nothing much...

Alright,
so now that I'm over the whole bad reviews for RENT, I think i can stop talking about them. But now I just realize I don't have much to talk about...

Yesterday was the first day back in class after the Thanksgiving break and it went just fine. I got home after work and was SO tired though. Pretty cranky too. I am proud to say that I actually did three hours of homework last night to catch up on some reading assignments for psych. I went to bed at a decent hour and let myself sleep a little longer than usual. Am just kind of taking it slow this morning before I head out to study, then class for a little while. I love Tuesdays... I don't have to work! Which means I get the whole afternoon to myself after Lab!:-) w00t! oh the little things.

It snowed again last night! So pretty! The snow makes all the dead stuff look so clean and fresh! :-) Here's a photo from the first time it snowed down here (which was not last night) . Cool huh? I have to say that it was pretty funny showing these photos to Shannon online the other day and having to explain to him what snow is like. Oh you silly Aussies.;-) But yeah it's great and I love snow.


Here's another photo to share although it's not snow. THis one is from the Missy Higgins concert which was WAY fun! She's so cool and so I though I'd share a photo that I took.
Yeah, she's pretty cool. Anyway that's all that I really have for now. Nothing too interesting. I'm behind in time now actually even though I was taking the morning slow...:-P need to get some studying done before class. Much love to all

cheers,
em

did I miss something?

so I'm quite bummed and quite sad and confused about these bad reviews that RENT the movie has been getting. I realize that this is the second time I am talking about this but really I'm wondering if I missed something. The review I read in the City Pages this evening was wretched! I was so sad. For one I had a hard time following all the play on words that the guy was using. Besides that though I just felt sad again when I finished reading it. The guy ripped apart Jonathon Larson and his work, and the message of the play. So I'm beginning to wonder if I completely missed something when I started seeing the play on stage... I always felt like it gave a great message and had a lot to say. Granted it came out on the stage years ago... I dunno, I still feel like there is a good message there and I very much respect it. I'm beginning to wonder if these people who reviewed it had ever seen RENT on stage. I just kind of wonder exactly why they did not like it. I've decided in general that I can't trust newspapers and magazines and news shows in general. Facts are always different in every place and how are we to ever know what the actual truth to a story is? How am I to know that what the guy said in the City Pages review of RENT is true? Especially about how Larson wrote? And then I read the good review in this weekend magazine that comes in the paper that says only good things about RENT, mainly because it's the cast reflecting on the making of the movie and play and what they think it means. Along with that is a longer excerpt from Julie Larson, the sister of Jonathon Larson. Do I believe her and take what she says as truth? Do I personally only look for mostly the good things in a story? AM I just plain ignorant to things and life in general? I think I just have to sit in the middle of it all. Although I think I lean more towards the happiness and good that can be found in the movie and play rather than the bad things that the critics like to pick out. I guess I"m not much of a critic. Sometimes I reckon maybe I need to be a bit more critical about things, because maybe I'm missing some points or am just too damn ignorant to life. I don't know. I was just quite disturbed or upset or something by the bad reviews. I apparently couldn't handle all the bashing. I again wonder who these people are that reviewed it. Did they ever live in these situations? Have they ever been a struggling artist like those portrayed in the movie/play? Did they live in NY in the East Village? I really kind of want to go visit New York and see the place where it's to take place. I want to know if life is like that for struggling artists. Back to being a critic... really how fun can life be if what you do for a living is be a critic? Life seems like it could be so ... I don't know... boring...and just not fun. But who am I to say who is good or bad, right or wrong? I guess I'll just stick to what I like. I liked RENT and that's all that really matters. I think the message is still relevant and it's still amazing. Whatever that's what I think. I like it so to hell with the critics.

I don't have the words to describe really. What I can say is that... I NEEDED this! A break, friends, a sister, a concert, a coffee, and a movie. ( i probably could have used sleep too, but we'll over look that for now)

It was so nice to leave Luther today and make my way home with Leah and Krista. It felt good to get away. THe weather was great, and the ride was a bit long at first, but we managed. We saw Krista off into the care of her sister and Leah and I headed to find my sister and to see one EXCELLENT concert, provided by Missy Higgins. Not only was the venue great, the beer tasty, and Missy's accent a warm reminder of those I miss, but her show was AMAZING! She's, as Leah said, probably "cooler than I'll ever be". It was definitely a nice little intimate concert with Missy Higgins. So good to have her explain some of her songs and just to hear her live again! And of course I loved listening to Aussie talk.

