I am such a dork.
- Evidence: My current Facebook status quotes the Act for the Rebuilding of the City of London, 1667, in a reference to my good housing pick for next year at Wes. As soon as I read the phrase "houses of the greatest bigness," I was immediately wondering how to incorporate it into something... anything... but especially my status. The housing thing was perfect.)
- Related to that, I am actually sort of enjoying my revision for my upcoming exam, despite the evidence to the contrary (ie complaining, being on LJ, playing the best internet sudoku game ever...)

Birds.
- I saw about 20 mallard ducklings today, all swimming around together with a group of duck-parents.
- AND one of my favourite birds on the lake (the great crested grebe) turned out to be a couple (I never saw them together, so I assumed there was only one), and they have babies, too! 4 of them. They ride on their parents' backs, and they're stripy! I love them. SO CUTE
- The goose and coot outside my window have 6 and 5 eggs, respectively. I cannot wait for coot babies.

Other.
- Somehow, despite the rain and absent-mindedly taking the long way and not being able to figure out how to get into the Royal Mail package centre, I had a really easy, really good trip to town today. Everything I needed to do got done, and much more easily than I was expecting. The worst part was the weird acoustics in the cafe at the University's building for medieval studies et. al.; somehow I could not help but hear every word two women all the way across the (large) room were saying, and I was trying to read! I got more work done on the bus.
- I think I got all my classes for next fall. They will be:
~~ Hazardous Earth (natural disasters taught for non-science people = me getting my last science credit, and being able to apply for honours).
~~ Islamic Art & Architecture (more of Prof. Wagoner? Yes, please.)
~~ Intro to Experimental Music (assuming my schedule adjustments today went through. I've want to take this class for a while, so I'm excited.)
~~ Thesis Tutorial (aka ahhhhhhh omfg I really need to get my shit straight for this, I have to have an advisor and a topic by mid-May.)
- I, like the grebes (but without the babies, or the feathers, or the ability to stay underwater for a really long time, etc.) am also a couple now. Or, rather, part of one. And that's pretty nice, you know?

I'm quite tired, but... back to work! Or a shower. Probably a shower.

EDIT: I wish I was at Wes to see the thing in the CFA tunnels. Mostly because it sounds awesome, but also because... FLOOFY MATT. It belongs to Floofy Matt. Aw, I'm going to miss him.

And here is how it went. This is REALLY long, a lot happened.

( Introduction: Getting in, Waiting, The Opening Acts, More Waiting. )

( Mystery Jets Played Music! )

( After The Show. This Is Where My Night Went From Exciting to RIDICULOUSLY AWESOME. )

( At The Club. 'I'm With Them,' and Meeting Some Cool People. )

( Stray Uni Students and Surrealism. )


Definitely a bit of a tale.

And THAT, my friends, was my Friday night.

Floofy Matt just appeared in my local newspaper.
(Or someone who looks just like him... In a picture of people watching a Kwanzaa celebration.)

I swear, the kid is magical and/or an alien.
(My mom proposed the second option, and I tend to agree.)

For those of you that don't know, Floofy Matt is this guy I know at school. He should not randomly be showing up in photographs in my local newspaper.


P.S. Happy New Year, to those of you on the other side of the world!!!

!!!
Mystery Jets have made a new song available for download. LOVVVVE.
"Flakes"

I know what will be on repeat while I'm not really writing this paper this afternoon...

Speaking of "Flakes," this came out about a week ago:


So many feathers! FEATHERS. Black-haired (?!) Blaine. Sailor hat! Backwards sitting-up comme dans Couteau's "La Belle et la Bete" (sorry, went into French there for a moment).
As usual, they look like they are having so much fun... which is one of my favorite things about them. Oh dear how I adore Mystery Jets...


I meant to get up and go to the gym this morning, instead I slept in and dreamt about my room being clean... and about my crush. Good stuff.

1. It is very wet today, and cold, and I got caught in it wearing clothes that were not nearly warm or water-repellent enough, but today I have found a new love: Well-dressed boys with umbrellas.

