Christmas Song of the Day

"It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" I can't think of a version I particularly prefer. Let me know. It truly is the most wonderful time of the year. Don't be a Scrooge.

Actually, Amy Grant's is pretty good, so here it is.

College Stress

I register for Winter term in 9 minutes and I'm really nervous. Weird huh?

Update: I'm taking three classes. Only two of them are ones that I truly need and it looks like I'll be taking math...again. I'll have to put off my Archeology class for a couple of terms. I do have two labs next quarter, one for biology and one for chemistry. This should be interesting. Hopefully I'll still be alive spring term so that I can take THREE labs! Oh boy...

Christmas Song of the Day

"It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas" - Bing Crosby

Food and Drink

As I was getting ready for bed last night, I noticed I had a little bit of spaghetti sauce on my chin. What's worse than the fact that it's gross is the fact that it was on my face all evening. In a newsroom full of people, no one said a word. Lovely.

Then I woke up this morning and as usual, went to get coffee from the dining center. Unfortunately their espresso machine was broken. I had no coffee and am a little sad.

The Line

Where do you draw the line between being nice and being passive?

What about between being honest and being mean?

Christmas Song of the Day

"Carol of the Bells" I like The Calling's version. Deanna Carter also does it well.

Christmas Song of the Day

It is now officially Christmas time. To help us all celebrate the cheer and get into the spirit I will be posting "Christmas Songs of the Day." I'll post the song and probably my favorite version and I want you guys to share your favorite versions as well! Here is the first one.

"Baby It's Cold," my favorite version in by Dean Martin.

Happy Holidays!

Song of the Day

"Are You Lonesome Tonight?" by Elvis Presley.

Home

I am home for the week of Thanksgiving. Being home means returning to dial-up Internet service. Posts will probably be light as a result.

Not Traditional, Yet Nostalgic

One of my favorite Disney movies is Lilo & Stitch. I watched it today after not having seen it for a while and about half way through the movie I remember thinking "man, I forgot how good this movie is." It truly is fantastic. The artwork alone is breathtaking. If you haven't seen it I suggest you do so. This movie is not just for children to enjoy. I happen to enjoy all (well almost all) Disney movies, but this one has a certain je-ne-sais-quoi, that allows anyone to find something special in it.

If you don't feel like watching it then I suggest you at least listen to the score which is magnificent. The best thing to do would be to watch the movie, buy the score, listen to it a bunch of times, then go watch the behind the scenes feature on the DVD. It shows the orchestra recording the music along with the movie and if you are an ex/current band geek like me you will think it's awesome.

The artwork in the movie is spectacular. The watercolor backgrounds are perfect for a movie set in Hawaii. The colors are vibrant and the shapes are indeed "soft and friendly." The design of the movie is truly different from every other Disney movie you have seen. If I can suggest one more thing it would be that you watch the movie once to understand the story, then watch it a second time and this time look at the backgrounds, and the colors, and the shapes.

Please do not just blow this off as some kid's movie. It's that attitude that keeps us from enjoying many aspects of life. I will now leave you with two very related quotes that I adore. "Never lose your childish enthusiasm and things will come your way." "No matter what happens, always keep your childish innocence. It's the most important thing." Trust me.

Fire in Pullman

I got a call at 5:30 a.m. this morning. This is what I dealt with for the next four hours.

Dinner

Sometimes I like flaunting the college lifestyle. While I suppose few would actually desire to have what I had for dinner tonight, it was definitely a stereotypical college student meal. I like knowing there's a bit of college student in me.

My dinner: Microwaveable burrito, two pieces of pumpkin pie, half a bag of Cooler Ranch Doritos, and a couple tootsie rolls.

No worries about the freshmen 15 though. I'm a sophomore.

And I end up burning most of it off at work anyways, at least that's what I tell myself.

When Taken Out of Context...

"You should be flattered I ripped your clothes off!" ~Kyndra

I've decided not to tell the story and just to leave it at that.

Anticipation

Even though chemistry makes me feel lousy and incompetent, knowing that The Holidays are coming fills me with joyous anticipation. This anticipation has led to my listening of Christmas music. I know what you're thinking Christina and I will celebrate The Holidays as early as I want. One month of Christmas music is not enough. You can wait until after Thanksgiving if you wish, but it is your loss!

Thoughts and Quotes

Quotes:
"NINE! NINE! Sorry, I lived in Germany for 3 years, so I interpret 'nine' in multiple ways." ~Chem Prof.

"So I think we've gone from the difficult to the absurd at this point." ~Chem Prof.

"We're still working on scales and arpeggios here. We're not ready to blow some bad jazz." ~Chem Prof.

"If Thomas loves it it's gotta be awful." ~Davielle

"Sweet is definitely not the right word." ~Davielle [about describing me and she's right. I was thinking bitter.]

Thoughts:
Why do painters wear white outfits?

I've decided that I'm hopelessly something. Just what exactly we might never know.

Three-day Weekend Summary

Friday - I went to the midnight Nuthouse show. A left particularly pleased with many of the references made. Yes there were the traditional excrement, sex, and Star Wars jokes, but there were also references to 1984, The Great Gatsby, and The Scarlet Letter. My favorite was an entire steam of dialogue about Operation Market Garden. My final group HOTA project was an over the top Operation Market Garden sock puppet show. There were parachute men, dry ice, and fake accents. It was marvelous.

Saturday - I had a strange dream where my house and family were in the middle of a war zone. I don't know who we were fighting. It might have been my uncle's family on the hill, but that doesn't make sense because my family would win that war no problem. My father and I escaped the war scene only to begin a hunt for a white Bengal tiger in our forest. We found the tiger but my father didn't shoot it fast enough, so it attacked him. I woke up just after I started beating the tiger on the head with a big stick.

