These past two days were amazing and exactly what I needed right now. Brittny called me Monday night to see if she could come see me in Cupertino to spend a little more time together before I leave for Scotland. We decided that it would work out best for both of us if she spent Tuesday and Wednesday nights here. Then on Tuesday morning I got a call from Catherine, who was moving her stuff back home to Danville. She had realized midway that she really didn't want to be back in her house just yet, and I told her that she was absolutely welcome to stay with me, especially because Brittny would be here and it would give us all more time to hang out. So Catherine got here a little before Brittny did and I had her go answer the door when Brittny arrived. The look on Dizzle's face was LOLarious. Hahaha...

After the excitement died down, we had lunch at Johnny Rocket's and it was delicious. Yummmm!!! Then I just couldn't wait to show them the Awesome Department DVD, so we came home and watched it. They seemed to like it, which made me feel really good. I love watching all that stuff over and over because I love the people in the videos. :) I also remembered while watching it how the name "Awesome Department" came to be! When Brittny and I were preparing for the talent show at the beginning of our first year, we had to alter some Saturday Night Live dialogue to fit our situation. Instead of saying that we headed up the music department at Alta Dena Middle School, we decided to be random and say we headed up the AWESOME department at San Miguel Hall! Thank God we had video from that talent show or else the origins of the best group name ever might have been forgotten forever!

Next on the agenda was two episodes of FotC, because Brittny hadn't seen this week's, and I had been slightly tipsy during the second to last one. Will Forte is so amazing. I also think I have a really big crush on Dave now, which is weird... But true. I'd pick Bret or Jemaine over him any day, but he's still pretty cute.

After FotC, we ate some yummy appetizers with my parents and hung out with them in the [extremely hot] kitchen. My dad made us dinner and it was pretty fascinating to watch him cut steak with his electric knife thingie. When dinner was ready, we ate it out in the backyard. It was really tasty and fun. We finished just in time to get settled in for Power of 10, which is officially the DUMBEST game show ever. And we were really disappointed that there was no Daniele/Nick reunion and that stupid Amber got a thousand bucks out of it (even though she looked really dumb, especially when she yelled "YAAAAYYYY" every two seconds and did what Brittny termed her "God Claw" clap). It also made me feel really sad about Drew Carey & his career, especially because so much of his identity relies on his ugly, outdated glasses. I don't think he would be hired for anything without them. With the fug-o glasses, he is stuck hosting the most pointless game show in the world, but without them he would be out of a job altogether. So sad.

Big Brother itself was much more entertaining, especially because we played an excellent drinking game with my parents and some Vodka Collins. Take a sip if...

- Amber cries.
- Amber or Jameka mention anything having to do with God & his plans for the BB house.
- Daniele says: "It's so frustratinnngg," "It's not fairrr," or "It sucks."
- Eric mentions anything about being 5'7", Jewish, or from New York (one sip for each).

Needless to say there's was lots of sipping.

After I threw up all over the world over Eric & Jess, the show had come to a close so we sat in the living room and heard my dad's college stories. HAHAHAHA It was so ridiculous. He gets so excited when people enjoy his stories, and he also had a lot of wine so he was especially animated. My favorite story was about a man named Jeff Asher who really didn't like my dad very much, so one time Jeff just grabbed my dad's foot and "started ga-narring on it!" I am assuming "ga-narr" is some weirdo form of the word "gnaw," because that's what he meant. We were laughing so hard because it made no sense -- if you don't like someone, why would you want to put their foot in your mouth!? Why would you want to put anyone's foot in your mouth!?!?! WHAT!? Jeff Asher is obviously not a good person.

Eventually we all went upstairs and set up the air mattresses in my room. We talked for a little bit and laughed about my dad's stories. Then we went to sleep.

The next morning we all woke up and did stuff on our computers and eventually showered and got ready for the day. We didn't really have a plan for what to do, so there was no rush. By 1, we had all showered and stuff and we decided that we'd go see Death at a Funeral at 3. Brittny wanted to look for a digital camera, so we drove to Circuit City and found her a good Canon one. I think she'll really have fun with it and I'm excited! The guy at the store was a douchebag because he asked her "Do you want a bag for this?" while he was ringing her up. She said that she did, and he pointed at an aisle and said "They're over there." We were really confused. When Brittny got over there, she saw camera cases and carrying bags. The guy finally realized that she was confused and said to me and Catherine in an irritated tone, "They fall for that all the time." WHAT AN ASS. Was he trying to make her look bad on purpose, or did he really think that there is no fault in the way he asked the question??? SIR, MOST RETAIL STORES ASK YOU IF YOU WANT A BAG WHILE YOU ARE RINGING THEM UP, AND EVERY OTHER TIME THEY ARE REFERRING TO PLASTIC BAGS FOR TAKING THEIR MERCHANDISE BACK HOME. You idiot. I hate salesmen who are awkward and don't know how to speak to their customers. It drives me batty.

