p.s. pictures

I ain't got no baby pictures, this is the best I can do

from our disco invite:

me and danielle lookin hot

me and my date (we matched.... radical) and, of course, my little

thomas and i at home. photobooth on mac is the most pointless/awesome application in the land.

set out running

wow. lack of posting.

#1: my gma passed away, I don't like to talk about but am in a lot of pain. I thought about her every day (I lived with her this summer part of the time) and still do. If everybody experiences 'cramps' differently (some girls have back pain, e.g.) then i think mourning can be the same.

#2: a few days ago i was thinking i had some magical power over men. example 1: i'm watching a movie with a friend at his house and say, "I'm cold can I go get a blanket?" and then - he jumps up and gets me one! whoa. example 2: I'm at home making lunch for greg (i.e. heating up the goodies people bring over) and i say, "do you want sour cream on your tortilla soup?" and he offers to get it from the fridge (even though I am right next to the fridge). so either guys are growing more and more decent, or they fear me and my wrath? who knows.

#3: but #2 isn't true. at least, I have no further evidence.

#4: no good deed goes unpunished. I get in greg's audi today to visit kristin and do some christmas shopping. So before I get on the freeway I stop at a gas station to fill up. There's a guy at the pump in front of me (like when 2 are on the same island) so I don't freak him out by getting as close to him as I can, and have to pull the hose sort of awkwardly to get it to fit in the gas hole. And I fill up the gas tank - all the way. not the 'so it looks full' all the way - i mean until it clicks. Then I get back in the car, and it won't start. and i check the gas tank, still won't start. i call aaa and they come see me, say it's a battery problem. I'm cold and i say 'ok give me a new one'. They install a new one, but I take the car home just to be safe (I called kristin and cancelled). I get home. Try to start the car again - it won't start. I call aaa again, say, 'i called earlier someone needs to come check if they installed it correctly because it won't start again'. another guy comes, tells me it's a fuel pump problem and I need to take it in now while it's running (he made it start) so I call our mechanic, who doesn't work on audis, who recommends someone else. we take the car over (greg drove, too, so I could get home) and leave it there. So I wonder... a fuel pump problem... did I cause it by filling up the tank and not getting too close to the other car and end up stretching the hose awkwardly?

who can say... but we're one car down and the purple van doesn't go above 40 m.p.h. (transmission), and none of the bikes here have baskets. I'd install one but the boys insist that they're too 'gay'. not true. they're too AWESOME.

conquest

remember that one time that I wanted to learn "St. Judy's Comet" by Paul Simon (if not you can find it here). Well, I'm playing it for my guitar jury in two weeks. SWEET VICTORY IS MINE.

and speaking of sweet victory, I also learned how to play "Nothing I Can Do" by Ben Taylor, the other song in the post - with the posted video. I'd like to take credit... and my fingers are calloused and everything so I have worked hard - but my guitar teacher is awesome. he enables me to my success and wonderful victoriously seductive guitar playing

lastly- our invite is tomorrow night. it's roller disco. must learn how to feather hair...

change the water

I'm sorry I can't embed this, but this video (http://youtube.com/watch?v=TSf5q3wrgnk) is hands down the funniest thing I have seen on youtube. watch pleez

schmitt trigger

school's better. I love guitar again. this past week we played around for a while and i asked him what some chords I liked were (G6 aparently... who knew?). Then we talked about how cool it would be to learn how to play harmonica, then carry around a bag o' harmonicas to your gigs because you need different ones for different keys.

I'm going home this weekend for thr weekender- yay! not going to the game, mind you (though I have had several different people offer me tickets... am I crazy or just not a football fan? or both). I'm gonna hang out with the fam and wear sweaters and do the norcal things you know and love. hmmm... if i had time to sleep i would also have time to hang out with friends and hence have cool stories to tell you. oh well.

flightless bird, american mouth

no real post, just real AWESOMENESS

Ninja Parade Slips Through Town Unnoticed Once Again

some pictures

so... i went to pismo beach for a football tournament and we OWNED and they drew an enormous unibrow on me. i also have some savage bruises, but no pictures of them

we had a halloween party, i was robin boy wonder. note: they were the doctors from nip/tuck which is a pretty gratuitous show, to say the least (to quote myself/myself as robin: "holy gratuitous nudity, batman! I love our halloween party!")

and now i'm going to bed.

peace beneath the city

school's better. I think. Sun-Wed nights I stay up until 2 or 3 usually, then everything's due on Thursday, then I can sleep on the weekends usually. It's not a great rhythm, but it's a rhythm none the less. this week: mechop midterm, econ quiz, design project report, programming midterm due, and our halloween party (somehow don't think I'll have time to get a costume... shucks)

lookin through the window

school is suffocating me.

and my guitar class should be so much fun, except since I like learning songs I can sing, and subsequently singing them (but not for other peoples... except you. someday i'll record and post a few), my guitar teacher said I should write stuff. 5-7 songs stuff. um... w.t.f.?

I wrote a little song last week and I thought it was OK. and I brought it in and he picked it apart and I was so uncomfortable the entire time. I know he's a producer, so that's what he does. But like... if I were in any way talented with creating music, wouldn't I have written something by now? I don't like practicing when I have to come up with something new, plus it's a lot of work and time I don't have (this is my break. I should head over to the library but... don't want to bike this late.) so now not even guitar is fun (and we have a yoga midterm this week... barf). and he expects me to work on the old one (still no name) and write a new one (also no name... or song). ahhhhhhhhhh.............

luckily, I've been listening to Jackson 5 all week; and if I just deny the craziness that is michael jackson now, I can enjoy it and believe in the beauty of life again. thanksgiving truly cannot come quickly enough (or christmas break for that matter)

scientists seeking natural habitat

on monday night I decided "to heck with you homework!" and went to bed at 11. which is very early for me. And since I don't have class until 10 on Tuesdays, I slept until 9. Which is 10 hours of sleep. which is about twice my normal amount. it was crazy.

I went to yoga tuesday morning and while we were doing bends, etc. I was completely unabashedly and uncontrollably in love with my body. It was like 40 minutes of unmitigated bliss. I would bend over and think, "HOLY MOLY... TOES" and just wanted to snuggle up on my mat and enjoy the day and the sunshine and the love that surrounds me.

I told kristin about this later and she said I must be ovulating, because she read a study that strippers earn 30% more during ovulation. college truly is the convergence of minds.


p.s. sorry if that grosses you out.
p.p.s. stop being so prude.

casimir pulaski day II

I have a programming class. It is horrible. And part of me loves the professor who is super nice and keeps a tea stash in his office. and part of me thinks, "if you were actually a good lecturer, not the incomprehensible whatever you're doing now, I wouldn't have to email you or come to your office hours every day to understand this." what to do... oh yeah, spend every waking hour in the lab working on these programs. i guess it's worked out so far?

I'm going to Indiana this weekend- yay!

hold on

quantum HILARITY!

http://icanhascheezburger.com/2007/09/25/im-in-ur-bocks-pruvin-schrodinger-rong/

one man show

ok so. about an hour after the last post I went to take a shower and get ready for the wedding. I was at a hotel and flipped through a bunch of sec football games I don't care about until I finally settled on 'what not to wear' on t.l.c. (people nominate their frumpy friends to be on this show so basic cable can tell them they need to improve how they dress. nevertheless, it would be awesome to get lots of new clothes. though... having your 'friends' nominate you has to be insulting).

anyhow, I had been pmsing all day (the sad kind not the mad kind) and I actually started to tear up at the end of the show when the inspirational music starts in low and the person is so happy about how they dress now. she was like, "I'm so happy about how I look... I'm a whole new person!" and I was like, "I'm... so.... happy..." then realized this was no good because I was going to a wedding, where people (at least women) have free range to cry and I had just set the bar really low.

but I kept it together and had a wonderful time. kelly looked beautiful and the reception was at a country club with an open bar and t.v.'s (but not sports bar esque. they were in the corner) so I could keep tabs on the usc and ucla games (mainly the ucla one because they were playing washington).