We said bye and happy turkey day to Leah and then headed for coffee and home. SO nice to see mom and dad, and to find some photos from the summer and earlier this fall that mom had taken. Good memories. Oh and let me not forget my phone call from Davina, with some of the most hilarious news!" He's NOT getting married. THey broke up! " -- at least that's one more I don't have to worry about.
And then.......

To Lakeville... almost an hours drive... Why?

Well, To see RENT! of course.......
All I have to say, is that I loved it, and I always did. Mad props to Jesse L. Martin and Anthony Rapp. Kudos to Rosario Dawson, I didn't feel let down. Adam Pascal... how could I not like thee? Overall? L-O-V-E-D... LOVED it! RENT is just amazing in itself. I reckon Jonathan Larson would be proud of what RENT has accomplished and how much more it can. I refuse to have anyone tell me it was a crap movie or that putting it on the big screen is selling out. I can't express myself very well, so just take it as is. Again, i needed this. And it was definitely a great day. NO doubt that I need sleep tomorrow. I said I would work Wednesday morning. :-P It's 3:30 am! I leave for work with dad in 2 and a half hours! I'm sure I can make it.

No Day But Today

something new...

this is just real quick. I decided to be like Mel and do something different with my blog. Hence the different colors and such. It's actually a bit refreshing. The black background was getting kind of depressing. And well with winter just around the corner there's no need for more dark things since it tends to stay dark a lot...less sunlight and all. ANyway this template is called "snapshot tequila". Can anyone guess why I chose it?! :-) hmmmm? Well in honor of it I thought I'd put these photos in as well. They are also some 'snapshots of tequila' ;-)






Yep, before....not sure what cheer we did here, but it might have been: when we drink we get drunk, when we get drunk we sleep, when we sleep we commit no sin, when we commit no sin we go to heaven, so let's all get drunk and go to heaven. ;-) Cheers to that!




Aannnnddd..."make a funny face!"... so we did.

what good times we have with Jose...



That is all I have... enjoy. Need to finish my assignment due today and pack so that I can go HOME! yay for Thanksgiving break!
cheers!
-em

"last woMAN standing"

yep that's how Seth's last email refering to the game Assassins was titled. Yesterday was quite crazy. Krista went on a 'killing' spree. She got two kids before 11 and that meant that she would then have to 'kill' her boyfriend! Kayla being the biggest help she could ever be helped Krista out all morning and afternoon. Finally Krista got to Frenchie and he was dead. A little upset no doubt because she not only killed him, but she outlived him in the game. From then on Krista and Kayla (who may i remind wasn't actually in the game) sat in choir going crazy. They knew Kris was being plotted against. They switched clothes and although the informer of Krista's killer was around, he was too slow to let him know of the switch of clothes that he witnessed. Thus, Krista and Kayla walk out of choir see who Kris thinks is hunting her, but then a guy off to the side attacks too, except they go for Kayla, not Krista. Krista acting to protect Kayla, stabs the kid that goes after Kayla, and takes off not knowing what's going on. Simon, who inevitably ended up hitting Kayla thinks he has Krista, says her name only to have Kayla yell at him "I'm not Krista Lane. SUCK IT!":-) Krista came home not knowing if she had won or not. The guy that cornered her was the one that was supposed to be killing her but someone else tried instead of he. Later we find out that Simon killed John, and so Krista was Simon's next target. Krista came home panting from loss of breath. Calls Seth who is in charge of the game, explains the situation and they figure out that she's won! It was quite exciting and our house was pretty happy about the whole thing. How the events unfurled altogether is a much longer story. :-) It was all pretty funny though. Needless to say the frisbee boys who were playing and knew Krista were pissed she won. Probably because it was her first time playing and even more likely it was a WOMAN who won! :-) hahaha. overall a fun time. So we celebrated as a house with dinner together and then hung out the rest of the night, or did our own things.

