Back

I had a dream last night that I was back in Florence. It was a very real dream. I remember looking out the window of our apartment (in the dream) and thinking,
"Ok Laura, you're only here a few days. You better make the most of it."
But then I thought, "But I'm not in Florence. I"m home. This isn't real."
But then I thought, "Yes you are! Look around you!"
And I went back and for like that for a little while. It was weird, like I knew I was dreaming, but didn't. The strangest part was this morning, I put on a skirt I haven't worn that much since I've been home, and when reached in the pocket I found a five euro bill. Five euro! I wish I could walk down the street with that and get a pastry and cappuccino like I would every morning in Florence.

But isn't that weird?

:(

"The Kenya of today is almost unrecognizable to the Kenya that until recently was celebrated as one of the most stable and promising countries on the African continent. On Sunday night, local television stations showed menacing young men brandishing machetes and iron bars at road blocks along one of the country’s busiest highways. The men hurled rocks at buses, with one large bus run off the road, as police officers stood by. . . Kenyan newspapers reflected the gloom on Sunday.
'For the umpteenth time, we again ask President Kibaki and Orange Democratic Movement leader Mr. Raila Odinga to work for peace, truth and justice,' said an editorial in The Sunday Standard. 'Kenya has bled enough.'"

That hurts my heart.

Swoon

I went to a concert last night at Waco Hall. It was headlined by Matt Wertz and opened by John McLaughlin. I had never heard of either, and John blew me away. Matt was alright--good, but nothing memborable for me. John made me melt. It was just him and a grand piano on the stage. I bought a CD. Here's a sample for you; it's him playing "Indiana."

So dreamy! He's married though. His loss.

In other news, I went to my first American sporting event since I have been back. Today I watch the Men's Basketball team play OU. We were beat 77 to 71, and my heart hurts a little. It was so much fun though. I forgot how enjoyable it is to go to stuff like that. To yell and scream and cheer and sing the fight song. You really feel like apart of something

For future reference

I don't know where these last few days have gone. I guess that's what taking 18 hours will do to you--it takes away your time. It's actually starting to feel a little more like 18 hours. I'm still on top of things, but there are more things to be on top of now.

This is what happens when one leaves a tea kettle on the stove for an indeterminate amount of time

For future reference.

And this is what happens when our apartment is visited by a sugar glider named Peetree

Don't I have cute friends?

Hmph

(Since I've given up Facebook, you can be expecting a lot more posts from me. More free time and all.)

I just got great news! My two hour 8 o'clock tomorrow morning is canceled. Woohoo! I feel like I've gotten a new lease on life. And the interview for Buffalo Wild Wings went well today, and I got the job, but I don't think I want it anymore. I think I want to use my free time instead to volunteer at the World Hunger Farm. That feels more right to me. The extra cash would have been nice, but I would have had to take out my nose ring and close at 2 am (when I have 8 am classes the next morning) and I just don't think it's worth it. Hmph.

I had been debating the decision in my mind--whether or not I wanted to take the job--and then just now (I'm at Common Grounds) a guy complimented me on my nose ring (and my hair cut and my shoes) and I took that as I sign I should keep my nose ring in and not work there. Hmph.

Politics

Happy MLK Day! It has been quite a dreary day here in Wacko Waco. It's cold and wet; the kind of wet where you feel like a pansy for using an umbrella, but get moist when you don't. It's misty.

This morning I was bored and so decided to become informed. I Wikipedia-ed some of the presidential candidates. I was sitting in the living room whilst roommates around me were studying. I think I started to annoy them with my random facts and questions. "Did you know Obama was born in Honolulu, lived in Indonesia, and his father is Kenyan?" "McCain was a POW in Vietnam and now can't lift his arms over his head! And he wasn't bad looking back in the day." "Why do people hate Hilary Clinton so much?" None of us really knew the answer to that question. I mean, all of the candidates have those who are for and against them, but a lot of people have especially negative feelings towards that woman. Why? This isn't rhetorical.

