Getting Eachother

Have you ever thought about why you're good friends with someone? I've often wondered that about my being good friends with Christina and with my mother. They are my best friends, but why? The answer is simple. They get me and I get them. I rarely need to explain myself to either and vice versa.

It's not that we are similar, which my mother and I happen to be to a weird extent, but that we are different. I like to think that Christina and I complement each other. We balance our two personalities by overlapping them slightly. Someone once said that we "make at least 1.5 eccentric personalities." It's so true. I think all close friends are like that. We are each enough of our own person to be unique but when we come together it's like another mini-personality if you will.

I hope that made a little sense.

Recent Thoughts and Things

Chemistry

"...they decided to shake the poop out of the milk." ~ prof. It grossed me out a little.

"Woods are pretty bad places for humans not just because of the vicious raccoons but there are dangerous chemicals in the air." I'm sorry but are you kidding me??!! I always thought the woods were good for you but if the air is worse in the woods than in the city then my whole life has been a lie.

I truly wonder how many times my chem. prof. has almost died. He's told so many stories...it's unbelievable he's made it this far.

For biology lab I had to collect a sample of dirt and bring it to the lab. Well I forgot and had to get it on the way to lab. I happened to have a plastic bag in my backpack. So I put the dirt in the bag and put the bag in my pocket. For some reason while I was sitting in chemistry with the bag of dirt in my pocket I found the situation hilarious. That was a bad story. I'm sorry.

This week we had a guest lecturer in chemistry. We were each given a sheet and asked to evaluate her presentation. Let me just say that debate has destroyed my ability to evaluate presentation givers. I've become way too critical. Everyone around me was giving her 5s (high rating), but I was giving her tons of feedback and rating her a bit lower than everyone else. Now that I think about it however, that might not be from attending all those debate meets but could just be my critical personality...

Math

"Don't worry. These are going to get trickier." ~instructor Andrew about trig problems. I was so worried.

"We're multiplying 3 things to get zero! Either 2 is zero...unlikely..." ~Andrew

Have you ever wanted to turn to someone and say "Dude, you're obnoxious"? I have.

I like the word "compose."

Biology

The word "parasite" gives me the shivers.

The word "fungus" is weird.

How did people figure out which mushrooms were okay to eat? Just trial and error? I hope not.

Did you know there is a thing called "mushroom prospecting"? It's true.

Me: "It's like, a peanut."
Friend: "That was deep."

Other

"Yay for fat girls!" ~ Davielle Taken out of context that sounds way worse than it actually was.

Best Presidents' Day by far

Over 800 miles in four days
In a wet and moldy car
With a friend I see every day
To visit a friend we haven't seen in a while

The CD player was annoying
Lisa read aloud from Unreasonable Behaviour
I tried to turn up her volume
It did not work

I had Irish cream
But not in coffee
To celebrate St. Paddy's Day
He is better than St. Valentine

After grilled cheese, we visited the ocean
Played in the waves and on the rocks
Then looked at Tom Cruise while eating burritos
Before learning where the blood will be

We ate ice cream at Billy's
And felt like small children
But we beat Oregon
And later mocked a stupid truck

I visited home
To de-mold my car
So my friends could visit my farm
Where a goat skull greeted us

Later there were guns and a goose
Thumbless emus and a green egg
We visited the bone yard
My father offered Jacob a cow pelvis

We began our return early
Got giant pancakes at The Rusty Tractor
Lisa took someone's drink (by accident)
Adventure over, we made it back in time for work

This Week's Quotables

Quote of the day: "I can basically kill one bird with two stones...I'm bad at aiming." ~Jacquie

"I'm getting off on a bit of a tangent." ~Math prof. We were talking about sine, cosine, and...

"but nobody does long division anymore! We've got calculators!" ~ Math prof.

"This is just saying 'Hi I'm theta - pi/2. What's my x-coordinate?'" ~Math prof.

Note to teachers: Don't try to be tricky on tests and exams. Unless the trickiness was discussed in class it's just not cool.

Chem Prof: "You usually have a lot of solutes. So my breath has-"
Student: "Ew."
Prof: "I understand that."

"Dog comes by and licks it [antifreeze] he'll be dead. Cat comes by...that's all right. We'll forget about that." ~Chem. Prof.

"The senility in old folks, kinda like what you're seeing in me, is not natural. It's from lead." ~Chem. Prof.

"I have so many stupid stories I wish we could have a class on stupid chemistry stories." ~Chem. Prof.

"All I can do is apologize and laugh when you miss it on a test!" ~Chem. Prof.

I think it's interesting that whenever my professor says the word "alcohol" in lecture at least two guys laugh.