Sunday - I watched a show on Animal Planet about a theme park/zoo called Tiger Island. Aren't coincidences fun?

Monday - No school because of Veterans Day but I had work for newspaper. My news meeting went well and other than that the day was rather uneventful.

Today's Funnies

"I thought about copyrighting myself..." ~Anth. Prof.

"It's been a while since I've read the Book [The Bible]." ~Anth. Prof.

"In the future the grade you got in chemistry is not going to mean as much as the time you spend with the ones you love." ~Chem. Prof. A little weird, but it made me feel a bit better.

Failure is Imminent

I am a smart person. I know this. However, in chemistry no matter how hard I try I do poorly. I have never struggled this much with a class before. I don't like feeling unintelligent. I like to be in the middle or above the curve not below it. I feel like I'm trying to swim up a raging river and every time I get a breath I get pulled down even further. Once I think I've got things under control and grow a little bit of confidence the test backhands me and I fall to the floor. This is a new experience for me. I wasn't very good at HOTA or H2O, but I got by. I'm worried that I will actually fail this class. I must be missing something, but what? I need to pass this chem series in order to take ANY other science class. Pray for me, please.

Song of the Day

"Let Me Fall" by Josh Groban. This is one of my all time favorite songs and is very fitting the the bad day Christina and I both seem to be having. This video isn't great, but it gets the job done.

One of those days

It's going to be one of those days.

First, I slept and hour later than I would have liked leaving me less time to study for my Philosophy test before class.

Then, as I was getting ready, I completely missed my eyelashes and put mascara directly into my eye. It stopped watering and I expect the redness to go away soon.

One of my previous writers who I kind of fired but not really because I simply haven't spoken to him in many weeks, is working at the dining center. I know this and usually just try to avoid him, but today he stood between me and breakfast.

O, and remember how there are two main doors into the newsroom, but one was closed due to asbestos? Well now the other door is closed for the same reason. First door has reopened though.

Maybe it will just be one of those mornings and not the whole day.

What do you dress like?

Yesterday, one of my coworkers/classmates told me I always dress like an adult.

What does this mean? Is it good? Bad? How was I to respond?

I think I said,"Oh."

I have recently developed an aversion to pants, leading me to wear lots of skirts and dresses, but I'm not sure I understand the connection to adulthood. Maybe it's because I don't wear jeans as often ...

Contradictions

When asked to describe myself, I like saying my character is full of contradictions. The better one gets to know me, the truer this becomes. To list only a few of them:

I hate talking to strangers but am a journalist.

I have high expectations for people but don't expect them to be met.

I like working hard, especially if it involves getting nice and dirty, but I also love getting all dressed up.

I think of myself as a confident person, but constantly ask for reassurance from others.

One of my worst traits is that I'm a judger, but then I spend too much time worrying about others judging me.

I value reason over emotion but get worked up rather easily.

While on the one hand I hate unpredictability, I'd like to be more spontaneous.

I realize that contradiction in character is not unique to myself, but it's something I like to keep track of. These are only a few of my contradictions. Sometimes I astonish myself because of my conflicts in values or ideas and wonder how I manage not to be in a constant state of cognitive dissonance.

Another newsroom insight

The Managing Editor and I wait to hear the Russell verdict. The jury found him guilty on all counts. More Evergreen coverage of the case can be found here.

Song of the Day

"Merry Unbirthday" from Alice In Wonderland

Happy Birthday Mom

I love you!


No. She doesn't read this. It's the thought.

Quotes, Quotes, Quotes

Most of these are last week's. Some are from today.

Student: "Should I give you the goggles back?"
Chem Prof: "Um, well, how do you feel about explosions?"
Student: "Well, I like explosions..."
Chem Prof: "Then you should probably hold on to them for a while."

"I wasn't gonna pass up a chance to blow some stuff up...especially on Halloween." ~ Chem Prof

"We're gonna kill this pickle. It's been a bad pickle." ~Chem Prof

[This is terrible (two nails with electric currents running through them were stuck into a hanging pickle, one at each end)] "I don't want that nail to come flying out and hit me in the chest like that crocodile guy." ~ Chem Prof [I told you.]

"Photons...you know like Star Trek. Photon Torpedoes?" ~Chem Prof [I totally knew what he was talking about. As soon as he said "photon" I said "Tuvok! Arm the photon torpedoes!" to myself. I would never say it out loud.]

Science thought of the day: Isn't "quantum" an intimidating word?

"Trick or Drinking or whatever goes on." ~Anth Prof obviously talking about Halloween.

Quick little story:
Today in Anth lecture I glanced over at the TA who was sitting in his chair cleaning his nails with his switch blade. He did this for a couple minutes then he folded it up and put it away. Normally, where I come from this would be no big deal, but I found it slightly amusing today in the middle of a university lecture.

Song of the Day

"Dream" by Frank Sinatra, Michael Buble, Ella Fitzgerald, the list goes on.

PS This is our 300th post.

What Do You Do?

Who are we to say that what one culture does is wrong? When I see things like this though, it makes my heart hurt. But as a biological anthropologist I need to be neutral. Things that may seem cruel to us might be perfectly normal in another culture and vice-versa. I can't help being conflicted inside. Should we, people who can create change, interfere with the practices of other cultures if we view them as wrong? Or, should we do nothing because every culture is different and we do not rule the world? But, aren't cultures supposed to change and evolve? What do we do? What is right?

A Question For The Audience

Do you have a happy movie? I suppose it could also be referred to as a sad movie. What is the one movie you watch when you are sad or sick or depressed? That movie you watch when you want to feel happy. It might be the movie that makes you cry and get it all out or the movie that makes you laugh hysterically and forget about what's troubling you. Is it The Fox and The Hound? Is it Gone With The Wind? What? Tell me.

This is mine.