Lord of the stellar rings
Random note: This marks the three year anniversary of entries in this particular blog. ATTS has been around for three years, but about two months of the original entries were 'closed' in Greymatter, my previous blogging software, and as such, they didn't get transferred. So instead you get some holy shit. I love my little 'on this day' module on the sidebar.

Punzie mentioned on her LJ how she had lots of questions, and to sum it up, she used this:
loveandthequestionsofsexandfutureand
universityandcareerandfamilyandchildrenonedayandwheredoifitin
Basically, questions that any teenager on the cusp of starting out on their own would be asking. Unfortunately even if you answer your 19-year-old self's questions, there will always be the 20 y/o's questions to answer, and the 21 y/o's (though those might be slightly easier due to the possibly inebriated state they are asked in) and the 22 y/o's...I'm asking questions, what do I want to do with my life, am I really right in thinking of med school, would I really be able to make a living as a writer, am I even capable of finishing a story, since I've been working on bloody Moonstone for a decade. I suppose som questions you can never really answer, or the answer keeps changing. There are definitely times when I wish I knew what was going to happen in my life, and if I could get some certainty that yes, you will finish the novel or yes, you will be a good doctor or no, med school is the wrong choice. Que sera, sera, je suppose. As much as I think fortunetelling is a bit of a quack, I wish someone could give me a glimmer.

Lots of superfluous quizzes, if you read on.

Your Virgo Drinking Style

Hey brainiac, you are compelled to impose order onto your bender. Your famously fussy quest for purity could lead to drinking less than other signs, sure... But it could also lead to drinking booze neatly (like sucking down organic wine or having extreme brand loyalty). You rarely get fully shellacked -- but, oh, when you do! Virgo's controlled by the intellect, but there's an unbridled beast lurking within, and they let it loose when walloped. It's dead sexy (and surprisingly unsloppy). As one Virgo friend used to declare, "I'm going to drink myself into a low level of intelligence tonight." A toast to the subgenius IQ!

Your Signature Cocktails

Many Virgos prefer clear, simple, untreacly drinks like vodka tonic or a real margarita, though you can be found drinking anything from unflinchingly downing Cuervo straight to smirkingly ordering a dirty virgin. You also tend to like bitter, low-alk guzzles like Campari and soda. However, you rarely change your signature drink once you've found it.

Your Celebrity Drinking Buddies

Cameron Diaz, Hugh Grant, Keanu Reeves, Nicole Richie, Bill Murray, Jada Pinkett Smith, Adam Sandler, and Ricki Lake.

You are dependable, popular, and observant. Deep and thoughtful, you are prone to moodiness. In fact, your emotions tend to influence everything you do. You are unique, creative, and expressive. You don't mind waving your freak flag every once and a while. And lucky for you, most people find your weird ways charming!

Posted by Jen at 5:53 PM | Permalink |

vote for ATTS: ER | Wishlist: {Amazon} |

  Academ's Fury, Jim Butcher (who lives in Missouri! Yay!)
file under: muses

First:

Second: Yay weekend! I am so ready for it. But I continue to be appalled and/or grateful at how fast the weeks are going. Happy Summer, by the way.

Third: I spent more money on perfumes. Alas. I haven't quite sold my soul to BPAL but it's a darn close thing. And now I really have to say to myself, no more spending until a) rent and loan is due and b) Furies of Calderon comes out in paperback, both of which occur next week. I really have to break myself of this habit of not being able to enter a bookstore or Target and only buying one thing. Even if I make a list, I always end up spending more. Boo me.

Fourth: Cece and I had dinner and a movie last night, I'm quite excited to have a new roommate. Who I don't actually have yet, and won't for a few more weeks, as Olga has, just today, gone back to Colombia for two weeks and will move out immediately thereafter. I feel a little bad about that, like I'm kicking her out or something, but it is the end of the lease and that's how things go. I hope she's got her lodgings secured for July, and I hope she's able to get a place out in CA with her boyfriend.

Fifth: it is really freaking hot outside and last month's utility bill was through the roof. Ugh. Welcome to summer in St. Louis. Thank God for AC even if it's heinously expensive.

Sixth: I really have to a) get to the public library and renew my card and see if they still have a book on hold for me and b) get home so I can have chicken and dumplings and banish this cold for good.

Seventh: Nah, there's no seventh. I'm done.

Posted by Jen at 10:34 AM | Permalink

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  La Tortura, Shakira
  
file under: miscellany

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. --Alfred Lord Tennyson

Welcome to another steamy St. Louis summer. Just in time for the summer solstice we have 90-degree temperatures and the humidity is rising.