2. Yesterday I bought a full-length red evening gown, with matching coat with a red feather-boa-thing-lined hood, for $8 at Goodwill. It fits me perfectly, and looks as nice, if not nicer, than any other formal dress I have. I am in love with it. And it's vintage - I think from sometime in the 70s. And the coat part is ridiculous.

3. It is about time for me to go put on said dress and make some likely absurdist videos at the radio station, but... it is cold and wet, so I'm waiting a bit longer.

4. I also bought a burgundy men's velvet blazer at Goodwill. It's all smoking-jacketesque, I like it.

5. I'm being social again and it's making me happy. Today I had a conversation with a friendquaintance about how his beautiful panini had pleased the panini god... I related it to the Classical Greek comprehension of beauty (aesthetic much? yes). Also talked a lot about art and film and how strange they are to study and such things, and how stunning it is to see art you've studied in real life. It was good times. I've really been missing talking to people.

6. Today in one of my classes we talked about a painting I wrote a paper on, and my professor said "Sarah can tell us a lot about this one" and looked at me expectantly... so I talked about the painting to the whole class. Which might have been good. I couldn't tell if I was being coherent.

7. We've been struggling with finding a subtitle for the exhibit I'm assisting with, and one I made up this week might be used. Which means my words will be everywhere, on everything that mentions the exhibit. Which is rather thrilling.

8. I'm really looking forward to Thanksgiving. Family, food, home for a few days. Nice.

It makes me really happy to be leading training at WESU. Just two years ago I was a nervous, quiet girl on the couch staring at my trainers with blank admiration/adoration. I wonder if my trainees feel the same way? They seem so cool and calm. We have a really good group... (All three people I wanted to show up to my session did). And my co-trainer is awesome. Of course. Because he is Hunter. And Hunter is awesome.


It is finally cooler out!!! And rainy. <3 rain.


I need to go to bed.


I have no time to study for my midterm that is on Friday! I should have done that tonight. Meh. Fall Break is this weekend! Woooo. Countryside, camping, classic cars, other things beginning with C if I can think of them? Pumpkins, hopefully, but that does not begin with C.


Paul-guy and I are now officially speaking acquaintances. Hooray? Hooray!


I had such an intense caffeine rush today after training. It was ridiculous.

thisroyalcity, you will understand the excitement of this:
There is a guy in my French Cinema class who looks like Paul Day. As in, A LOT LIKE HIM. It is driving me mad. Mad, I say!

He's a bit pretentious/mildly irritating-amusing, but ahhhh his hair! And face! And how well-dressed he is! And this sort of bored-blank expression that somehow shows off the similarities! And how he stands on the front stairs of the building smoking one last cigarette before class, with his nice clothes (collared shirts ftw! though I'm not sure Paul would ever wear a sweater vest. Sweater vest? Sweater vest! I approve) and his ahhhhhhhhhhh looks-just like Paul Day-ness.

It's slightly distracting! As is the presence of one of the prettiest people (male or female) in the same class. He was sitting right across from me, being all... pretty. Mmmm, pretty.


I just want to sit in my room and watch the rain and *cough cough* write about Paul and *cough cough*... cough. Because I am still a little congested in my chest region and keep having coughing fits.

Which reminds me: It's raining! For the first time since I got here over two weeks ago! Everything looks so gray and wet and beautiful. The plants will be so happy, and I am too. I like Wesleyan in the fall rains, it feels more like the semester now.


EDIT: *points at icon* Paul Day!
He looks slightly amused / bemused about my rant.

OH MY GOSH ballet dancers.
Oh my gosh Alan Cumming!
Oh.... Facebook. Oh, stalking.
Oh, my favorite photographer attending my school's graduation and my NOT BEING THERE. oh, intense levels of cuteness.

I am so hot for ogling male ballet dancer's headshots, and Ryan McGinley, and the fact that today I got the next two volumes of the only manga I own (Gorgeous Carat: it has whips!), the new Out with Mika and a gorgeous shot of Patrick Wolf with a rhinestone tiara over his face, and a fashion magazine named "Androgeny."
All the reading I got today was for the beach... though some of it might be kept more under wraps than I would choose if the house was not going to be filled with family, including childer and a few conservatives. I shall ride my bike to the beach and wear my sunhat and lie on a towel and read about whether Mika is "gay / post-gay / not gay."

