Yes, the modern day Christ-story is now finished. I just need to type it, which is a task in itself that may prove slightly beastly. We'll see.
I don't know how everyone else has had it, but we have had both the most beautiful days and the most bitter days here in Bloomington this week. Personally, I like it that way. On Monday, the weather was so beautiful, and I was pleased to receive a text from Mark asking if I wanted to take a walk with him and enjoy the glorious weather. Naturally, I did, and we agreed to meet outside of Buck Memorial Library after I was done with my German tutor. I was sitting on the steps to Buck and I get a text that reads something like, "I'm in a tree on the quad in view of Buck. Come find me." So, like an idiot tourist in Chicago, I start wandering aimlessly around the quad, staring up in the trees hoping to find Mark. He gave me a hint at one point, telling me to go down the sidewalk to the right of Buck, but not the one farther back. There are three different sidewalks leaving that direction from Buck, and I took the second one. After a few steps I get another text saying, "wrong one." Eventually I did find him, though his green sweatshirt made him especially difficult to find. He enjoyed watching my helpless self searching the leaves for the enjoyment of any other students out and about that day, but we took a lovely walk and I discovered where the dollar store is. Quite useful.
That same night after salsa, I went with some of the girls from my floor out onto the quad to watch them try to fly kites. The other Sarah on our floor (who actually reads this blog, I found out) and I talked while the girls failed to get the winged plastic into the air. What Nathan, Demetra, Dad, and I have with the Beatles, she and her family have with Alice Cooper. I only have two albums, (Killer and School's Out) but she still found me worthy of her concert stories. She's also made me best-of CD's. More music for Janna!
Also, this is a little blurb for Nathan, this morning I met someone at brunch named Butters. It's actually his last name, and it was his before South Park created the character, but I thought it was pretty amusing. What's even funnier is that he's nothing like Butters from the show, he's actually more like Nathan, especially with his humor.
So, aside from South Park and Alice Cooper, classes are alright. My schedule is officially full, and I have invented a new word for my state of being: "whelmed" is the state of stress that is not quite overwhelmed, but could be a precursor to the condition. I am not overwhelmed, simply whelmed. I might need to drop Intervarsity praise band, since the time consumption every other week is pretty intense. I'm going to try to keep with it, but I haven't been on top of my chem term paper research as I should be, and if something has to go, that's going to be it. We'll see how the management goes, but this week's Tuesday and Wednesday were so crazy, I don't remember much outside of the fact that I was exhausted after thirteen straight hours each day of insanity. Though I do distinctly recall making biodiesel fuel in chem lab on Tuesday. My lab partner and I were assigned Canola oil and got a 70% yield. I thought it was cool, but I can be kind of a geek at times.
Our philosophy essay tests were finally given back to us, and mine had a "good job! A" on top, with no writing anywhere else. Part of me was slightly disappointed that I had no comments or feedback, but then I started hearing a lot of people groaning and many variations of, "I know I deserved an A on this!" I suppose I shouldn't complain.
But feedback is important. In poetry, we did some peer editing for our latest essay, and my partner marked one thing on my paper and said she couldn't find anything else wrong with it. I was flattered, but at the same time, I knew that just because my peers couldn't find anything wrong with it, didn't mean that my professor would feel the same way. I met with Dr. O the next day to go through it and get her comments, which were all very helpful. She loved the paper, actually, and despite the few things we agreed needed tweaking, she said she could understand why my peers couldn't find much wrong with it. "You're such a good writer," she said, "They might be a little intimidated." I was so honored to hear that from a college English professor, knowing I'm only a freshman at a school where writing is very highly valued. Honestly, I wasn't expecting to hear any true praises on my writing until at least my junior year here. It was a nice addition to my week.
Otherwise, my week has been full of various unanticipated activities. I managed to lock myself out of my room, have been woken up in the middle of the night twice by the central heating system, (which sounds a lot like people in the pipes with crow bars trying to compose the most cacophonous, twisted symphony you can with crow bars and a massive pipe system) and discovered something extremely valuable in Bloomington that nobody told me was here. I have found a Jewel Osco. SQUEE!!!!!!!!!!!! Though, I have yet to go in and buy the precious rosemary and olive oil bread that fulfills my carbohydrate-influenced endorphins. Never fear, however, because next weekend I will be going to Indiana to visit Dad and see a play. He will feed my addiction.
