I'm a pretty calm, laidback kind of girl. It takes a lot to get me worked up about anything. I do have my spontaneous crying jags about once a month, and the occasional angry outburst about every other month, but on an every day basis, I just don't get pissed. (And I mean pissed the American way, not the British way. Lord knows, I get pissed the British way on a more regular basis than the American way.)

BUT. Every now and then something comes along that enrages me. Like, I'm talking fist-clenching-yelling-at-innocent-bystander-oh-god-fear-the- wrath-of-Alexis mad. Well, probably not that mad but it's pretty damn scary. Just in case you live under a rock and haven't heard yet, Prez Bush is endorsing an amendment to ban same-sex marriage... and that pushed me over the edge. And the more I think and read about it, and what people around the country have to say, the less it makes sense and the angrier I get. I cheered when Massachusetts knocked down the ban on gay marriage and I am rooting for the thousands of people tying the knot in San Francisco. This is a huge step backward. I don't really know what I can say that hasn't been said already by others much smarter than I, so I'm just going to leave it at that.

Anyhoo... ter. That's all. I'm going home this weekend to see Hairspray with Anne and her mom. Beforehand, I am getting treated to an incredibly Fancy Schmancy Dinner. So fancy that it's capitalized. You know it's gonna be good.

It's on!

The Great Unicycle Challenge of 2004 has commenced.

Spurred on, in part, by my dear roommate Cassi, I am going to learn how to ride a unicycle. Even if it kills me (which it probably won't) or injures me seriously (which it probably will).

Despite the forces working against me, of which there are many (such as my own propensity toward complete clumsiness), I plan to be able to ride a unicycle halfway down the hallway of Goldfine C third floor within the month. With the help of Coach Amanda, by the end of the semester, I will ride it all the way down the hall, down the stairs, and outside. Hopefully. Okay, I won't ride it down the stairs; I will, however, carry it down the stairs and outside where I will ride it on the sidewalk and have people drive by and laugh at me as I fall over and crack my noggin.

I should try to get Tang to sponsor the challenge. Mang.

procrastination... or too many damn questions

[Spell your first name backwards] sixela
[The story behind your user name] It's my name...
[How old are you?] 21
[Date of birth] 02/01
[Where do you live?] In Goldfine
[Occupation] student extraordinaire and academic adviser
[4 words that sum you up] Four words isn’t enough. If anyone can think of four good words to sum me up, go right ahead.

Describe your....

[Wallet] black with a red stripe on it
[Key holder] Bulldog wallet thing
[Jewelry worn daily] earrings (2 pair)
[Pillow cover] there are two: plain red, and white with LLC embroidered on it
[Coffee cup] Miller Funeral Home mug.
[Shoes] black flip-flops
[School bag] Eddie Bauer daypack; the straps melted against the heater last year
[Favorite shirt] "Just a Waitress til I'm discovered t-shirt" from Old Navy
[Favorite pants] jeans.. pretty much any kind, or the Gap khakis I ripped the bottom seams out of
[Cologne/Perfume] Chloe Narcisse
[Piercing] 2 in both ears
[What you are wearing now] khakis (mentioned above), Cassi's blue shirt, black flip-flops
[Hair] brown
[Makeup] none
[in my mouth] saliva and coffee aftertaste
[In My Head] My brain and some earwax
[Wish] That I hadn't started this survey in the first place.
[Eating Habit] A little bit all the time
[Some of your favorite movies] The Apartment; Sense and Sensibility
[Do you believe in love at first sight] Yes
[The last thing you ate?] Egg salad sandwich
[Do you believe in love] Yes
[Do you believe in soul mates] Yes
[Do you believe in forgiveness] Yes
[Three cities you wouldn't mind relocating to?] Chicago, Seattle, DC...
[What are some of your favorite foods?] cereal, bananas, pan-seared pasta with garlic, tomatoes and spinach, ice cream

Yes or No...

[you keep a diary] I used to... until I started the blog
[you have a secret you have not shared with anyone] Yes
[you fold your underwear] Yes
[you talk in your sleep] Sometimes I do, apparently

Last...