Lastly, new KT Tunstall (love!) album came out 2 weeks ago and I've been listening to it non stop because
1. she's a woman artist
2. she's scottish (watch out for her adorable british teeth in music video... precious!)
3. her songs have lots of instruments (i.e. more than a guitar), but the guitar part is usually easy to play so I feel way competent if/when I play her stuff

This is the video for "Hold On"- not my favorite song, but the only one with a music video on youtube (not an acoustic set, etc.)

drastic fantastic

I'm in Spokane, Washington for a wedding this weekend. It's pretty, but chilly. To me, if it's sunny outside it should automatically be warm. apparently the bay area observations don't hold outside that system.

classes continue. i love guitar still, yoga makes me sore, econ is full of pompous boys, mechop is interesting but way too much work, my two design classes are bearable and not much work, computational methods (matlab) is evil and my directory on the usc server is down so I couldn't submit my homework. I wish I had a hugger, like a professional hugger I could summon by snapping my fingers or just inadvertently pouting. and he'd come over and be like, "it's ok" and i'd be like, "really? *pouts*" and he'd be like, "yes. i promise" gosh, he doesn't even need to physically hug me. verbal hugs count too.

such is the sad little lonely life i lead.

my bitter pill to swallow

first- i love the indigo girls, my guitar class, and my new ability to play "ghost" by the former. seriously incredible- who knew?

second- I made an awesome joke today that you may not get if you're older than me. So, I'm in mechop and we're talking about uncertainty in a function of multiple variables/inputs (so like how much error is in your calculation if each term has its own uncertainty) and our professor shows us a taylor expansion of the terms involving higher derivatives he just wrote "h.o.t." for "higher order terms" instead of writing them all out

later in the derivation he said they would just drop out entirely since they get so infinitesimally small. and I turned to loni (adx sister, mech eng, in 3 of my classes) and said, "he just dropped it like it's hot. literally." and snickered to myself substantially. it would have been funnier if it hadn't been an 8 a.m. class and if loni hadn't been half awake. oh well, I'll take what I can get. in my heart I know it was a hilarious joke.

the boogie that be

newsflash: we're related

totally unrelated, entirely too revealing

slide away

danielle, whitney, and I went to new ralph's last night. no kidding:

Danielle, upon pulling out a shopping cart: "ALL OF THE WHEELS TOUCH THE GROUND!"

we have been living in darkness for so long...

sugar free

I'd like to share with you some text from a handout in my mechoptronics class, about technical reports:

Some characteristics of Reports:
1. Everybody hates to write them.
2. Everybody hates to read them.
3. Almost nobody does read them.
4. They take a HUGE amount of time to write.
5. They are absolutely CRUCIAL to YOUR success in engineering.


WHY!?!?!?!

silver lining

um... there is a new ralph's. I can't (easily) bike there- it's on 9th (I live on 29th). But um, it's basically amazing.

And I really want to learn how to cook. Some people can see random ingredients and then put them together in their mind and somehow come up with a dish. So far this has eluded me, but I want to get better! And rachael ray will help me. I choose the recipe, take stock of what I have, then get to a grocery store. I like cooking! and then enjoying it with someone! I made a florentine- which is like a quiche- lots of spinach, and eggs, and some onions. and some cream. it was delish and I'm so proud when I think of it. or eat it, there still some left in our fridge.

So now I just need lab rats- people to enjoy my very slow cooking with me (no slow cooking like a crock pot, I mean I cook very slowly because I'm not good yet). and then to eat it slowly on our back deck. and to soak in the evening and pretend we don't have work to do. You'd think people would be lining up to do this! but somehow they aren't. it's just me and rachael for now.

forever my friend

things I hate about living in south central:

1. the poor cheese and meat selection at deli. I don't want to be a stuck up mean old lady or something, but seriously people HOW MUCH RANCHERO CHEESE DO YOU THINK I WILL EAT? the answer is none, so stop stocking so much of it.

2. the bars on the outside of my windows (on second floor no less) make it impossible to install an a/c unit in our sauna. oh, i mean bedroom.

3. the bike shop just sucks.

4. generally poor selection at grocery store. I was reading through my rachael ray cookbook today and about every third recipe I thought, "can't make this unless I go to the west hollywood ralph's." (ralph's = grocery store and the w.h. one is across the street from a trader joe's and near a target- it is glorious)


things i love

1. horchata

2... yeah that's basically it

under the blacklight

sorry I've been m.i.a. the internet in our house isn't working, and my bike has followed suit so it's hard to get around (i.e. to a computer with internet). So, I'm back in L.A. The house is awesome, except there are possums who live outside so I live in fear after about 9 p.m.



EVERYONE HERE LOVES MY NEW BROWN HAIR, FAMILY. family: 0. lindy's hair: 123830.



I had lots of things to write when I had no internet connection, but now that I've schlepped over to kristin's (apartment from last year, still have keys) and have hooked up the computer, I'm strangely uncreative.



OH WAIT. a.g.o. (christian frat) has this really cool swing on their front porch. kristin and I went over the other morning to swing on it. it's glorious, though creepy since we weren't visiting anyone there, we're just in it for the swing. And I want a swing at our house. I have tools, but no lumber to make said swing. We'll see.



We went to lucky strike (bowling alley in hollywood) for kristin's birthday and saw keanu reeves. the man is an awkward bowler, but easy on the eyes (it was dark). I won, my wii skills must be paying off.

the money shot:

also, the pose we all had to do after getting a strike:

from my homepage

two delights





I fell out of my chair (harder when sitting on floor, but I managed) after I read the above one. (sorry the formatting doesn't work with my blog template. click on it for full version)






and this one is just hilarity

gold flats

the wisdom teeth recovery goes well (went well? I'm pretty much back to regular food and no vicodin now). my fam fam watched the meteor shower sunday night. Well, we all said we would but then Tom fell asleep inside, Greg went out with friends, and John just left. So my parents and I slept out on the pool deck until the alarm clock went off at 2 a.m. and we looked for the meteors. (eventually we went inside to get Thomas, so he was there for the 2 a.m. part, too)

It was freezing, and we were trying to stay awake/not succumb to the warmer inside. But it was hard- the sky is really big, we don't know exactly where to look. But we did succeed in seeing a few. except my mom. She is less patient.

mom: "It's like, reveal yourself or screw it. This is probably why I was a horrible researcher"
lindy: "This is why you're a horrible astronomer." *shiver*

Some time early in the morning I went inside- but John has my room now, so I slept in my parents bed. I'm sort of a little nomad until I get back to 'SC. I've set up camp in the music room (where I'm writing from right now)- inflatable bed, the stuff I have to pack in the car to go back. But my family still loves me, they just don't believe in bunk beds anymore (or thomas doesn't want to share)

you must've fallen

first- the farming. We went to my dad's parents farm this past weekend. Good times, no animals. But I did drive me some tractors. My favorite part was playing in the silo (which is a big cylinder... hold corn but not on the cob, in kernels) with Thomas when we had to put the auger (helps get the corn kernels out) inside it. The kernel level is higher around the edge and gets lower near the middle- we got some wooden panels (2'x3' I estimate) and 'surfed' them down the kernels. We got totally dirty (sneaky kernels) and with every clothing item I took off before my shower 3-4 new kernels dropped to the floor. Thomas said he could hear them and was simultaneously humored and grossed out. He should have come to expect that from me now.



um, must make the post quick before the vicodin sets in. I had my wisdom teeth out this morning. I fear medical stuff and as they were searching for a vein for the I.V. (already a gauze + tape on the right inside elbow- they had to try both arms), I decided never to give birth. hospitals must be even worse. but as the surgeon man inserted the knock-me-out stuff into the i.v. I remembered that my mom told me her surgeon told her to count to 10 as they knocked her out and she didn't remember making it past four. I don't even remember counting.

The next thing I knew I woke up behind the nurses station with a fuzzy blanket and a little headache. When my mom drove me home I got a new blacket and an ibuprofen. I slept for a few hours (apparently a family friend came over... sorry mary I was out of it) and have had just a little headache all day. The bleeding stopped quickly and my swelling went down.

oh, the swelling. my family values honesty, and now i will show you

lindy: "mom is my face big?"
mom: "let's put it this way... I thought you had a round face before. Now you've really got jowls."

... after the intense napping...

lindy: "mom is my face still big?"
mom: "lindy it's like... another dimension for your face."

brooke says it's not noticeable. but we were also outside at night when she said this- perhaps the enormous head bends the light? gravitational pull of jowls?

but I'm feeling better now and very sleepy. I was so afraid of the surgery, but God takes care of me and my tooth sockets. yay! goodnight

new deep

Greg's here yay!!! he came this morning, I picked him up and we went to gma's. I did some sweet sweet work today- something finally worked out! When it gets uploaded (it's FTP-ing as I type) you can find it here: http://www-scf.usc.edu/~mlligget/AlGal/ but for now it'll just say "loading" over and over again until all the files are up there.

We went to a bbq my faculty advisor had for our group + families, which was glorious. I was the designated driver. And I told Greg all about this dream I had with a walrus with FOUR EYES!! it was scary. walruses (walri?) are hella scary looking don't believe otherwise.

muvva natuwe's cwyin'

so not catchy... yet can't stop watching...

pearls on a string

hold on to your user interfaces, I'm gonna use some big techy words to make myself feel better.

I am learning how to use Breeze, which is essentially dubbing over a powerpoint presentation so your voice and slide transitions and animations are in sync. And I have USC webspace, so I was planning to put one or two up there for your viewing pleasure. So tonight I downloaded the VPN Client and FTP Client, and did some configure (click 'yes') stuff so now the embarassing poorly made assignments from my webpage class are not online anymore. wow yay! I am so techy! And I went to the gym today! I should reward myself... with SLEEP


VPN Client = how I connect to the USC server from off site (I'm pretty sure I need it for the...)
FTP Client = File Transfer Program Client. How I get files from my computer to the USC server and I tell it where to put them so I can give you the u.r.l. and you can be AMAZED. wowzers.

like o, like h

oh yes, now I remember. I had a birthday last week! it was delightful and many cards and presents came in the mail. catherine and i went out to lunch and the maddoxes got me a SHIRT WITH THOSE COW PICTURE ON IT. like, the ones of ME! I'm going to wear it forever (but it's in my laundry hamper/bag now). I got red wine with fajitas. bad move. but then again, I'm just learning

the dicks came down from peru to take me out to dinner- and grandma came (christmas miracle)! I got a beer, asked to be carded but wasn't. I must look too truthful and too LEGAL. it was all wonderful and fun. there are pictures on facebook (but not in my albums so you have to be on facebook to see them. but facebook isn't just for pedophiles like myspace, so you can join).

this weekend I was with the dicks again- we went to a baseball game!! I got a hat that I wore today. I don't get to wear it at work, so I wore it inside the grocery store. but I didn't wear my sunglasses inside- I am improving! Speaking of grocery store, now that I can buy beer I don't want to...

