What an astonishing thing a book is. It's a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you're inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly and silently inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic.

file under: thoughts Posted by Jen at 11:02 AM | Permalink MTIfCommentsActive>|

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file under: reallife , serious , thoughts Posted by Jen at 12:29 PM | Permalink MTIfCommentsActive>|

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(From Darths & Droids)

Roleplaying games are, in some sense, all about getting to make decisions in the game world that you never get to make in real life. Decisions that are really important. Decisions that can change the course of history.

The Playing Characters are the people driving the story. What they decide to do really matters to the people around them.

As a Game Master, it's good if you can really underline this point at some stage during an adventure. Make them acutely aware of the import of what they are about to decide. Make it painfully clear that the lives of thousands, or millions, or even billions of people will be affected by this decision. And make it a really tough one. Back the characters into a corner against their morals (alignment is a handy tool here). Throw them on to the horns of a dilemma.

Put them between a rock and a hard place.

Scylla and Charybdis.

Make them sweat.

Make their own safety hang in the balance as well.

And then give them a time limit.

Yes, this is directed people participating in RPGs, but it makes sense for writing as well. Conflict drives the story and makes it interesting. Course, somehow you have to come up with the conflict, which can be rather difficult...

Thanks to Ash for pointing out Darths & Droids to me.

  Love Came Down at Christmas, Jars of Clay
  Fathom, Cherie Priest
file under: thoughts , writings Posted by Jen at 8:27 PM | Permalink MTIfCommentsActive>|

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Sometimes I forget how much I love it.

Take right now, for example: I have this idea for this year's NaNo that it will have a quasi-Victorian setting, maybe based on reality, maybe a little steampunk, so I looked up books on Victorian history. For those keeping score, that was when Queen Victoria ruled England, circa 1840-1870. I now own three books on Victorian history, because not only are the books full of information and juicy little tidbits that will pad out my daily word count nicely, but sometimes they're just hilarious. I'm sure that someday people will look back at our time and wonder what we were thinking, because that's what's happening when I read these. And I'm having fun. I like learning. History can be interesting!

But I'm not the sort of person to seek out nonfiction books normally. I have to have a good reason. And research for NaNo is a pretty darn good reason.

This is why I know I could be a professional writer. Because I don't mind the research. It's quite fun to absorb all the bits of information during the research phase then have them suddenly coalesce in a somewhat coherent whole during the draft phase.

Here's to research. May it never get boring.

And here's to me, who got a whole lot of books (and the 2nd season of Heroes), because it's that little thing known as my birthday. Huzzah.

  The Hound and the Falcon, Judith Tarr and Inside the Victorian House, Judith Flanders
file under: books , celebration , reallife , thoughts , writings Posted by Jen at 12:33 AM | Permalink MTIfCommentsActive>|

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Randy Pausch was a professor at Carnegie Mellon who died yesterday from pancreatic cancer, the same type of cancer that my uncle died from. He gave two very moving, inspirational lectures and wrote a book and gave many interviews. He lived strong and filled his last days with whatever he could, and I can have nothing but respect for him. The world has lost a good man. We need more heroes like him. Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.

"The Last Lecture" and "Time Management" after the cut.

file under: reallife , serious , thoughts Posted by Jen at 6:20 PM | Permalink MTIfCommentsActive>|

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I just spent an hour de-icing the freezers in the equipment room, which basically means I got to hit a lot of ice really hard with an ice scraper until it decided to spray everywhere and fall, with a rather satisfying thunk, to the floor. Fun in a sort of mindless, lean-as-far-from-the-projectile-ice-as-you-can way.

"I feel great now!" (I'm listening to RENT. Sue me if I quote too much.)

Who else is bored today?

  Without You, RENT

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Sometime last month my printer stopped printing, as in it was apparently using ink as normal, but nothing showed up on the paper. Unfortunately, that was almost exactly a year to the day that I purchased the darn thing (along with my lovely little iBook), so my warranty had expired. I went through email tech support, and followed all the instructions (yes, I did use genuine Epson inks) and nothing helped. It was quite odd to see and hear the printer doing its thing, then have nothing but a blank piece of paper to show for it. So I was refered to the telephone helpline, with the added bonus of not having to pay the $10 per call fee since I'd already troubleshooted (-shot?) by email.

After putting it off a few weeks (I claim an A&P test or two to study for), I finally called last night, and after going through the same bit (and not getting charged for calling, yay!) they determined that it might indeed be hardware failure, and since it was only a few days (weeks, whatever, it's only been a year) they will send me a brand new printer! And I don't even have to send back the old one, which, aside from not printing, still works. I had gotten the all-in-one printer/scanner/copier/memory card reader, so I was loathe to just buy a new one (assuming I had the money to do so, anyway).