Politics were discussed again tonight at the kitchen table amongst Jenny, Tinsley, and myself. We didn't talk about the election per-say, but just went through the list of hot topics and gave our two cents: abortion, gay marriage, the environment, immigration, captial punishment. It was fun. We didn't always have congruent views, but we didn't fight about it. We just said, "Hm. Ok." and moved on.

Something that annoys me is when my peers say they probably won't vote in the upcoming election because they aren't informed enough, like it's beyond their control. Just become informed! It's not that hard. When people say that, they're basically saying they are lazy bums. What I did this morning wasn't difficult. And tonight I was perusing CNN's website and found a helpful page where they spell out for you what each candidate thinks about the big issues. You lazy people should check it out.

In other news, this time tomorrow I may be a server at Buffalo Wild Wings. I'll let you know how it goes.

Deactivated

Big news: I've deactivated my Facebook account. I know, quite counter-cultural of me. I haven't gone of the deep end, I just didn't want to spend countless amounts of time learning about people I don't even know. And people I do know. And having people I don't know be able to learn about me. Now I'm much more mysterious. Except I have a blog.

Molly and a bunch of other people who will soon be gone are here for the weekend. It's nice how you can just pick up with people where you've left off. That you don't have to fill them in on every detail of your life in order to feel close to them again. You know? You know.

Found

Today has been full of people and catching up with them. As soon as I got out of class I had lunch with my cousin Rob, then a couple hours later I had coffee with my long lost friends Sandy and Jiye, during which I ran into my long lost roommate Molly. They're not lost anymore, I found them. I chatted with them for a couple hours, and then met up with a couple other long lost friends for dinner at Food For Thought. I found so many people today! And now my throat is kind of dry from all the talking. Phew. It's been fun though. I definitely have become quite the extrovert since high school. I just got back from dinner and am already getting bored and wanting to hang out with more people. What is going on with me?! It's probably living with six girls last year and then nine last semester--I've just gotten used to constantly having people around me. Now there are five of us, which feels like nothing.

And I'm taking eighteen hours, which you'd think would keep me rather busy, but really, I'm having a lack of things to do. I feel like I must be doing something wrong, because right now I have no homework. I could read a little Ovid for my Classical Mythology class on Tuesday, but I have all the time in the world to do that. Oh well. Life is hard like that sometimes. I'm sure I'm jinxing myself and will have five papers to write next week. Bring it on, universe.

In it.

Tis now the morning of my second day of classes. The nice thing about having an 8 o'clock yesterday is that now my 9:30 on Tuesdays/Thursdays seems so late. I'm already ready already, when yesterday I was scrambling to be ready.

Yesterday was a good day, though I had my doubts at the beginning. It just felt so strange to be back on campus. I had been looking forward to it, but everything was just the same. There are a couple new statues, and a lot more Sperry's, but everything else is the same. The people look the same and they all speak English. What barbarians. (On the topic of Sperry's Top Siders--it's interesting what becomes in fashion. Sperry's are boating shoes.) But it turned out well. I'm interested in most of my classes. They are . . .

3D Design
Political Science
Backpacking
Classical Mythology
Astronomy
Rest and Relaxation
Women in American Society

I know, no Art History classes. That hurts my heart a little. Melissa, my Art History roommate, is taking an Art History class, and I will probably be jealous of her all semester. Oh well. But something crazy is that I have classes with three of my four roommates. That never happens! Design with Mel, Poli Sci with Rach, and Astronomy and its lab with Tins. That makes going to class a little happier. And with my backpacking class, we get to go on a backpacking trip later on in the semester. That's pretty sweet. And I was the only girl in the class who has had backpacking experience. Yes, I am that cool.

Geez, it's still not even nine. What am I going to do with my life?!

Twas the night before classes . .

And all through the loft
Roommates were unpacking
And one just coughed [It was Claire]
Boxes were thrown in the hall without care
Next to old things and new things and ones that we share.

That's enough of that.

It's the eve of a new semester. I start tomorrow at eight with 3-D Design, a class I dropped last spring; so I'm not really looking forward to that. At least I can get it over with early.

Going to UBC this morning was really nice. I've missed it. And seeing a bunch of people I hadn't seen in awhile was cool. It's always kind of awkward to see people at first, because I don't really know what to say. There's just so much that we've missed in each other's lives, it's hard to know where to start.