This is probably a lame post but it was pretty exciting. And is all that has been going on. It makes me smile! well it's saturday and I have two papers to get done this weekend. So back to work i go. Much love all!

em

Assassins

Well after a long week last week and the craziest f-ing weekend ever, things are kind of settling down and today I have actually accomplished something. For one I got my cover letter completed actually just about five minutes ago. This is for the hopeful internship that I will get to do over j term. There are still so many things that I need to get done school wise. Not only homework but I still haven't figured out if I need that other soc class! :-P bleh! no worries, I am in better spirits about it all since I did finish a cover letter. Although an exam and a paper this friday do not excite me.

On to more fun things... Assassins... yes... Assassins. It started Sunday at midnight. What is it exactly? Well a bunch of people get together on campus to play a game in which you are an assassin and are given a person to 'kill'. How can you kill them? With anything that's the length/size of a ruler or yardstick, those are melee weapons, and also with nerf dart/ball guns. This game is HILARIOUS! krista, britta and I decided to participate and although I was dead 11 hours after the game started ( it was a tragedy right before biodiversity and a story that I think is quite funny) Krista and Britta are still going strong. About half of the people on the list to play were dead by last night. More I'm sure are still being killed off today. Last night we had some kids come to our door with a nerf gun trying to scare us, and to probably get either Britta or Krista to come out of the house. The game is getting funny. The girls are getting intense and it's quite hilarious. People get really intense with this game and even skip classes and do crazy things. :-) It's still so funny though and I love it. I didn't get to kill anyone in those 11 hours that I was alive but yeah... i now get to watch the game unfold and read the funny stories of how people were killed which can be pretty funny. I think that's all i'll say about it for now. Once the game ends i might write more just because i think this game is so great. Overall it's been so much fun to watch it all unfold. Hopefully the girls get farther and get their kills soon.

oh, on another happy note... yesterday after getting killed :-P, I checked my mail and found a lovely package waiting for me! YES my Aussie food had arrived! YUM. This package (which cost quite a bit) consisted of three packages of Tim Tams, some Shapes (of the sour cream and sweet chili variety), snakes, some Milo, and Sa...Ka...Ta.. rice crackers. YUM! My quest to find some Coopers is still in the works. until then...

em

Krista Rocks My Face OFF!

so today was a very good day. I got my learning and behavior test back with an excellent grade! that studying REALLY paid off! yes! Later after studying for a couple hours after class I came home to find my room FULL of colorful post-its. They were everywhere! Krista, my loving friend and room mate decided to put post-its all around my room with random words and some phrases. It's quite colorful and just really awesome. She did this for some random reason...and also she knew that Shannon and I had done it to Sunny while I was in Australia. Although her spelling is a bit in question it was still an awesome thing to come home to! I love it when friends remember random things! It's awesome and I love it and Krista is the best. here are a few photos for those of you who would like to see. Also if you care you can kind of get a feel for what my room looks like...:-)
Yep so here's my bed and dresser... um that big poster was not made by krista ... that's finger painting fun from the beginning of the year. I needed something to put on my wall. So colorful! This is the closet. That row of post its neatly placed at the bottom spell out "India has a coast". Yeah one day I randomly asked if India had one. Why? I'm not sure. (Krista has a sense of humor) She stuck them everywhere. All over my photos from Australia next to the flag, but I reckon the Jesus painting was unharmed.Yep, the door, she has written out in the ones placed in rows, "wanted to say i love you" She's precious. :-) ok so I had one more image but it wouldn't up load. That one is more of my desk and the post-its covering that area. Anyway this is the place i call home full of post-its . Thanks Krista! she's a legend!

cheers,

em

being pro choice doesn't make you a baby killer!

Just because I'm pro choice, does NOT make me a 'baby killer'

yeah i've been quite pissed off about comments not even made directly towards me about being pro choice. I believe in a woman having control over her own body. If the child has developed enough though I don't believe in terminating. If the child could live and function on it's own outsdie of the womb, then i say don't terminate. I'm sorry I just don't like being called a baby killer when i don't plan to ever have an abortion myself but that I believe other women can have the choice. And really how do I know if I never would? shit could happen where I think I would need to. I hope that never happens, but really... It bothered me even more that these baby killer remarks came from a man. A gay man at that. The thoughts that later ran through my head were that they will never have to deal with something like abortion directly. They don't have to worry about it happening to them or their partner! Granted he has friends that are girls but when he sat there just saying mean things, saying "you're wrong" and not being respectful of others opinions, well then I don't feel i should be respectful to him. Open your mind up! GOD! I almost wanted to tell him that his opinion didn't matter, but that would just be completely pigheaded of me. or would it?