It won't be the same model, but from what I hear, the newer model is better. I just have to wait a week, and I should have a new one...

Busy busy busy at work. Hope you all are having a good week. I'm so glad tomorrow is payday.

  y98 FM
  Dead Beat, Jim Butcher
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...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

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

file under: thoughts Posted by Jen at 9:33 AM | Permalink MTIfCommentsActive>|

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I think I can be happy for a while. I have a roommate for the next year! I can stay in this nice apartment! Well, once she signs the lease and all and actually moves in, anyway. And hopefully she'll want to stick around for a while. I guess by this time next year I'll know where I'll be in the fall...scary to think about the future sometimes.

Anyway, the previous girl who came by the apartment really seemed to like it and the area, but there were no cookies because she came in the middle of the day. This girl came by after work last friday and I was able to make cookies (a little flat, but cookies nonetheless) and she stayed and chatted for an hour and called me back the next day before I headed out to the renaissance festival with Kate and said she wanted the apartment. Yay! Since the only differences between the two visits were time of day and cookie availability, I must conclude that it was the cookies. Even though they weren't warm by the time she got here because she was a little lost. Ok, my logic sucks, but you get the picture.

So Saturday was a good day. A new roommate and the Greater St. Louis Renaissance Festival in Wentzville (which isn't really St. Louis anymore, but whatever, it's closer than Kansas City). Kate seemed hesitant about going but she's a good friend and she knew I wanted to go very badly, so she was exceedingly nice and went with me anyway. She ended up having a good time which made me happy. She doesn't think she's up to the KC renfest yet though...hopefully Ross will be when he's back in town We saw jousting and a bit of the world bird demonstration, shopped, and saw a great show called Bardic Wind, a comedy/acrobatic act. It was funny and irreverent and quite amazing, some of the feats they performed. One of the guys...mmm, abs. mmm, tattoos. Sigh. I need a cute renaissance faire guy to dress up with I at least got to wear my hat that reminds May of Will's hat in PotC...which is sort of what I was going for. Though I don't have a Jack Sparrow to compliment me on my feathers. Yeah. Saw the resident hammered dulcimer player and bought a cd but I think I must have left it in Kate's car along with some excess change. Kind of like the leftovers from Applebee's tonight, which were either left at the restaurant or in the car of the person who drove. Ah well. Not doing too good with remembering everything in cars.

Today I went to Six Flags with Olga, her boyfriend and some of her friends. Got to go for free because she and Cesar (the bf) got season passes and had two free tickets. Yay! Rode the standard coasters (most seemed bumpy rather than fast today...perhaps it was the humidity) and the Scooby Doo ride where you shoot lasers at targets. I got 50,500 points, and I think I won. Yay for itchy trigger fingers. Then we headed over to Hurricane Harbor (the attached water park) and got wet. They have this new attraction called the Tornado where you go down a chute on a four-person raft and then into this giant funnel where you practically climb the walls. It was fun, but waaaay too short for the wait. Course, that's usually how those things go. But it being 6F and insanely expensive for things like lockers and tubes, I didn't bring in all of my extra clothes, which was good since they wouldn't fit, but it meant that I was pretty wet for a while afterwards. We headed to the aforementioned Applebee's and I was able to change, but that feeling of clammy dampness is one of the worst in the world.

It was a little weird today b/c Olga and her friends all speak spanish and I most certainly do not. I could pick out a few words here and there, but understanding I do not have, grasshopper. One of these days. Learning a new language is on my list of things to do before I die. Luckily they are nice and translated sometimes (paraphrased is probably a better term) and would speak english if I was talking to them, but there were certainly times when a particularly funny anecdote was shared and I was just sitting there watching them laugh. Oh well. Incentive to learn, I suppose. Muy fr�o en este restaurante.

Sleep soon I must..."new" job tomorrow. Wish my luck.

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It's the 35th Earth Day today. Recycle something. Reuse something. Er, Reduce something. *laughs half-heartedly at the organic chemistry joke she just made* Orgo is driving me mad.

One more Saturday lab, then write the paper for Check-out a week from tomorrow. Orgo test next week, which not quite ready for, and might not be before next week, as friends coming into town. Yay friends. Boo not studying. Thank goodness test is on Wednesday and not Monday.

Orgo final May 11. Thank goodness no orgo lab final, as would have been the day after Kingdom of Heaven premiere. KOH's soundtrack out Tuesday, shall have to pick that up along with Rob Thomas' solo effort.