Aaaanyway, we drove to Santana Row, where the movie was playing, and bought our tickets. We still had an hour to kill, so we walked across the street to Pasta Pomodoro and had lunch. The waiter was really cool and it seemed like he thought we were cool, so we loved him. Catherine had post-it notes for paying with multiple credit cards, and this made him think we were really smart and awesome. We want him to be our best friend. He had a cool belt buckle. My pasta was delicious. The company was even tastier. All-in-all, it was a very enjoyable meal.

We walked into the movie theatre just as the previews were starting, which makes us super slick... Slick as goose shit, as the very popular saying goes. Death at a Funeral was an amazing movie and we all agreed that it was a giggler. Everyone should go see it. Hahahaha... Phillip...

After the movie, we drove to Vallco, the worst mall ever, so I could buy some pajama bottoms and underwear at Victoria's Secret. We also made a stop at Macy's and enjoyed their really hip, unique music. The next stop was Old Navy. On our way there, we were passed by a few speeding Fire Department vehicles, including a large truck... We turned onto the same street that they did and saw a huuuge amount of smoke rising out of what seemed to be an apartment complex. The side street was all blocked off and there were police and lots of people were standing on the sidewalk watching. I think it must have just started because the first fire truck was arriving just as we drove past. We kept driving down the street but we could see behind us that the cloud of smoke getting bigger and bigger. It was really scary and smelly... We couldn't breathe for a while after we drove through it.

We had a very successful time in Old Navy, each of us making some good purchases. The only bad thing about it was that my LEAST FAVORITE employee was working and I had to look at her stupid face, even though I didn't end up at her register. THANK G! We saw the saddest little mullets on some very beautiful young blonde boys. Their hair was really pretty, except for the cut of course. The tiniest one even had some delicate blonde curls. These were seriously young boys, yet their mullets were already like a foot long. It was so sad because they seemed like such a nice family, but their hair... Oh no...

At this point, we were hungry for dinner and decided to eat at BJs. We tried to drive back the way we came, but the entire road was shut down when we got close to the giant cloud of smoke. I had no idea how else to get to the street that BJs is on. So we experimented and I finally got there. [By the way, I read in the paper this morning that the apartment complex fire left four families homeless, but the only person injured was one of the SEVENTY firefighters, who only suffered minor injuries. At least no lives were lost... God, it was so scary!]

We had to wait a little to get a table and I had a sad-o moment when a door LITERALLY hit me on the ass... But we finally got inside and had a delicious meal. I had an amazing personal pizza -- alfredo sauce (instead of tomato), parmesan, garlic, and chicken. They gave us all so much food, but we saved room for some warm melty Pizookie! BJs makes the best desserts -- they bake cookie dough in little pizza pans and put ice cream on top. Yum yum yum!

Then we came home and had a little scare when Brittny couldn't find her car keys anywhere... The AAA guy came and opened the car and they were NOT in the trunk as we expected, but Catherine eventually suggested looking UNDER Britty's suitcase and there they were!!! Then we all laughed and let out a sigh of relief because it would have really sucked if Brittny lost her keys!

We had been planning on taking pictures using the Photo Booth program on my computer all day, so that was what we did next. We took a TON and they are all amazing, but we put the best ones up on Facebook. You can see pictures here and here if you'd like. :)

Then we got ready for bed and went to sleep.

This morning Brittny had to leave really early to get back to SB for work, and Catherine left a couple hours later. I am soooooo so so so so glad they came. We had so much fun just being together one last time. Now I am all alone again and I will not see any Awesome Department members for months and months. I have to say I am pretty damn heartbroken... I really miss Mitzi, Val, and Starr and wish I had more time before I leave so I could see them too. I leave in 5 days and everything is starting to feel very real and really scary. No matter how lonely I feel over there, though, I will always know that I have amazing friends back home (or wherever they may be) who love me and are a part of the woman I have become over the past few years. I can't believe that fate was nice enough to bring us all together and keep us united under one roof for three beautiful years. I really am the luckiest.

By the way, Mitzi, Val, and Starr, I sent your DVDs to Santa Barbara with Brittny so make sure you get them from her. There are lots of videos and you can watch them in whatever order you want, but if you can remember, I think you should watch the one called "The Luckiest" at the very end. It was the last one I made, so I feel like it should be the last one you watch. I dunno.