yay for academic advisors!

so i started a post last night but didn't finish it, and this one has nothing to do with it either but I just wanted to share my joy. I talked to my new academic advisor today about internships and registering for next semester! Although it is scary to think about next semester and about the future whether or not I will go to grad school it was super awesome to chat with him and have him be very supportive of the things I want to do. The thing I was most happy about was that he was cool with me not having a specific direction in psychology and that I am open to pretty much anything. And really why shouldn't I be? I don't know that much about psychology. Just what I have learned in classes and well I'll take all the real experience that I can take in all different forms. Plus why would I want to settle on a specific area when I haven't even experienced any of them?! Oh and it was also really good to hear him say that my plans of taking a year off and either working or interning is a good idea! YES! Dr. B is my new favorite person!he was very helpful and I am just full of appreciation for his advising skills! :-) That is all I have to say. going to look for classes now so that I can have an idea of classes. it definitely isn't going to be a slack semester next semester! :-P

my sock is too small

I am convinced that either I got two different size socks, or that my right foot is just bigger than the left. hmmmm.

Well i had a pretty good end to the night last night. Chatting with Natalie, Joe and Mel made my evening! I had not talked to any of them in awhile and I got the chance to reminisc about days past.:-) And i did finally go to bed and got some sleep, more than 2 1/2 hours that is... :-)

Yesterday was also great aside from lack of sleep, because i went to an internship meeting and I REALLY want one for J term! I will go anywhere! It would be heaps good if I could go to another state or country. I don't know if I have the money but I reckon that if I work over christmas break I'd be almost golden! Although maybe I should save the money for after graduation and for other things. Hmmm decisions decisions! I really just want to travel again! We'll see I might just end up doing one in Iowa or Minnesota and I'm pretty cool with that too. I am excited to get some work experience!

I got to hang out with Justin last night to do homework. I barely got through any of my info for my senior paper but I suppose I'll keep trucking. I feel a bit better about the fact that I've done something (a whole page of notes! :-P ) We had quite a lot of fun when we weren't studying too. Justin has some mad gymnastic skills. heheeh. Also we had a fun conversation about Punks and what it means to be punk. He mentioned an article that Brett gave him ( a soc prof) and i really want to read it now. Punk culture is sooo interesting! I should have done my paper on that! would be so cool! argh! Oh well.

Today Ben Folds is playing a show at First Avenue in Minneapolis and I wish I was going to be there! Sadly I will not be. I think I shall devote my day to Ben Folds and listen to just him. sigh... Well i have nothing else good to say... Oh well exciting news! Julia (a girl i work with) is back at school! She had mono! so sad, but so happy that she is feeling better!

oh why do I do this to myself?!