I wanted it so bad before thursday and now that I can have it I don't really care. I have passed 'being a girl 101' with flying colors!!

all eyes on me

more on bday later, but today after work I made a walmart run to get thank-you cards, milk, cereal, that sort of thing. And I was like, "ooooh now I can buy beer if I want!" and I do want.

except they all come in packs and I only want ONE. and you can buy ONE bottle of wine, and ONE bottle of like everything else. but you have a to buy a whole six (at least) pack of beer. And because I couldn't get exactly what I wanted, I didn't get anything. did get some soy milk, though. plain flavor, not vanilla. I like the hard stuff.

ziggy stardust

omg. 'extras' may be the best show EVER.







"chubby little loser... no, no not chubby little loser... pathetic little fat man!"

let it rain

as with scotland, no one here touches me. and i miss it. i mean touch like hug, or even a high five (but hugs > high fives of course). and i don't run into people I know on campus, of course. the only thing I have to go home to is the fake lilies and vase I got at walmart for my room. i am like a lonely little leper

WHO NEEDS TO FINISH HER DANG PAPER. i'm in the library right now.

even at gma's, the interaction is minimal. actually, her caretakers like to talk a lot and i'm like, "um you make beef stroganoff like it's going out of style. you lost all credibility with me thank you." i'm just bitter probably. once the paper is done I'll feel better I hope.

heaven's here on earth

Apparently people go to drive-in movies to, in no particular order:

1. make out
2. be able to smoke
3. be able to drink
4. camp out in their truck beds
5. watch jawsome double features


SO WHY ON EARTH DON'T WE HAVE THEM IN C.A.??!?!? people make out and smoke* and drink there!! and some of them own trucks! le sigh.

*except we don't smoke in public because we respect other people. and we do NOT chew tobacco that is so disgusting. blech.

I went to Peru saturday evening for a DOUBLE feature at the drive-in theatre: ratatouille (aww so cute and quotable!) and transformers (fun, lost of 'splosions). I saw the cool reel room, and asked some indiana people to move out of a parking space they had double parked so we could park there. they gave me the eye - I was totally unprepared - I must practice more!! but it was also dusk by then, not as good definition on the evil eye. my evil eye is currently under contruction. it's like pepper spray and knowledge of c.p.r.- you hope you never have to use it, but feel better having it.

I would also like to announce to all the lady folk out there that aren't related to andy, that andy dick is the single most eligible bachelor in indiana, possibly the entire midwest. 2 pieces of evidence:

Exhibit A:
lindy: "I can't hear, can we turn [the speaker for the movie, you get them per car so you don't have to run out your battery listening to the radio broadcast of it] up?"
andy: "just a sec" [returns with little radio with headphones for me since speaker is broken]
lindy: *smile*

Exhibit B:
without any biological sisters, he knew that my placing the chips in his arm means I would like him to roll up the end and put them back in the car. truly incredible, non?

sure he may wear his pants a little high to church - yes andy it's true. i know the shirt's tucked in but it's no excuse! kevin will back me up on this one. but andy dick is a man among boys. a combine among those little john deere lawn mowers. an optimus prime among decepticons, if you will.

my moon my man

am I the only NON-FREAK who uses the greater lafayette bus system?

some man- obviously mentally disturbed- was 'talking' to me today and I couldn't understand him at all but I did make out a 'fertility clinic' and I thought, Can I be uncomfortable or offended if I don't even know what he's saying? But then he got off at a K-mart.

And I'm reading a novel called 'I Know This Much is True' by Wally Lamb (who also wrote 'She's Come Undone', both of which I recommend... he's basically amazing and I love him- or, his books rather) and in it the main character has a schizophrenic brother (identical twin actually) and so I was like, "oooh I need to be sympathetic to this guy and not ignore him" but I mean he was mumbling and sort of scary... what was I supposed to do? I didn't want to just say "yeah... uh huh... I bet" because I have no idea what he's talking about (only clue = creepy = fertility clinic), but I don't want to ask him to repeat himself because really, I don't want to hear about it. whatever 'it' is. I'm glad my fam is good/normal/ok mentally. it's a blessing.

honey honey

Exhibit A: the "Do not write below this line" line

Exhibit B: my mom's public questioning of this line

MY MOM AND I ARE THE SAME PERSON. I've been denying it so far but... sorry. I don't wear my pants a few inches below the armpits yet but, it's undeniable by now. we don't understand that line and aren't afraid of other people's knowing it.

the execution of all things

I just got back from a long weekend in Atlanta, visiting my high school small group leader miriam and her husband joe and baby ellie. and dog ace, whom I called a 'she' the entire time even though he's a boy- oops. I also called him 'scout'. oh well.

hmmm... it was delightful, Atlanta's fine but I still want to live in D.C. someday. And live internationally, and maybe in a treehouse. and have a goat farm. And now I'm back in my dorm, drinking some herby tea and listening to sweet tunes, forgetting about the paper I have to write due Tuesday.

hydrogen initiative

here's what I do today:

measure out gallium
measure and add aluminum
put them in the oven to melt- about 40 minutes
take them out, react with water until fully reacted- about 10 minutes
clean out, pour gallium into another cup
clean out the first cup
dry out gallium in oven- about 5 minutes
react and clean out the gallium again
pour gallium into clean cup
put gallium in oven to dry out

repeat ad nauseum.

so in my free time I clean up the hood... read blogs (but always keep a tab open to 'aluminum oxide' or something on wikipedia so I look really smart/not wasting time)... read lots of wikipedia articles... wish they'd return our waste water buckets so I can do other experiments while I'm waiting for the gallium... we really need to start a book club.

nine million bicycles

so I opened up grandma's browser just now and her homepage is set to msn, who announced that al gore's son was recently arrested for drug possession (marijuana and prescription drugs)- he was driving 100 m.p.h. on a San Diego freeway (which is a feat in and of itself. and while intoxicated? tip of the hat to you, gore jr.)

but what was he driving- a blue prius. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. oh that is just too perfect

spectacular views

I don't mean to sell out but seriously this tea is amazing. It's everything you want in black tea (caffeine, bad ass attitude) without the stuff you don't (the wierd tinny taste). But I also put a little sweetener in it, to be fair.

I made myself a picnic (spinach-green pepper-bacon bits-italian dressing salad; banana; this tea) and brought my "get fuzzy" book (it's a hilarious comic strip) across the street and sat at a picnic table reading, eating, watching the sky as the sun set. It was glorious. phase 2: have friends to do this with.

Lab didn't go so well today- I feel like I take 3 times as long as anyone else to do something, even though I have no one else to compare myself to. I made this alloy that won't even react now (usually it gets really hot and bubbly, etc. now- nothing, unless I heat up the water). I printed out some digital pictures at walmart (oh walmart, midwest mecca) to put in my office at birck (this cool building)- yeah I have an office I don't use very much, that's how big time I am. Who knows, maybe one of these days I'll get some good data. Post that in my office, too. I'll have tours.

a.w.o.l.

so here's some sweet pictures

this is me contemplating cows, and how smelly they are (but seriously)

this is me with some cows

no evidence of the 'ear incident' but... it happened. and it was scary. hopefully that cow (and the one we dehorned, and the um... other one we worked on) are ok.

cubic zirconium in the rough

i am a savage beast that cannot be stopped.

I ripped out part of a cow's ear today and I aided in cutting out the horns on a little cow (but a little boy cow... bull? too many cow words). but I only watched as they steer-ized a bull, if you know what I mean (and if you don't, don't ask).