So, it's the parents' anniversary, Kate's birthday, and yours truly's website's 3rd birthday on Sunday. Awww. Also, sunday being the full-moon day, BPAL will offer Flower Moon. Will have to see if I remember to check it out. Could be interesting. Will be busy. Hope I can see some of the UAA conference meet this weekend, as it's held at WU this year. Strange to think that three years ago I was in Atlanta and running the best races of my life, becoming conference champion in both the 100 and 200 m dashes, placing 3rd in the 100 hurdles, and helping the 4x1 team win gold and nearly make it to nationals. Wow. What a difference three years makes. *cough* *lazy bum*

Still worried about orgo lab. I guess I've done what I needed to do, but hopefully will get all needed things done tomorrow. These last few weeks I've just felt like I didn't know what I was doing. And I have no idea what to write this paper on. It will be a bitch. And since it's due three days after the aforementioned orgo test, it will be doubly bitchy. Wish me luck.

I just have to keep telling myself that there are good things coming my way, in the form of friends and new music and Orlando Bloom, but man, it's hard when there's the stress of orgo/job/apartment worries. I'd really like to know where I'll be in a month.

  The Closing of the Year, Toys soundtrack

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My cousin and aunt got in ok yesterday. Good deal. I wish I could have spent more time with them, like take-the-day off time, but alas that's the way things go. I spent most of the time in front of a computer trying to get into the FTP for the family websites, so we can get away from the hosting provider we had to this new one. But for some reason it doesn't like the password we supply, and I don't know why since we picked the darn password ourselves. Sigh. Hopefully it can be fixed and we can move on out. Sigh. Aunt Carol did bring some of her original art for me to put up in the apartment, which is nice. Though I almost don't want to put anything up now since I'm not all that positive I'll be able to afford the apartment in two months. Boo. But yay for original art.

In case you're curious. here's a load of info on Daylight Saving Time (no 's' on the end of Saving, btw, that's proper) Educational exhibits about time, clocks, daylight saving, and calendars Since I was looking up the time in the Pacific time zone, that's what I found. Yay. Who knew there was a whole government website devoted to time?

Wouldn't it be nice to have this? Keeping warm, and all that.

  Jars of Clay: Redemption Songs

file under: thoughts Posted by Jen at 4:31 PM | Permalink MTIfCommentsActive>|

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Now there's a Lotr Trival Pursuit-DVD Edition, which could be fun. Alas it's $50 which is more than I want to spend on anything right now.

Corey and Aunt Carol are coming into town tomorrow, so hopefully I'll get to spend lots of time with them. Thank goodness I don't have to do a TGF-Β this week...that would make it near impossible to have free time. Ah well. It's funny how yes, I'm supposed to work eight hours, but take a 7 hour assay and add to it the dilution, acidification, neutralization and just plain thawing time and there is a great chance that I would be late to class that night. I guess the only thing for it is to go in early. Boo. But that's in the future.

This past weekend was good, though I once again waited until the last minute to write my conclusion for orgo lab. I've really got to stop that. It's not cool to try and function on four hours sleep. And my knees would probably hurt less if they were straight for a few more hours But after lab (and a nap, of course) I went to Blueberry Hill for dinner with Kate and Molly and Cat and Tony, which was nice, and then we headed over to Tony's place for a game of Trivial Pursuit (yay for tying the entry together, right?) and basketball. Not that I had any interest in the game, but the WVU/Wake game was pretty good. The one coach had a very blazing blue tie on. I miss basketball sometimes. Not that I was ever any good, but it sure was fun to shoot and make a basket, when it just swished in there perfectly...

yesterday I fixed my parents' internet...don't know what happened, but somehow the Modem control panel just went poof! Yeah for working again. That poor computer. It still works just fine, but it connects SOOOO slow to the internet. But yes, working is good. I feel bad, though, that I can't donate my old laptop to my parents' cause, as the monitor just doesn't work. Boo. I guess if that was your only computer, the extreme amount it would take to repair the monitor wouldn't be that bad, but I don't think it's worth it. Perhaps I should try to convince them to get a Mac Mini, since we do have an old monitor sitting in the basement from the old desktop that never got fixed. Ah well. I guess we'll see.

Tomorrow is a very sad anniversary, so I will talk about it then. Not now. Now I shall return to reading my very good book (total escapism here) while waiting for the ELISA to incubate. Yay.

  Fortress Draconis, Michael Stackpole
file under: thoughts Posted by Jen at 12:35 PM | Permalink MTIfCommentsActive>|

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Well, in case you haven't heard, Johnny Carson died yesterday. I think he was the best Tonight Show host there was or will be...that's who I'll always associate with the TS. It's nice to see the retrospective stuff they've had up on the networks...boy, people must have been scrambling to get it ready so quickly. Although they said he'd been very sick for a while so maybe it was just a matter of when, rather than if. Although I have to admit...I thought he died a lot earlier, I guess since he was very private after he retired. I didn't know he was still around. Ah well. We'll miss you, Johnny.