[movie you bought] Bend it Like Beckham
[song you listened to] Simon and Garfunkel, "Bookends"
[song that was stuck in your head] "You've Lost that Loving Feeling," thanks to Rachel
[song you've downloaded] Rahzel ft. Erykah Badu, "Southern Girl"
[CD you bought] The Frida soundtrack
[CD you listened to] The Shins, "Chutes too Narrow"
[person you've called] my parents
[person who called you] Chelsea
[TV show you've watched] Um... a Baby Story?
[Thing you said] "You haven't written it yet? Noooo!"

...or...

[Black or White?] black
[Cats or Dogs?] dogs
[Tea or Coffee?] coffee
[Achiever or Slacker?] achiever
[Leader or Follower?] neither
[Beer or Cider?] cider
[Drinks or Shots?] drinks
[Single or Taken?] single
[Matches or a Lighter?] matches
[Letters or Emails?] email
[Short hair or Long hair?] neither

I want to...

[Go] to sleep
[Kill] no one, really... I try to maintain an avoid-killing-anyone policy.
[Hear from] My dad
[Meet] for lack of anyone else I can think of, the rest of the Fab 5.
[Look like] myself
[Avoid] my homework
[Hug] my dad
[Kiss] ...?

Ever...

[Loved somebody so much it makes you cry?] yes
[Drank alcohol?] yes
[Done drugs?] yes
[Broken the law?] yes
[Ran away from home?] attempted it once
[Broken a bone?] an arm, a finger, and two toes
[Cheated on a test?] no
[Played Truth Or Dare?] I think so
[Flashed someone?] no
[Mooned Someone?] no
[Kissed someone you didn’t know?] no
[Been on a game show/talk show] no
[Been in a fight?] Yes. Unless we're talking fist fight here, then no.
[Ridden in a fire truck?] yes
[Been on a plane?] yes
[Come close to dying?] no
[Gave someone a piggy back/shoulder ride?] yes
[Swam in the ocean?] yes
[Had a nightmare/dream that made you wake up?] yes
[Kissed someone of the same sex] yes

Relationships...

[Girlfriend/Boyfriend] Now or in general?
[When and who was your 1st crush?] David Joyner in first grade. I was sure he felt the same.
[What do you first notice about the opposite sex] Smile
[Your idea of a perfect date] Never really thought about it, I guess.
[Name a moment that you thought was really sweet] Umm... no. Maybe later.
[Your first kiss] Last year, but I won't go there.
[Do you have a crush] Maybe. I don't rememba! (That's for you, Amanda.)

Are you a...

[Vegetarian?] No.
[Good Student?] I try.
[Good Singer?] Maybe.
[A good Actor/Actress?] Not really.
[A deep sleeper?] Yes.
[A Good Dancer?] Kind of.
[Shy?] Sort of.
[Outgoing?] Sometimes.

Just to reiterate, I'm sorry I broke your bottle of buffalo wing sauce, Amanda. There was no stopping it. The poor little bottle just wanted to jump and then it splattered all over the kitchen floor and the inside of the fridge. I hope you'll forgive me (and the sauce, for taking its life).

Today has been a white-bread toast with grape jelly kind of day. Sort of run-of-the-mill. And you know what? That's okay, because it's nice to sink into this kind of ordinariness once in a while. Nothing fantastically exciting nor anything bad has happened and I just feel like there isn't anything for me other than to be right here, right now.

The sun just came out and I think I'll go sit by the living room window for a while to soak it up.

I'm the Fellowship of the Ring!

You're The Fellowship of the Ring!

by J.R.R. Tolkien

Facing great adversity, you have decided that your only choice is to
unite with your friends and neighbors. You have been subject to a ton of squabbling and
ultimately decided that someone humble is your best candidate for a dangerous mission.
You're quite good with languages and convinced that not all who wander are lost. If you
see anyone in black robes on horseback, just run. That's just common sense.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Ok, I realize I haven't written anything "real" for a few days which is sad. But these quizzes are rather fun. I like them because, like they say on the site, they're similar to the Choose Your Own Adventure books. Remember those? They were great.

I also haven't written anything because I'm not feeling the blog love. No one ever comments any more, which I guess is cool and all, I understand -- y'all are busy. I'll just be crying myself to sleep from now on, mmmkay? Juuuuust kidding.