I don't know if I earned my farmer demerits back, but I finally faced the boy goat and won. He's such a mean boy goat. When I have a goat farm there will be NO BOY GOATS. we'll bring in a super sexy boy goat two weeks out of the year to um... get the job done... and then the females and cute kid ones can roam free of oppression.

my farm will not have cows, or crops that you need a tractor for (but it can have a sit-down lawn mower). We will have bell peppers, we will not have bees. There may be chickens but... on some sort of probationary deal, because they are annoying. no pigs. and tomatoes and pumpkins are OK, too. and almonds! I don't know how they're grown, but I can figure it out. so... vegetable and goat farm anyone? you can visit any time.

mother revolution

omg the people i work with are so smart. though i technically know the big words (like 'passivating oxide' or something like that) I still can't use them in conversation, or make them in a coherent sentence. but some day, friends, some day.

and... i'm becoming more and more attracted to the materials science minor. I read through econ course descriptions and i was like, "hmm... ok... could take that" and I read through materials science and i was like, "oooh yes... hmmm good choice for elective... yes please!" and, if you think your opinion matters on this issue, let me know. I love changing majors/minors and anything else i can. it's the spice of life, you know.

the greater good

my mom (and greg's) flight has been delayed due to weather, so she had me do some flight status checking on her flights and those of other kids meeting them (all for this jazz band trip to europe). I had a lot of info and only 160 characters. 'eta' and 'etd' are ok with me, but when I had to put in an 'idk' in there... I just felt rotten. should have called really.


helpful knowledge: 1. morals: 0

shuffling children

I'm an econ minor right now- I have 4 more econ classes to take, and I have one free class (woot!) until graduation (2 years)

but what if i do materials science minor? For one thing, I'll have 2 (possibly 3!! whoaaa) free classes. and i like econ but... man this summer I'm just feeling so sciency/nerdy! but I have to decide soon, before I take another class with the econ kids (ahhh frat boys and 'cool' asians... and asian frat boys)


today my advisor and I talked about funding- mainly, how much it sucks to have to apply for funding (he did most of the talking, my funding comes from bank o' dad and mom, f.d.i.c.)- trey does it seriously suck that much? I had read a few of his proposals and told him they were worded very... roughly... and the grammar could be changed. a lot. not to be mean but... seriously, did anyone proofread them? When I am doling out my funding moneys, I want to be gently and gramatically (with dashes of data) coaxed into funding, not have to wade through awkward sentences and technical terms to the final proposal. just a thought. have opinions, will proofread.

a tisket a tasket

this is where it comes from:

dad: it's getting late you should go to bed... oh wait, tomorrow's sunday
me: no, I have a friend and we're going to church tomorrow
dad: what church is it?
me: i forget... not presbyterian but, like, close
dad: ... presbyNEARian!
both: AAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!


and that's where it comes from.

won't get fooled again

this is why I shouldn't be allowed on YouTube. or allowed to watch csi: miami....

p.s. only funny if you watch the show

p.p.s. i want a prairie dog!

p.p.p.s. and now off to the farmer's market! yay!

don't confess

YOU KNOW WHAT IS THE BEST- MASHED POTATOES AND CORN. my awesome cousin kevin taught me that tonight. i thought it was one of those midwestern things that is cool only here, and gross everywhere else (see also: cutoffs, the shirt kind not short shorts). but it is DELICIOUS. and i'm not talking, eat them close to each other in sequence. i mean eat them TOGETHER. a melange of heavenly delight.

at last

well... I thought about that last post. and then I found THIS:




bring on the floral arrangements!

the boomin music scene

a friend of mine at sc posted pictures of her brother's wedding on facebook, and she was outrageously good-looking as a bridesmaid, but as I looked through them all I could think was, I never want to get married.

is that wierd? I was also in a bad mood because I've somehow broken the underwire on my favorite bra. which i just washed!! *shakes fist at no one in particular*


post-script: I would be ok with being married. but getting married... agh. too much pressure. I want to spend my life with someone, I don't need caterers to confirm it.

fell down the stairs

I got up early this morning, put on an n.r.a. sweatshirt, and went outside. Maddie and I walked down to the mailbox, I went out to the cow field and was near that tree (for those of you who know... there's only one tree... and it's sad looking) when the goats saw me and started running toward me. The male in the front, the kids scattered, and the mom with her enormous teets (it's out of control) lopsidedly running in the back. So of course I bolted toward the stile- in those farmer clog shoes, so I probably ran like a freak (or like my youngest brother Thomas- bahahahahaha, his knees are *everywhere*). But I narrowly escaped them as I climbed up the stile.

I went over to the barn, where they followed me of course expecting food. Instead, I saw BOTH kitties (!!!!). I told the head male goat that no, i was not going to feed them, I fed them last night. But I took pity on the little cute goats who always get pushed out of the way. One little white one squirmed his way to the front, and as he put his little hooves up on the fence (and I was about 3 seconds away from giving in and getting them feed), the douchebag male goat butted him away to the back.

patriarchal societies: w.t.f.?!

the trees of the field

i tried to pick/gather eggs underneath the guineas, so I gently nudged at one with my foot. then it started pecking at me and i ran away. 50 farmer demerits... and i think charles may be dead.... 10,000,000 farmer demerits

stuck in the middle

dear hallmark,

#1: the fact that you have a channel is scary, and the fact that my grandma tivo's 'matlock' and 'murder she wrote' from it is even worse. but you can't separate a woman and her andy griffith, so I'll let that go. for the time being. but...

#2: WTF WITH THE CARDS. PEOPLE DO NOT HAVE TO BE BROUGHT TOGETHER BY SORROW OR BY ANNIVERSARY/BIRTHDAY-INDUCED GUILT!! I just want some "i miss you but i'm not super sad" or a "i'm thinking of you and emotionally *stable*" cards to send thomas while he's at camp!!! omg!! they have every kind of 'loss of a pet', 'loss of a job as a plumber' and 'birthday- to little brother's slutty girlfriend who you don't want to send a car to but should anyhow to cover your animosity' card, but nothing I want! I am very close to drawing a dinosaur on a piece of paper, writing "sistersaurus says it's time to rock and roll!" and sending it to north carolina. for reals, card people. get with it. cards aren't just for depressed or guilty people.

the good that won't come out

h'okay so.

charles and jeff continue to live, and I continue to bring them milk and only call them "kitteeeee". today, charles got in the goat side (probably running away from me) and I thought he was going to get trampled- it was horrible! So I opened the gate thingy and went in with the goats (i know, i know, i now fear NOTHING) but that just made him retreat to the hole in the side of the barn, and made one of the smaller goats wriggle though out of their pen, to where the kitties cage and food is (hence where he can get OUT out... bad). So i ordered him back in, and pushed the cat cage, which they never use, against the fence next to the goat part, so hopefully he can't get out again.

I hope that made sense. maddoxes- you know what i'm talking about?

but I do have a question: how can I tell which are guinea eggs? I usually look for 3 characteristics
a. that darker color
b. they're smaller
c. they're pointy-er

but... what about medium sized grey pointy ones? I don't think I'm picking ('gathering', thank you lise) guinea eggs, but I'm afraid I'm leaving regular eggs in the tree house ('gypsy wagon', thank you bridget). any help? I even searched wikipedia, which couldn't help me (gasp!).

wild like children

well, jeff and charles are SAFE. and if not safe, at least ALIVE and out of the hole! yay! I'll bring them more milk later, let them know that I'm nice and safe and not going to hurt them (though they're still afraid of me.. oh well can't win 'em all.)

you really ought to check out my pictures here. that has the info, and all the sweet pics. and don't worry, you don't have to be on facebook to see them (but if the link gives you trouble let me know and i'll fix it)

dog eat dog

I am a horrible farmer. Let me count the ways:

I picked the eggs (i don't even know the right verbs...) but couldn't get one of the fat (read: SCARY) guineas to move, so I didn't get any of the eggs under her (and I could even see them!) then, when I was scrubbing them off so they can dry and I'll put them in a carton, I dropped on and it cracked in the sink, and washed down the drain. at least there's a disposal... le sigh

I went out to the cats- jeff and charles are HORRIBLE cat names, I didn't even use them. how can cute little kitties be boy phD students? They're actually just 'skinny' and 'scaredy'. I walked toward one and it (jeff, skinny) fell down a hole thing in the corner/wall of the barn. I could barely see it and couldn't reach it. But a bit later, as I tossed some cat food in a little line out the hole, I saw both of them. I hope they can get out!

I have killed one unborn chicken, and possibly two adorable kittens. And above that I have no idea where the goats are! But maybe they're out... grazing...? they graze, correct?

I had better KICK ASS at the lab tomorrow (don't know exactly how yet) or else I think I'll be a failure at Indiana and the responsibilities therein.

scout = jean-louise

I AM A WOMAN OF THE LAND! Actually I'm just housesitting fo my aunt and uncle, who live on a farm (!!). So I am house-dog-goats-chicken-plants-cute kitties sitting.

I'll have pictures when I: take them, upload them to the compy, upload them to blogger. I think all the people who read this blog are in my fam and know what it looks like, but I'm doing it anyhow. You never know when you're going to get homesick.

So anyhow, about those cute kitties. They started out as 9, now there are only 2 left. And I saw one of the dead ones. BUT THEY ARE SO CUTE! (the alive ones) how can I resist? I fed them, I brought them some milk. One of them (white, grey, black, caramel colored) let me pet it, it's tiny small. The other is orange and afraid of me. I think I will name them Jeff and Charles, after my grad students. The skinny one will be Jeff (haha this is funny only to me because I know them). charles is my actual grad student, but jeff works in the same lab and i know his undergrad student, too. and he explained sciency stuff to me today- so I will count them both as my grad students. and now as my cute kittens.

Is that sort of creepy? Do I care? There's a quotation attributed some times to Marilyn Monroe- ever notice how 'what the hell' is always the right decision? I sincerely doubt she had the presence of mind to say something so witty, but i agree with it completely. And these cats may die, but they'll have very nice names for now! I'll upload pictures, I promise.

I somewhat fear the goats (HORNS!) and the guineas, which are like these nasty ugly chicken things. but some scientists think chicken are related to DINOSAURS. I just don't want that to be true. the only thing majestic about chickens or roosters are the false stereotypes some people hold about them.

the essential adam ant

have i mentioned my faculty person (mentor? not sure what the right word is) is a pirate?