I'm also sick, alas. It started last weekend when I went to Champaign with Kate to visit Alex and Leo for a joint birthday/new apartment weekend...which was fun, including berry-picking, swimming, Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick, drinking games, and Batman Begins. But opened screen doors at night+Jen=allergies and sinus headaches, which is not fun, and two nights of not-so-good sleep probably opened the door for this. (A&L: it's not your fault. I never sleep well at new places and I was tired when I got there.)

At least my car's AC got fixed (for a while anyway...cross your fingers that it lasts the summer, at least) and the 'rents and I are going to see Beauty and the Beast tonight at the Muny, so there's happiness. The job is going ok, haven't had anything massively scary yet, but I keep seeing July looming ahead of me when there are supposedly going to be huge amounts of studies going on. Eek! Ah well. Can't worry about it now.

Must concentrate on getting better and learning ApoB study. Whee! Er.

Posted by Jen at 9:24 AM | Permalink |

vote for ATTS: ER | Wishlist: {Amazon} |

  Earthsea soundtrack
  About to start A Secret Atlas, Michael A Stackpole. Want to find Furies of Calderon because my dad brought home the 2nd book
file under: muses

Eragon by CHRISTOPHER PAOLINI

I'm just trying to get this book to post. It's odd that it won't go through the standard MTAmazon plugin that I've got for my blogging software. Ah, the vagaries of technology.

Save 50% off of select Posters and Standees at NewLineShop.com!

Posted by Jen at 10:42 AM | Permalink |

vote for ATTS: ER | Wishlist: {Amazon} |

...Admittedly they were 2 fluff novels, but I've got two more on the back burner when these are done. What can I say, I need a little bit of romance in my life, even if it is vicarious...

Kate, don't read this paragraph: I saw the weirdest little spider today on the window of the car I parked next to this morning. I have a mini Harry Potter calendar on my wall at work and it's got a picture of Ron brandishing his wand and a very colorful spider. It is blue and orange, while the spider I saw was yellow and green...pretty, colorful, and thank goodness, small and not on my car.

So I now own one MCAT book and checked out two others...now I just have to get on it. Ugh. Where is my motivation! It's just so hard to study when it's summer. It's like I'm disinclined to do hard work even though summer is certainly not the same as when I was in school. Don't guess it will ever be, really, not even when I have kids in school. Hah. Amazing how many future assumptions I put in that sentence

I'm excited because I finally get to take a day off and head over to see Leo and Alex (swimming pool! probable drunkenness!) and I have nice (not really new because they've been here the entire time I have I just never knew their names) coworkers who will help me out with the things I have Friday morning so I don't have to come in. Yay.

Must remember to send mail tomorrow. Darn it.

Why is it that I don't have motivation to write this month? Yes, I've written approximately 8,000 words this month, but I just can't seem to get up to the frenzy that I managed back in November. It was the deadline, I tell you. Self-imposed deadlines just don't seem to do it for me. And I still can't seem to meet with Ash, alas. Perhaps we will just see each other monthly at the writer's meetup. Still have to think up an ending, though I'm slowly but squirrelly moving onto the actual 'ascending the throne' bit.

And on a related tangent...should I break my no-hardcover rule and pre-order HP 6? I really want it, but I hate buying hardcover, but there's a big party down at Left Bank Books and I would be able to meet with like-minded St. Louisans who don't think I'm slightly off my rocker for liking fantasy so much (or even if they do, they're likely to be just the same). Choices, choices. I should save my money. I would hate having just one hardcover HP book (until the last one comes out, of course...) Bbbut it's a party! We'll see.

And something serious:

You know that email petition that keeps circulating about how Congress is slashing funding for NPR and PBS? Well, now it's actually true. (Really. Check at the bottom if you don't believe me.)

Sign the petition telling Congress to save NPR and PBS:

http://www.moveon.org/publicbroadcasting/?t=1

A House panel has voted to eliminate all public funding for NPR and PBS, starting with "Sesame Street," "Reading Rainbow," and other commercial-free children's shows. If approved, this would be the most severe cut in the history of public broadcasting, threatening to pull the plug on Big Bird, Cookie Monster, and Oscar the Grouch.

The cuts would slash 25% of the federal funding this year--$100 million--and end funding altogether within two years. The loss could kill beloved children's shows like "Clifford the Big Red Dog," "Arthur," and "Postcards from Buster." Rural stations and those serving low-income communities might not survive. Other stations would have to increase corporate sponsorships.

The next vote on the cuts will take place tomorrow (Thursday). Help us reach 400,000 signatures to be delivered to the committee members.

http://www.moveon.org/publicbroadcasting/?t=2

Thanks!