I love you guys.

I think I'm done with the DVD. I really wish I had taken more video, especially this past year. Too many great memories are destined to be forgotten...

I cried a lot today. I'm still not sure why. Things are getting weird in my brain. I'm so scared and excited right now. Two strong emotions are battling against each other, and I think that's maybe why I've been crying even though nothing is actually wrong. I'm just not sure what else to do when my feelings get all crazy and refuse to stay on the inside. Now I'm imagining two little people (one very scared and one very excited) in my head getting into a cartoon-style fight with a cloud of dust flying everywhere. Maybe there's just a little bit of dust in my eye. Maybe I'm not crying. Maybe I'm making a lasagna... for one. How come I've reached this fork in the road... yet it cuts like a knife? ;)

Oopsie, it's much later than I thought it was and I have to get up early tomorrow. I think this is going to be a good week, even though I can tell there's more crying to be done. That's just how it goes.

Goodnight.

EDIT: WTF. I totally forgot to watch FotC tonight! WTF LAURA YOU STUPID HO.

I just read on my favorite website, the BBC Scotland news page, that Apple just opened its first Scottish store iiiiiinnnnn... GLASGOW! I win. WINNER. I don't know why it really matters, but I like it. It's like Apple is following me... First I spend my entire life (minus three college years) in Cupertino, HOME of the Apple computer... And then I decide to leave and Apple is like "Wait! But we don't have stores in Scotland! Ohhhh, fiiiine, we'll open one right where you're living..."

On a generally unrelated note (though it does tie in slightly because I'm using Apple's excellent video editing software to do this), I have been working on Awesome Department videos all day. I have officially finished going through all the raw footage and it's on my computer now. That was the tedious part, but the editing is the hard part. Luckily, both parts are super fun because I LOVE THE MATERIAL VERY MUCH. I wish I could do your beautiful faces justice in my editing but I could never be that good. So I'm just giving it my best and hoping that's okay! Here's what's on the DVD so far:

- Lonely Loverz
- Mitzi's Room
- Catherine on a bicylcle
- a 5 minute version of our 40 minute tape of the San Miguel lounge door
- the Disneyland video
- the LOST Halloween video
- the secret prank we pulled on Val :)
- Mitzi drunkenly singing Queen
- AJ's Shoe-Hand Man
- me and Starr dancing to "Hit 'Em Up Style"
- the talent show bit Brittny and I did way back in the beginning

I have plans to make the following:

- a Halloween 2004 video
- a Halloween 2005 video
- an abridged version of Val's prank call to Matt Cappi
- a video about Brittny's 20th birthday
- a video about Gospel Choir
- two or three secret random videos I was thinking about

I think I will definitely be able to make all of them, but I am pretty sure there's no way it'll all fit on one DVD... So be prepared to get two or maybe even three, my loves.

Today was not going well, but then I decided to finally get to work on the Awesome Department DVD. Watching our old videos always makes me smile. I didn't get through very many tapes and I haven't created any new masterpieces yet, but it sure lifted my spirits! :)

I should have been in bed hours ago. Yeeikes.

I think I pulled a muscle or something on my lower ass/upper thigh... It hurts. Is it from bowling yesterday? How sad... I went bowling with my family and I started feeling really really yucky about halfway through. As I sat there trying not to cry/fall asleep/pass out between turns of aimlessly hurling the ball in the direction of the pins without really looking (or hitting anything), I realized that it had been three days since my hepatitis A vaccine shot. The doctor gave me a sheet of paper that told me I might suffer from headaches, tiredness, soreness, and loss of appetite for 1-2 days starting 3-5 days after my shot was administered. The loud crack of balls on pins and the weird lighting probably didn't help with the headache problem either. And my bra kept doing weird things whenever I rolled the ball. And my thumb nail broke in a really painful fashion. AND I HAD TO WEAR SOMEONE ELSE'S SHOES! AAAHH!

Ew stop complaining.

Anyway, after my grumpy bowling adventure, I came home and eventually felt a little better and had a nice delicious dinner with my lovely family. They are cool.

Tonight I hung out with Karen for a bit. We bought iron-on transfer paper and printed out big DHARMA symbols to put on scrub pants that Karen bought and some tote bags we got at Michaels. They came out really well. My small white tote has the generic non-station-specific DHARMA logo on it. It's really good and I think I'll find it useful. Then we watched some Spaced and drank Smirnoff Ices. She went home and I hung out downstairs with Mandy and Frankie. It was a good day.

