Related to my last post, check out Rachael's on the same subject. It's rather more thoughtful than mine. :o)

Why I don't have a boyfriend

...I knew that would get your attention. ;o) Here's one of those substantive posts I talk about but never seem to write.

I've known it for a while. I have a problem. If there were a form of rehab for people like me, I'd be there in an instant. It's a very serious problem.

"What is this problem?" you ask. It's really very simple. I have a VERY unfortunate tendancy to fall in love with fictional characters. It happens to some extent with almost every "romantic" book I read. I have daydreams about the heros and spend weeks looking for guys who look how I think each hero should look, just so I can have a clearer mental picture of them. I mix up facial features, hair, and voices, until I have THE PERFECT picture in my head. By that time, I'm probably finished with yet another book and start the process over again. I almost always spend a day or so detesting the heroine who gets the man, and I just know I could have done things way better than she did. Naturally, if I were in her position there wouldn't have been any misunderstandings or quarrels, and the whole thing would have gone much more smoothly. (This is the part where people who know me well are supposed to roll their eyes.)

There are some books and characters that are far worse than others, though the details differ. Every time I read Pride and Prejudice I want to BE Elizabeth. I've never hated her for anything. And what girl wouldn't want to end up with *sigh* Mr. Darcy??

The first time I read Anya Seton's Katharine I spent a few months "in love" with John of Gaunt. That is highly inconvenient, seeing as he's been dead 600+ years. I didn't like him as much the last time I read that book, so I think I'm pretty well over that.

By far the worst, as I'm sure my friends can attest to, is reading the Anne books. Just reading the books over (and over) again is silly of me, because I know what will happen. Every time I read them, I turn silly, overly romantic, and more than slightly dissatisfied with life in modern Midwestern America. (And I end up writing posts like this.) The biggest problem is that I have "been in love with" the hero, Gilbert Blythe since I was 11. To this day, if you were to ask me to describe my dream man, he would match up almost exactly with Gilbert.
This is where detesting the heroine comes in. I always end up wanting to throttle Anne, not just because she's silly and messes things up, but out of jealousy. How ridiculous is that? I dislike her because if it were all real and I was part of the story, she'd STILL be silly and mess everything up and she'd STILL get her man.

All of this may explain why I'm 19 years old and have never had a boyfriend, or anyone even close to a boyfriend. I'm hopelessly romantic and I read too many silly books. At the same time, I know full well how silly and unrealistic I'm being. I laugh at and make fun of myself for it. But I can't help it.

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!

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!

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
1^st Published in: 1774

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.)

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.

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.*

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....

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)

Revenge of the Killer Cacti?

For anyone who is as amused by tabloids as I am....

Thank you, Dragon Writing Prompts.



FEBRUARY 2006

10 Man with large fuzzy slippers creates enough electricity to heat his house —Weekly World News
9 DRUNKS FALL OFF ROOF AFTER BARTENDER DECLARES DRINKS ARE ON THE HOUSE! — Weekly World News
8 FIRED ARCHITECT BURNS HIS BRIDGES — Weekly World News
7 URBAN PLANNING NIGHTMARE: Self-building strip malls invade U.S. — Weekly World News
6 Priest called in to exorcise school 'spirit' — Weekly World News
5 ZEBRA BORN WITH HORIZONTAL STRIPES — Weekly World News
4 ELVIS WAX FIGURE CRIES REAL TEARS — Weekly World
3 MUTE DRIVER HONKS OUT A ROAD RAGE IN MORSE CODE — Weekly World News
2 Germany invaded — by Nazi raccoons! — SUN
1 REVENGE OF THE KILLER CACTI — SUN

There are even more at MAGBAG.

Now I want to read those stories!

Tagged

My mother has tagged me!

Four jobs I've had:
1.) babysitter
2.) babysitter
3.)babysitter
4.) babysitter (Ok, so I've never had a "real" job....)

Four places I've lived:
1.) New Berlin, WI
2.) Island Lake, IL
3.) Columbus, IN
4.) Fort Wayne, IN

Four of my favorite foods:
1.) chicken tetrazzini
2.) crab cakes
3.) oysters
4.) my mother's enchilada casserole

Four TV shows I like to watch:
1.) 24
2.) Alias
3.) Lost
4.) American Idol

Four movies I could watch over and over:
1.) Sweet Home Alabama
2.) The Philadelphia Story
3.) Ocean's Eleven
4.) Pride and Prejudice (if only I had TIME to watch it over and over...)

Four places I would rather be:
1.) Siesta Key, FL
2.) Sydney, Australia
3.) some Carribbean island
4.) Southern Italy

Four websites I visit:
1.) www.imdb.com
2.) www.acpl.lib.in.us
3.) www.redeemer-fortwayne.org
4.) www.ipfw.edu

Four people I want to tag:
1.) Rachael
2.) Katie
3.) Rachel
4.) Lynea

Let's all sing "Kokomo"

Ghengis Khan has nothing on my grandpa in the "cruel and unusual" department:

"Hi all you goose bump people, 14deg in Anderson, 72 deg here as we speak. Oh well, the bad news it’s only going to get to 81 deg today, the temp tied a Sarasota record of 84 deg yesterday."

That was the email he sent out yesterday. We've been getting daily updates on exactly how warm it is down in Florida and what the temperature of the pool is. (90 degrees as of yesterday....)

