Only 258 days left!

It's only Wednesday of the first week of classes and I am already battling some major, unexpected, intense senioritis. It's not that I don't like my classes this semester. In fact, I've been looking forward to them for months. With the exception of the reading and research I'll be doing for my senior seminar, my workload really shouldn't be that bad.

I just want it all to be over with.

So yes, I took time out of studying to figure out exactly how many days are left until graduation. I'll be counting down, starting now.

I'm hanging out at my grandparents' house in Anderson for a few days before heading to Salt Lake City with my mother. We're going to the Melaleuca convention, which I'm pretty excited about. Glenn Beck is the main speaker, which should be entertaining.

I've taken to listening to opera in the last few days (as though I wasn't already weird enough.) I picked up several CDs from the library, one of which proclaimed itself the "Best Opera Album in the World... Ever." While I don't know how valid that claim is, I've certainly been enjoying the music. Also attracted by the title, I checked out the "Opera Babes," which I found enjoyable, if slightly dippy. Just to balance things out, I also grabbed some Killers, Corrs, and Vivaldi.

I'm still completely glued to the Olympics and have come to the realization that I have no life. I've thought before that this might be the case, but my obsessive TV viewing this week has pretty much confirmed it.

Jason Lezak is my HERO

Oh yeah.

Take that, snobby French relay-team!

If this doesn't motivate the Belarusian Olympians, I don't know what will.

Of course, the British have a deal of their own. I think I'd like to be British....and an Olympic-caliber athlete.

Ahhh, The Games

I'm sitting here, watching the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics when I should be in bed, but I can't tear myself away. I know that it will just be more of the same-- groups of people wearing marginally interesting costumes with commentary by the everlastingly annoying Bob Costas. (Come on, dude. The Americans were not wearing berets. Those were jaunty little flat caps.)

I have been a big fan of the Olympics for as long as I can remember. And not just a big fan... a slightly obsessive big fan. When I was ten I named one of my Barbies "Lisa Schwong" after Li Xiaoshuang, all-around men's gymnastics gold medalist in the 1996 Olympics. During the 2000 games in Sydney, I kept track of every medal won by every country, noted times for races and scores for gymnasts. I clipped newspaper stories about my favorite athletes (which I still have in a box under my bed.) I could never decide who I adored more:"The Thorpedo" Ian Thorpe or Pieter van den Hoogenband.

In 2004 I watched the Olympics almost every waking hour (ahhh, the advantages of being jobless and homeschooled.) I had the schedule almost memorized and I refused to miss certain events.

I intend to savor every moment of the games this year, although my life may get in the way of those plans. I can't exactly justify skipping work for watch TV, whatever the program.

Just what I always wanted!

My brothers are off gallivanting again. This time they are on vacation in Michigan with our grandparents and cousins Kate and Matt. My father was also in Michigan yesterday on business, leaving us girls to our own devices.

Before bed, my mother helped me put in pin curls. I wanted curly hair so badly when I was little-- we tried hot rollers, foam rollers, braids, and pin curls. Somehow, within minutes my hair would always be flat and painfully straight. At some point, I gave up and stopped trying to make my hair curl, but last night I thought that it was worth another try. My mother gooped my hair up and started pinning. I wrapped my head in a scarf to sleep, wishing oh-so-badly that I had an honest to goodness night cap (with blue ribbons....and a matching night gown.....)

When I took out the curlers this morning, my hair was enormous. It would have been fun to leave it like that, but since I had to work, I figured it might be wise to tame it a little and stuck it back in a clip.

Somehow, miraculously and unexpectedly, the curls stayed all day. When I got off work, it was still curly. After going shopping and trying on several shirts--still curly. After brushing it and putting in a pony tail tonight-- still curly. So what if as soon as it gets wet I'll be stuck with stick straight hair again? Now I know that something works.

Putting in the curlers last night got me started on one of my favorite hair-rants: '40s hair. I want to be able to wear '40s hair styles. As far as I can tell, the styles were universally flattering and incredibly feminine. Will someone please bring those back?

Kitty Issues

My poor girl cat has been acting strangely for the last few days. Sure, she's been sneezing and vomiting, but that's really not all that odd. Things happen, right? The odd part is that she has been very, VERY social and friendly. When I sit down, within minutes she is either in my lap or curled up against me purring. When she goes outside, she stays in the yard and either sleeps or calls for me to join her.

You would have to know my cat to realize just how strange this behavior is. Callie has a definite independent streak and has never been super friendly. In the last few years she has often been downright hostile to almost everyone (though she always finds one person in the family to be nice to.) You don't pet her unless she specifically demands it. To do so is to risk life and limb.