Tomorrow I'm going to see The Ten with Mandy and my mom and then after that I don't really know. I want to hang out with Leah REALLY REALLY BAAAADDDDD but we haven't made ANY plans yet. Aaaahhhh! On Wednesday I am going to see Once with Sam and on Thursday I'm having dinner with my lovely friend Missy. It's set up to be a very social week, especially in contrast with last week's hermitness. This weekend we are moving Mandy to Sonoma State and it's going to be really exciting but also sad. After that, I won't see her again until December. :( :( :( Oh noes, I might cry. Time to change the subject.

Uhhhhmmm... OH! To the Awesome Department: I haven't forgotten about making those DVDs I promised you guys. And now that I have pretty much settled into my new computer, I am prepared to finish that project for you all. So as of now I have the stuff from our freshman year DVD, the Joel DVD, the LOST Halloween video, and the Disneyland video. I'm not gonna have time to make videos for everything I have on tape, so I was wondering if you guys had any specific requests. I'm going to see if I can find some good videos from each year and do a little collection of random funny moments. I will definitely put Shoe-Hand Man on there when I find it, and I'll try to do a little video for each of the other two Halloweens. More requests? Please let me know if you have any ideas at all (for events that need to be remembered, songs to use... anything), because inspiration is half the battle! I'm excited to go through all this stuff because it makes me so happy to think back on the three years I spent with you wonderful people. <3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yikes, it's much later than I thought it was. I have to get up fairly early so I better get to bed! I LOOOVE YOU AAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!

The past two nights have been particularly delightful. Two nights ago was just more of the same silly fun we've been having all summer, but it was even more magical. Yesterday we battled "Fiesta" participants and saw the best movie of my life, Hot Rod, downtown and then topped it off with a delicious dinner at Cody's Cafe.

Man I am sad to have to leave.

I am listening to "The Final Countdown" because a) it is good motivational music for getting my boots into gear, packing-wise, and b) I am now exactly one month away from the biggest transition my life has seen to this day.

Now I'm listening to "You're the Voice" from Hot Rod. Aaahh another very inspirational packing song. Good news: I will be in the UK when Hot Rod premieres (28 September), so I get to see it on opening day all over again. I will drag Glaswegians and convert them to Islandism.

The Island. I love it. The Island.

Gotta finish my breakfast, dry my hair, and then destroy my room.

On September 1st, 2004, I received an email that said:

Hello, I'm Monica. I'm sorry to tell you the bad news, but I will not be attending UCSB in the fall. I was going to be your roomate but some things happened recently, which is preventing me to go to college this fall. I am incredibly sorry for the inconvenience. However, I do wish you the best of luck in your first year of college.

Whatever happened to that girl, I hope she's happy now. God knows what would have happened if she hadn't dropped out of school... But I am so glad she did. Otherwise I know for certain that my life would be a hell of a lot emptier today.

Hello. My post-Potter funk is starting to lift a little. In other words, I no longer burst into tears at the thought of certain events and I dreamt about other things last night.

I just got my hair cut, which is cool.

The Summer of Baking is still going strong in our house, which is also cool. We're having a LOST "Greatest Hits" day on Sunday. This means we're going to select some of the best episodes and make/buy LOST-related food and have the best day ever. I'm definitely making fish biscuits. Last night I couldn't get to sleep so I tried reciting the names of all the LOST episodes in order like I used to be able to do BUT I HAVE LOST MY SKILLS. I need to LOST up my life again. I'm so ashamed.

I need to make a list of some words I'm going to have to replace for life in the UK and then put it to practice. For example, pants will now be called "jeans" or "sweats" or whatever they are because, from what I understand, pants = panties in the UK. Obviously I'll have to do fries --> chips and chips --> crisps. There are other basic ones I know, but I need to do some research about other replacements so I don't sound like an idiot or make any offensive comments on accident. iris_spiorad, do you have any suggestions?

On a related note, I think I should start making lists of things I need to do or buy before leaving in 42 days. I must look into getting some bags/suitcases and I need to stock up on random necessary products that I know I won't be able to buy abroad.

I think I might buy this. I've been wanting a messenger bag anyway. :)

SPEAKING OF LOST MERCHANDISE, OMG, I NEED TO BUY A MINI SAWYER! And Jin, Sun, and Eko, too. And Shannon, since I still don't have her. BUT SAWYER FIRST! SAWWWYYERRRRRRR!!!!

Man Stroke Woman is brilliant. BRILLIANT! Watch it here if you'd like!

BB tonight! BBQ tomorrow night!