it is already after 1am and I am still up on a sunday night. I ask myself over and over again as I sit here typing away at an assignment why it is that I do this to myself? I clearly had ample time to get my homework done this weekend but I once again procrastinated. I tend to like to make excuses. Clearly friday night talking to friends online and watching movies were much more important. And clearly watching "Girl, Interrupted" while trying to type this assignment was much needed! :-P And although I spent most of the morning into the afternoon in the library I did not get anything done but writing notes and studying for my psych exams next week. Have I started my senior paper? nope! AUGH! I am a mess! Saturday evening... well those plans were quite set in stone. There was no way i wasn't going to hang out with the girls and go to a birthday party for Britta and Sasha! And of course i needed to drink all of that alcohol and then just spew it up again later! ha! (it was quite the fun night though, no doubt! loved it!) And then even after waking up at a decent hour I decided that a long breakfast and tv and discussion with Krista, Maggie, Marissa and Frenchie (krista's boy) was far more important than again working on my assignment. Frisbee practice was a must and then a long hot shower and some soup afterwards, especially since I was feeling quite bummed about my bike gone missing! And then it was off to my study abroad meeting. SO wonderful. To have Terry from the study abroad office ask Bre, Leah and I all about our trips to Australia was fantastic. Also just chatting with the girls about what we saw and what we experienced in the different cities we were in was great! I so hope that I can chat with them again sometime and share photos and the likes! They are wonderful girls and Terry was awesome! She has got to be the one person that has wanted to know just about EVERYTHING from my trip! :-) Well after the meeting I showed up late for Suzanne's voice recital. Well only late to help out. Her recital was fantastic and it was so nice that we did not have to stay too late to help clean up the food afterwards. Krista and I had planned on a movie this evening so after some chai (mine tasting mostly of just warm milk) we came back home and then I at least tried to do some work only to find a message on AIM telling me of sad news of a friend in Australia. I am quite worried and feel very helpless but wish i could help. Although part of this news came to me on Friday it seemed even worse this evening. So sad to learn that things are not going well for Sarah again. So after returning a phone call to dad I could not think very straight. Started to chat with Maggie and Krista, promised to do homework but ended up on the phone with Amber. This was quite a relief and helped in sorting through my thoughts over sarah because I knew Amber would understand the whole situation. Was so nice to chat with her in general. Finally we started the movie, Krista, Maggie and I. Emma was quite the lovely movie and I enjoyed it immensely but oh goodness... it did take awhile to watch and now I am afraid that I will not get much sleep at because it is now almost half past one and I still need to finish this assignment. Oh goodness. I have so much other work I could have gotten done too! And so of course instead of writing the assignment I felt the need to lament over it by writing on here. Goodness, I'm off. I really do need some sleep tonight... have to work in the morning again! many things to get done tomorrow! :-P

cheers,
em

Playing in the Leaves! :-)

i love fall days! Today after my first class I found Jordan walking by and we stopped to chat and to make a leaf pile. Sadly with only fifteen minutes between classes we did not get far. Also we had no rake and it was just the two of us. So i tell Jordan that since he's done with class he needs to come back and make a pile for me since he was to meet with more people later. As I left Valders this afternoon after trying to get something to print in the lab, I got a call over to the leaf pile and there was Jordan, Nathan, Nate's gf Ingrid, Cassie, and Aaron! The pile was bigger so we all had some fun jumping and playing in it. This is why my afternoon was so good, even after getting a shitty paper back (I am scared about getting a C in learning and behavior) We played for quite awhile and although the pile could probably get even bigger if we had all of us with rakes....OH WOW that pile would be good! Maybe another day. Well i think I swallowed bits of leaf and actually feel a bit sick to my stomach over it. :-P bleh. overall a wonderful afternoon of leaf pile jumping! I *heart* my friends! Good end to the school day. :-)

MirrorMask

Went to see MirrorMask this evening with Davina and it was FANTASTIC! i guess I have to say that I didn't know much about the story before I went to see it, only that I knew Shannon said it would probably be great. Neil Gaiman and Dave McKeen are quite the talented folk. Granted I've read one of their children's books, but i don't know much more about them except again from what Shannon has told me. I recommend this movie though to anyone. It was so fascinating!I was intrigued by the story and the fantastic art the whole time. I couldn't have asked for a better date movie to see with Davina! Overall we had an excellent time. I don't know how many times I can say that it was great! I don't know what else to say, except go see it! I was glad that I did!

Anyway tomorrow must head back to school. :-P Fall break was nice. I had a lot of good social time with Davina and it was nice to see Kareem again and also the family although I did not see much of dad. He was very busy with scouts. sigh... oh well. one more month and I'll be back for some thanksgiving. One thing I did not get done while here was getting a start on my genogram assignment for Abnormal. Oh well. Well looking forward, I guess, to getting back to Luther. Did some shopping with mom today, got a haircut (nothing drastic), had a good dinner and then saw the movie. Was not very productive today, but whatever. Starting the trip back to school with some lunch with Kayla and Tyler and then home to Luther we go. Once I get back it will be back to studying.... got to finish up those assignments that are due on friday! gross!

I think that is all. sorry nothing else interesting.

cheers!
em

ps. one thing I decided this weekend... while at the 90s... malibu and coke... SO yummy (this is why I made mom buy me some coke while at the store today ;-)... now I just gotta go get some Malibu!;-) )

Gay 90s

yesterday I took my first trip to the Gay 90s in downtown Minneapolis. First of all I LOVE Minneapolis and hope I live in the actual city sometime. Second, the night was a blast! My sister and I met up at her house, and drove on over the 90s. It was so awesome to be able to go to a club in the cities and be 21! Oh the freedom! Anyway sunday nights are quite fun at the Gay 90s... they have a great drag show! I automatically was thinking "Priscilla Queen of the Desert". Drag Queens are so awesome and so entertaining! These ladies put on a great show and they are quite the lookers. It kind of makes you a bit jealous being a girl and knowing that a man looks better in a dress and heels than you do! sigh...

