Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Tagged

For those of you who like substantive posts, I'm sorry. It's all Naomi's fault.

Profile:
1.Name- Bethany Ann Casey
2.Age- 19
3.Height- 5'5''
4.Shoe size- 7 1/2 N
5.Ring size- 6
6.Unusual habits- does walking around the house en point, pretending to be a ballarina count?
7.Eye color-very brown
8.Length of left big toe- too long
9.Length of right pinky toe- not as long as it was before I broke it
10.Number in your graduating (or present) class- no idea
11.Graduation year (high school)- 2005
12.Graduation year (college)- 2009
13.Graduation year (seminary)- haha
14.Major in college- History!
15.Address- that's just asking for stalkers.....no thanks. :o)
16.Social security number- it bugs me enough to give that at school, so again, no thanks
17.Zip code- 46814

Favorites and two Least Favorites
33.Favorite Movie- Pride and Prejudice, either version (right now it's the new one, by a hair)
19.Favorite TV show- 24
20.Favorite Cd- that is nearly impossible..... I love my Queen cds, my Master and Commander and P&P soundtracks, Kelly Clarkson, Jewel......
21.Favorite Tape- most of my tapes have bitten the dust
22.Favorite Band- Queen
23.Favorite Superhero- Batman!!!
24.Favorite Book- Pride and Prejudice
25.Favorite poster- Puss'n'Boots (awwwww....those eyes....)
26.Favorite Brady child- one of the guys, who I can never keep straight
27.Favorite American idol- Kelly Clarkson
28.Favorite x-man- I am so shallow....Wolverine, because he's Hugh Jackman
29.Favorite Member of Nsync- not that shallow
30.Favorite Sport- soccer!
31.Favorite Weapon- really lovely swords
32.Favorite Store- Ann Taylor or Banana Republic (I'm an expensive person.)
18.Favorite Clothing Brand- see above
34.Favorite Higherthings Blog- The Triplettes, for obvious reasons
35.Favorite Restaurant- Phillipi Creek, Sarasota
36.Favorite Food- my mother's chicken tetrazinni
37.Favorite Type of Restaurant- italian or really really fresh seafood
38.Favorite Type of Food- same as the restaurant
39.Favorite Color- watery blue
40.Favorite Period of History- Medieval Europe, without a doubt
41.Favorite Muppet- Kermit, naturally
42.Favorite Alcoholic Beverage- white russian
43.Favorite Musical Instrument- the violin (*sigh*)
44.Favorite Candle Scent- pound cake
45.Favorite Operating System- windows, I suppose
46.Favorite Smiley Face- ;oP
47.Least Favorite Book- The Scarlet Letter
48.Least Favorite Candle Scent- anything really heavy and flowery

Have you Ever?
49.Have you ever gone toga-ing? no, but I've made fun of the people doing it
50.Have you ever blown up, set on fire, or mutilated an action figure? not the kind you actually buy. I have wrenched the limbs off of McDonalds Happy Meal toys
51.Have you ever tried to eat a fake decorative fruit?-I plead the 5th
52.Have you ever gone trick-or-treating since your childhood? yep, 2 years ago
53.Have you ever killed a seagull? Awwwww, no
54.Have you ever eaten a dog biscuit? absolutely not
55.Have you ever fired a high powered rifle? does a .22 count?
56.Have you ever worn a dress? yes
57.Have you ever tried hitting a piece of technology to make it work? yes
58.Have you ever head banged through the entire guitar solo in Bohemian Rhapsody? a better question would be, have I ever NOT head banged through the entire guitar solo?
59.Have you ever deep-fat fried a random food item and eaten it? gross, no
60.Have you ever been in a blog war? no

Miscellaneous
61.How many HT conferences have you been to? 4
62.Do you know how to play any musical instruments? If you can, which kinds? piano (and my voice, if that counts....)
63.Did anyone notice that I switched numbers 33 and 18? yes
64.Did anyone notice the other numbering errors? no
65.Did anyone actually look for other numbering errors? no
66.If you had to dress up as one Star Trek character, which one would it be? I used to wear my headbands over my eyes, a la Jordy Laforge
67.Do you have any odd hobbies? ballroom dancing, but I don't know how weird that is...
68.What's the most random gift you've ever given or received? no idea
69.Sith or Jedi? Jedi
70.How do you like your steak cooked? Medium Rare
71.If someone paid you $5, would you drink Dr. Pepper out of the navel of a hairy Scottsman? you'd have to add on a whole lot more 0s, then maybe I'd consider it
72.Did you enjoy filling out this tag form? sure
73.Will you be prepared at The Feast to party every night with The Mop and Patty? Heck no. I'm going to be the nasty college volunteer trying to make them be quiet ;o)
74.Do you vow never to tag, as well as never respond to tags, ever again? nah
75.Which three people do you choose to tag? I'm going to end the vicious cycle and tag absolutely no one!

Thursday, March 23, 2006

My piano

My great-grandparents recently moved from their assisted-living apartment to a nursing home. This move meant that many of their belongings had to go elsewhere. My wonderful, sweet great-grandmother gave me her piano.

I recieved it last week. We had a pair of piano movers bring it over from the apartment. It was very out of tune and one of the pedals wasn't working at all, so we called our loyal piano tuner, Mr. McCormick who came out on Tuesday.

We all knew that the piano was a nice one. It's a 1949 Janssen, which are known for being great home pianos. What Mr. McCormick said though, was that my piano is the equivalent of a Stradivarius. Now, that may be an exaggeration, but the sound quality is SPLENDID for an upright. It makes my playing sound....uh, really good!

Friday, March 17, 2006

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I Bind unto Myself Today
By: attr. St. Patrick

I bind unto myself today
The strong name of the Trinity
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One and One in Three.