I'm getting sad about leaving Santa Barbara and my lovely friends in less than two weeks. :(

Ewwwww Ms. Hawking is on L&O: SVU and I am scared.
Val is addicted to the show and she's sucking the rest of us in too.
It is so weird here without Starr and Mitzi.
I am already behind on reading for my one class.
I'm sure no one is surpised, knowing me and my study skillz.
The International Market is my BFF.
I got some fake Jaffa Cakes & some Kinder yummies.
Tomorrow Catherine is going to pick me up some of the best cheese ever.
I need to get an armband for my iPod.
Gaaah Detective Stabler, I love you.

1. I'm Bear Grylls.

2. If you're gonna be creepy and ship Ben & Locke, how about you call it BLOCKE, which is an alternate spelling of a real word and therefore far more clever than BOCKE, which makes you sound like a sick, old-dude-shipping chicken?

3. The demon children are not gone. What was the point of that graduation? I still hear Rafael.

4. YAAAYYY!!! AWESOME DEPARTMENT DINNER TONIGHT! Assuming Brittny and Val are available, that is. Who knows if we will ever all be in the same place at the same time again. Oh God, I might end up crying today. Everybody don't let me forget to take pictures.

5. 81 days until I leave for Scotland.

After watching so much Black Books these past few days, I started to get really jealous of all the drunken fun Bernard, Manny, and Fran were always having. So when Bri came over last night, I thought it would be fun to drink a lot of Skyy Citrus. Between the two of us, we consumed a whole bottle. And drunken fun we indeed had!

But then I woke up this morning with a really non-awesome headache, and was reminded of all the times Bernard, Manny, and Fran were sitting around with massive hangovers. Oh well. Last night was really random and silly and happy and fun, so I think it was worth it.

I love Bri. I love the Awesome Department. I love Santa Claus. I hate Yessica Kumala.

Now for a day of Latin.

BAAAAHHHHH intense sadness. Tonight has been really fun -- we watched a bunch of old Awesome Department videos and thought up ideas for some last minute stuff we want to film before it's all over. I feel like I can't think too hard about saying goodbye to so many people because I might be on the verge of tears right now. Tomorrow I get to spend some time with Leah, which is awesome. And on Wednesday night, I think Bri is going to sleep over. This might be the last time I get to hang out with her, though, as she's going back home on Friday and her home is very far from my home. :( :( :( Luckily Leah will be in Cupertino for August, I think, so we'll get to spend time together there -- something we haven't done in many years. Crazy! Both Starr and Mitzi are leaving for London and Greece, respectively, before the end of the month, and I most likely won't see either of them again before I leave. Val, Catherine, and Brittny will be here for the summer, Thank G. There are a million other people I need to spend time with before September 4th... Several of them from Cupertino, but I don't know who will be in town when I'm in town. Aaaahhhh!!! And don't even get me started about family. Jesus. Oh my God. OH MY GOD I AM LIVING IN SCOTLAND FOR MANY MANY MONTHS STARTING IN 88 DAYS. WHAT!?!? THIS IS SO WEIRD. Will I meet friends even half as amazing as the ones I'm leaving behind? I don't even know.

I know I should be completely devoting myself to finals right now, but I feel like it's even more worthwhile to make sure I set aside time for the important people in my life. This week I'm going to try to balance the two evenly.

Gary and I were supposed to go out to lunch today, but I just called him and he is really drunk so apparently now I am going over there for a barbecue? He sounded like an insane person on the phone. I am definitely not going to stay too long... Good thing I have lots of stuff I have to do before my family gets here tonight. That's a good excuse for leaving.

Last night was lovely. Leah came over to watch The Office (which was amazing amazing amazing!) and then Catherine & Val's friend Sachman (spelling?) joined us. We did crazy things and watched Shaun of the Dead and had a generally delightful time. Mike's Hard Lemonades are not only more delicious than Smirnoff Ices, but they also are like symposium drinking cups with messages written inside the bottle that you can't see until you've finished drinking it. Erickson probably loves them.

Ummmmmmm I'm totes not in class right now. Haaaa! I have two classes on Fridays and one was cancelled because we are going to the Getty tomorrow instead... So I didn't go to the other one. Here are all the classes I missed this week:

Latin on Tuesday (slept in)
African Cinema on Tuesday (cancelled)
Light Lab on Thursday (had to finish a midterm paper instead)
Roman Civilization on Friday (diiiitched!)
Greek Sanctuaries on Friday (cancelled)

That's one of each! Very nice. Somehow I still feel exhausted from the week though.

Now to dry my hair so I can get this barbecue thing over with... Haha.