But yes, it was quite the show and was very entertaining. AJ and I spent two hours there and sadly I missed finding Kayla, but we continue to live and breathe. All is well. After a night of fun, came home to talk to all the Aussies online which proved to be wonderful

Today i was of course unproductive, and slept as much as possible. Later in the evening Davina and I studied for about three hours at Caffetto. I still have heaps to do over the next couple of days.Studying was good and we saw Kareem, Sarah and Kristin there. Apparently Caffetto was the place to be because there were barely any seats!

ps. life is good and i have nothing else to say. Am hoping that Carson will not be shitty... maybe his move to LA will make him funnier

Art Crawl and other fun

being home is really nice. One thing I have to watch out for is when I am driving to keep my eyes on the road. Driving through the neighborhoods gets me looking at the beautifully color changing trees! So nice. There's a couple great one going back into Davina's neighborhood that I am just in awe of! I could sit and look at them all day although I reckon the people who own the yard where these trees are would probably think me crazy.

I got to spend the whole day with Davina yesterday and then most of it with my sister! Davina and i started the day with coffee and studying of course, but little studying got done on my part. After that my sister invited us along to go on an "Art Crawl" in St. Paul. It was SO cool. We went from building to building where a bunch of artists have studios and had set them up with their art work! So great! I don't know heaps about art, but I do know I like looking at it. It was quite the adventure and I really enjoyed the whole day until i felt like keeling over from lack of food. What was also great was the weather, and of course the company, but to add to that my sister was taking photos again. I feel she hasn't in awhile and I also feel that being at this art show got her a little bit revved up to do so again. I asked her like ten times to make me copies of photos as christmas presents. Overall we saw just a crazy amount of fantastic artitsts and enjoyed the day. Later we caught some dinner at Cossetta's (mmm mmm good). Their pizza is fantastic. THen a very tired Davina and I made our way back to Fridley. I spent the evening taking a nap, chatting to mom and then Kareem came over. To fill my desire for some soda we walked across the street to the gas station and bought junk food and then sat down to watch Young Frankenstein. So funny! :-) To end the night well I got a phone call from an intoxicated Amber and had the most lovely chat with her! Oh Amber I do love you! :-) You are great! :-)

Anyway that is life back in MN. Only a few more days at home and then it's back to school. Tonight the plans are to go to the 90s. Should be fun. Tomorrow and Tuesdays plans for me are to study and catch up on work! I really need to!

cheers

em

i'm getting the BEST christmas gift this year!

Well made it home to good old F-town this evening after a good three hour car ride with Joanie, Kayla and Tyler. It felt good to roll into town and immeadiately see the lights again and also to head out to get coffee with my FAVORITE coffee buddy of them all Davina! One of my favorite things to do at the coffee shops in Minneapolis is to pick up the flyers for different concerts and art shows and what not and also to pick up a City Pages to see what's going on. I was so excited (but then so disappointed ) to find some amazing concerts coming up! as in... Ben Folds! Oct. 25th, Bad Religion w/ Pennywise and AntiFlag Nov. 9th, and let's not forget BTE, Ben Lee, Our Lady Peace, and 311. I was mostly excited for the first three, but of course they are on week nights when I will be down in Decorah! AHHHHH I want to see BR and Ben Folds SOOOO BAD! I love Minneapolis. I don't know if I can ever leave! I know I want to live hear again after school even if it's just for the night life and the concerts that come into town! SIGH... here's hoping i can find a way to these concerts or something! AHHHH Maybe I will just devote those days to those bands by listening to their music ALL day! It's just not the same though and I've only seen Bad Religion once! How good would a punk concert be?! AHHHHH ! :-) And how can one not love Ben Folds?! Sigh... again...