And there's some footage of person in labcoat mixing stuff. that might be my grad student, or this other one jeff. not sure.

p.s. i think this cnn guy is sort of a dick. just get to the story, you know?

how does it feel

this may be obvious to anyone, but i just realized it. As I was biking home from gma's, I passed a nerd couple near the student union. They were cute, and I'm not entirely sure what made me think of this- it might be her big glasses that made her nose look the same as my mom's when her glasses fall too far down (or maybe this girl's glasses also fell down). but i thought, my parents met here.

I've never gotten the whole story, but I've pieced it together from what my mom and dad tell me when I prod them. how they met and she declined a ride home from him; how she liked him for like 2 years while they dated other people (wtf, true love?!); how they separately moved out to delaware (it was delaware, right?). here, where I'm walking and biking. they probably went out to lunch in the union, or on the 'levee', or on chauncey hill.

it's so wierd and beautiful at the same time. i don't know what to make of it, or what I think of it. if i don't have to think anything, then I'll just leave it. my parents met here: hail purdue.

call the police

flights in and out of chicago canceled... after a night at an indy hotel and 3 on and off hours of sleep, i managed to get into boston and take the T to laura's graduation. read a book the whole time. hung out with the fam (mostly her dad's side, which is not blood-related to me, but they're pretty cool). and i'd just like to share this with you. susan = my mom's older sister.

susan: what was that presentation you did for 4-H?
mom: I did a *lot* of presentations
susan: no no, I mean the one you did so well...
mom: 'hot dogs around the world?'


I mean... what else do i need to add? I come from a family of hot dogs on one side and a history of kidney stones on the other. I am hemmed in by DISASTER.

girl sighting!

red shirt and khakis
through the door new hope bursts forth
small asian female

i love lamp

i love lab! for reals, i do. but i have some observations.

first, I am the only girl. and I may be the only girl for MILES - truly - as our lab is a ways off campus, and i haven't seen any other girls yet. YET. I'm holding out for some. But this also means I'm more... shall we say... conversational that my labmates. About 8 or so people work in our room in the lab, I talk to three of them. There are these other people that I don't even know, which I think is awkward. The room isn't even that big, maybe the same size as a triple dorm room. I'll introduce myself tomorrow, see how it goes.

secondly, no one seems to like my ideas. While waiting for an alloy to heat up (and then we have to keep it at 200 C for half an hour anyhow... lots of waiting...) I said we should start a book club. sort of joking, but mostly serious. and they laughed. I later said we should have a bake sale to get a new centrifuge. We would have to sell brownies/cookies on the thousands scale, true - but they didn't even bother to laugh at that. My ideas are valid! And bake sales are glorious! No one understands me! whine whine emo teenage girl whine!

oh well. it's very exciting. fox news came by today to film us. And by 'us' i mean interview the prof overseeing this, and film the grad students in lab coats (which we never wear by the way... but we do wear gloves) making some things react. They also got a shot of me transcribing stuff into my lab notebook (my glorious lab notebook! i love it and want to sleep with it under my pillow... that's creepy but who cares). but as I'm not wearing a lab coat.... or gloves... I probably won't be in the broadcast. so watch fox news thursday or monday night. And let me know if i'm in it, I won't be able to watch.

klondike

oh i forgot, true story from yesterday.

so charles and i went out to lunch, and I had to go to the bathroom. They were onesies, and I knocked on the ladies door, but heard nothing, and it was locked. So I waited there for a while, but she (that elusive 'she'...) never came out. So I did what any self-respecting and has-to-go-now girl does, and went into the gentlemen's bathroom. This doesn't bother me at all, I mean they're onesies so who will walk in on me and, horrors, have to share a bathroom with the opposite sex.

but when I came out there was this little girl (probably 9) and her mom and dad were staring at me. I smiled, and went back to my sandwich by the window. later when they left, they kept stealing glances at me from outside as they walked away. I hope they just think i'm a freak, and not a dude in disguise (THOUGH IN REALITY I AM NEITHER!)

stunner of a summer

I had my first day of work today. it was intense- I pretty much dropped right in, and remained confused for most of the day. My faculty mentor = awesome, but I spent most of the day with my grad student mentor, charles (but in non-meeting settings i can call him 'chuck'... see we're already super tight). and i know he's married, but i love him. the same way i love my dentist and the nice people at the bike shop. he explained briefly what people were talking about, he took me out to lunch, he walked to like 18 different buildings with me (or rather the same 3 buildings like 6 times... in the rain... bad day to wear white shirt, lindy), we spent a while looking at a small scale map of campus and surrounding areas. and he stayed with me while we sorted out all my i.d. and username and being-able-to-access-stuff sorted out. (my ID, by the way, says "VISITING SCHOLAR/RESEARCHER" how awesome is that!)

so while we didn't do sciency/technical stuff, it was still fruitful. and while it remains overcast, I'm not wearing anymore white shirts (i did have an undershirt, though, it's all good). yay research!

linux unleashed

friends, here is the not so good part: there is no professional baseball team in Indiana. There's semi-professional (minor league? I know it has a name) in Indianapolis. But I'm not driving an hour for semi-professional. do they only wear semi-baseball pants? I'm skeptical to say the least.

But what I would do is drive ~2 hours to get to Chicago to watch a cubs game. And eat deep dish pizza. and maybe do a little shopping. ride that ferris wheel at the navy pier (last time I did that I almost froze- I must redeem myself!) and then go see another baseball game. THAT I would do.

order of the day/soon: make some friends who are willing to go to chicago with me and do the above activities. i may enlist my cousins for that. we'll see.

seed funding

and now i will tell you about the wonderful things that happened today.

i took out the bike my mom got me- her old schwin suburban. The tires were flat, the gears changed spontaneously (and I'm still a little unclear on how to shift them...), and the speedometer/odometer was broken. It went... but slowly and with much effort. so- to the bike shop!

There are two bike shops near me, and one of them was completely useless on the phone. So I went to the other one where the people are VERY nice and helpful. and i love them (probably on the same level I love my dentist... and no that's not a joke I am actually fond of my dentist b/c he's awesome). The guy was really smart and looked at it, saw the gear problem and explained it all to me, looked at the tires, looked at the speed/odometer. And here's how it went own: $50 for labor/tune-up, $20 for tires, $20 for basket. This is about the same price if I got a new (well, probably used, but new to me) bike and put a $20 basket on it. Considering everyone and their grandmother was impressed by my old school bike, and captain planet taught me to reuse, I'm fixing up this old one.

but there was nothing to be done about the speed/odometer. This made me sad. one of the helpy clerk guys told me, "you can check at yard sales, they usually have one you can take off a statonary bike". I said, "OK" but I mean... there aren't yard sales Atherton (or if there are we call them 'estate sales' but I think that's only when someone dies... I really don't know, don't take any of this as fact)- I am unaccustomed to the yard saling industry, which is technically part of the black market since it's not reported. this made me want to go to yard sales more!

I left the bike- i'm thinking of naming him 'Chauncey'- with the nice men at the shop and drove to the grocery store. And what did I see on the way but a YARD SALE and when I drove up what did they have but a CRAPPY STATIONARY BIKE!! Truly, incredible. So I made sure it worked, asked for a philips screw driver, took it off, paid the nice lady $5 and returned triumphant to the bike shop. they were all very impressed. I left it with my in-repair bike and floated/skipped back to the car to go to the grocery store for reals.

I also found out today that my faculty mentor for my research has an EYE PATCH. that is AWESOME and AMAZING. and I want to call him cap'n. I will have to resist.


And tomorrow- I am going strawberry picking! They may not use reusable grocery bags, but Indiana is still cool so far.

rihanna

I'm in Indiana and full of stir fry and strawberries. mmm such is life. I realized as I walked down the gangplank to the plane (there must be a better/actual word for that...) that I hadn't told my grandma I was coming, though she probably found out from the more responsible members in my family.

So I gave her a call while the girl behind me listened and sang softly along to her ipod- she was a rap fan, I'd heard many a tune in the line for boarding. I left a message with my gma, telling her I'd arrive in the evening and stay in the middle room, as 'move bitch, get out the way' wafted softly in the background.

I hadn't called Andy to come pick me up, but he did anyhow because he's the best cousin ever. I had about 20 minutes to kill and wasn't hungry, so I went into one of the perfume places. Man I love those. They didn't have my fave scents (calvin klein, summer ; victor & rolf, flowerbomb), and I'm very curious, so I tried on upwards of about 10 scents up and down both forearms. I left 10 minutes later smelling of alcohol and prostitution (including several versions of clinique, happy). I tried to wash it off in a bathroom stall, but just ended up smelling like a whore plus gas station soap.

Then I went to Starbucks. I tested them by asking for an iced tea. Against all odds, they asked me if I wanted it sweetened or unsweetened. They passed. My bitter tea and I descended to baggage claim. Andy picked me up, dinner at the Dick's (see stir fry and strawberries), now I'm at Gma's. more updates later.

corsage

today I did laundry to get ready for a track party we had this afternoon. I folded and sorted it and delivered it to the rooms (this also includes trolling for dirty dishes and overdue library books). Thomas' pile consisted of: 1 t-shirt; 6 pairs of socks.