On that topic, because I will be out of town for next weekend, the next update will either go out on Friday or on Monday. There is a small likelihood I could get it out on Sunday, but realistically, everything happens on Sunday nights with my crazy group. Last Sunday, I ended up not finishing my letters because I was invited to play a game of werewolf with them. It's a great strategy game that involves deception, teamwork, treachery, and theoretical executions. I can't wait to teach everyone over Thanksgiving and Christmas break.
Otherwise, I've been watching a lot of movies and shows this weekend, so I'm going to a moment of movie/TV show reviews. Friday night they were showing The Hangover at the student center. It was actually pretty hilarious, with some moments that just make you cringe, but the basic premise of the movie is that these three guys go to Vegas with their friend who's getting married in two days for his bachelor party. The next day, they wake up and can't remember what happened the night before. And the groom is missing. I enjoyed it.
The twins also own the Arrested Development DVD's, so I've now seen the first two episodes. I've heard only good things about the show, but never seen it until Friday. So far, it is quite funny. It has kind of a similar sense of humor as The Office, though not in the mockumentary form.
All of this was following the Justice League party that Young hosted before we went to see The Hangover. Basically, a bunch of us claimed various places to sit in his dorm where we could see the computer screen and watch episodes. I also finally saw Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog there. Aunt Lizzy recommended it to me, but I, unfortunately, knew everything that happened. Matthew had already told me all of what happens over a year ago. It was still very entertaining and bittersweet. Dr. Horrible is a guy trying to get into the league of evil, but he's actually a pretty decent guy and he keeps getting screwed over by the local hero, Captain Hammer, who is an absolute jerk. It's a very good 45 minutes of your time, but you have to give it a little bit to get started. It's worth a look-up on hulu.com.
Also, Fullmetal Alchemist fans, if you remember, though the TV show was inspired by the manga, they got ahead and had to keep making the show beyond the manga. Well, after the manga came out, they redid the series in Japan to resemble the manga more closely. It will be coming out in English eventually. I saw three episodes last night when I visited Mark during his work shift (because all he does is watch videos on hulu while working) and it's definitely different from the series we're used to. First, the animation is similar enough to get away with it, but not the same exactly. Lust looks a lot more anime sexy, for instance. I think the animators for the movie did this series. Otherwise, this series is much, much darker. I would like to see it once it comes out in English, but it's not anything I should be sharing with Demetra. And a lot of characters are much harder to love.
Also saw Hot Fuzz last night. It's by the same guys who made Shaun of the Dead, with the same British humor combined with gory action sequences. Very funny if you're in the mood for it, and if you like Shaun of the Dead, you'll like it.
Alright, now I'll shut up and let you be on with your respective days. Always looking forward to sharing more with y'all later.
Janna
Song of the Day: "Miss Murder" by AFI
It was a few years ago now, on a Lake Michigan beach, when I first witnessed this art form. The sun cast soft pink upon the sand as it dipped behind clouds and toward the water to the west. Dad, Nathan, Demetra, Aint Kathy, James, and myself heard the sounds of a drum ensemble from farther inland. Still dripping, we meandered across the cooling sand until we found the assembly of congas, bongos, and djembes. The rhythms were enticing, subtle for the conclusion of the day, with the potential energy latent for the time being, and I was content for the while simply to watch them. Then two young men stepped forward and crouched. With the rhythm behind them, they wove back and forth, then began to spar—but not the way I had seen one spar before. Their movements were coordinated and deliberate, each offense and evasion perfectly timed to follow the beat set by the drum ensemble in the background. The scene was enrapturing and I could not take my eyes off of this foreign spectacle of dance and martial art.
Why do I tell you this story? It was that night that I first witnessed the Afro-Brazilian martial art known as capoeira, and afterward, I never saw anything like it ever again. Now, three or four years later, I am learning how to do it.
Sarah discovered the class last week and went to check it out. When she mentioned it, I immediately remembered that night on the beach and decided, yes, despite my limited athletic ability and lack of background in martial arts at all, I was going to take the class. So, on Wednesday, I went to my first capoeira class. Though my legs were sore for two days afterward, (yet another testament to all the sports I never played) I am absolutely going again this week. Though salsa makes me just as tired on Mondays, I can feel capoeira wanting to alter my body. The two combined are definitely going to keep me more physically in shape than I've probably been since junior year, when I was obsessed with the weight room.
