What do you think?!

ABC is remaking V for primetime tv. Brilliant!

What is with the HIDEOUS red and blue felt on the set of the presidential debate?

I'm in the student center watching the debate. Poor McCain looks like a broken, broken man. It's really sad. I hope he doesn't get any pity votes.

On the bright side, Obama looks GREAT in comparison.

Though both Obama and McCain have unusually unfortunate makeup and hair tonight.

I am officially sick of Obama's and McCain's talking points. Answer the damned questions, fools. I wish that the crowd were allowed to heckle and cheer. I think we would all get a lot more out of it if the little wiggly screen lines from the Ohio focus group were vocal.

Everyone here makes fun of the Ohio focus groups. Cringe. Couldn't you get in there, Ben, and raise the beauty/eloquence level a little bit?

Why doesn't Tom cut them off from going over the time limit? This is ridiculous!

Words that I hate: Bush, Main street, cronyism, pork barrel spending, maverick, taxes,

Hilarious when John McCain told the young black man in the audience, "You have probably never heard of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac until recently..."
Insulting! Hope he hasn't ever taken out any loans!

My schedule allows me to read the newspaper every morning. I love it.

I'm going to take the test Friday afternoon with Jeanne. I am ridiculously prepared for this test, so I don't think there will be any negative consequences for taking a day off in the middle of the week. Also, the only temple here is super-reform, which is not that great overall, but they encourage me to go to services there. I am going to start taking Monday night classes at the end of the month to learn Hebrew etc. so that when/if I am ready to start to convert I will be more prepared.

In other news, I have decided to move back to Columbus in June to study for the MCAT, get a job, further establish my Ohio resident status, and apply to medical school. I am trying to convince Mandy that she should move back with me.

I still have no idea what to do with my field work term (6 weeks long!) in January and February, but I would like to do some interesting medical-related volunteer work.

Moral dilemma

I want to go to services and fast for Yom Kippur, but I have a chemistry test on Thursday morning. I could just go to Kol Nidrei service on Wednesday night and fast and take the test on Thursday morning and then go to afternoon services, or I could ask (with my friend Jeanne) to have the test moved for us. While Jeanne, as a conservative Jew, is totally justified if she asks to take the test at another time, I feel like it would be pretty strange for me to make the same request. At the same time, I do want to go to services and observe Tom Kippur, so perhaps it ultimately doesn't matter that I'm not Jewish. Thoughts?

Also, isn't it strange that we have a word for di-lemma, but not really one for poly-lemma? Ooh, never mind, the word polylemma does exist! So this is a moral polylemma.

Friday Night Lights...

is so hot.
How lame that it will only be on cable? Really lame.

Amusing, Election-related

Guess what I did today?

Went to soccer practice! I have a game this Saturday against Marlboro, how crazy and wonderful is that?

Obama and McCain on Science Issues

Science Debate 2008

I just donated more money to Obama.

Don't worry, it wasn't very much.

Still, I know that if I don't put a little money toward this campaign, and they lose, I will have a hard time forgiving myself. I am also casting my vote via absentee ballot in good-old Franklin County. Mailed in my application a few days ago.

I am SO angry with McCain for choosing Sarah Palin.

While looking for amusing images of money...I came across SEVERAL pictures of kittens with money.

Weird.

This one's for Dad:

She sounds terrible. Absolutely terrible!

Go Obama, GOOOO!!!!
If you haven't read the NY Times article about Sarah Palin...well, you should.
Once Elected, Palin Hired Friends and Lashed Foes

Honestly:

I want to take a break from reviewing for my bio final tomorrow to say: I find all of this work insanely difficult. I woke up early this morning to finish a problem set for chemistry, went to class all morning, talked about bio and stared into space at lunch, was in chem lab all afternoon, got home at 4:30, caused a toilet to overflow, flooding the kitchen underneath (not in a gross way, don't worry) studied for bio, took a brief trip to Dunkin Donuts and drank a bunch of coffee, and am now back at my desk studying. I have been listening to the most upbeat songs I have, turned up really loud, to help me feel like I am engaging in an important and exciting adventure of the mind rather than chained to my desk and my calculator, as I actually am. I do enjoy learning all this stuff, and I am SO thankful that I have interesting, kind, and intelligent people to study and hang out with. Still, I have basically left behind my normal life. I can handle this for two more weeks. I could probably handle it for a year. But I don't know if I can live without a life for the next eight years. What I CAN see is how this lifestyle of intense study could become addictive. It is incredibly rewarding. It must be even better once you're studying to be a doctor directly.

...Ever since I moved to L.A., famous people stalk me...

Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ellen Burstyn are here doing an acting workshop thing. I love Ellen Burstyn sooooooooooo much. She's sassy. Obviously she's been in a million things, but one thing Mandy may remember her from was the Spitfire Grill, random movie which we watched a few times (for some reason) directed by one of two famous St. John's alums: the dude who created MacGyver.