I'm Madagascar!

You're Madagascar!

Lots of people don't really know anything about you, making you
buried treasure of the rarest kind.  You love nature, and could get lost in it
whenever possible.  You're remote and exotic, and the few people who know you
value whatever they share with you a great deal.  For some reason, you really
like the word "lemur".
Take
the Country Quiz at the href="http://bluepyramid.org">Blue Pyramid

oh. my. god.

I just thought I'd share this with everyone. You should read about this guy's plan here. I was going to write something witty about it but then I was afraid that he would come find me and make me have his babies. Maybe you should just read what this gay guy said about it, because it's funny and he won't be forced into having 2-15 children or anything.

In other news, it was such an amazingly warm day today and I am in a great mood!

The weekend was good. It went by far faster than I would have liked, but I managed to come out of it relatively unscathed by my lack of studying and homework doing. The Mason concert was joy - very relaxed and informal, yet very cool to see him in such a hallowed venue, so to speak. A girl in my comp class apparently lives next door to him, I found out today. She says she's stalking him just a little bit, and well, who can blame her?

Saying goodbye to Chelsea was a little bit harder. I really will miss her. She cried, her mom cried, I cried. I cried when I got home, too. I know that she won't be gone forever, but she is my best friend and practically my sister. Since we met, we've never been separated for more than two or three weeks at a time, as weird as that may be. And usually I'm the one going away, so it's definitely a new experience even for me. I know that she is a little apprehensive but she will have the best time once she's there. How could she not? It's Australia. Chelsea, if you ever read this, I hope that you are having heaps o' fun already and I love you!

Randomness: my dad is back in Skopje, Macedonia, teaching a business class there. My printer is working again, thanks to some new ink. I got my shipment of the soundtrack to Frida and Bend it Like Beckham on dvd. I'm going to Argentina! New episodes of Queer Eye start tomorrow and there's a marathon on this weekend AND Aurora just got the book and the soundtrack!

Anyway, today was a really good day but a long one and I need to finish up homework before going to sleep. XOXO

Puppy love, quite literally

Today, I would like to talk about a sick addiction of mine. An addiction that I owe, in part, to Amanda. I am hooked on the Animal Humane Society of Minnesota's breed list website. I look at their site to see if there are new animals every so often (ok, probably like every other day... usually more if prompted by Amanda). Our apartment is frequently filled with extremely girlish "Awww..."s, punctuated by occasional squeals of delight and "I want a kitten!" or "I want that dog!" or "I want a small furry!"

Well, I am in love. With a dog. Anyone who wants to shell out $220 and buy me Piglet, the cutest bundle of puppiness in the world, would forever remain in my good graces with the added benefit of being my favorite person for a good long while. (Piglet is that charming creature on the far right.) Hurry, do it quickly or I will cry when he is snapped up by some other incredibly lucky schlub in a matter of, oh, a day. Because he is just that cute. This is love, folks.

But who am I kidding? I know I could not have a puppy right now. First of all, I live on campus for Pete's sake (this being the main obstacle to having puppy/dog cuteness in my life - with all other obstacles coming in at very, very distant seconds and thirds). So, please don't pull out the checkbooks or visas quite yet.

Someday, in the distant future, but SOMEDAY nonetheless, I will get a puppy. And I will raise the puppy into a cool, hopefully relatively well-behaved dog ...a dog that will hopefully be as protective of my kids (if I ever have those) as Keela the German Shepherd... and maybe not necessarily as smart as Blacky, the mutt-y dog my dad had in New Mexico ...but will also not shy away from sticks like lovely Bella the Great Dane, because I will not abuse my dog ...a dog that will be as sweet (but not as neurotically crazy) as Dobey the Doberman ...and who may make me laugh as much as that clown, Buddy the Great Dane. They were (and are) good and loyal dogs. To all the dogs I've loved before.

V-Day weekend

i thought i could live forever here on my own
it seemed things were so much better out here alone
a lonely dreamer, a nonbeliever, now
i'm living in the moment with the friends i love
-Mason Jennings, "Living in the Moment" from Century Spring

I'm going home this weekend, for the first time since starting spring semester. I'm pretty happy about it. It'll be nice to get out of Duluth for a bit, get a bit of tender love and care from my parents, if ya know what I mean. Yeah, that's right, I'm getting an all-expense paid trip to Sam's Club. Mmm, economy-sized mayonnaise, here I come.