Prepubescent boys never cease to amaze me.

accordeur chromatique

i dyed my hair brown this weekend. i was tired of blonde (dirty ashy blonde, of course. i walk true). this is what it looks like:

some people (JOHN, WTF) haven't noticed, brooke basically fell out of her chair when she saw me. and she knew it was coming! unfortunately, I spilled quite a bit on my sink and couldn't clean it up. the hardware store was closed on sunday (the day after I dyed it), so I got some acetone from the beauty supply store- this did not help (even after soaking, etc.) the beauty (i.e. CHEMICALS) supply store doesn't sell any chlorine-based solutions, which was my mom's next guess. oh well. my sink and surrounding tile will have natural-looking 100% grey coverage glistening color for the next six weeks. provided we use the conditioner, of course.

brooke and i drove home today. I came back to a house full of the europe-as-a-setting movies I got for my fam to prepare for their trip. They watched (and disliked) 'gigi' and 'death in venice'. I'd also gotten 'a room with a view', and the french connection (yes, I know it's in new york, but i've never seen it and it does have 'french' in the title... plus i want to watch an action movie). pushed by my castilleja liberal arts education, I swooned over 'room with a view' until they would watch it with me.

we must all fall in love with george emerson, even though he's a wierdo. can i get an amen? (maddoxes i'm looking at you on this one)

these streets

crisis averted. will get them out in august probably. love my dentist (seriously how many of you can say that? I CAN- I LOVE HIM). things are going on... going to san francisco tomorrow, probably going to l.a. for the weekend, then i get to INDIANA. i'm worried no one there will like me, and i'll be lonely. i had the same fear before scotland, but God totally took care of that and provided me with a bible study and friends in all of my classes so... indiana will be no problem. further criterion: must love jello salad.

hehe. jello 'salad'...

if i were raised by a dentist i would know these things

as it is, I know about... sciency stuff. and math. but not teeth.

dentist: "are your wisdom teeth giving you any trouble?"
me: "no they're ok, but I do get headaches sometimes" [read: chronicly]
dentist: "hm... yeah that's probably your teeth"

so i thought, if it gets worse I'll take care of it when I get back in August. But today at the beach I had a horrible headache the whole time, the type I've been having all week, that's from my temples down along my jaw. how was i supposed to know that your teeth give you headaches?! i thought they gave you toothaches!

so i called my dentist, and I'm sort of freaking out, and I'm gonna take like 4 naproxen even though i don't know if that will help. and i'm reading this. which makes me freak out a little more. and my head hurts. this is worst day EVER.

peanut butter jelly time

SUMMER MOVIES ARE HERE!!!! this is mostly a record for myself of what i want to see (by release date, of course)

5/18 (TOMORROW)
Shrek the Third

5/24
PIRATES! (also the third)

6/1
Knocked Up (mostly Brooke wants to see this, but if I'm not with her I probably won't)

6/15
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (never saw the first one but SILVER SURFER?! that guy's out of control awesome!)
Nancy Drew (...teehee...)

6/27
Live Free or DIE HARD (a fourth one!! a fourth one!!)

6/29
Evening (never heard of it but if Toni Collette's in it, I'm getting a ticket. probably all by myself)
Ratatouille (yay!)

7/4
TRANSFORMERS. (ZOMG- TRANSFORMERS. John and I will see this simultaneously and call each other and scream for a while. optimus prime... coolest name, coolest transformer)

7/13
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (I don't read the books, the movies are the only way I stay 'current')

7/20
Hairspray (saw it on broadway, now get to see john travolta)
I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (...adam sandler movie... guilty pleasure...)

8/3
The Bourne Ultimatum (gee, all these trilogies are coming to an end)

8/17
Superbad (saw a preview for it before seeing 'Hot Fuzz' with John again... looks wonderfully horribly funny and has george michael from 'arrested development'!)

8/24
Mr. Bean's Holiday (mr. bean movie!!!)


what will i actually see?
pirates, die hard, transformers, maybe harry potter. anything my cousins will go see with me (movies alone = pathetic, although I have never done it. i'm just guessing)

gone to california

ok, this must not happen anymore.

"hi, I'm a patient of dr. iverson, I'd like to schedule an appointment."
"alright, can you hold okay thank you"
"yes, i-"
ELEVATOR MUSIC

but friends, what if i COULDN'T hold? what if my house is burning down and I need to schedule my dentist appointment RIGHT NOW? what if I don't like elevator music? basically i don't like being told what to do.

lollipop

so... classes for fall... how i love web registration.

taking for sure:

Mechop- no I don't understand what 'mechoptronics' is but it's apparently a lab class with weekly lab reports and lots of work (3 units)
Design Theory and Methodology- very excited for this class (3 units)
Mech. Engineering Problems- not sure how this will turn out (3 units)
Mechanical Design- very technical, taking it for the fabulous prof (3 units)
Intermediate Microeconomics- for my minor (4 units)


friends, this is 16 units, which means I have 2 more to play around with. and therein lies the problem! I can take

yoga (1 unit) + individual instruction guitar (1 unit)

OR

fundamentals of music theory- I should know this by now, but I don't. I need to actually learn it before I go much further in guitar (2 units)

OR

a cultural guide to los angeles- you learn about l.a. and art, I think there's field trips too! (2 units)

OR

120 D guitar class- last one in series, so after this I could either repeat it or take individual instruction (2 units)

OR

a voice class?

OR

a piano class?



I JUST CAN'T DECIDEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

on an oxnard beach

Happy Mother's Day!! (can't figure out the embeded u.r.l. for this, sorry)


We took a few days driving home from sc. We left friday afternoon (we = me, tom, dad, nanny, papaw) and drove up to oxnard. we spent the night on mcgrath state beach (we took the r.v. which I hate. the bugs die on the front, which is gross). very cold. Next day we drove up to san luis obispo and had lunch, then back-tracked to morro bay (probably one of my favorite places) and spent the night there right next to the beach, which was very beautiful. also very cold.

today we drove through pase robles and stopped in salinas for lunch and the steinbeck center. drove home to find the dinner my mom had made and the flowers greg got for her (very pretty). she bought herself a wii- she's wanted one since they came out. now we're boxing (i'm blogging). yay!

whole almonds

[getting on the 110 south to pick up grandparents from the airport. we got on at 39th so you can go directly into the carpool lane]
mom: (looking at rest of single-driving freeway) "... suckas...."


[at the cheesecake factory]
john: "we should go to 21 choices, they have white chocolate reese's there."
me: "white chocolate reese's are gross and 21 choices is a bunch of commies"
john: "then it would be 1 CHOICES!"
me: "THE STATE CHOOSES!"


[also at the cheesecake factory, talking about how much I dislike the r.v.]
me: "bugs die on the front."
mom: "lindy, bugs die on the front of maserati's"
me: "but their deaths are very fast and very sexy."


what else? went to the getty, very good exhibit on oudry. small, but well done. I enjoyed it. it was smoggy (maybe from the griffith park fire, too?) so a south and west views were bad. Tomorrow I'm getting up at like 5 a.m. to reserve seats for John's graduation. 5 a.m. you ask? baby I'm in it to win it.

the ritz

FINALS IS OVER!!! commence incorrect conjugation of verbs.

i went to a fancy dinner thing tonight at town and gown for the architectural guild. i was at superior getting milk when my mom texted that there was an extra seat (although we all sat at different tables). I skipped on home, put on my dress from the invite, and showed up looking out of place at a business attire dinner. for architects. oh well, i made small and awkward talk with the people (all middle aged men) at my table. and i got a free and delicious dinner. woot!

now my mom's here, we're watching american idol. MELINDA MUST WIN.

feels like falling

strength of materials was... rough... but I totally owned my fluid mechanics test today! Although, to be fair, it was *very* easy. I would say, only half as hard as the regular tests, which was surprising.

except for... cheater kid. He was in the row in front of mine on the right, next to the wall. In addition to the test and the formula sheet and different charts the teacher gave us, c.k. had his notes and all the previous tests. And as he went through the test, he referred frequently to them. friends, this is cheating. and even after years of learning not to take candy from strangers, and to let a grown-up know if something's wrong... i didn't know what to do.

I didn't want to be a bitch or a tattle-tale (i'm 20 years old! can i even be a 'tattle-tale' now, or is 'whistle-blower'?), but I was so upset! I think if I were sitting next to him, i could just pass him a "stop it, you fiend" note. I WANT HIM TO FAIL! I WANT HIM TO FEEL MY ACADEMIC WRATH!!! I wanted the t.a. to see his cheatery and immediately fail him and send him away.