P.S. Read the Washington Post report on the threat to NPR and PBS at:

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=745

Posted by Jen at 9:33 AM | Permalink

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  The Best Choral Album in the World...Ever!

file under: thoughts

...because I just signed up for the MCAT in August. There goes $200. Ugh. I decided to do it today because I got paid and I might as well do it now before I lose my nerve. It's probably not so good to feel so wishy-washy about going to med school. I think I will do well, but it's scary! And I don't know exactly what I would do yet...possibly something neuro-related, but I don't know how comfortable I'd feel cutting into someone's brain. But all that neurophysiology/ethology that I did in school (well, took classes for, anyway) was quite interesting and it would possibly let me do research on Alzheimer's or Parkinson's, which my mom tells me I should do. And wouldn't it be great to be the person who finds a cure. Or even part of a cure. I must admit to a certain amount of influence from 'er' and 'grey's anatomy.' And while I know that real life is not like a tv show, I still think those are interesting enough, once you strip away the soap opera.

Then there's the sports medicine/exercise physiology part, which is not so much med school as grad school. But then there would probably be the chance for working with prosthetics or orthotics, possibly getting back into the athletic swing of things...

and there's still that little voice saying, really, you sucked in college so why are you even attempting this? I still wonder if the three years of working will be worth anything. *is full of self-doubt* I would love it so much to get in here at Wash U but that's such a reach. Why couldn't I have fallen in love with a nice inexpensive public school? Noooo, I had to go for one of the most expensive schools in the region. It's sort of scary to think about, what might happen in a year...

I suppose a year from now I'll know if I'll still even be in the state. I will admit a certain apprehensiveness on my part about leaving "home." Because while I value my independence, I really like being near my parents and the things I've known all my life. What can I say? I'm an only child, and I was loved, so I never had to fight for things, didn't feel the need to strike out on my own. That and the fact that both my parents are super cooks.

Guess I should really start studying, huh. Too bad the MCAT book isn't nearly as exciting as A Storm of Swords. Oy. I'm doomed. *crosses fingers that I'll get the Wash U section on Test Day*

Jen N's wedding tomorrow! *crosses toes that a cute available guy is there*

Posted by Jen at 4:06 PM | Permalink

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  Celtic Woman is in my cd player, but I haven't listened to it yet today.

file under: education , serious

Happy Birthday Leo!

My childhood friend Jennifer is getting married this weekend. That means I'm one of the last Jens from school that's not married/engaged yet...anyway, they're predicting t-storms until Monday, so I hope that we get a little break so her dress isn't ruined. I feel sad, because my mom talks to her more than I do, and she's been in town since high school as well, teaching in West County or some such like that. How is it that we manage to lose track of people so easily? We were such good friends. Ah well. She looks great now and she was always a little chubby, so I'm envious, too. Of course, that doesn't have anything to do with the fact that she's actually getting married, which was precluded by having a boyfriend for quite a long time. And this is turning into a rant, so I'll just stop there. Good luck Jennifer and Adam, I can't wait to see the dress!

The world is moving so fast these days that the man who says it can't be done is generally interrupted by someone doing it. (Harry Emerson Fosdick)

So, work is going fine, I guess, still just in the learning phases of the "new" job. Not too much to do yet, but I've been assured that will change soon, so I was actually told to enjoy the free time. Whee. Some kits finally came in for Luigi/Mel/Ted so I've got those to do, and someone that I'll be working with has come back to town, but I haven't met him yet. Next week I'll have my first "meeting" with my boss I guess to go over plans, which is a little scary, but necessary I suppose.

Here's a question, what sort of doctor do you think I should be? I'm having a damn hard time trying to figure that out. And it's a pretty big step to be taking without a clue.

Tuesday I started studying for the MCAT (read: going over the first few chapters and determining that I'm going to be screwed when it comes time for the test) and did half of a pilates abs dvd. I even have a yoga mat with a cool sundial print. Spent too much money over the weekend, and tomorrow when I get paid I guess I should sign up for the MCAT. Stupid $200 test. Please tell me why, if every single prospective med school student has to take this test, it is so freaking expensive? And boy, did gas jump since I filled up on Monday. I paid $1.98 at the station near my apt, and when I went to the 'rents yesterday it had gone up to $2.15. Geez.

Maybe I'll break my no-Harry-Potter-hardback-books and sign up for the Left Bank Books Book 6 release party. It sounds like fun, and I do have part of the robe patterned...it's probably the wrong pattern, but still, at least it's been started...what do you think? I really need some fantasy-loving friends. Or rather, friends that like it as much as I do and don't just put up with my eccentricities And that live in town.

Excited: new roommate, trip to see Alex & Leona next weekend, wedding this weekend *crosses fingers for cute, unattached guys but knows is sort of a fool's hope*

Posted by Jen at 9:42 AM | Permalink |

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   A Storm of Swords: George R.R. Martin
file under: celebration