It bugs me that my chemistry professor says "all-gebra" instead of algebra and "molecliar" instead of molecular. It bugs me a lot.

During biology lecture my professor was talking about autosomes and I started thinking about autobots. Nerd.

There's no such thing as a stupid question unless you're the kid who sits a few seats down from me in biology. And boy can he come up with 'um.

"They're largely small...no that doesn't make sense..." ~Bio Prof.

My teacher said tertiary during lecture and I thought of Seven of Nine (Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix Zero-One'). Nerd. Again. I'm sorry. It just happens.

Me: "I'm definitely a hybrid. I'm in flannel jammies so there's the inner redneck...I'm wearing two hemp bracelets so there's the inner wanna be surfer...I'm wearing black nail polish so there's the wanna be rock chick...I've got my chemistry book open in front of me so there's the inner nerd...and I've got my cross on so there's my inner church girl...I think I'm just confused."
Mom: "I'd say so."

An Adventurous Night Strait From A Movie

Saturday was quite a day for Kyndra and I. It included shopping at Target for Josh and JoAnn's for flowers and Rite Aid for Neosporin, exploring, eating, hockey, soccer, then no soccer, and a train. Yeah, a train.

After the hockey game (which we won) we were driving back to campus and decided to do some late night exploring. The night was still young and there weren't very many other cars about even though it was a Saturday night. We ended up in Fairhaven and decided to drive down to the water to get some photos of the brilliantly lit bay. We pulled into the public boat launch and parked in the lot. We carefully crossed the two sets of train tracks that lay just before the boat launch. "I hope this isn't illegal," I said, then proceeded to the water's edge. Two Coast Guard boats were docked nearby, glowing of yellow and red lights. We snapped a few pictures when suddenly we heard a train coming quickly towards us.

"Crap the train," I exclaimed. Then I hurried across the tracks so as not to get stuck on the other side in case the train was a long one. I hopped over both sets of tracks being silly because this was something I would normally never do. The I heard behind me "oh sh-! ARIEL!" I turned around and saw Kyndra sprawled across the tracks. A little stunned that she had actually fallen down when a high speed train was coming towards us, I managed to say "Get up!" She got up and ran to me and the car. About a minute late the train flew by. I, shocked at the situation, looked at her and said "what happened?" Then we started giggling.

"I fell down."
"Yeah! But how?"
"I tripped."
"Well DUH! What did you trip on?"
"THE TRACKS! IT'S PITCH BLACK OUT HERE!"
"Oh...jeeze look at your shirt! and your pants!"
She had dirt all over her sweat shirt, pants, and face. Then we got in the car and fled the scene...a few blocks up Kyndra pulled over.
"Are you okay," I asked mid-laugh.
"I think so," she replied laughing also as she pulled up her pant leg to check out her knee, which was completely skinned.
"I didn't realize you fell so hard."
"DUDE! I totally biffed it at full speed!"
Then my laughing became uncontrollable and I exclaimed "GOOD THING YOU GOT NEOSPORIN!" Then we just sat there for about 5 minutes laughing so hard it hurt.

"That was like a scene from a movie gone wrong," I said when we started driving again.
"You mom's going to hear about this tomorrow isn't she?"
"YUP!"
"Don't tell her the train was coming..."

"I hope this isn't illegal."

Coast Guard Boats

Kyndra's knee

A Day of Adventure

Today I expolred Bellingham with my friends. We walked from campus to Fairhaven. Fairhaven is old downtown. It's a quaint little area with funky shops and cafés. You could spend hours exploring all the side streets and surprise alleys full of places to see.

From Fairhaven we walked down to the water. Along the way we were fascinated by bricks in the ground with interesting facts about the area imprinted on them. I will post pictures of my favorites soon.

We then walked back up to Fairhaven to the gelateria. After enjoying some delicious Italian delightfulness we walked up to the nearest bus stop to make our way to the Bellis Fair Mall. We made our way down to the bus station in downtown Bellingham, then caught the next bus to the mall.

At the mall we went to Target, one of the best stores of the planet in my opinion. Then wandered to Macy's at the other end of the mall to catch the next bus back downtown to catch the next bus to WWU. Before going to the bus stop however, we swung into Big 5 and wandered around to kill time.

Thank goodness for the boys because I don't think we would have made it around on our own. Once we made it back to Western we went down to Haggen to grab a few needed groceries. Then got on another bus, stopped at my apartment to drop some of the groceries off and walked up to Fairhaven (different from the Fairhaven we visited earlier in the day) to eat dinner.

