Hey, ya blog! Yeah, you! Move over!

Hey, and what's happening?

I've lost my blogging streak, that's for sure. But I thought I'd pop in, just in case *you* popped in. I thought now would be a good time to say something new.

*sigh* and *sigh of relief* I am in limbo right now. For those of you who visit dictionary.com, that's the fourth definition of the word, not any of the first three. I had my interview for the internship this afternoon. Mom can tell you that I was really nervous. Anxious. I could hardly concentrate today.

The interview was good. I think. I mean, now I can look back and analyze (and overanalyze), but really, the one thing I can't do is do it again. But considering just how nervous I was, I'm glad I can't do it again.

Bottom line: After getting the chance to talk to the people who would supervise me, I'd *love* to intern there. There's so much I could learn and so much experience I could gain. I really hope to get the internship. *knock on wood* Cross your fingers, send the good vibes, pray, think happy thoughts for me please. I should hear back next week. Obviously, there are two possibilities: I get the internship. Or, I don't get the internship. I'm not sure I'm prepared for the second possibility. Let's hope it doesn't come to that. Until next week...

Entrepreneur? Moi?

I read the chapter on entrepreneurship and starting a small business in my business textbook. It was a decently interesting chapter. I mean, I did read it after all, and I was able to answer one of my TA's question during his lecture.

At the end of the chapter, there was a test to see if I'd make a good entrepreneur... or not. Well, I took the test and here's my rating:

6-10 Things look pretty doubtful for you as an entrepreneur. It would take considerable rearranging of your life philosophy and behavior to make it.

*chuckles to self* I kinda had the feeling this would be true. And now I know. :) I mean, take a look at The Engineer from Miss Saigon. His outlook on life definitely doesn't match mine. And now I have "If You Want to Die in Bed" stuck in my head.

Hmmm...

Josh Groban's official site just announced new U.S. tour dates in early 2005. No Washington, Oregon, or California dates. No love for the West Coast. I hope that changes. So I just checked my final-exam schedule for winter quarter. My last final is on March 18, and Josh will play Las Vegas on the 19th. The 19th marks the beginning of spring break for me. Spring break in Vegas? Hmmmm, indeed. I'm also hoping more dates are added that week.

I'm excited for The Amazing Race! It'll be the first time for me to watch the entire series. Tuesdays at 9. I'm there. :)

Not exactly rear window but very close

We have balconies here at McMahon. My clustermates and I had our balcony opened as soon as we could. Unfortunately, housing made the decision to close all the balconies after The Incident a few weeks ago. What was The Incident?, you ask. Here's a summary of what I read in The Daily:

I guess a few musicians (starting with a trumpet player, and later accompanied by other instrumentalists including a violinist) played "Tequila" over and over again, and as more and more people heard the music, they joined in shouting the lone word of the song. The noise attracted the police, and then apparently people threw objects at them. Throwing major objects off the balcony is a *major* violation of the rules, and that's why all the balconies were closed.

Well, I missed out on observing The Incident first hand (The Daily had a pretty funny article about it). It happened on the other side of the building, and I was out at a birthday party that night.

Fast forward to today: Our balcony is still closed. We need to have a five-minute meeting with our RA, but there hasn't been a good time when all clustermates were present. I miss not being able to go out there.

A guy cluster on the floor above us managed to have everyone present for the reopening meeting. For the first time, I saw them out there, and it freaked me out. I was in my room when they were looking over the side, and while they weren't exactly looking directly, I didn't want them to do that. Sooooo, I closed the curtains. Little did they realize that my windows were open, and I could hear them say, "That room just closed their curtains! What do they think, we're spies?" And then they started laughing. No, I don't think you're spies 'cause spies are supposed to be stealthy, but I do think you're freakin' me out.

OK. Maybe I'm just bitter 'cause our balcony isn't open. But I will say this: Thank goodness for curtains. And I'm not afraid to use them.

The Grobanite in me

I haven't been keeping up with news about Josh Groban in a while, but I'm getting back into the excitement of being a fan. (Wow, I guess I just had more time on my hands when I was in high school, but I think I get to say that because I'm not *in* high school any more. Does that make sense? These days, I feel like I'm super busy.)

Just renewed my FoJG membership and bought The Polar Express soundtrack last week. I will watch Conan O'Brien tonight (yeah, can you believe it? He'll be on Conan!). Oh, and I definitely can't wait for the Live at the Greek CD/DVD & PBS special. Ah, music to my ears. It's good to be a Grobanite. :)

To blog or not to blog

Hey, I feel like I haven't blogged in a while. I mean, so much has happened since Tuesday night. And I feel -- no, I know -- that I have been censoring myself. After all, I haven't blogged about the election results.