In happier news, JK Rowling had her baby (a girl) last night, so perhaps now that she's no longer a) writing book 6 and b) pregnant we can get book 7 that much quicker. Ah well. Probably not, since they'll want to milk this year for all they can get... a book AND a movie, wow. There will be countdowns galore, just you wait.

The high school drama alumni performance went well, I think.

It was a little haphazard but that was to be expected with the amount of people we had and the (little) time we had to put it together. John Goodman showed up, though, and presented (my, but not the current) drama teacher with a plaque rededicating the auditorium in her honor. (Goodman went to Affton, in case you wondered. Yay for famous alumni.) I learned the alma mater, finally, and think I've had my fill of showtunes for a little while. I hope the Affton Centerstage company decides to do some musicals again, I would so love to be in another...

It was nice to see some alumni from my time at school. I was the only actor from '98, but the new drama teacher (and stage manager of the revue) is a girl from my year, which just seems a little odd. And another teacher (math, natch) who I interacted with quite a bit was also in the production. There was another girl who I didn't know that well since she graduated two years before me, but we had encountered each other, I'm sure, and Todd, one of the leads in Big River came back to sing a song, appropriately enough, from said musical. Yay. There was a cast party afterwards, which I could actually go to since the saturday lab class doesn't start until next week. Bah. It was at this alumnus' place, a doctor, who is obviously very well off. He had shelves and shelves of books. I mean, I have a lot of books and even I was impressed. Unfortunately we couldn't have alcohol because there were high school kids there So, the five of us older kids went over to O'Leary's, which is apparently half-owned by John Goodman, who may or may not have been there while we were. There was a private party going on, so obviously we couldn't peek in We got to the bar about 10 minutes before last call, so we drank quickly. Then we decided we were hungry and headed out to that wonderful place called Steak n Shake. Ah memories of when that was the *only* place you could go at night, since every other place was a) closed or b) for the over -21 crowd. I had fun. I'm glad I did it. But man, am I glad that it's over.

PS. Alex, I got your letter/card Silly post office, sending you your own mail

  The Wizard, Gene Wolfe
file under: thoughts Posted by Jen at 12:27 PM | Permalink MTIfCommentsActive>|

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This is mainly to promote the ever-so-quick layout change over at aspire II. No, it does not feature Legolas, Orlando, or anything Harry Potter related. It has one (one!) picture of a cougar. I love my mascot. This layout probably has the fastest turnaround from idea-design-production-upload of any that I've done. Yay simple. I hope you like it. Comment, damn you! I know you're out there!

Today is the first orgo II class, in case you didn't read about it yesterday. But it seems like the day is going by so slowly, even with the layout change. And one of these days I'll have to get around to making that Phantom layout for this ol' site. Perhaps once this sesquicentennial high school debacle is over. Not that it isn't fun. it's just difficult to coordinate so many people, most of whom haven't been on stage in years, unless you count crossing the graduation stage. Right. Which I didn't actually do, since our graduation essentially took place in the gym and we walked up on risers. Ahh, engineering. What was I thinking?

and FYI: I have pictures of me and the hat, but no way to get them from the digital camera to a computer. Tomorrow perhaps. Ooooh, I can just hear the gasps of anticipation. Right.

  Firethorn: Sarah Micklem
file under: thoughts Posted by Jen at 5:08 PM | Permalink MTIfCommentsActive>|

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so I've finally managed to knit myself a hat. The long weekend helped it looks rather fun if I do say so myself, though you can definitely tell I did it without stitch markers. And I have to say, the pattern was very easy, so I'm glad I did it. I hope I have enough yarn to make a matching scarf. And I only went to one knitting group, the rest I learned on my own. So you too can do it!

Hopefully tomorrow I will have a picture, if a) I remember to bring the hat to work and b) my coworker, who has graciously offered his digital camera, remembers to bring said camera to work.

Tomorrow Organic Chemistry II starts. I'm not looking forward to this, but I keep telling myself it's for a greater good. I guess we'll see. The saturday lab class is gonna kill me. Who thought class at 8 am was a good idea? Sigh. I made it through four years of college with nothing earlier than a 9 am class and now that I'm not 'in school' anymore I have to take one...on saturdays. ugh.

Ah well. Better get going soon, got the first of two dress rehearsals coming up tonight before the production on Friday...

brr. stay warm.

  Shadow of the Lion: Mercedes Lackey, Eric Flint & Dave Freer
file under: thoughts Posted by Jen at 5:46 PM | Permalink MTIfCommentsActive>|

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It's snowing. Snowing! In St. Louis! In November! Egad! Yesterday it was 50 deg outside and now it's snowing. I'd just like to point out how I absolutely love snow but detest driving it in. And I'll have to do that later.