Now I'm home and resting from a nice long day of good ole fashioned fun and mastering the Whatcom County Transit System! Cheers!

July 4, 2007

My grandparents left today before I got home from work. I told them good bye last night after fireworks. Our fourth of July celebration went quite well I thought. We had many fireworks, even more family members, and had to find an extra table for all the food. It's the only way to celebrate Independence day.

This was the first year I didn't do any sparklers. Instead, Ariel and I handed them out to the little ones (although I think she did one). Mostly though, we occupied ourselves with fireworks that were a bit more exciting. I didn't get any burns, only a small amount of Roman candle debris in an eye (stupid wind), and a small hole in the sleeve of one of my jackets. My favorite part of the day was the birthday cake for my great uncle George. I made it. It looked like a flag with blueberry stars and raspberry/cool whip stripes.

I got the day off from work, but had to go in today. I am tired. Large family gatherings and a work day on four hours of sleep will do that.

Hawk Ears and Hungry Horses

Ariel came over to my house again to play pool. I am not very good, but playing with her is a good way to practice. My father and younger sister soon joined us as well. Here are some of the quotations from this evening.

I was telling Ariel a secret of sorts while my father was sitting on the couch. She of course repeated what I told her above a whisper so my father might hear. I attempted to shush her.

"Shhhh he has the ears of a hawk." (I was a little confused I think.)

Later we were all discussing what our first words were. My father said all of his children said Da-da for their first word. My sister said the reason was because we didn't have a mother. I informed that actually, we did. She kept denying it so I asked ...

"What, do you think Dad has some kind of secret uterus none of us know about?" (My father became slightly disturbed.)

Ariel and my father were playing pool because I had become fed up with my poor skills and decided to watch and learn. Ariel shot and put the cue ball in a horrible position for my father.

"Were you just born evil?" he asked. "No, I've just been hanging around Christina too much," she said without a missing a beat.

Lastly, Ariel trying to convince my sister to go out and feed the animals before it got dark.

"Boy, if I was a horse right now I sure would be hungry. I would be standing around waiting for someone to come feed me. I wouldn't be a happy horsey."

A Busy Busy Bee

Tuesday night - Capital 2007 Graduation.
Wednesday night - I made enchiladas for dinner.
Thursday night - I went to Ariel's and sorted through her old clothes. Then we went to my house and played pool.
Friday night - I came home from work (so glad that it's Friday) and realized I haven't blogged in a while.

The above are my excuses as to why you have not heard from me recently. Also, this entire week I was on the plugger with the yellow paint. It was depressing.

A Good Friend...

...plays catch with you and comes to your games to cheer you on even though she hates softball.

Thanks : )

"He can call me a flower if he wants to"

Christina and I watched Bambi on Sunday night. We were going to watch Aladdin but during the previews, which you have to watch on old movies because they're great, there was one for Bambi. We started throwing out our favorite Bambi quotes and then with a pitiful face I asked "Do you wanna watch Bambi?" "Yeaaah," Christina replied with an equally pitiful face. So we did. And yes, it's still sad.

217 Days Down, 14 To Go

I went home this weekend for the holiday. It was wonderfully perfect timing. I made it 8 full weeks without going home, which is a record. Last term after 5 weeks I was starting to show signs of depression and the doctor sent me home. The term before that I had to come home after about 4 weeks, so for me 8 weeks is amazing. I actually might have made it the whole 10 weeks without going home, but I didn't want to stay here either.

I went and saw Pirates with my mom and sister. I think I give it a C+. I got to hang out with Christina too, which was swell. I went to the cemetery with my mama like we do every year to decorate the graves of my grandma, grandpa, aunt, and great grandpa. I didn't get a chance to blog because my computer at home is really slow. I also went back to Big 5 to see if I could line up a summer job. They were actually really excited to see me and it looks like I will be working there.

I thought I would be okay coming back, emotionally. I think the next two weeks are going to be hard. Coming home this weekend was like a false sense of finality. Even though I knew I had to come back to Corvallis, I felt like I was done. It's strange because I thought I had gotten stronger but as soon as I got into Oregon I felt instantly tired and testy. Two and a half hours later...still tired and testy.

Only two more weeks.

Visitors

Ali and Christina came to see me this weekend. They came yesterday and left about 20 minutes ago. It was nice to see them. We went to the pool late last night and swam. It was nice because I'm usually there by myself and I like having someone to joke with. At night they turn the lights off at the pool and just leave the ones underwater on. It was a lot of fun. They were both tired from the car ride and from swimming, so we then went back to the room and watched a movie. Ali was asleep right away. I made them sleep on the hard floor and I slept on my bed. It was weird because I kept waking up thinking I was at home, but then opened my eyes and realized I was still in Corvallis.