Well, let me tell you, I was depressed on Wednesday. How could I not be? After waiting soooo long to vote for the president the first time, it was just really depressing to know that I chose and I lost. Of course, America is a republic and a democracy. A little over half of the voters (barely a majority) got their way, and now a little less than half (hardly a minority) are in shock.

Back to choosing or losing and voting or dying, young voters apparently didn't rock at all. Less than one in ten of us voted, according to NBC. I hate being a young voter. I can't help that I am one, but I just hate when anybody older than the young voter says that we don't vote. It's frustrating. I don't think I'm ever going to hear a good explanation as to why my peer group doesn't vote. No wonder Drew Barrymore got so frustrated when she was filming her documentary. I vote, my friends vote, my clustermates vote. The people I know... they vote! What about everyone else? I really hope John Kerry will be right when he said -- during his concession speech, actually -- that one day our votes will change the world (okay, so I don't remember exactly how he put it).

Beyond the young voter absence from the polls (maybe they just don't know that we all [or most of us] vote by absentee when we're in college), I'm disappointed by the outcome of the electoral votes (and that system altogether), disappointed by the outcome of the popular votes, disappointed about it all.

And I'm still censoring myself. Argh.

Waiting...

Okay, today would be a poor day to say that I have nothing to say. It's Election Day, but I don't think it's sunk in yet. I voted by absentee, so maybe that explains why it hasn't sunk in. I usually vote at the polls. Everywhere on campus, people are talking about voting. On the HUB lawn, in classrooms, at work. One of my clustermates just voted at another dorm.

Now I'm watching the TV coverage. They can't say all that much yet.

I have a bone to pick with The Today Show's advertisement. It said to join Katie and Matt for the "historic day after." Come on. It MAY be historic, but we don't know it WILL be because it's in the future! Hello, hasn't happened yet. Well everyone, tomorrow will be historic, and NBC knows it.

Happy Hallowicked

I may not be a fan of Halloween, but I'm glad that The View had Wicked on their show today. Meredith Vieira dressed up as The Wicked Witch of the West and Star dressed up as Glinda the Good. I'm soooo glad I turned on the TV and found out about it! Meredith Vieira interviewed Idina Menzel and Jennifer Laura Thompson. Then they sang "For Good." Good times.

So this week I saw three songs performed live and one on TV. I should just see the show again. Anybody wanna come with? :)

Happy Halloween everybody!

Laundry List

I have a "to do" list that is incredibly long. I have a ton of laundry to do, but the catch is that there are only 4 working machines out of a possible 7. How on earth do these commercial washing machines break so often and so easily and when you need them most?

We may hire a new student at work. I could use the extra help. Today, for instance, I had two major projects to take care of (billing charges and the weekly seminar schedule), but I had to push both aside for a task that took even a higher priority. Phew! It's just busy around here, but I hope I can catch up with everything tomorrow.

I'm looking for an internship. My professor/club advisor informed me of one. Don't want to jinx it, but cross your fingers everybody. I hope I can get my foot in the door.

These kids are so much smarter...

...than meeeeeeeeee.

Let me back up. I'm watching Jeopardy!, and the players are in junior high/middle school. They could answer questions (you know what I mean) that I didn't know!

And I'm stumped on the final jeopardy. LOL! Go Emily!!!

I wish I could go back to Kilo,
Life was so simple back then*.
What could I do to go back and view
My junior-high years again?

I wish I could go back to Kilo,
At Kilo, you know who you are.
You head to assemblies, and think, "Well at least
we didn't get kicked out so far!" (inside joke for the class of '02)

How do I go back to Kilo?
I don't know who I am anymore.
I wanna go back to the lunchroom
And tell the beggars, "Ya better stop askin' me soon!" Whoa oh ah oh.

I wish I could just get a hall pass
Or play the piano,
Avoid the mile
and go to PAW, ya know
I badly want a seventh period to blow

We could be sitting in Steinbornia
2 p.m. before the final bell will ring
Cursing the boy who sneezed so peculiar
And spending the rest of the time giggling

I wish I could go back to Kilo
How do I go back to Kilo?
Ah ah ah ah
I wish I had taken more pictures* (can't change that line)

But if I were to go back to Kilo
Think what a loser I'd be:
I'd walk to assemblies, and think, "Wait, at the very least,
These kids are so much younger than me."