Anyway so after some good fun at the coffee shop Davina and I decided that we are both getting sick. Hopefully I am not really getting sick...but it kind of feels like it. Other stuff about home... so many people's yards are full of cut up branches and trees, no doubt from the big storm that passed through a few weeks ago! We even have some in our yard! so crazy. Davina tried to explain what her neighborhood looked like that day. SO I get home from coffee, get online and start to check my email. I find an email from Kaz (Karen, my dear friend and frisbee captain from Australia--amazingly cool chick!). Not only does she tell me she has my Adelaide Uni Frisbee club shirt in and that she will send it to me if I shoot her my address, but.... here's the best part... KAZ IS COMING HOME WITH WILL FOR CHRISTMAS! (this is the best christmas gift I am referring to) She'll be in the cities for Christmas! !!!!!! Not only will I get to see Will, but I get to see Kaz too! I so hope they come down to Luther to visit, but if not I really hope I get to see them in general! I *heart* these two SOOOOO MUCH! I'm SO SO SO SO SO excited! To top off this excitement... it was great to come home and find messages on my phone from friends and my sister saying they are excited to have me home. THe plan for the weekend.. coffee in the morning with D along with some homework, an art show with my sister around 1ish, hopefully dinner with mom later, and then I really really really want to go see Mirrormask which JUST came out in theaters here in Minneapolis! It's playin in Uptown! yay! Oh and Sunday night... Gay 90s here I come! soooo pumped! My sister is going to go too and D! Will hopefully meet up with Kayla and Tyler too. I'm really looking forward to this weekend. I am in love with life right now and all of these things that just happend. I can't even express enough how excited I am for Christmas now. I Love Kaz and Will! Oh joy!!!

love!
em

IT'S OVER!

oh finally! that biodiversity test is over! I hope I did alright on it. Definitely were things on there that I did not have in my notes! gross! oh well. Here's hoping for an alright grade! :-P My paper for Learning and Behavior is done too! Just printed it! yay! I'm running off a random amount of sleep right now and caffeine! Skipped work this morning (first time I have ever done so!) Two more classes and then I am DONE for the day and it's off to home for some sitting around and well, catching up on homework! Oh it is such a nice day and I am really looking forward to enjoying the day!i feel like my eyes will drop out of my head soon but I can't express enough how good it feels to be done with this work! in honor of the title, I reckon I will go watch an episode of Teen Girl Squad before I go to class! w00t!

cheers!
em

by george I think i've got it!

so this morning over some abnormal psych reading, coffee, cheese and crackers and "The Exhibitionists" I think I figured out more of my life! How awesome! :-) I was reading about perspectives on depression when I came across this little blurb on the side stating: "Insurance influences the type of treatment people receive for depression. Privately insured patients are more likely then Medicaid patients to receive psychotherapy. And among those on medications, the privately insured are more likely to receive second-generation anti depressants than the cheaper tricyclics" (Melf et al., 1999). What does this all mean to me? Well I realized that along with abnormal psychology I have a great passion for wanting to help people who are less fortunate. This statement found in my book kind of bugs me. It makes me sad/mad that people who are on the government's Medicaid are possibly receiving crappy help with their illnesses (I'm guessing it's also not just in the psychological area too). I want to help change that I've decided. How exactly that's going to happen I don't know. I want to see more people who are in poverty or of lower socioeconomic status receive more equal care for things. I want to help people psychologically and socially function more effectively. Does this all make sense? I think it does and I think I need to now find an academic advisor and let them know this and not be afraid to tell them my ideas. I am hoping for some answers as to how to pursue my ideas and passions. Oh this feels pretty good.

on another note... check out photos of my sister running the marathon! how cool is this?! she ran a marathon! : http://www.asiorders.com/go.asp?6858754

also photos of us girls from flamingo ball:

the house mates!(Minus Maggie) Krista, Me, Kayla, Britta, Marissa

This is Me, Kayla and Megan... check out mine and kayla's hot thrift store dresses!

That is all I have for now. Will probably get more photos up here or on a yahoo site soon! Sigh... think it will be a good day today! and I think noodle soup will make it even better... off to make some lunch! Love to all!

cheers

em

a lot of stuff....

first of all this is a bit late but HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRITTA! her birthday was on friday the 30th! she's old now! The best part of that day was when the housemates got together and went out for some very yummy breakfast in town! So good to start off the day with something yummy in my tummy! Oh and lets not forget that this weekend was also Schwarz's birthday. happy birthday to him! Although I am quite fuzzy on the details of the actual day of his birthday. I do hear that his party was quite a good one though. (My apologies for not getting a start on the idea of swimming earlier! my bad)

other than birthdays... (this is a few days old now... but to continue...)