This morning got up and got coffee at Bing's. Then we went to the bookstore. After that we were at a bit of a loss. I really don't do much and the weather was a bit weird. We decided to go off campus for lunch. We also decided to go see Shrek the Third. Both lunch and Shrek were pretty good, although Christina thought there was "too much dialogue." When we got back it was 3:30. We sat around until 5:00 when they left. Christina did her pouty face, then they got in the car and left.

I can't wait to go home on Friday and see my mommy too!

Ketchup Meets Meat

Ariel called me this morning to talk (and to complain about her horrible allergies). I luckily have no allergies and though I can't relate so much, I do sympathize. I suggested she have some Chinese mustard. "That'll clear out your sinuses," I said. Our conversation continued from there.

"Or I could have some horseradish," Ariel said. "My mom really likes it. She mixes it with ketchup and puts in on kielbasa."

"I hate ketchup," said I, "except on really specific foods. Even then if I smell it by itself it makes me sick."

"I'm not very fond of the smell, but I put ketchup on everything," she said.

"I know. You degrade all your meat."

"I don't degrade my meat," she claimed. "I enhance it."

"If by enhancing it, you mean degrade it," I countered.

There was a brief pause as we both realized we were having a slightly odd conversation for 10:00 in the morning, but we're used to this.

"We should really record some of our conversations," Ariel suggested. "They can become pretty odd sometimes."

So I did. I am sharing with all of you our discussion about the proper time and place for ketchup to meet meat.

(The phrase meet meat is something else which would probably be discussed by us and which we would find entertaining. We are easily amused.)

Thanks Jessica

My suitemate Jessica (Jess), who I often speak of, is quite the graphic artist. She makes banners upon request as a hobby in her free time. I watched her make one earlier today and asked her if she would make one for our blog. She agreed thus the recent changes to the header. I just wanted to tell her thanks and introduce her so that in the future she can be Jessica and not only identified as my suitemate.

Worrying Tummy Aches

After I walked over and collapsed on the couch, I lifted up my head to look at my suitemate.

"My tummy hurts," I said.

We both knew why. I had just eaten an entire pint of vanilla caramel brownie ice cream, the entire day's worth allotment of calories included.

After a few pathetic moans, I added, "Tummy is a rather childish word." She looked up from her computer screen and nodded her head in silent agreement.

"It's making your tummy hurt, the word tummy," she said.

I was puzzled.

"Tummy is a childish word, but you used it in reference to your stomach," she explained. "Now, not only does your stomach hurt from the ice cream, but you'll become all anxious about whether or not saying the word tummy makes you seem childish. You'll lay there and wonder if I'm thinking about the fact that you said the word tummy, which will in the end only make the tummy ache worse."

At this point, my tongue is beginning to thaw so I choose not to respond. I continued lying there and realized how sometimes I do indeed worry about the oddest things. I suppose it's nice to know she knows me well.

Spring Time and No One to Play With

This has been a challenging year. I'm not speaking in the academic sense, that has been surprisingly easy thus far (knock on wood). I mean emotionally challenging. I have been by myself for the past 23-ish weeks. At first, I was fine with this...excited, really. I had the chance to start fresh, make new friends, conquer the challenge. Unfortunately, it wasn't as simple as I thought it would be.

As discussed, I am not a normal college student. I don't like to go to parties, I don't drink, I go to be earlier than many of my peers, and I always go to class. Therefore making me anomalous. I have no big problem with being a loner. I generally like it, but today...a few minutes ago...it really affected me.

I love spring and summer because you get to go play outside. I especially like it because softball starts up. I'm going to miss the beginning of my rec season back home because I'm stuck here, but I decided to play on an intramural team at OSU. Conveniently enough, my roommate decided to start up a team and asked me to join. Of course I said yes. I've been bugging her to go throw the ball around with me outside, while it's still nice, for the past few days, but we've both been busy. This morning it was nice again so I suggested that she, her boyfriend and I go throw later. She didn't really respond. When I got out of my bio lab around 5:00, I went up to my room expecting to go play catch, when I saw she was already out there with her boyfriend. I, being the weirdo that I am, was a little sad. I could have just gone out there and been like "OOOO I wanna play!" but my inner self and I argued that maybe they just wanted to throw together. If they wanted me to come I would have been invited, but I also wasn't there to be invited. So, now I'm pouting like a 5 year old, wishing my friends were here. I guess I'll go listen to the Song of the Day...

Actually, neither of my closest friends like softball or baseball. Ali would play with me though.