I took her to the vet yesterday, which naturally made her extremely happy. As though the cat carrier and the car ride weren't enough, the vet had the audacity to draw blood from Callie (wait, isn't it supposed to be the other way around?) and do other intrusive and uncomfortable things to her. On the way home, Callie yelled incessantly. The vet didn't know what was wrong with her, but she did some blood tests for "old cat ailments" and said she would call me with the results. I got a message on my phone while I was at work, asking if I would please call them back to "discuss" the results of the tests. I'm not sure what discussion entails, or whether the need for discussion implies. Call me heartless, but if my cat has some serious health problem, I am not going to go broke treating her. She is an animal, after all-- an animal that would probably finish me off and eat me if I were seriously ill.

Feelin' Domesticated

How weird is this? This will be the second cooking/baking post in a row, from a girl who doesn't do much of either.

The plentiful harvest continues. We have oversized zucchini coming out of our ears, necessitating yummy baked goods. This afternoon I made two lovely loaves of zucchini bread--one with raisins added for my mother and one with mini-chocolate chips for myself. Vegetables mixed with obscene amounts of sugar and chocolate...brilliant!

My mother and I cooked a semi-gourmet dinner (her half was fairly gourmet-mine was more "novice gourmet"). She made her first foray into the risky culinary world of risottos. The result was an incredibly rich four-cheese concoction. My contribution was a platter of thin, crispy, zucchini fritters (courtesy of the Pioneer Woman blog.) My mother has photographic proof of this over on her blog.

The very best part of all of this was that I got to wear my beautiful french apron, which just happened to coordinate perfectly with my clothing. Hey, cool.

Baking 101: Not all dry ingredients are "dry ingredients"

I mixed up some zucchini-cookie dough yesterday (delicious recipe posted on my mother's blog) and I discovered just how little I actually know about baking. I thought I was pretty good. I can make chocolate chip cookies in my sleep and have even been daring enough to play with the consistency of the dough. My cookies have always turned out well.

Unfortunately, the zucchini cookie recipe had NO instructions; there was only a list of ingredients and an oven temperature. I asked my mother what to do, and she told me to sift together the dry ingredients. So I added the flour and sugar.... Apparently, sugar isn't dry. Sugar is wet, like butter and eggs (I don't understand it. Who makes up these rules?) My mother caught my mistake, but only after I had mixed 4 cups of sugar and a cup of flour. Upon figuring out that I had just messed up and potentially wasted a ton of sugar, I did the only reasonable thing: I burst into tears.

After bagging the disastrous sugar-flour mixture (apparently there is a use for it) I started again, this time asking my mother and grandmother about each step.

I ran out of time to bake the cookies yesterday, so the dough was set aside in the fridge until this evening. The actual baking part of the process was much more successful. No silly mistakes. No tears. Just dozens and dozens of really really yummy cookies.

Way to waste time

Tagged by my mother:


What was I doing ten years ago?

Ten years ago, our family had just moved from the Chicago suburbs (for the first time) to Columbus, Indiana. I was attending summer camp at Phantom Ranch in Wisconsin, where the activities included canoing, swimming, horsemanship, leather-work, hiking, rifle range, archery, and altar calls. I injured my knee racing my counselor to chapel after nailing lists of our sins on a cross (fun times) and I still have a nasty scar.

What are 5 things on my to-do list for tomorrow?

1) go to work and make money
2) help straighten the house
3) neaten my room
4) hang out with our visiting relatives
5) work on Latin


Snacks I enjoy:

cheese and crackers, pretzels and cream cheese, Goldfish, fruit

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

I'm just going to copy and paste my mother's list, because mine is pretty much identical....
"Buy a condo on the beach in Florida and open it up to our friends and family
Buy a big lake house and open it up to our friends and family
Build a house in the country with a wonderful gourmet kitchen and room for everyone to come over
Rehab houses and sell them with no interest loans
Give lots to charity"
I would also put my brothers and cousins through whatever college they choose, buy a horse or two to go with that country place, and take an unstructured extended trip overseas


Places I have lived:
West Lafayette, Anderson, Columbus, and Fort Wayne, IN; New Berlin, WI; Vernon Hills, Island Lake, and Spring Grove, IL

Jobs I have had:
house-cleaner (for my grandparents)
babysitter
Library Page/Shelver

Four people who I would like to know more about:

Rachel
Katie
Emily
Goofy Brother #2

Man, do I love technology

First, if you aren't already listening to the resurrected Issues Etc., you should be. Here it is. Go for it.

Second, I normally love listening to Glenn Beck, but I haven't had a chance to catch his program for a few weeks. Classes and my job saw to that. I signed up for the free e-newsletter to make up for it, and today I received this transcript. Scary, but oh-so-funny.

A political message I can get behind

McCain? Obama? __Insert Candidate of Your Choice__?