Although, it is the large, wet variety, so it might stop soon. I love how it blew up Highway 44, just in time for us to travel down that way for Thanksgiving. Thank the Lord I don't have to travel today.

So I've got over 32,000 words...but I kinda doubt that I'll make it to 50K by the end of Nov. Esp. since I haven't done enough orgo homework. Ugh. Should do that. And am little annoyed because it looks like they turned off ActiveX controls on the network at work so I can't play any online games. Alas. I guess I'll actually have to do work. Though how anyone is getting any work done today is beyond me. Thank goodness we officially get Friday off.

Excel can be really frustrating. And taxes really, truly suck. Now onto your regularly-scheduled snow viewing.

  Maroon Five: She Will Be Loved

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How cool is this? The Missouri Botanical Garden's MBGnet made Scientific American's 2004 list of Sci and Tech awards...Science & Technology at Scientific American.com: Science & Technology Web Awards 2004: BIOLOGY

And oh yeah, the Cards play at home today! Silly American league winning the all-star game and getting homefield advantage. They should have played here last weekend (and won, I bet) when the weather was nice, not this week when it's supposed to be rainy, whereas it was crappy and cold weather up there in Boston last weekend and this week is supposed to be nice. Ah well. I've got my NLCS long-sleeve tee on today so hopefully that will project the winning spirit over to Busch and they will WIN! Go Cards!

Must remember MorgueFile for stock photos.

  Billy Joel: We Didn't Start the Fire

file under: getmoving , thoughts Posted by Jen at 10:12 AM | Permalink MTIfCommentsActive>|

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I can't believe it's been three years. Man. At this time three years ago no one knew how life would be so different in just a few hours time.

I remember how my mom called me, waking me up about 10 am, frantic to know I was ok. I actually was sleeping in that day, I didn't have a class till 11 or so. I remember just standing in front of the tv with my pjs on, disbelieving. I actually did get ready and go to class (as did most of the other students), but of course we didn't get much done and the professor let us out early. There was a school-wide email sent out, all classes after 12 were cancelled. I went to my first-ever vigil that day. I prayed. God, I prayed. I felt so much grief for the people involved and silently thanked God that I didn't know anyone personally. There are times when I still can't believe it happened. And there are reminders everywhere. You can't say 911 without a moment of memory. And I'm sad I never got to see the Towers in person. RIP Twin Towers and all those lost on that horrible day.

Three years ago I was just starting my senior year of college. I didn't even have a blog.

file under: thoughts Posted by Jen at 12:25 AM | Permalink MTIfCommentsActive>|

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Mustn't forget about NaNoWriMo this year. Perhaps I'll just set aside all that tripe I started on the little ficlet last week and wait until november and see if I can pound out 50,000 other words. Yay. Personally I don't think it'll be that hard for me *not* to write for another two months...being that I spent ten HOURS on org homework this past weekend. "What'd you do for Labor Day?" "Orgo homework." Guh. How on earth did those crazy pre-meds do it? When did they *eat*? When did they read? Something other than the textbook, I mean. Course, does it tell you anything that in between all the studying I managed to finish a book I checked out on saturday? Study breaks. That's it.
And I need to get sewing again. I don't want to put boning in *whines* ! Merph. It's going to poke me I just know it. But at least I'll have a bigger bodice. Gotta make a new skirt, yo, with ties. whee. One of these days.
Anime Emoticon Legend. Hah.

  Dido: Take My Hand

file under: thoughts Posted by Jen at 5:16 PM | Permalink MTIfCommentsActive>|

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UK Scientists Allowed to Clone Human Embryos
. They want to use them for stem cell research. Please please let Kerry be elected so he can repeal the stem cell line ban like he said he would. So many people could be helped by the repealing of the ban that it's just stupid to keep it in place. Shoot, if the wife of a Republican president comes out in support of stem cells there is no reason for having that ban out there.

*ahem* sorry about the soapbox.

Go vote for me, please??? Links below the post!

Have now lots of fabric and patterns and have to figure out the best way to maximise the loads of fabric that I got so I can get the most costumes out of it. Will be winging a pattern or two, which is always the most fun...too bad Corey hasn't said anything about the second sewing machine...why oh why couldn't it have come earlier when she was in town? I've got this nice desk just waiting for use and I'd love to use it for something other than organic chemistry before my class starts in three weeks. Blah.

maybe someday things will go my way

{ETA: Eek! Didn't realize it was Eric Bana's birthday on the 10th... Happy birthday Hector He really is quite hot. Just not quite as hot as his (wimpily played movie brother) Orli. Or Ioan, aka Lancelot in King Arthur. Finally got the KA and Spidey 2 sdtks as I mentioned...the KA one really kicks ass. It's loud and fun and reminds me of Pirates of the Caribbean which is not unusual as it's by the same group of people. Yay good movie music. Makes every movie better. Let's hope for a better version of KA when it comes out on dvd.}

file under: thoughts Posted by Jen at 9:36 AM | Permalink MTIfCommentsActive>|

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Your Intelligence Is Determined By THIS Apparently my mathematical grey matter is close to non-existent...