I have a job interview tomorrow!

I really want a bright-colored cowboy hat of some sort, hopefully made of straw. The Mighty Boosh is doing strange things for my sense of style.

Things I have been doing (a list mostly ganked directly from a comment I wrote to Zach):

- Looking for a job.
- Being really lazy.

- Turning 20. (Woot. Now I can have an existential crisis because OMG I am in my fucking 20s, and who knows where those will take me.)

- Watching too much TV (mmm, Mythbusters and Globe Trekker and Adult Swim). I also watched the end of the last Bob Barker "Price is Right." Now what will I do if I'm home sick?

- Reading a lot. I'm on The Last of the Wine by Mary Renault now. And oh, do I ever love that woman.

- Adding applications to my Facebook and messing with them a lot.

- Getting excited way in advance to go to the beach next week (because, you know, my life is so hectic and stressful right now, so I sooo need a break... from the TV).

- Hiking. Day hike among the rhododendrons with my mom and dog, overnight with my dad on the night of my birthday / eve of Father's Day.

- Fantasizing about all the British men I will have at my disposal in Britain.

- Staying up late.
- Being antisocial.
- Receiving and buying more books to read later.
- Crocheting bags and coasters/dog hats.
- Cooing at my fish (Dusty and Aurelia) and my cat and dog.
- Becoming heavily addicted to The Sims 2.

- Writing fan fiction of a children's book, which has been fairly well-received, which gives me far too much of a sense of accomplishment.

- Daydreaming.

- Seeing movies... The Science of Sleep, which was beautiful and fun but left me kind of sad, and Paris, Je T'aime, which was fucking awesome. I cannot get it out of my head, int he best possible way. One of the sections seemed half-gleaned from a short story I started, never finished, and still play with.

- Planning to spend gift certificates on yarn, crochet needles, and art supplies, and to buy lots of music.
- Talking to my dad about dating experiences and my mom about sex, which were two big steps in a good direction.
- Missing my friends.
- Figuring out what to read next.
- Writing.
- Smiling at the rain, especially when it comes while the sun is shining.

- Talking on the phone to a friend in Australia (hi Nic!) and on Facebook to friends in China and France. Oh, global communication. You thrill me!

- Getting a new pair of my favorite, extremely worn-down shoes, and a bright blue pair of sneakers.

- Feeling like a true Doctor Who fanatic now that I have TWO box sets. I got the Second Series for my birthday. Also, introducing my mom to Tenth Doctor by way of "New Earth." She and I are both fans of the cat-people.

- Having a closet / shelf system built along one wall of my room. Now I can unpack my clothes when I come home! It is really cool.

- Procrastinating doing the dishes.
- Getting hungry.

( A meme result that is interesting, but not nearly enough to make it into the main body of this update )

Things:

Jane Eyre is a FUCKING AMAZING book. I started it yesterday... and proceeded to read 102 pages of it by the time I went to bed. It's a remarkably easy read, considering its age; I can't read Dickens, or Austen, nearly so fast. And it's better, story and writing-wise, than either of those two.

I have been listening to MIKA constantly for days. I have only just stopped in order to listen to "Release the Stars" again.

My dad's family is... very large. And I think I am now, for the first time, part of the big girl's club; I feel perfectly comfortable hanging out with my aunts and 8-years-older cousin.

It's raining! Yay! We need it so very bad. I just knew that if I hosed all the dust off my car it would rain this afternoon. I am magic! It is thundering. Yum.

I love my cat. She has slept with me the last two nights, and the first night I woke up in the middle of the night to find her snuggled up beside my pillow. So sweet.

I have a 3.79 GPA as this semester. I am pleased. Three A, one A-, one B+.


I need a boy full of glee for the world. That is what my hypothetical personal will someday say. "Mature, intelligent, and eclectic young woman possessed with an overactive imagination and an expansive sense of wonder and beauty seeks young man with similar qualities, full of glee for the world."


EDIT: Several hours later... I forgot to actually post this dang thing.