I'd really love one of these T-shirts.

I had no idea that reading a 67 page legal document could be so much fun. Better than Dostoevsky? Maybe not. More amusing? In this case, definitely. I had no idea that Justice Scalia was so sassy.

I have to admit, my little strict constructionist heart skipped a few beats when I read this gem:

"A constitutional guarantee subject to future

judges’ assessments of its usefulness is no constitutional

guarantee at all. Constitutional rights are enshrined with

the scope they were understood to have when the people

adopted them, whether or not future legislatures or (yes)

even future judges think that scope too broad."

554 U. S. 63 (2008)

What was I thinking?

At the moment, I have a rather large stack of books waiting to be read. I did some browsing at the library last week and picked out a few books that caught my eye. The first one is "London Rising" by Leo Hollis, which is about the impact of men like John Locke and Sir Christopher Wren on modern London. (Well, I think it looks interesting.....) I also grabbed a set of essays on the Gilded Age. I don't feel the need to plow through it like a novel, but some of the sections looked really interesting. My mother also just purchased "Albion's Seed", a book that I have been wanting to read for a few years, but have been too intimidated to try...1000+ pages of Anglo-American cultural history. Nothing like some nice light reading for those summer months, eh?

No, nothing like light reading. The first book on my list, and the one I am working on right now, is "Crime and Punishment." I don't know if "enjoyment" is the correct word for my experience so far, but it is nowhere near as painful as I had been led to believe. I figured that since I loved "The Brothers Karamazov" I might as well try this also.

After finishing these books, I will have temporarily lost the ability to read all but the fluffiest of fluffy chick-lit and will be reduced to sitting out in the sun shine giving my poor overtaxed mind a vacation. Another less impressive pile of library books will replace the current very ambitious pile and I will begin saving up mental energy for another intellectual binge.

Come on, People!

I did something for the first time today. Something I have been tempted to do many times but never actually gotten the guts to do.

I walked out of a class.

Granted, it was during a break in the middle of class, not while the professor was talking, but there was no way I could stand to sit in that class and listen for another hour.

Today's class was on "population ecology" which apparently translates to "population growth." The professor showed graph after graph of population statistics, all of them semi-apocalyptic and predicting the end of the world if people have the nerve to keep reproducing. This was annoying, to say the least. The professor insisted that, at a birthrate of 1 child per couple (let alone the replacement rate of 2.0), the population will continue to grow out of control because, "the old people aren't dying." Now, is it just me, or does the very phrase "replacement rate" imply that the population is merely being replaced? Not increased? Oh, and how about the fact that EVERYONE dies?

As my professor says, "Reality doesn't have to apply exactly directly." Come on. What do you think this is? Science?

That wasn't what made me walk out, though. After learning about explosive, uncontrollable, exponential population growth, he turned to population control. After showing vital stats for a few different countries, he started talking about the necessity of the birth rate falling to match the death rate or the death rate rising to meet the birth rate. Our choice (as explained by Mr. Science) is either that reproduction be stringently controlled or more people die (but he didn't let us in on the secret of HOW this is to be accomplished.) He then proceeded to tell us that it is much better that more humans never be born because otherwise they will have to suffer. When asked to clarify his position--if he was really saying babies should never be born--he sort of smiled, mumbled a little and said, "Yes, that's right."

After we were given a break (and grabbed our backpacks and ran away) I was able to watch my seminarian/philosopher friends go off on the idiocy we had just been subjected to.

Coincidentally, Laura Ingrahm on FoxNews talked about this very issue this evening. She had a proponent of "population stabilization" on to discuss it. He was also unable to explain exactly how this should be brought about. The main problem in, in his mind, seemed to be the growth in the American population. He used it as an example of overpopulation everywhere, which made some sense until he pointed to immigration as the driving factor behind US growth. Now hang on, but can growth via immigration really be factored into global population growth? Did those immigrants not exist before they crossed the border?

You Bet I Like Nature

I have a theory-- it seems that the disgustingness of an insect or spider is directly proportional to the beauty of the flower near which it is living. I noticed this again this evening while tending our roses. Every time I found myself admiring one of our plants, I would also find myself suddenly disgusted by some creepy-crawly that had made itself at home on said plant.

(And no, the dude in the picture there was not in the garden tonight. He is either long dead or still stranded on a very large island on the other side of the world where he passes his time eating large bugs and small children.)

This is why I keep a First Aid kit in my car

Our family got a Y Membership last month, and my father and Andrew have been making very good use of it. Andrew has decided that he really enjoys working out on the equipment and would spend all of his time there if he was allowed. I just know that, before too long, my short, silly, scrawny baby brother is going to be tall and (as he puts it) "super buff." I'm scared and disturbed by the thought.