On Friday I will be attending the Mason Jennings cd release party/concert at the Historic State Theater. I will be there with Brian (who introduced me to Mason, thanks Brian!), Dave, Chelsea (who has not seen a concert for a decade and is considerably panicky about this), and the lovely Danielle. I'm really excited about seeing Mason in concert again. Though I haven't seen a whole lot of concerts in my life, the first concert of Mason's I saw was far and away the best. I'm expecting no less from Mason and his band the second time around. Plus, it's a cd release party! How swank is that! I feel like one of the elite.

Sounds like a perfect weekend, no? Free food in bulk and a concert to boot... but, alas, there is one somewhat bittersweet component to this weekend. And no, I'm not talking about Valentine's Day and the fact that I'm single, which may be where some of you thought this was going. Truth be told, I could give John Kerry's sleep deprived rat's ass about that. I really am quite happy right now, living in my moment...

No... I'm talking about Chelsea and Kelly's impending departure for Australia. They're finally leaving and they'll be gone til July sometime. It still seems like something far away. Not Australia, obviously Australia is far away, but it doesn't seem like they could already be leaving, though this is something they've been planning for months.

On Sunday, I'll be seeing them off from the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, where they'll get on a plane and fly to LA, then over the great wide ocean to Malaysia (craziness!) and then to Australia. All that, and little Kelly has never even been on a plane before. I will miss both of them so much, especially Chelsea, who we all know is pretty much my sister, but... I'm so happy for them and so proud of them; I feel like they're my kids or something. Wish them luck and keep them in your prayers (or thoughts or whatever, ya know)!

After I see those two off, I get to go back to the airport to pick up little Cassi from her hot weekend date trip to Connecticut/New York City! Ow ow, baby!

This girl has got to get to some spanish reading ere the night is through. Y'all enjoy this Valentine's weekend, whether it be with that special someone or with your best friends or... with that container of Ben and Jerry's Brownie Batter. xoxo

"Tis bitter cold, and I am sick at heart" or a post with a theme!

What a ridiculously warm day. Well, maybe not quite that ridiculous, but 30 is a far cry from -50 or whatever we were facing last week. It's a damn heatwave.

Not that I'm complaining, mind you. It's just that, with weather like this, you can almost fool yourself into believing that spring might eventually come some day because it feels like it's around the corner right now. But it's not. This is all a big trick by Father Winter. He's just taunting us. I know it. He's pointing his finger and laughing, and I am just cringing, waiting for the blow, waiting for the moment when the temperature drops back down below zero again... that punishing cold that makes your nose hair freeze to the inside of your nasal cavity and your lungs seize up every time you take a deep breath. You know what I'm talking about, Minnesotans. The deep freeze. It's like Bill Murray says in Groundhog Day, "I'll give you a winter prediction: It's gonna be cold, it's gonna be grey, and it's gonna last you for the rest of your life." (Speaking of Groundhog Day, does anyone know if the chubby rodent from Pennsylvania saw his shadow? Not like it really matters, but just curious.)

For the first time in my life, I actually really want winter to end, or, I want to go away, someplace far far away and far warmer. Someplace where I can go outside and not have a scarf wrapped around my head and a hat on and still feel like my face is cracking into little bits, someplace where I do not come back inside and have the bottoms of my pants soaked with salt and slushy water.

But I digress. Mostly I was just trying to enjoy an actually decent day which is promising to turn into a somewhat warm week! This gives me hope. Plus, winter really isn't all that awful; it just gets a bad rap sometimes. As Bill Murray said, also from Groundhog Day (hehe), "When Chekhov saw the long winter, he saw a winter bleak and dark and bereft of hope. Yet we know that winter is just another step in the cycle of life. But standing here among the people of Punxsutawney [Duluth] and basking in the warmth of their hearths and hearts, I couldn't imagine a better fate than a long and lustrous winter." Let's hope the rest of this winter is just that. And, after all, it's only another step in the cycle.