It's 7-27. What a beautiful number. And incidentally, a month from my 24th birthday...egad I'm gonna be old. Well, I'll still be the youngest person on my softball team

I had a really crazy dream about Ross last night. Like seriously crazy. Like he said he wanted to be my boyfriend. That's how I know it was just wishful thinking. I hate being pushed into actually doing things that are probably good for me, but I do still need to find someone to see the Bourne Supremacy with...watched the first one last night, just to be ready...

Annoyance of the week: I'm still getting hundreds of those emails with 'hi' in the title. The problem is that lots of people send messages with just 'hi' as the subject, some legitimate, so I can't just set it to filter all of them out...and secondly, most of the emails go to a slightly different variation of my email (ie adding a letter at the end or simply making up a first part, since I have a catchall) so I can't just block certain senders. I love it when it says it's from me, as well. yay. Stupid spam.

John Mayer tomorrow! Whee! Spidey 2 and King Arthur scores and Ned Kelly dvd today! But I'm going to exercise extreme self control and try to wait until August 10 when Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix comes out in paperback...maybe if I wait until then I'll get Hidalgo as well...agggh! I'm never going to get a keyboard. Mom wants me to look into selling the piano at home, b-b-b-but I loves the piano! Even if I never use it anymore! Not like it would fit in the apartment, either. Well, I guess it would, but getting it up those stairs would be a horrible task. And then we'd really have to get it tuned. It's held its tuning remarkably well considering we haven't had it tuned since I was taking lessons, oh, ten years ago See why a keyboard is better?

file under: thoughts Posted by Jen at 9:54 AM | Permalink MTIfCommentsActive>|

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I should have gone to church with my mother yesterday. I didn't end up seeing her at all. I did try to get in touch with her before she and my dad went to church, but after that I got on the internet and spent about two and a half hours doing 'internet things' during which my dad tried to call to get me over there for brunch. Course, we all know how that works when you have dial-up.

And then Alex and Leo and Kate and I went to see Van Helsing, which was a fun movie, in my opinion, then we had cheap chinese, which is always good, so I didn't end up calling home until after the news was over. Bad move on my part.

Mom wouldn't talk to me.

You know, I really don't like going to church. Sometimes it's beautiful and moving, but mostly I just go for the singing. I'm so close though, I really should have gotten my butt moving and tried to meet them there. I didn't even go to Alex's football game, and I was up. Damn me.

I don't know what to do. I gave mom some presents but I didn't spend any time with her. She's not feeling good, either. Dear God, what do I do? I hope she forgives me.

I'm a trainwreck, waiting to happen

Although, on the upside, the new Josh Groban song on the Troy soundtrack is pretty cool. I'll get it tomorrow when I buy the cd. More money to fye.

file under: thoughts Posted by Jen at 5:57 PM | Permalink MTIfCommentsActive>|

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Well, as some of you know I didn't have much to do today. I did clean one of the water systems but that didn't take very long...I mostly improved my skill level on games.msn.com.

But while I was hiding in my little room filled with humming freezers something scary was going on...the other two girl techs got fired. Sigh. And Mark, the semi-cute guy...his mom was in a very bad accident about two weeks ago and he hasn't been here since. I mean, he was only part-time this semester while he took nursing classes, but he's been here longer than me so there are things he knows that I don't, like about lab maintenance and such.

So now it's back to just me...next week or so Michelle will come back from U of I, so at least I won't be the only tech...

And Luigi leaves this weekend to go back to Italy for three months. Weird weird. I asked him to send me a postcard so I can get some sort of mail more interesting than bills. Which actually I don't get, as most bills are online nowadays...so I guess I should say more interesting than grocery store circulars.

So I'm a little scared about my job. I figure they can't fire me right now anyway because Luigi likes me and then they'd have no techs, but it's still a little worrisome. That and the fact that I'd hate to lose my job before I'd been here a year (coming up next week, btw).

Eh. NO worries. I'm going to go to Borders and then head to the 'rents place so I can see cable programs about Troy. Then we'll go down to my grandparents' place for one last time...sniffle. Alas. That's a story for another day. Keep my grandparents in your prayers, especially my grandmother...she's short one son this year.

And I almost was going to end this on a happy note...meh. Oh, wait, here's one...Troy opens in a week!