I'd like to think I've done fairly well this winter. I haven't gotten cranky or stir-crazy because of the weather. In fact, as far as winter weather goes it's been amazing; plenty of 40 degree days and several in the 50s. Unfortunately, NO Indiana winter weather can compete with the Gulf of Mexico and I'm starting to feel more than a little "homesick" for the beach.

ON THE BRIGHT SIDE....If I lived in Florida I probably wouldn't have been around last week and definitely would not have had friends staying at my house. I also couldn't go to church at Redeemer (kind of a long commute) and finding a church to attend down there is...uh....difficult.

But a vacation would still be nice.

Having everyone around this week was awesome, and now I'm trying to adjust to our very quiet, empty-seeming house. 5-12 extra people hanging around make a huge difference.

The bits of the symposium that I got to attend were good. I went with my friends to hear Dr. Rast and Dr. Scaer, got to matins every day and vespers a few times, and hung out at the HT booth with big-shot merchandise person (and Triplette) Naomi.

Unfortunatly, real life interfered with my week and I had to spend most of Tuesday and Thursday afternoon and evening at school. Any other week of the semester I would love my classes and enjoy being on campus, but this week it was just a big pain.

On Thursday evening we all went to church at Redeemer, and then Katie drove all us wild teenagers to the Sabre of Boldness ceremony. Bishop Walter Obare of Kenya won the award, and Pastor Olle Fogelqvist of the Swedish Mission Province accepted on his behalf. Lynea and I met Pr. Fogelqvist before the ceremony. He asked us if we were part of the HT group and if we would be in Colorado Springs this summer, and told us about the group he is planning on bringing. (At the risk of sounding totally frivolous, I have to say I had never heard a real Swedish accent before and his was great!)

I am very glad to say that after everyone left I did NOT crash and I did NOT spend most of the day crying into a pillow like I have every year. I went to my favorite class and talked about Bosch paintings, talked on the phone with Rachael, went out and made $15 an hour babysitting, and talked to Naomi. All in all, a much better end to the week than a sore nose and puffy eyes.

See ya, Soccer Hair!

Everyone who was at the Sabre of Boldness ceremony and thought that my younger brother Patrick's hair was too long can now breathe a big sigh of relief. He got his hair cut early this morning. A guy from church came and picked him up at 5:30 am and they went to the barber together. Five cups of coffee and a few inches later he came back.

Before: Awesome, curly, soccer-player hair

After: cute cut that allows people to see his eyes


Now his friends won't have to threaten him with drugging and shaving anymore (and I'm sure they're all disappointed.)

Totally Brainless

Thank you, mother.

Ten Top Trivia Tips about Bethany!

1. Carnivorous animals will not eat another animal that has been hit by Bethany.


2. The colour of Bethany is no indication of her spiciness, but size usually is!


3. Bethany is 984 feet tall.


4. Influenza got its name because people believed the disease was caused by the evil "influence" of Bethany!


5. Bethany is picked, sorted and packed entirely in the field!


6. The military salute is a motion that evolved from medieval times, when knights in armour raised their visors to reveal Bethany.


7. Bethany has little need for water and is capable of going for months without drinking at all!


8. Over 46,000 pieces of Bethany float on every square mile of ocean.


9. Bethany does not have toes.


10. Bethany can live for up to a week without a head!

I am interested in - do tell me about
herhimitthem

After seeing #10 I kinda think it's on to something....

Excuses, excuses

I have excuses for not posting in days and days. Good excuses too.

Firstly, I was in Michigan skiing and having a marvelous time (with the exception of sleeping on the very cold hotel room floor. That wasn't so marvelous.) Despite my reputation for being less than coordinated at times, I managed to not injure myself. No one else got injured either, even Patrick, who managed to run off of a slope into a tree. Or Winston, who took a jump and didn't land on his feet.

My second excuse is that classes started again yesterday. I was actually looking forward to it, although who knows how long that will last! I'm sure I'll enjoy my classes this semester. They're all things that are of particular interest to me, with the exception of my communications class, but I have friends in that class, so it's not too bad.

I had my first rehearsal as a member of the Bach Collegium tonight. I'd been wanting to join for a while now, but just finally decided to go ahead and do it. We started working on several lovely pieces, including Brahms' "German" Requiem. Patrick is dreading the concert. He is strongly prejudiced against ANYTHING Brahms, thinking it's all "nap music." Or, in the case of the Requiem, "music that puts you to sleep. Forever." (Although, he has an even bigger problem with Bach arias. He compares anything that is ridiculously long or repetetive to an aria. No one tell Kantor, but I agree with Patrick!)

Incidently....

For any girly-girls who might potentially read this (and Rachael, even though she doesn't think she's girly....):

Online "paper dolls."

Now I know I have a problem. I'm 19 and I am still in love with paper dolls. ;o)

Anniversary Bash

My great-grandparent's 70th(!!!!) anniversary was today. (My mother talks about them here.) We helped give a reception for them this afternoon. Great-Grandma Beery kept telling me she couldn't believe how many people came and that they must not have anything better to do.

She was definitely right, if not in the way she thought. I can't think of much that could have been better than being around there today. Besides getting to visit with my wonderful great-grandparents, I had the chance to meet second and third cousins (never mind how many times removed...that just got too mind-boggling after a while.) I got to watch my grandma chit-chat with an old school-friend, sharing inside jokes about old teachers that she probably hadn't thought of in years. Patrick, being the charmer that he is, went around introducing himself to EVERYONE and making EVERYONE fall in love with him. It was also really cool to see all the parts of our family together (which my mother is getting ready to blog about....here.)

Now if only I'd had the foresight not to wear high heels all day....