What a strange mood I was in yesterday! Hopefully it has passed. Today is Wednesday, which means two things: LOST (duh!) and clothes shopping by myself because I'm a loser. I have nothing (seriously, nothing) to wear out on Friday, so I have to take my lazy ass downtown and try to find something that I can purchase with a gift certificate. I really hate shopping for clothes when I am feeling so crappy about myself, and that's why I haven't purchased anything new since, like, the summer. It's bad. I'm ugly. I wear sweatshirts every day. I am trying to sit it out until I lose more weight. I wish it would leave faster. I need to go to the gym.

DEBBIE DOWNER. SORRY.

So anyway, hopefully I will find something today that will look decent and will be an acceptable outfit for "going out on the town" Friday night. I will try Urban Outfitters first since I have a couple gift cards there. I think I also have a Macy's gift card, so that's always an option. And if those places are lacking, I will have to go somewhere cheaper and not use a gift card.

Tomorrow I am getting my hair cut. I am really weird about haircuts. I am excited because it looks like SHIT right now and it is driving me crazy (especially my awkwardly long bangs), but I am really bad at trusting people to make it look good. I have gone to the same hair stylist since I was like five or something. Over this past summer, I really needed a haircut and she was out of town for a long time, so I had to make an appointment with some dude that works at her salon. He did my hair and it looked like crap. So I went back a few weeks later when Sheridan was back and she fixed it for me and I vowed never to let that happen again! But obviously I can't keep going back to the Bay Area every time I get my hair cut for the rest of my life, so now is the time to start taking risks. The girl I'm going to cut Val's and Brittny's hair, and they both look stunning all the time, so I already halfway trust her. But if she effs it up the day before my birthday, she better hang on to those scissors because I will be wanting to cut HER. Ooooh snap.

On Friday I was supposed to go out to lunch with Gary, but now he has to drive the french chick (I think I shall call her Rousseau II) to the airport because that damn bitch is finally leaving. I wonder if he would tell her to find her own way there if he remembered that Friday was my birthday. Probably not. I'm not that important to him anymore. Friday afternoon, Karen will arrive. And that night we'll go downtown with Catherine, Brittny, Leah, and Audrey. I am so excited to go to bars. I already feel grown up just thinking about it. I think it'll be a really good night.

On Saturday I will have to spend a good deal of time during the day studying/writing for my two upcoming midterms (test on Monday, take-home due Tuesday). Karen has already said she won't be offended if I have to take time out for this, which is good because my grades certainly depend on it. Saturday night, Bri is coming over and I am buying booze. Housemates and whoever else is interested: please join us. This was the night I was thinking about having a party so I told Bri to come over, but now I don't feel like doing anything, so I guess I'll just get drunk and we can play board games or something.

Sunday morning I am kicking Bri and Karen out early so I can study all day. That night the Awesome Department is going out to dinner. We're going downtown to some Italian place called Maria's. The menu we got in the mail looks wonderful, so I can't wait.

And those are my plans! I feel better already, after just writing them down. Now it's time to go find Mitzi so we can go to class and watch nasty people drink Cokes early in the morning and fix their nasty greasy hair. YAY!

G'devening. I am coming to you live from my extra comfy bed-desk setup. Today was a good day! I had a dream that I was going bald and it freaked me the hell out, and then I woke up shaky and dizzy. I got a full eight hours of sleep, but I have still been feeling tired and weak all day. I guess it's either because of my bad dreams or because pretty much everyone else in the house got barely any sleep last night and I just picked up on the vibe. The first thing I did this morning before class was watch a lovely wee video [all my thoughts are coming out Scottish right now... stay tuned for an explanation] about zombies starring Nick Frost and Simon Pegg as Dr. Russell Fell. Care to watch?



Thanks to _see_spot_rock_ for that one! Watching it put me in a silly mood, and the drive to school with Mitzi was odd. It was ridiculously foggy and I felt like scary zombie things were going to start happening. But it was fun. Then I had one class and suddenly I was done with regular classes for the quarter! I went back to the car to wait for Mitzi, who had decided to skip the rest of her classes because sweet sleep was calling her name. Bored and restless, I went through my glove compartment and found many strange discoveries, including a very old car air freshener that says "This air freshener is my best friend." I decided to put it up. It smells weird.

We came home and I finished Austin Powers, watched some Shaun of the Dead special features, and then delighted in two episodes of Coupling. Good fun.

Next I took a shower and cleaned my room, and then made the shocking discovery that I own a cable which enables me to use a TV screen as a display for my laptop! My first impulse was to create some kind of powerpoint presentation. Mwahaha!