Goodnight.

file under: thoughts Posted by Jen at 5:20 PM | Permalink MTIfCommentsActive>|

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"...So one of these days I want to pull out those tap shoes, and character shoes, and be part of the actors on a stage. I won't say I'm great actor, or dancer, or singer, but I feel like I can hold my own. And I just hope that when I'm old I won't still have this regret..."

Troy - Orlando Bloom (Advance)

Buy posters at AllPosters.com

Read more at my livejournal. It was too good to leave there, but too long to write here...

And the Troy poster? Just for fun. A little levity to an otherwise melancholy post.

file under: thoughts Posted by Jen at 10:15 AM | Permalink MTIfCommentsActive>|

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OVID: THE ART OF LOVE (Letters from Paris to Helen and vice versa, and more classics from Ovid)

Paris in Greek Mythology

Myth Man's Paris and Helen, part I and Part II (Funny stuff. Yay ancient literature gone arwy!)

And yes, I admit all this excitement is spawned by the anti-hero Paris, but deal. If Orlando is playing him I will be interested in him.

*giddy!*

file under: thoughts Posted by Jen at 4:03 PM | Permalink MTIfCommentsActive>|

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If you've read any of this at all you know that today is special for two reasons: it's my parents' 28th wedding anniversary and Aspire to the Stars turns 2! Now, if I were really up to speed I'd make a cool graphic like I made last year but alas that is not to be. So I'd love it if you'd leave a comment and tell me how ATTS has changed your life, or lack thereof...comment on the new layout, anything, really. As long as you don't spam me. I hate spammers.

Enjoy your day...soon I'll go back to scraping wallpaper off the walls of my aunt's house. whee! eh.

ETA: Kate turned 23 today! See, good things all around. Happy birthday, babe

file under: thoughts Posted by Jen at 2:09 PM | Permalink MTIfCommentsActive>|

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Yahoo! Celebrates Earth Day

I saw a Toyota Prius the other day at the med school. I have to say it looks a little odd, but I guess if it's better for the environment...

There's a big deal for Earth Day going on at the Botanical Garden today and tomorrow, and there's supposed to be a big party down at Forest Park this weekend. I remember when Earth Day was a big deal...when I was younger the Girl Scouts would always do something for it. We really need to get a recycling bin for the apartment.

Regardless, the Earth Day stuff at the park looks fun... Alex & Leo, wanna go? lol.

file under: thoughts Posted by Jen at 9:24 AM | Permalink MTIfCommentsActive>|

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I don't get that many emails from my dad, but I got one today reminding me to make a card for my parents' anniversary on Saturday. He doesn't capitalize anything. I don't really care what he does with punctuation, but he uses the 'luv u' and stuff like that. I guess it's just because he's not used to the internet yet or something like that. It just always suprises me when I see how he writes...

and speaking of anniversaries...ATTS will be two years old on Saturday as well. Can you believe it? I think you should comment on how much you love this place. And I've got a new layout ready, if not coded, so possibly that'll be up in time for the birthday bash Keep your fingers crossed!

file under: thoughts Posted by Jen at 7:29 PM | Permalink MTIfCommentsActive>|

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file under: thoughts Posted by Jen at 6:01 PM | Permalink MTIfCommentsActive>|

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I'm switching over to Movable Type as my blogging software. So be prepared for some glitches and hopefully there will be a new layout up soon.

file under: thoughts Posted by Jen at 5:17 PM | Permalink MTIfCommentsActive>|

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Or at least that's what they called it on the radio yesterday. If you know me you know I'm not a big football fan, but the Superbowl game was pretty darn lively. Poor CBS...the Janet/Justin breast-bare, the second-half streaker, and Richard Hatch's tush on Survivor...not exactly family-friendly...although I didn't mind. At least it was entertaining. And once again the team I was sort of rooting for, though they made a wonderful attempt, lost. Yes, even though the Carolina Panthers beat the hometown Rams in the NFC I still cheered for the blue and white. That was even before I remembered that Vinatutu or whatever the jerk's name is and the Pats beat us a few years ago. Whatever. I had to go with the fact that I love panthers/cougars the animals...since I didn't have a better reason to cheer for one team or the other.

And now for something completely different:

Today is the Missouri Primary for the presidential election. While you can rest assured that I will vote Democrat (remember how my mother said she'd rather vote for a monkey than have Dubya in the white house again), I'm not sure which Dem I'll choose. I've got it narrowed to two: John Edwards and John Kerry. I think I like Edwards better...he's younger and seems a little bit more optimistic and 'for the people' but Kerry seems to have better electability. He takes more of a hard-line stance on the issues, which I guess is good. He doesn't seem quite as much of a people-person as Edwards. They've both got good sounding plans, but there are pros and cons to each. I feel bad because I really wasn't up on the issues before yesterday...I mean, I knew that they were running but I didn't even see campaign commercials for anyone but Edwards. I feel like I should be better about knowing the issues. And I wonder if I'm really gonna vote tonight. I should, because it's important, but I worry that since there's such a glut of candidates that it's going to be split among them all and we'll end up with Howard-YEEEEEAAAAAGGGGGH-Dean up against Bush, and I'd really rather not vote for him. But, recall the monkey. Yeah.