And smarter. And taller. Heh!

Sorry, Avenue Q creative team! I couldn't resist. And I couldn't help but butcher your great work. I'll try to make it better next time.

Signing off,
Weird Alli

P.S. I should mention that I don't *really* wanna go back to Kilo. :) Although I enjoyed revisiting my memories of the awkward, early teenage years. ;) And I have to admit I had to do some digging. Eep, I am getting old.

Dry Spell

Just when I had nothing to say for an entire week, now I can say that McMahon has a deafening fire alarm. Yup, the fire alarm went off while I was typing my last blog entry and watching Avril Lavigne on DVD with my headphones. The sound of the fire alarm pierced my ears. Owwww. I left my room as quickly as I could (well, duh, but still).

It was madness trying to get back upstairs. Apparently there's no access to the outside stairs (the door is locked), so I had to back track, avoid the massive crowd surrounding the elevators, and run up the inside stairs. Yeah, I ran to keep pace with everyone else who was running. Rainy, winded, and fire free.

Go Boston

Honestly, I'm not really interested in major league baseball during the postseason if the Mariners aren't playing. But I just happen to hear about it, and man, people sure loathe the Yankees. Loathe? I'm being nice about it. They *hate* the Yankees. Example one: Jason. Hehehe. Well, there was nothing good to eat at McMahon 8 this evening so I walked to the HUB and grabbed a sandwich at Subway. Ha! Yes, they did raise the prices. Booooo.

Anyway, I noticed a crowd in the TV lounge, and the only TV event that attracted more people was the third presidential debate just last week. A bunch of guys were glued to the TV, and one Red Sox fan -- decked in red clothing and a baseball cap -- kept pacing during the very long extra innings. Many of them looked so serious each time something wrong happened (Johnny Damon's pop up, the called out when that one guy [don't know his name] slid into second, etc.). Meanwhile, I keep thinking Johnny Damon needs a shave and a haircut. Two bits! Well, even though they're not the M's, way to go Boston!

Proof

Watch out, Romeo & Juliet. You just got bumped from the long-standing reign as "last play seen."

I headed to the Bathhouse this beautiful and sunny afternoon for the matinee performance of Proof. It was soothing to see Green Lake and walk the path to the Bathhouse again. A few minutes after I arrived at the theater, Steve (the managing director) and Shana (the artistic/education director and lead in the play) said hello. That was pretty cool. I wasn't expecting to see them, but I did.

Because I'm a subscriber, I got to choose my seat before anybody else. Seriously, I was the only subscriber who arrived early, and a nice usher let me have my pick of the house. It was a little strange, but I had fun taking the second row, center.

The Bathhouse is an intimate theater, mind you, so anywhere you sit, you can see everything, hear everything, and feel part of the action on stage. I reread the play over the summer and enjoyed its humor. But I seemed to have forgotten how serious it can be. How dramatic it really is. Talk about an intense performance. I give it two thumbs up, and maybe I'm biased because I already liked the play, but I enjoyed seeing it again.

Wine Madness

One really cool reason to take music classes is that you get to see live performances from incredible musicians during class. Yesterday, three Chinese musicians demonstrated and played the gu zheng (21-string zither), qin/ch'in (7-string half-tube zither), pipa (a lute), erhu (2-string spike fiddle), and xiao flute. I loved listening to the program music because once you know the title, you can really imagine what the musician is playing. You can mentally picture the story and feel the music viscerally, emotionally. It's... I can't fully explain how awesome that is.

Anyway, our first listening example is called "Wine Madness," and we were treated to a live interpretation of it. The CD example has a four-beat pattern and slower tempo (which evokes a sense of drowsiness) while the video version we watched earlier in the week has a three-beat pattern and faster tempo. Madness. The live interpretation matched closer to the faster version. Why? The performer said he agreed with the video version because the CD version is "is just drunk, not mad." OK, so maybe you had to be there, but it was pretty funny.

If I could learn to play one of the five instruments I heard yesterday, I'd choose to learn the gu zheng.

Mother knows best

After I talked about my charlie horse here on blogger, Mom told me that muscle cramping is due to a lack of potassium. Well, I admit that I doubted her at first...

... and then last night on Saturday Night Live, Debbie Downer (Rachel Dratch's new hit skit from last season) said something like, "Does anyone have a banana? If I don't get enough potassium, I wake up in the middle of the night with crippling leg cramps." LOL!