I dried my hair and fiddled about... Then eventually went downstairs and watched a documentary called Tarnation with Val and Mitzi. It was made by a guy who started videotaping his life at age 11 and his crazy (literally) family. I didn't hate it as much as Mitzi and Val did... In fact, I found it rather interesting. It had its problems, but it was a cool idea and was pretty well executed, aside from the third person storytelling (wtf?) and the dude's total obsession with himself.

After that I found a nice comment from Stu on MySpace that made me smile. I also learned a new word: "chuffed." Very informative.

Then those of us who were home went to have dinner at Luigi's. It was delicious, to say the least. We stopped at Coldstone, too, but I didn't get any as I had plans to make dessert when we got home. I made some of my favorite chocolate frosting and some cookies to go along with it. Then it became Gerard Butler Night. Brittny and Mitzi showed me a couple clips from Dracula 2000 (lol!!!) and then we moved on to our feature presentation: Dear Frankie. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah! This movie was sooo precious! It was sad but happy but sad but happy and wonderful. We all did some crying and some laughing and some lusting.

We watched the deleted scenes and other extra stuff, and then I ran to get my laptop and connect it to the TV so I could show Brittny and Mitzi the video posted above. Then we watched the second episode of Spaced (Hullo, Brian...) and other random YouTube videos, including Ali G's interview of Posh and Becks. Lol lol lol forever.

So now here I am... Hesitant to go to sleep, because when I wake up it is time to hardcore study. And time to begin shaping up my life/attitude/all that crap. Boo!

I guess for now I will just try to get to sleep and enjoy a nice, restful night of good thoughts. Please? I do have a lot to look forward to now, so maybe I should start dreaming about the magical experiences that await me next year!

Goodnight all.

I love talkin' LOST. Oh, and watching it. Tonight was one of the best episodes of anything ever and I think I actually understand most of it. Henry Ian Cusick is too amazing for his own good. I will never stop thinking about all of it. I will have much to say tomorrow. Goodbye.

The Office was beautiful and amazing, as always.
Scrubs was fun, but not as good as I thought it would be. The crazy lady REALLY bugged me.
30 Rock was so brilliant it convinced me to use my iTunes gift cards on a Season Pass. Eeee!

I didn't finish my EAP application tonight. Deep down, I knew I wouldn't. But since I am a procrastinator, I have to give myself fake due dates so that I am not rushing at the very very end. It's sad, I know. But I'm seriously almost done. My goal is to finish tomorrow and I mean it this time. I'm feeling positive.

Sooo the coolest thing ever happened tonight. Catherine added Mario from BatG on MySpace and when he added her back, he commented on a picture of all of us saying (and I quote) "cute housemates."

...

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!

This is how obsessed we are: All that were in the room (the housemates minus Val) stood up, screamed, pulled hair, screamed, jumped on things, and screamed for about 5 minutes straight. I picked up the life-sized cardboard cutout of Derek Zoolander and started carrying him around on my head in a state of delirium. It was CRAZY. AAAHHHH! I loooooove Mario! I added him too and sent him a message and he replied, but he didn't say much. I was hoping he'd say something about my Fish Biscuit default picture since it says on his profile that he watches LOST. Ooh well! At least he replied!

Reality TV stars are the best stars to be obsessed with because they are actually [sort of] accessible. I rode in an elevator with Michael from Big Brother 6 once. And I met Ethan Zohn of Survivor fame. Not that I am/was obsessed with either one of them (especially Michael 'cause he nasty), but still. It's just an example of how those are the kinds of famous people you're most likely to run into. So you should like them! They are also most likely to have self-maintained MySpace pages... I'm hellsa friends with three people from Average Joe 4. Why am I bragging? Sadddddd...

Anyway, Mario kicks ass and it was an amazing moment. We were united under one roof as an official set of "cute housemates." HAHAHAHAHA!

The only time I've ever been more excited in this way was when the Lonely Island gentlemen selected my email question and my one and only boyfriend Mr. Andy Samberg said my name in a podcast. Surreal. Yum.

You all think I am sad and have no life, but I don't care. I still manage to live a healthy and social life, so all is well. For now. Talk to me in twenty years when I'm 40 and alone and jobless and still doing this. For now I'm young and free.

Wha'evah! Wha'evah! I do what I want!

:D :D :D

MERRY CHRISTMAS. Thank you for Christmas.

I just bought this from iTunes:



And it is fantastic. Why didn't I buy it sooner?