To celebrate my rediscovery, my latest mixed CD is called Capoeira. It's not a CD that will go out to everyone, not like Blasphemy, because it is a specifically tailored mix. Some of you are aware that Nathan presented me with a challenge over the summer, to make him a mixed CD of songs he didn't know that I knew he would like. Well, with Nathan, music is either pass or fail, so it was a bit of a project, but I know him well enough that I only had one "bad" song on there. (My brother will never like Pearl Jam, so I have come to accept that fact.) Capoeira came about in a similar fashion. Last Saturday after watching Stalingrad, Michael mentioned that he was actually a bit picky about music, and didn't necessarily like it when people made him mixed CD's, because it was always the music the CD maker liked. How could I resist that challenge? So, I took a little bit from basically every mix I've made in the past year and decided to see if I can pull it off.
On the topic of music, I seriously recommend some lyrics checks for song of the month. "When I Fall" takes this perspective of a seemingly prosaic character and intertwines him with these incredible emotions and thoughts. The song itself is beautiful, but the lyrics are just poetry. As for the song of the day, it may end up being the same group for a while. AFI has now grown to be a compulsion and I cannot get enough of it. I haven't reacted so obsessively toward a music group since HIM my freshman year of high school. For some reason, the group just really works for me right now, though I am limited thus far to one concert CD. (This will be changing ASAP if my life depends on it.)
Also, as far as weekly perks that go along with this, I acknowledge that last week I failed to attach any writing to the email. That was because I forgot, but even if I had thought about it, I don't think I would have attached the story that was on my mind all week: "Intimate Friendships" is a story I wrote for a very small group of people, and it would have felt wrong sending it out to almost 30 people. So, we'll just say no story last week was appropriate. This week, I'm attaching a story I wrote my sophomore year of highschool, a mile-marker in my developing perception of the world and people called "Condemned Beauty." Next week, I should be sending my latest (now finally finished work) "Blind to Its Own Beauty." Yes, the modern day Christ-story is now finished. I just need to type it, which is a task in itself that may prove slightly beastly. We'll see.
I don't know how everyone else has had it, but we have had both the most beautiful days and the most bitter days here in Bloomington this week. Personally, I like it that way. On Monday, the weather was so beautiful, and I was pleased to receive a text from Mark asking if I wanted to take a walk with him and enjoy the glorious weather. Naturally, I did, and we agreed to meet outside of Buck Memorial Library after I was done with my German tutor. I was sitting on the steps to Buck and I get a text that reads something like, "I'm in a tree on the quad in view of Buck. Come find me." So, like an idiot tourist in Chicago, I start wandering aimlessly around the quad, staring up in the trees hoping to find Mark. He gave me a hint at one point, telling me to go down the sidewalk to the right of Buck, but not the one farther back. There are three different sidewalks leaving that direction from Buck, and I took the second one. After a few steps I get another text saying, "wrong one." Eventually I did find him, though his green sweatshirt made him especially difficult to find. He enjoyed watching my helpless self searching the leaves for the enjoyment of any other students out and about that day, but we took a lovely walk and I discovered where the dollar store is. Quite useful.
That same night after salsa, I went with some of the girls from my floor out onto the quad to watch them try to fly kites. The other Sarah on our floor (who actually reads this blog, I found out) and I talked while the girls failed to get the winged plastic into the air. What Nathan, Demetra, Dad, and I have with the Beatles, she and her family have with Alice Cooper. I only have two albums, (Killer and School's Out) but she still found me worthy of her concert stories. She's also made me best-of CD's. More music for Janna!
Also, this is a little blurb for Nathan, this morning I met someone at brunch named Butters. It's actually his last name, and it was his before South Park created the character, but I thought it was pretty amusing. What's even funnier is that he's nothing like Butters from the show, he's actually more like Nathan, especially with his humor.
So, aside from South Park and Alice Cooper, classes are alright. My schedule is officially full, and I have invented a new word for my state of being: "whelmed" is the state of stress that is not quite overwhelmed, but could be a precursor to the condition. I am not overwhelmed, simply whelmed. I might need to drop Intervarsity praise band, since the time consumption every other week is pretty intense. I'm going to try to keep with it, but I haven't been on top of my chem term paper research as I should be, and if something has to go, that's going to be it. We'll see how the management goes, but this week's Tuesday and Wednesday were so crazy, I don't remember much outside of the fact that I was exhausted after thirteen straight hours each day of insanity. Though I do distinctly recall making biodiesel fuel in chem lab on Tuesday. My lab partner and I were assigned Canola oil and got a 70% yield. I thought it was cool, but I can be kind of a geek at times.