So, Mom, you were correct. :) Thanks for the bananas.

Timing is everything

*patting self on back* I found out that I get more than half of December OFF. :) I picked three classes such that I only have one final during finals week. The other two exams take place the last day of class. When does my final occur? Monday the 13th. That means I can come home any time after that, and -- lol -- I'm already looking forward to it. Don't get me wrong. I think this is going to be a good quarter. A busy quarter. But still, yay!!!

Where'd the time go?

I can't believe I just started my third year of college. While I was waiting for my first class to start, I wasn't ready for it. I remember during Freshman Convocation, our then-president said that he respected the freshmen for starting the school year with the freshest eyes, the most enthusiasm. No longer am I that fresh-eyed enthusiastic freshman... but I still enjoy going to college and will hold onto my remaining time while it lasts. Best part of all? No homework so far. Phew!

ahhhhHHHHH freak out!

I have spent the past 90 minutes in panic why-must-everything-be-so-upsetting mode. When I first moved in, I had a really tough time opening my dorm room. Yesterday, the key got stuck for five minutes. Today, it got stuck really badly. I had to call the front desk three times. After the second call, two people came up. They were able to get my key out and they left. I thought that was that.

It wasn't. My door knob wouldn't budge. So if I closed the door, I'd be locked in. If I left my room, I'd be locked out. So then I called the front desk again (I never got the same person twice, so they all had various levels of helpfulness), and they told me I had to place a work order myself. The lady who took my order over the phone, thankfully, was really nice about it, and she had the lock shop get in touch with me. The lock shop called me back, and I had to explain my situation again. Finally finally finally somebody from custodial services came to fix the door lock. Apparently it was really "gummed up." Gross. I had Josh Groban playing and my browser at joshgroban.com when he was spraying the lock, and he said that Josh Grow-bon had a really good voice. Ah, now I can open my door w/o playing tug of war, now I can calm down, and now I can listen to a little Grow-bon in peace.

Monday, Monday

I haven't decided if it's so good to me yet. Too early to decide such things.

I moved in yesterday with help from Mom and Dad. The DAWG volunteers weren't around, so we had to haul things up ourselves. In the end, it all worked out because Mom stuck around the front desk to get a cart. I still have some of my stuff in boxes... not quite sure where to put things. Can't find things when I want them. But I plan to keep my space nice and neat. We'll see about that. :)

My roommate is pretty nice. We watched "American Dreams" together as well as the movie, Head of State. Then I turned on MSN Messenger and im'ed with Brittany and Erin. And thennn, a couple of my clustermates came to our room (the door was open) and we discussed the musicals Rent and Chicago and the movies Goonies (yeah, it's The Goonies, but who calls it that?), Harry Potter 3, and Chicago. Fun times.

My bed is okay. It's a little high for me. The mattress makes up for that minor complaint. I had a fairly good night's sleep, except for the fact that I got a charlie horse in my right calf in the middle of the night. That hasn't happened in a long time. Ouch. There's really nothing you can do but wait for the muscle to stop tightening. You try to relax and stretch it, but it doesn't work. Anywho, sorry if this is making people squeamish or whatnot. I have empathy pains when I hear about these things, so I'll stop writing.

Am starting my new work schedule: noon to 4:15 today. Have to go buy my textbooks and a few supplies. There are always things I forget/neglect to take with me when I move. I guess you could call today "Mundane Mundane."

Two-buck Chuck

After work today I decided to spend some of my hard-earned money. ;D

First, I bought Mean Girls widescreen edition on DVD. I haven't opened it up yet, but it comes with a Burn Book. Heh heh. Can't wait to watch the movie again.

Then I stopped by Trader Joe's to fulfill the one thing I said I would definitely do when I turned 21: buy two-buck Chuck. Well, it's $2.99 these days but still! That's so cheap! Hehehe. The cashier carded me and noticed, "Oh, you just turned 21." So I explained to her what I wanted to do, and she was like, "Right on." :) The elderly lady who stood behind me in line had grabbed a bottle without hesitation and asked the cashier, "How much is it and is it any good?" The cashier said, "Oh yes, you'll be back for more."

I'm no wine aficionado. I know that wine tasters swirl, swish, and spit. I wasn't quite sure which one to buy either. Alexa? Suggestions? Let's see, from what I remember they had chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon (pardon moi if I misspell), merlot, shariz, etc. I ended up buying merlot.