Today I finally made use of my membership. My mother, father, and Andrew met me over there after I got off of work and we went swimming. I hadn't been swimming in ages. I honestly can't remember the last time I was in a real pool. It showed. I tried to do a breaststroke and it looked (and felt) like I was drowning. I only ran into the wall once (...or twice), I whacked my hands on the lane markers hard enough to raise welts three times, I kicked someone twice, and there were a few moments when I thought that I was going to perish with toe-cramps. Did I mention that I don't swim often? My mother and I are planning to make swimming trips part of our "normal" routine, and I can only hope that, with practice, I won't be such a danger to myself and others!

Speaking of dangerous activities, I'm going miniature golfing with the other genealogy shelvers tomorrow afternoon. We did this last summer and had a great time together. It's a slightly different crowd this year and several of the really fun people are gone, but it should still be enjoyable. We're doing Steak'n'Shake for lunch afterwards. This, when I should be at home (A) making my father feel properly appreciated or (B) studying for the two biology tests I have on Tuesday (one class, two tests- go figure!)

This Girl's Brain Needs Some Exercise

For the first time in months, I actually feel like posting on my blog. It's amazing. Even more than feeling like writing something, I feel like having the discipline that comes with writing something every few days. It feels good to be in the habit of putting my thoughts into words (even when those thoughts are woefully uninteresting or just plain silly.) In the weeks since school finished, I feel like my brain is turning to mush and some stimulation is necessary.

Granted, I am taking a six-week biology class and lab at IPFW and that should be inciting some mental activity. Hah. Verbal jousting with my Catholic seminarian lab partners is about as close as I have gotten to real thought in that class. With 2 weeks left in the class, things should be getting more interesting. We'll be dissecting fetal pigs next week, which HAS to be more interesting than looking at dead amoebas under a weak microscope, cultivating jars of some guy's spit, or counting how many wrinkled kernels are on a 40 year-old ear of corn.

I have really enjoyed the chance to do some recreational reading. My last semester was quite book-heavy, so it has been nice to read whatever I want at whatever pace I want. I discovered Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series a few weeks ago and finished them each in a few hours. Good, but they certainly didn't last long enough. I also had my first experience with Henry James this week. I was stranded at work with nothing to read but, (one of the few perks of working at the library) I was able to run downstairs and pick something up. I read The Turn of the Screw and Daisy Miller, both of which were fairly enjoyable, though I found James' style rather aggravating at first.

I have also been making an effort to really enjoy the warm weather. I have a tendency to get grumpy when I'm too warm, but I keep reminding myself that I waited MONTHS for it to be warm, and I should enjoy it for the very few months that it lasts. And I really do love the feeling of being nice and warm. The sensation of the warm air after being in an air-conditioned building (and vice-versa!) is wonderful, cold water suddenly seems miraculous when you have been outside working in the garden, and I have discovered that I am unable to drive through town with my windows up...they all must be rolled down, and my music must be turned all the way up.

Spring Break Pictures

Here's a sample of my trip pictures. I had an AMAZING time, and honestly I still can't believe that the trip is over already.



The rest of my pictures can be found here, here, here, and here.

Maybe if I offer a reward....

...someone will help me find my erstwhile mind. It's been gone a few days now (ever since I stopped getting enough sleep), and some important functions are starting to fail. Coordination, memory and recall, and abstract thought are all declining.


My bags are packed and DoRena has helped me do a second-check for any forgotten essentials. My family is taking me straight to the airport after church, and the plane will be taking off at 4:00.

I've been so exhausted in the last few days that, for once, traveling doesn't sound like any fun. Usually I get the urge to go somewhere every time I see a plane flying overhead. For tonight, though, I'd rather stay curled up in bed for a while. (Not that I'm having any doubts concerning the trip or wishing that I wasn't going to Europe.... It's just the getting there that's the problem!)

I've been incredibly scatterbrained in the last few days (scatterbrained AND tired...hmm, I wonder if there's a connection!) I'm almost positive I've forgotten to pack something, but as I said, Bean helped me check already. I DID make a major slip yesterday, though. I had a 1,000 word literature midterm due Friday via email. I wrote the paper last weekend and since then it has been sitting on my computer waiting to be sent. Apparently, when I composed the email to send the paper to my professor, the email didn't send. It could have been a problem with my internet connection or my email program.... or (more likely) it could have been me being spacey and forgetting to hit "send." Either way, I realized this afternoon that the paper hadn't been sent. I emailed the professor (with the file attached!) and explained what had happened.... but who knows what he'll do about it.

On a happier, classier note, DoRena and I went to see the Philharmonic tonight, which was very lovely. Our friend Emily was playing with them, and she gave us her pair of complementary tickets. Surprise surprise, I spaced out for about half of the concert, but the part I did hear was quite nice.