Our philosophy essay tests were finally given back to us, and mine had a "good job! A" on top, with no writing anywhere else. Part of me was slightly disappointed that I had no comments or feedback, but then I started hearing a lot of people groaning and many variations of, "I know I deserved an A on this!" I suppose I shouldn't complain.
But feedback is important. In poetry, we did some peer editing for our latest essay, and my partner marked one thing on my paper and said she couldn't find anything else wrong with it. I was flattered, but at the same time, I knew that just because my peers couldn't find anything wrong with it, didn't mean that my professor would feel the same way. I met with Dr. O the next day to go through it and get her comments, which were all very helpful. She loved the paper, actually, and despite the few things we agreed needed tweaking, she said she could understand why my peers couldn't find much wrong with it. "You're such a good writer," she said, "They might be a little intimidated." I was so honored to hear that from a college English professor, knowing I'm only a freshman at a school where writing is very highly valued. Honestly, I wasn't expecting to hear any true praises on my writing until at least my junior year here. It was a nice addition to my week.
Otherwise, my week has been full of various unanticipated activities. I managed to lock myself out of my room, have been woken up in the middle of the night twice by the central heating system, (which sounds a lot like people in the pipes with crow bars trying to compose the most cacophonous, twisted symphony you can with crow bars and a massive pipe system) and discovered something extremely valuable in Bloomington that nobody told me was here. I have found a Jewel Osco. SQUEE!!!!!!!!!!!! Though, I have yet to go in and buy the precious rosemary and olive oil bread that fulfills my carbohydrate-influenced endorphins. Never fear, however, because next weekend I will be going to Indiana to visit Dad and see a play. He will feed my addiction.
On that topic, because I will be out of town for next weekend, the next update will either go out on Friday or on Monday. There is a small likelihood I could get it out on Sunday, but realistically, everything happens on Sunday nights with my crazy group. Last Sunday, I ended up not finishing my letters because I was invited to play a game of werewolf with them. It's a great strategy game that involves deception, teamwork, treachery, and theoretical executions. I can't wait to teach everyone over Thanksgiving and Christmas break.
Otherwise, I've been watching a lot of movies and shows this weekend, so I'm going to a moment of movie/TV show reviews. Friday night they were showing The Hangover at the student center. It was actually pretty hilarious, with some moments that just make you cringe, but the basic premise of the movie is that these three guys go to Vegas with their friend who's getting married in two days for his bachelor party. The next day, they wake up and can't remember what happened the night before. And the groom is missing. I enjoyed it.
The twins also own the Arrested Development DVD's, so I've now seen the first two episodes. I've heard only good things about the show, but never seen it until Friday. So far, it is quite funny. It has kind of a similar sense of humor as The Office, though not in the mockumentary form.
All of this was following the Justice League party that Young hosted before we went to see The Hangover. Basically, a bunch of us claimed various places to sit in his dorm where we could see the computer screen and watch episodes. I also finally saw Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog there. Aunt Lizzy recommended it to me, but I, unfortunately, knew everything that happened. Matthew had already told me all of what happens over a year ago. It was still very entertaining and bittersweet. Dr. Horrible is a guy trying to get into the league of evil, but he's actually a pretty decent guy and he keeps getting screwed over by the local hero, Captain Hammer, who is an absolute jerk. It's a very good 45 minutes of your time, but you have to give it a little bit to get started. It's worth a look-up on hulu.com.
Also, Fullmetal Alchemist fans, if you remember, though the TV show was inspired by the manga, they got ahead and had to keep making the show beyond the manga. Well, after the manga came out, they redid the series in Japan to resemble the manga more closely. It will be coming out in English eventually. I saw three episodes last night when I visited Mark during his work shift (because all he does is watch videos on hulu while working) and it's definitely different from the series we're used to. First, the animation is similar enough to get away with it, but not the same exactly. Lust looks a lot more anime sexy, for instance. I think the animators for the movie did this series. Otherwise, this series is much, much darker. I would like to see it once it comes out in English, but it's not anything I should be sharing with Demetra. And a lot of characters are much harder to love.
Also saw Hot Fuzz last night. It's by the same guys who made Shaun of the Dead, with the same British humor combined with gory action sequences. Very funny if you're in the mood for it, and if you like Shaun of the Dead, you'll like it.
Alright, now I'll shut up and let you be on with your respective days. Always looking forward to sharing more with y'all later.
Janna
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