But I turned in my test and left. what was I supposed to do?

downtown

tonight a group of us went to see spiderman 3 at the arclight (some theatres on sunset blvd in hollywood). tobey maguire was in our theatre. so sometimes living in l.a. is awesome.

fairytale

finals = death

everything it must belong somewhere

ok so this one time I was in austria and germany and EVERY MEAL WAS PRIX FIXE. remember that? and there were like 2303 (read: 6 or 7, sometimes 8) courses and it was amazing. once, this was in munich, the waitress came over and said, "the chef recommends this wine with your dinner" and we all nodded but I thought, "wait, how does he know what I'm going to ord- OOOOHHHH" at which time I was glad I only thought it, not said it, because I would have sounded like a doofus. but a satisfued doofus! it was delightful. and delicious.

after that, ordering off a menu is such a CHORE, like i have to READ it, then read it AGAIN, then make a DECISION. ugh. i can't handle that kind of stress. why on earth don't we have more prix fixe / bjillion course dinners over here? it's like many little presents up to dessert! it's the best! here it's like, first course is the banana i'm eating while I'm making my tuna salad, second course- tuna salad on toast. third course- dr. pepper. with ice.

does this make me superficial or stuck up? i hope not. because if this is wrong... i don't want to be right.

four winds

people say we live in a dangerous neighborhood. i usually ignore this, but it's true. and I am living to tell the tale. I saw TWO cockroaches today, on two separate occasions, from the crack in the sidewalk where a tree is growing next to my apartment. And those guys move FAST, making them very terrifying. they could probably kill you.

and i saw an OPOSSUM when i was coming home from the library. they are dirty and disgusting! At least raccoons (whom I hate) can be sort of cute if you squint your eyes. opossums are just unnatural looking, with their snout and stick tail. I thought maybe it would play dead when it saw me, but it started running full speed and veered away into some grass when it got close to me.

i may have to invest in some pepper spray. or an animal control body guard. I thought only thugs and people who walk in groups could survive in south central; apparently this includes vermin?

omg

"Pink Panther", the new one, is on HBO and it is AMAZING i don't know why on earth i didn't watch it when it came out. i am seriously falling out of my chair. the best so far:

Inspector Jacques Clouseau: And you are?
Ponton: Gilbert Ponton. Detective, second class. I've been assigned to work with you.
Inspector Jacques Clouseau: And what qualifications do you have for police work?
Ponton: My family's done police work in Paris for nine generations.
Inspector Jacques Clouseau: And before that?
Ponton: We were policemen in the surrounding areas for 200 years.
Inspector Jacques Clouseau: And before that?
Ponton: Immigrants from various countries in Europe all involving police work.
Inspector Jacques Clouseau: And before that?
Ponton: Farmers.
Inspector Jacques Clouseau: Hmm. So you are a little lamb who has come to Clouseau for to learn.

full circle

what? get my lab projet due in a timely manner so i can go home and thaw out? (it's raining in l.a. and i am never prepared). HECK NO! i'm sharing it with you. I wish it would loop or go around a few times. I'm sure there's a way to do that, I just don't know it. YET!




I am amazing, as is my radial engine. 110 mm stroke, heck yeah!

also, and this would break my heart if I actually cared, I had to drop my dance class to make room for an econ class. I went back to yoga. 2 hours on Friday afternoon. which could be wonderful and relazing, or I could be stressed out and wanting to leave the whole time (more likely). I'm gunning for the first option. we'll see.

like a tiger defying the laws of gravity

is this an excuse to post this super cute picture of me and steve, my date to the aformentioned invite? why yes. and here it is:


I had a super hot (and by hot i mean flattering... slash both hot and flattering) dress but it was so cold! so I wore the grey jacket all evening. oh wells. it went really well, but there was a lot of set up to do and I was the only ADX who could show up to do it (but one girls parents were there, as was john) so it was when steve called to say he was running late that I realized I had to start getting ready. 15 minutes later i was walking downstairs to finish the set up before I got picked up.


john: "heads up, lindy, you may want to wear make-up to the invite."
lindy: "I am."
john: "oh."


so with the lowest self esteem EVER (but no more or less make up), I went to dinner. I say the l.a. standards (or whichever ones john is apparently prescribing to) can feck off. we had fake candles in real votives, greg mixed (non-alcoholic) drinks, I was reminded that I can't dance (I registered for a jazz dance class for next semester, maybe I can improve?), and I had a wonderful date who made a t-rex joke, which is pretty much all you can ask for. goodnight.

old ladies + complications

I like old ladies, and I want to be in a small group with them. is that too much to ask?? I want to join a small group at bel air pres, and i want there to be old ladies in it. i'll actually accept anyone over like 30 or 35. the problem is how do I get there? no car, and poor public transportation... we'll see. there's one in santa monica, I could bus it there.

I want to go on the women's retreat, which is the weekend between finals weeks. i may... we'll see... i'm tired of women sharing their issues (and we're in college so it's mainly body-image and how much we all want to get married) and then being like, "well, that's it, see you next week" w.t.f. that's not enough. we need to move past those things! bringing them to the surface just lets them percolate and sort of mold onto your life being like, "well I talked about it... doesn't that fix it?" no. I want those conversations to happen then someone can say, "yes I HAVE BEEN there, and this is how I GOT OUT."

basically we need old ladies. who tell it like it is and make cookies and iced tea.

three-peat

today I went to IKEA to get some votives for our invite tomorrow. They're votives for fake candles. our invite's at the gamble house so we can't have actual fire. fake candles = ingenious. they even flicker! they look really great, I'll give you a picture later. I'm going with my friend steve, and I have a hott dress. I actually had one that was like SUPER bond girl. but, at the risk of sounding like a d-bag, it was almost TOO hot, you know? I felt uncomfortable with how good I looked in it. it was pretty much out of control, my new one is a little shorter (1st one was floor length shiny halter, black, with brooch at v-neck-meets-rest-of-dress part) and I can wear a regular bra. victory!


but anyhow, I also wanted to stop by target to see if we could find plastic champagne flutes/martini glasses. and that's where the trouble started. a woman told me to "turn on victory" but not which way, so I spent a while going both ways before calling kristin who told me to go "west" on "empire" (which you'll hear more about later). Couldn't find empire, and driving took FOREVER because it was Burbank at noon. I call the Target, the manager says I have to turn on "empire" and DEFINITELY not on "victory place", and that it's right before the onramp to the I-5. I went past the same convoluted intersection about 7 times, and have yet to see "empire". I ended up taking victory place because it was in the direction everyone seemed to be telling me to go. It took me directly to the huge shopping mall place and the target. I had been driving for no less than an hour in the no a/c minivan.

by this time I was out for blood. and a bottle of water.

I rode my shopping cart around the target the whole time. no one gave me a hard time, I'm sure I smelled of car sweat and vengeance at least 3 aisles away in all directions. I found no plasticwares that I was seeking, after look in the 4 different places people had directed me for 'picnic supplies'. I gave in and got myself a new hair dryer (old blue hasn't worked for about 2 weeks... and yes I just named him 'old blue'... now he's 'old blue in a dumpster') and some deodorant (I think I left mine somewhere in the blue van when my parents were down here and i've been surviving with my back up stick of secret). And a bottle of water. the riding around also made me feel better. I got home, got my NEW HARD DRIVE (gotta start transferring data tonight...), and now i'm at the computer lab.

I'll be spending the summer at Purdue, doing some sweet research on water separation (hydrogen isolation) and I'm super psyched about that. I go to bed thinking about getting published (now is not the time for your comments, HENRY) and how cool that would be. I want to get cute work clothes, but if I'm working hard all day in a lab I want to be barefoot and wearing some form of pyjamas. i'm excited. i feel very grown up (except for the losing my deocorant and riding around on my shopping cart parts)

another run around the sun

I ordered an external hard drive. check that off the list!

in between my assigned songs for my guitar class, I've been nursing "St. Judy's Comet" by Paul Simon and it still eludes me. gosh darn you and your talented composing, Paul Simon! I have this one riff down really well and it's repeated for about half of the verse so... i'm like 25% done?

but this one is soon overshadowing: "Nothing I Can Do" by Ben Taylor (the son of James Taylor + Carly Simon = musical explosion). he's not so big time so no one's tabbing any of his stuff and I'm definitely not good enough to figure it out for myself. what's a girl to do? well... sing and mutedly strum along whenever it comes on... and hope that he'll teach me someday. le swoon (over the song not the guy).

and because uploading videos = best, here's the music video.

you and i collide

my mind has been going at like 1000 bjillion miles an hour lately. it feels like a dynamics problem of "if the initial angular velocity of lindy's thoughts whirling around in her brain is a bjillion pi radians/second and is inversely related to the hours of sleep she gets, how long until she explodes?"

i actually wrote out all the things that i apparently think about all day during fluid mechanics. i turned over my quiz and listed off everything. it was pretty pathetic- classes, people whose fault it totally isn't that they stress me out. i don't think the things stress me out, i just think about them ALL THE TIME. and then go home and watch 'scrubs' and play guitar and get no work done. summer research? summer in ITALY? (i can do that if I want! slash if they accept me)

my mom brought me a new: monitor, dell laptop with docking station, palm pilot! the screen on mr. puckers (the h.p., my true love) isn't working. i think it's the inverter. whatever that is (the guy in the beret in the computer part of the bookstore told me this). so: add to things swirling around in my head: external hard drive. woot.

head 'em off at the pass!

so I didn't make it. the test was HARD and we sat around nervously while they graded our quizzes. I made some serious small talk with the guys around me. They read off about 5 names (out of 30-40) and mine wasn't one of them. I gathered my things and stood up. I looked at my small talk friend, "Well then I'll take my 5 interesting facts and go somewhere else!" and that's just what I did.

ra ra shish boom ba

jeopardy! (the ! is part of the show name actually) is filming at USC in a few weeks and today they had tryouts to be a contestant and YOURS TRULY made it to the second screening!!!! I have to come back tomorrow at 9 a.m. for more tests, and have 5 interesting facts about myself (like, the commercial break ones). I have:

1. i joined the curling team in Edinburgh
2. my name is iambic (every other syllable is stressed)
3. i have played guitar for 3 years and want to learn the harmonica
4. i used to think i was indian because my parents are from indiana.
5. DON'T HAVE A FIFTH!!

what should my 5th interesting fact/hobby/about me be? I can't leave jeopardy! hanging. but seriously- it would be so cool if i were on jeopardy! ! i hope i get through. that would be freakin JAWSOME (j for jeopardy!)