I've been working on my EAP application pretty much all day, except for the two hours I spent watching TV and a little bit of other slack-off time scattered throughout my waking hours. But I have made a lot of progress! My Academic Planning Forms are ready to be taken to the DA advisor tomorrow, even though she never told me what time to come in. I have decided which classes I want to take at my top two universities (Glasgow and Kent). I have even buckled down and hardcore tried to figure out which General Education requirements I still haven't completed... And there is good news! According to my calculations, the only thing I'm missing is a Non-Western Culture class (ew, how American of me). By using that knowledge, GOLD, and the Summer Session brochure that came in the mail, I have now determined my ideal class schedule for the spring and summer, meaning I can go finish that section of my online application. My host university application forms are nearly done, but I am going to redo them in a prettier fashion... And then the biggest thing I'll have left to do after that is finish my Statement of Purpose. It shouldn't be too hard since I could go on forever about why I want to do this. Aaah! This is getting exciting.

I have to study for Latin. But I don't want to. I just want to keep working on this application until the Golden Globes. Come on LOST! And The Office! And Little Children! Wooo!

Speaking of LOST, most of those of you who care have probably heard that a definite end date is in the process of coming into being. Even though the rumors are saying that this means my favorite show ever will end after four seasons + a mini wrap-up season (around 100 episodes total), I am really excited. I think this will be really good for the writers since they'll now be able to structure the rest of the series accordingly... And maybe fans will stop bitching knowing that they have to start savoring every precious moment.

I would also like to take the time to say that anyone who breaks up with a member of the Awesome Deparment is a complete fool, no matter who he's trying to protect or what his real motives are. Men are such tools. If a certain person were reading this, which he isn't, I would say this: I may not remember saying what I said to your voice mail on New Year's Eve, but I am pretty sure I meant it. You are an idiot. Suck it.

I can't wait for Blades of Glory. See my icon for one of many reasons why.

Demetri Martin is my new boyfriend. Thank you, Brittny, for sharing him with all of us. He is a genius and a hottie and a talented son of a B.

That's it for now. I don't want to go to school tomorrow. BOO! At least I get to wake up at 7 instead of 6. Byeeeee!

First day of classes. I'm not done yet, but I have a huge fatty break between the first two and the last one. This morning I had what I shall now call "Double Dutsch." Ooooh so clever. Greek & Roman Comedy & Satire at 9 and Latin 2 at 10. I was crashing the first class and it seemed interesting, so I was really hoping to get in... Fortunately I just got an email from the TA saying she'll give me an add code on Wednesday. Latin was good except that our classroom is waaay too small and I seem to have forgotten every single thing we learned last quarter. Great. After class I ran some errands and came back home... I had lunch and watched some Date My Mom. Sad. My next class is from 3:30 to 4:45 and I'm going to go to the gym afterwards. I *think* this is the American Theatre 1940s to Present class... Or else it's Shakespeare... But I'm pretty sure Shakespeare is tomorrow. And that will be my Monday this quarter.

Yesterday, the last day of break, was a good day. I woke up in a horrible mood because we don't have enough fridge space in this house and I couldn't find any of my crap and it was making me so crazy. I nearly lost it, so I had to call my parents and ask them if they would pay for a mini-fridge to be used solely for my food. My mom could tell how frustrated I was and, like the beautiful person she is, gave me permission to purchase one. So I got in the car, drove to Sears, found the perfect baby refrigerator, and brought her home. I felt so grown up, buying big ol' appliances all on my own! While I was at Sears, I noticed that there was a Red Robin in the same shopping center, which is just right down the street from our house. So I came home and told everybody, and we all decided to have a family dinner at Red Robin! All six of us went, which is rare these days, and we even had the pleasure of running into Bri, who I haven't seen in ages. She actually called me earlier in the day asking if I wanted to have dinner with her, but I had already made plans and hadn't called her back yet. Technically we still ended up dining together, we were just one table apart! After dinner, we came back home and watched For Your Consideration, which was hilarious. Then I went up to my room and knitted in bed while watching "Pregnant & Paralyzed" and "Woman with Half a Body" on TLC. God, I love that channel. So I guess it was a good last day off.

Dum de dum...

I sorta hate long breaks in the middle of the day because I am incapable of doing anything productive whilst in between classes. It's so much easier for me to focus once I know I'm done for the day. But I guess it's more enjoyable than having hours and hours of classes in a row.

I LOVE NEW YORK IS ON TONIGHT! Woooooo!!! I should be ashamed of myself for even thinking about watching it, but who am I kidding? I can't wait!

I'm gonna go do something now. Maybe watch the third season of Little Britain, which I just bought at Borders. I really shouldn't have because I don't exactly have the budget for it right now... But I saw it and had to get it. Naughty. That's it for a while. Not even any groceries, because I have plenty at the mo. If I eat less, I they will last longer and I will get smaller. Ready, go!