I bind this day to me forever,
By power of faith, Christ’s incarnation,
His baptism in the Jordan River,
His cross of death for my salvation,
His bursting from the spiced tomb,
His riding up the heavenly way,
His coming at the day of doom,
I bind unto myself today.

I bind unto myself today
The virtues of the starlit heaven,
The glorious sun’s life giving ray,
The whiteness of the moon at even,
The flashing of the lightning free,
The whirling wind’s tempestuous shocks,
The stable earth, the deep salt sea,
Around the old eternal rocks.

I bind unto myself today
The power of God to hold and lead,
His eye to watch, his might to stay,
His ear to hearken to my need,
The wisdom of my god to teach,
His hand to guide, his shield to ward,
The Word of God to give me speech,
His heavenly host to be my guard.

I bind unto myself the name,
The strong name of the Trinity
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One and One in Three,
Of whom all nature has creation,
Eternal Father, Spirit, Word.
Praise to the Lord of my salvation;
Salvation is of Christ the Lord!

Hymn # 172 from Lutheran Worship
Author: Irish
Tune: St. Patrick’s Breastplate
1st Published in: 1774

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Here is an article from the Onion that my mother and I stumbled upon tonight. It's several years old, but it's pretty hilarious.

(Warning: If you are easily offended or just really hate The Onion, please avoid clicking on that link. Nothing good can come of it.)

Sunday, March 12, 2006

The End is drawing near....

Spring Break is officially over in just over an hour. I admit, I'm feeling a little depressed by this. I'm not quite ready to re-relinquish my time-freedom and messed up sleeping habits.

I'm trying to look at the bright side of this. I figure, if spring break keeps going and going, the semester would never end, I'd never actually finish my current classes, I wouldn't get to study in Germany my Junior year because my Junior year would never come.... All sorts of dreadful catastrophes would ensue. Yes, I fear we're all much better off coming back from spring break, getting on with life, and looking forward to summer.

This sunny outlooks is being made easier by the fact that I only have one class tomorrow and its my favorite. Ask me Tuesday morning, when I have a 6+ hour stretch of classes to look forward to, if I'm feeling as optimistic. :oP

Tomorrow I'm easing back into my scholarly life by waking up before 8:00 and belly-dancing. yes, seriously. My mother and I got some instructional videos and belly-dancing is now part of our workout routine. After that we're going to blow all the work we just did by having french toast for breakfast. After all, what is the point of exercising if you can't eat well afterwards? Endorphins are well and good, but tack a good breakfast on too and you have something.

Saturday, March 11, 2006

Princess Bride/LotR Fans?

*cackle*

This is awesome...

Roadtrip :o)

Hip-hop-hooray, Bethany has a learner's permit again. I got it yesterday while out running errands with my mother. (I hope) this means I should have my license sometime soon. Won't that be nice....

My mother and I left home at 7:00 this morning and drove to South Bend, where she spoke at a homeschool conference and I got to hang out with da Bean. We went shopping (Kohl's, Target, and DSW....what more could a girl ask for??) where we found some splendiferous bargains. After we had exhausted our shopping choices, we hung out a while at Panera where we amused some old people with our oppressive girliness by giggling and gushing over Pride and Prejudice. After my mother had finished speaking at the conference, she took us out for lunch at TGIFridays where we did NOT get chocolate martinis. Drat.
Incidently, Cinnabon cheesecake is sooo bad. Don't even get near it. It'll...I don't know...take over your brain so that you lose all powers of self-control. Now you're warned.

So, we left South Bend *sniffle* and I drove home. I did a very good job of it too, despite manifold hazards such as Amish buggys, tailgating SUVs (those SUVs...never can trust them,) and lots and lots of wind. *pats self on back.*

Thursday, March 09, 2006

My brothers and I took a walk this afternoon. In the rain. It wasn't a heavy rain...just a nice wet drizzle, plus it was in the high 50s. We had all been feeling a little sluggish and the rain was really refreshing.

Naturally, our neighbors thought we were weird. "Look at you!" shouts one lady, pulling up alongside us in her SUV. "You're getting wet, you know." Yeah. We know. She wanted to give us a ride home, but we assured her that we wanted to be outside and weren't finished walking. That wasn't the only peculiar look we got, although she was the only one to stop.

Perhaps what seemed strangest to our very "normal" neighbors, is that the four of us were out walking together. Our neighbors have already expressed their thoughts at how odd our family is.... Patrick and I don't let the world know when we want to lock our little brothers up, and we actually enjoy each other's company. In their eyes, we're freaks.

Not that any of us are perfect siblings....I confess, when we took Jon and Andrew for a walk it DID cross my mind more than once that what were were doing might be compared to walking dogs; they run ahead yapping and giggling and Patrick (the leash?) pulls them back and makes them quiet down. But we were enjoying ourselves, and I always find myself wishing that our neighbors and their children/siblings could find as much pleasure in each other's company.

Now, if you'll all excuse me while I go beat on the younger two for a moment....

Monday, March 06, 2006

She's got a ticket to ride...

Collective gasp, everyone. Bethany is actually posting!

I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. My plane tickets came today!!! I'm leaving Indianapolis on May 9 and will be in Australia for about 3 weeks.

I love what happens with the time differences. (Not the jet-lag part. I don't love that.) On the way over, I'm in the air about 24 hours but I'll arrive 2 days later. On the way home, I'll leave around 1:30 on June 4th, spend 25 hours in the air, and get back to Indy at 11:30 that night.

*sigh* I love traveling....

BTW: If anyone is interested, I'd be willing to auction off a spot in my suitcase. There's probably only room for one person, and there's a chance they might end up being left behind if I buy too many gifts, but hey....that's the risk you have to take. ;o)