99 red balloons

this is what I feel like today (the paul rudd character).

the heart of life

so... true story about lindy's being a moron


[at a professor's office hours]
me: hi, I have a question about our 204 homework.
professor: ok
me: also, will we be getting our dynamics midterms back tomorrow?
professor: yes. you did well.
me: I thought so.


WHAT?? "I thought so"?! I am a total d-bag moron face. (now that I know joe happens upon my blog I can't use the d-word but you know what it is). I did actually think I did well, but to say it like that? I got it back today, with a 94/100, and whipped out my camera phone to take a picture of it and send it to my mom and dad. So, while I may be a doofus and apparently full of myself, I still get my gratification from my parents. I think I'll put it on the fridge for a while.

a french kiss

we have an invite in 3 weeks (less actually, but I try not to think about that). who should I take? I made a list of "people I would have fun with" and once I'd thought of one person (this took about 5 seconds) i gave up on the list, and the next day found out he's already been asked. and i have no more effort left to think of anyone else. meh. my design class is frustrating 5 times over, but joe's coming to visit this week! yay!

this old martin box

this blog is getting serious action. but totally new subject

I went to the lab to work on my design project, worked for an hour and fixed nothing, and resubmitted it. oh well. I picked up the car keys from John outside his studio and was biking home when I passed Hahn Plaza (nobody knows it's called that, but it's the bit by Tommy Trojan, sort of like the crossroads of the USC campus) and there was a guy with a sign that said "God Abhors You" (so it spelled GAY down) and on the back was "For the wages of sin is death. Romans" whatever verse that is. so it said AIDS.

I stopped. because this is unacceptable. we talked for a while, I asked him "how can you say that?" and another girl came up. one of the AGO pledges was there, too. An old testament verse came up, I thought of this N.T. Wright quotation:

The lines between justice and unjustice, between things being right and things not being right, can't be drawn between "us" and "them." It runs right down through the middle of each one of us. (from Simply Christian)

and I told him it's also a sin to cause your brother to stumble, which he was doing pretty blatantly. It was fruitless, as expected. I get the feeling we were arguing about two different things. And I was really upset. I think maybe a year or two ago I might have gotten theology-upset, like, "oh you interpret it this way BUT-" and "it says this here HOWEVER-" and thought that our systematic theologies would fight and mine would win.

But this time I got so upset I started crying. Not because I was frustrated- which I was- or because the GAY and AIDS were written in huge red letters. I was upset because I know God. Not entirely and not fully and purely and perfectly like he knows me. And how can someone say this about my God that I love? In a wierd but not self-righteous way I was upset for God, that he reaches out and this guy takes it upon himself to push people away.

I thought about making my own sign about Jesus' love, but things were getting a little crazy and it could be taken the wrong way. Some other AGO guys came, this other guy was preaching/talking, an ADX girl was there. We prayed about it. I'm pretty sure God just got pushed out of the entire situation, and it became about sin.

This is what I wanted to say to him: THERE IS NO HOPE IN THE SINS OF YOU OR ME, OR ANYONE. There is no hope down that path, nothing worth saving. So why are you preaching about it?

A revulsion of sin can't save me, and neither can words or actions. The only thing that can save me is Jesus Christ. And if you hope to rid the world of homosexuality and sin, you better look to God, because he's the only place salvation is coming from. Point people to God, not their own sins. That's futile.

Futile sort of like any conversation with him... I'm still upset about it. But I don't care so much about his heart, even though I should. I care about the people he's hurting with his sign, I wanted them to know it's not true!! While we were still sinners Christ died for us (Romans) He did this so that we might reach out and touch him, even though he is not far from any one of us (Acts).

But I was reading Habakkuk yesterday night. It's a pretty short Old Testament book, I like reading those because I feel like I accomplished so much- a whole book of the bible!- even though it's like 4 chapters or something. And Habakkuk is pretty upset and he asks God why there's suffering, and he's like, "God why do I have to look at this?"

How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, "Violence!" but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.

And God says

Look at the nations and watch- and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe even if you were told!

So I'm gonna go ahead and trust in God. As for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge, I will tell of all your deeds. (Psalm 73:28)

chelsea dagger

they're gone! we hope!

last night she came over, we watched a movie and nit-picked. i found a few i'd missed, and she found my dandruff which I didn't realize I had. you learn something new every day!

usually on fridays niether of us has class, so we go on an adventure. sometimes this is taking the dash (only redeeming public transportation) downtown and go to the farmers market or something. or we take john's car and see a movie or something. it usually involves a target (or should!). we'll see. at least we caught them super early, and we're all good.

to do: celebrate, buy dandruff shampoo and a new hair brush (even though I really never use one), rejoice that I'm not a leprous 5-year-old anymore!

pumpkin carriage

today has been shiitake. minus the mushrooms. and the i-ake. get it?

skipped all of yesterday afternoon's classes, so I had to skip guitar today to go to a different lab. left halfway through after submitting and OUTRAGEOUSLY incorrect homework, but not caring about it. By the time I got back I could have gone to the last 20 minutes of guitar. decided against it. went to superior to get snacks for an adx thing tonight. I was set on peaches. there were no peaches. saw the clementines. went over to the clementines. they were grey/brown/splotches of orange. which is disgusting.

so i got the two things you can always find at a ghetto grocery story- banana pudding and nilla wafers. it doesn't make up for the train wreck that have been the last 27 or so hours, and I flip out everytime the wind blows but my hair isn't itchy and I think/hope I got them all. ugh. grosser than gross.

but on the upside i'm pretty sure I OWNED my dynamics midterm. shazam!

greater san jose metropolitan area

BUT SERIOUSLY YOU GUYS WHAT THE FECK. don't only 7 year olds get head lice? I have to like send a letter home with everyone in my classes- "your child may have been exposed to head lice" it is so EMBARASSING! but at the same time I also think it's a courtesy to tell people. because if brookin's hadn't told me I would have just thought I had itchy dandruff and then spread it further. plus bugs in hair- EW.

I thought it was like teen pregnancy- you avoid it when you're young, you avoid it forever! but lice strikes UNEXPECTED and certainly uncalled for and does not discriminate. I'm still upset, and afraid to lay my head down on anything. I also wish my mom was here to comb through my hair for 3 hours to make sure they're all gone. I'm afraid they'll hatch. Then organize. Then divide and conquer. but this gem did come out of the experience with the creme rinse.

"I am massaging my scalp in fear!"
"Me too! Out of sheer terror that they'll come back."

at least we went through it (are still going through it) together. someday when I'm a very intelligent scientist/engineer, I'm going to make a better treatment for head lice- specifically, for getting rid of it. like... what we do right now is tweezing. every nit individually. soon it'll be more like waxing. they're just all gone. a lice magnet. sweet. but also gross.

superstar

I'll post the whole story later (it's pretty long, and not over yet. we'll be nit-picking - literally - for the next week or so and I am totally paranoid) but anyhow, I made brooke put a bag over her head before she sat on the couch. then i shot a video with my camera, which I don't know how to rotate. so tilt your head and enjoy. lice makes us suicidal.

nit picking

hey guys. so... I was planning for this to be a funny AFTER THE FACT post but it's a courtesy to tell you now.

I have head lice.

I don't know where I got it, but my friend has it, too, so right now we're waiting for my roommate to come home so we can go out to a pharmacy and get the goods (shampoo, fine comb, etc.) and get rid of it. then we'll clean all our linens, wash the apartment, etc. etc.

But I'm letting you know because if you've hugged me (or somehow been near my head) in the past week or so, you ought to get yourself checked out. I don't know if any USC people read this but if you do- go to the health center! seriously. this blows.

anonymous friend: "but at least it wasn't pubic lice... right?"

blue and flame

so. true story about living in the ghetto.

I left my wallet in john's car last night after we got back (no I did not mean to). When I got in to my apartment (and after I realized the missing wallet), I also found that I had no food. correction: I had some cereal we'd bought at Trader Joe's in Pacific Grove for the drive down. I called John who said he'd bring the wallet in the afternoon when he came to campus.

In the morning I woke up, very hungry, with no food, and no money. BUT! I opened a St. Patrick's Day card from Katie who had also included $5 (grandparent move!) for me to get some delicious Chano's (amazing mexican food. we went when she visited and now she is hooked). Chano's? I think to myself, or breakfast? So I biked myself down to Superior (closer but dirtier grocery store), locked up Ophelia (aforementioned bike), and waltzed to the dairy section at the back.

Where, lo and behold, here were my options: 1) non-fat milk that expired yesterday 2) 2% milk that expired today 3) whole milk that expired some time in april. I must admit, I was torn. I could drink fat, or I could smell like old cheese all day. truly, a COMNUNDRUM (sorry I can't spell that word, but I really wanted to use it). I rummaged around and found some 1% that expired on Thursday, and took it to the checkout aisle, bought it, went home, and ate the cereal.

This is a true story about living in the ghetto, and the friend's donations that get me through.