We had a frisbee tourney over the weekend and it was a lot of fun. Exit 69 in Northfield,MN was a blast. The weather was lovely minus the wind that came about.Overall a good time had by all. We went 4-2 over the weekend and had a bit of a tif with one of the teams about time cap. Oh well.The girls were fun to hang out with and nothing says cozy like stuffing 13? girls into one hotel room:-)

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alright seriously i put this off all week and so now I will actually finish this post. Last weekend was quite fun up in Northfield. Since last weekend though it was quite a week I guess... academic-wise... kind of bad. Two tests came back to me on friday with not such great grades. I decided to look on the bright side and think about how I have seven weeks I can use to improve those grades! HOPEFULLY. Plus Fall break starts next weekend which gives me a few days at home and away from school and hopefully will help me get caught up on homework. Paper status: the Biodiversity one... not started, apparently my topic isn't good enough. Am pretty confused about that one and pretty bummed that I have to talk to the professor about it. SHOOT! Have another paper due this week and still need an article or two. Am a little scared to write it because my article reviews have been kind of crap already for the same class. The senior paper... didn't work on it at all this week! Not good. Got the book I asked for through the library though. Eek! i just want to write it! Happy thing academic-wise... Laura and I are all caught up on our experiments with our rat!

Enough about academics... life in general ... I LOVE my friends. It's been a good week with them. The frisbee girls are so great! we played in our Luther tournament yesterday with the men because well, no women's teams came! We had a great time though! They are so awesome. Kristin...definitely my new favorite! She wore a gorilla's mask to the games and she tackled Rookie! Oh it was just fantastic and I really hope that someone has a photo of her in the mask! Seriously it is so great to have so many friends. These girls are growing on me and they seem to really like me too! Also yesterday I went to my first wedding. After missing out on three of them because I was first away in Australia and then back at school, I got to finally see a friend get married! Kari and Bryan got married yesterday and it was great. Good weather, good service, nice reception! Plus I got to see friends from home which was also very lovely! I went up to the wedding, and then came back down to school so that I could go to the homecoming dance which was also fabulous! Oh did I also mention that it was Leah's birthday yesterday?! HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEAH! oh and I think it's Elena's today! So many birthdays!

other things that I wanted to write about in this blog from last weekend... my brother got a job at a restaraunt as a cook! I guess he doesn't cook anything fancy yet, but how cool?!? He has a job and that's exciting! :-) Also my sister did something really really cool! She ran a freaking marathon! Finished in 5hours and 10 mins! How awesome is that?! i feel like I should try that some day. Seriously i just think it's so cool that she ran a marathon. My cousin Jesse ran the same marathon (Twin Cities Marathon) and he was trying to qualify for the Boston Marathon. Not sure how he did but he had to get something like 3 hours i think. That's all quite an accomplishment. Maybe I can train with AJ sometime to run one some day! That would be so cool.

Alright as to keep this from getting too long I will stop here. I'm getting kind of a mental block too anyway. no doubt I will think of something I wanted to inform you probably five people who still read this. I'm quite surprised I haven't been yelled at by Mel to update :-) (ps. Mel so sorry that I'm never online! I am very bummed that we haven't been able to chat in awhile! miss you heaps!)

cheers
em

I LOVE our ULTIMATE team!

so this was the best day ever with the frisbee girls.First it's been raining all weekend so we had one hell of a fun practice! Layouts? Unnecessary bids anyone?! OH YES! we sure did! :) It was such a fun practice playing in the rain and doing heaps of bids and layouts! After we went and found the largest puddle on the field and just started to slide through it. We got very wet and grassy! Here's a photo to give ya'll a little taste of what we looked like. Some of the freshmen girls ran back to their dorm and took a photo so it's only a few of the members of the team but this is why I love these girls!
so yeah... meet Claire, Ellie (Pepe), Melissa, Sanna, Tiffany, and Andrea (Oops):-) What lovely girls. Also tonight we went "Blading". But what it is I can not tell. Just know it was a lot of fun! :-)