Oh, I thought of the other one: Ahmet Ertegun, the only good-guy in the movie Ray.

He apparently was a really awesome guy, and he died recently and now St. John's has a scholarship in place in case any Turkish people feel like studying the great books. Weird.

Today...

I broke into tears over a B- on a lab report. Wow. During a break from lecture. And then I had to choke back tears the rest of the morning through lecture. Needless to say, this has NEVER happened to me before. Maybe once in third grade when I got caught because Katie Y. copied my spelling test. But then Mrs. Williams named her daughter Anne Marie so I was pretty sure she didn't hate me or anything. I am seriously stressed out.

This did cheer me up a little:



It's so Dharma Initiative-y.

I WANT THIS BOOK

I keep trying to look up the etymology of words online, and it is impossible. So I went to amazon and found this book, which looks amazing. I want it. I need it. I can't afford it.

Wouldn't it be nice...

...if there were some way to be stressed out enough to motivate me to study and for me to be calm and relaxed at the same time? I'm going to start meditating on my study breaks.

Week in review

I went to the drive-in with four of the girls to see Batman last night. Yesterday was an exhausting day. I had class and lab all day long, Grandma and Grandpa got in to Bennington a day early for their visit, so we had dinner and talked, and then they went to bed and I went to the drive-in. There's nothing quite like sitting in a truck bed with three mentally exhausted girls, drinking a beer, and petting Davida's basset hound, Ghandi, while lightning flashes in the distance and Batman entertains. It was a good night. When I got back (we opted out of the double feature-Journey to the Center of the Earth) a huge thunder storm broke and the thunder and lightning kept me from falling asleep.

Then I woke up early (ON MY ONE MORNING OFF!) went for tea with Grandma and Grandpa, and then they came with me to the farmer's market and to the Bennington Pottery store (my London Underground mug is chipped and in my heartache about it I decided to replace it with a Vermont souvenir) and then we had lunch and they left. It was a really nice visit. Grandma says the nicest things, and it's nice to be around people who miss mom as much as I do. As you all know.

So this afternoon, I meant to get my car battery replaced because I am currently immobile, but I didn't because I took a nap to recover and now it's too late. Darn it. And I know that I should do at least a mild amount of work this afternoon. But I really really don't want to. So there.

This last week has been very difficult. I did pretty well in my first "semester" of chemistry, and am now in the middle of my semester of bio and second semester of chem. The second semester of chemistry is more quantitative, which is a good thing and a bad thing. The work takes less time to do but is trickier for me than what we were doing before. Bio is a dud class. I enjoy learning the stuff, but it's a lecture style class (there are only six of us so this hardly seems appropriate) which disappoints me.

Carin, my incredibly sweet next door housemate, was surprised last weekend when her boyfriend Connor came out to visit a day early and proposed. They've been dating since they were fifteen and are a really really sweet couple. Congratulations! He's been staying back in L.A. where he works and is moving out at the end of the summer.

Those are the only eventful things. Everything else is just work.

Belated thank you, Brad

I really love Rabbit Fur Coat- I think you gave it to me two Christmases ago. Melt Your Heart has been keeping me company A LOT the last week. Thanks!

I feel like I'm on a roll. Procrastination is the best motivation for blogging.

So...I'm writing a lab report and having a really absurdly difficult time doing it because of my teacher. She keeps taking off points for really teeny tiny things that no one in her right mind would penalize. Like the time when I lost half a point for forgetting to put the possessive plural ' on in a homework assignment. For real. So now I'm afraid of her and I don't want to turn anything in because I hate losing points and, honestly, can't afford to.

Meanwhile, one of our merry bunch was sent packing this week. The only boy.
I keep getting lots of group emails from the girls (there are six of us now-all girls) about nothing-all a pathetic excuse to procrastinate.

The saddest thing of all is that even if I did successfully finish this lab report by a reasonable hour, I wouldn't have anything really fun to do. Ideally, I would like to spend time with my friends, but they are all working as well.

Finally, and I'm ashamed to say it but I'm sure it's become obvious from previous posts:I do spend an awful lot of time on my computer's photobooth. Here's one from a few days ago:

Oh no, Jaime!

When you're in the U.K. you can't watch anything through the network TV websites. That means that when you finally fall for Lost, you won't be able to watch it in HD streaming on NBC! Better stay here, after all.

Mandy

Sam, my last post wasn't so much being nice to Mandy...as it was warning her about the dangers of eternal hellfire (or cold dampness-depending). Jesus, people, don't take everything so damned ironically.

Also, I love 30 Rock, Jaime. That German-bird moment is one of my favorites.

Also, I already finished my first semester of chemistry! And I haven't been kicked out-hooray!