My mom mentioned that the big ticket would be Kerry for president and Edwards for VP. That could very well rule, and let's hope that things work out that way. I sort of miss the Clinton-Bush 1992 race...we had to do an eighth-grade civics class project on it, and I was so happy that Clinton won...even made a last minute entry on election day showing early returns. On very few things do I like or even want to be political on, but we just can't be a GOP-controlled country anymore.

So here's my stump: Vote today (if you have to, or vote whenever you have to), an' if it please ye, vote Democrat. This country really can't take another four years of Bush. And if you'd like to know more about my two top candidates, check out :: John Kerry for President - 100 Days to Change America :: and John Edwards: Reak Solutions for America. Your country will thank you.

file under: thoughts Posted by Jen at 2:40 PM | Permalink MTIfCommentsActive>|

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You might have noticed by now that I love snow. What I don't love, however, is trying to get around in snow. And it makes me sad...because I remember the uninhibited joy of snow days when I was younger and didn't think anything of cajoling my parents to take me to the nearest hill. But now I know the loveliness of trying to drive when your windshield wipers don't quite wipe the entire windshield, when your tires slip on roads that still haven't been cleared three days after the fact, when you spend ten minutes scraping the ice off the windows smelling car exhaust and being consistently 15 minutes short of the time you'd like to be at work. Now, I'll put up with this because I do really adore snow. I love to go sledding, and I'm waiting for another American Beauty snow...

Oh, and happy 23rd birthday to Elijah Wood.

And for all you Atkins diet (weird) people (just kidding!) here's a funny for you from Dork Tower.

Also, did you know you can get dating advice from RotK?

And did you know? After the Oscar nominations were announced yesterday The Lord of the Rings trilogy became the most nominated film series in Academy Award history with 30 nominations, surpassing both the Godfather trilogy (28 noms) and the Star Wars franchise (21). (from theonering.net)

file under: thoughts Posted by Jen at 11:10 AM | Permalink MTIfCommentsActive>|

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you might notice a thing or two different about the site. Click around and you'll see.

Congrats to both the WU women's and men's track teams. They won the UAA conference championships this past weekend in Cleveland. You go, team! I wish I was there. Sigh.

Someday - All4One (from The Hunchback of Notre Dame soundtrack)

Someday
When we are wiser
When the world's older
When we have learned
I pray
Someday we may yet live
To live and let live

Someday
Life will be fairer
Need will be rarer
Greed will not pay
God speed
This bright millennium
On its way
Let it come
Someday

Someday
Our fight will be won then
We'll stand in the sun then
That bright afternoon
Till then
On days when the sun is gone
We'll hang on
Wish upon the moon

There are some days dark and bitter
Seems we haven't got a prayer
But a prayer for someday better
Is the one thing we all share

Someday
When we are wiser
When the world's older
When we have learned
I pray
Someday we may yet live
To live and let live
Someday

Life will be fairer
Need will be rarer
Greed will not pay
God speed
This bright millennium
Let it come
Wish upon the moon

One day
Someday
Soon.

wish me luck on my interview tomorrow. Be sure to check out the new Aspire Gallery for links to some of my artwork, and ask me anything!

file under: thoughts Posted by Jen at 11:57 PM | Permalink MTIfCommentsActive>|

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This is obviously geared to guys and we've already discussed how I am not really an engineer, I'm only one-third engineer (1. Bio 2. Medical 3. Engineering), but it is kind of sad which ones still apply. A point for you if you can figure out which ones.

Buying flowers for your girlfriend or spending the money to upgrade your RAM is a moral dilemma.

The salespeople at Radio Shack can't answer any of your questions.

You are at an air show and know how fast the skydivers are falling.

You comment to your wife that her straight hair is nice and parallel.

You have ever saved the power cord from a broken appliance.

You know what http:// stands for.

You see a good design and still have to change it.

You spent more on your calculator than you did on your wedding ring.

You still own a slide rule and you know how to use it.

You think a pocket protector is a fashion accessory.

Your laptop computer costs more than your car.

Your wife hasn't the foggiest idea of what you do at work.

You've ever tried to repair a $5 radio.

You've already calculated how much you make per second.

file under: funny , thoughts Posted by Jen at 10:52 AM | Permalink MTIfCommentsActive>|

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