"How are you?!"
"Good! How are you? How was Italy?"
"Great! I really enjoyed it. I'm happy to be back though."

And that's when the conversation starts to peter out. But oh well, it's still nice to see them.

I'm all unpacked now and comfortable. Everyone is back, including people who will soon be gone. It will be interesting to see how this semester turns out. It always is.

Wacko

I'm back in Wacko Waco, surrounding by boxes and pink walls. The pink is not really my color, but I'm making it my color. I haven't gotten very far in the unpacking progress. The most unpacked-space is my back corner, pictured below in a picture taken moments ago by the photo booth on this computer. It's from the vantage point of my bed.

I got here at about 1, but didn't open a box until around nine (I'm not quite sure why I decided to write out nine but not 1. Hm). I've been busy catching up. Rach, Tins, and Mel are here; all that our little family is missing is Claire (her name is already only one syllable). It felt funny to be here at first, but now it feels really good. I'm happy to be back in this silly town. I feel like I'm just visiting. I'm happy I have many months yet to go.

I think I'm about to turn into a pumpkin or something. I soon as it became 11:30 I began to feel a little sleepy, and I have been getting progessively more tired as I get closer to midnight.

I'll close this post now, before then, so that it won't get posted on the wrong day. I hate that.

Working Out

Something I've learned this evening is that not many girls work out at Lifetime at night. I went there tonight at around eight and very much felt that. There were plenty of us around the cardio machines, but when I looked around whilst doing weights, I felt rather alone in representing my gender. And exposed.

Sometimes, when I work out and it's really hard and I need to motivate myself, I say, "Laura, it's called working out for a reason. It's not called easy out. It's supposed to be hard." That's just a little something for ya. I enjoy motivating people, including myself.

People say that two subjects you should avoid talking about are religion and politics. They ignite passions. Well, here at the Carmack table (which is where I'm sitting right now, as a matter of fact), that is pretty much all we talk about, I've noticed. Well, I wouldn't so much say we, because I'm usually more on the listening side of things; I absorb. Especially the later, what with it being election season and all. I feel pitifully uninformed when it comes to that. But I become more informed by absorbing.

I don't see how these politicians get any sleep. They're always talking on TV.

Baby

There's a cute little baby in the house now, my first-cousin-once-removed Caroline (not to be confused with "Sweet Caroline" under my "friends" list. "Sweet Caroline" is a bit older). She's not so much a little baby anymore actually; she just celebrated her first birthday. She's up and walking all over the place now (you can see her mommy's blog by clicking on "The Huffmans" link). And today is my mommy's birthday! Happy Birthday mi madre! Buon compleanno!

This time next week I will be in class. I was excited about that until I looked at my schedule yesterday. That made me not so excited about it. I'm taking eighteen hours. We'll see how that goes.

Why'd you have to go and make things so complicated?

One Tree Hill has gotten crazy. I'll catch an episode on the Soap channel every now and then. In the one I'm watching right now there is a guy trying to kill Brooke and Peyton--it's like a slasher movie. They escaped the murderer just in time to go to prom. The last episode I watched had Lucas being visited by his dead uncle who showed him what his life would be like if he was more selfish. What happened to the simpler days when you just had two half brothers battling on the basketball court, one of whom married the other's best friend when they were sixteen? Those days were much less complicated. High school is hard.

So now I've applied to the Shelburn Museum in Vermont, the Kimball in Fort Worth, and then next on my list is The Fort Worth Modern. I'm pulling for the Modern, but the Kimbell would be cool too. Vermont is far away and scarey, but maybe that's why I should do that one. We'll see what happens.

Oh snap! Lucas just found out who killed his uncle! And Brooke and Peyton are at Prom and all bloody. Gross. Just in time for Brooke to be crowned prom queen!

Interesting

I hear people say sometimes that their life isn't interesting, like it's beyond their control. It frustrates me when people say that. For one, of course your life doesn't seem interesting to you, you see it everyday, and something you see everyday inevitably becomes uninteresting. For two--it's your life. It's as interesting as you make it. And you don't need to do something crazy like live in Italy to do it, that's something I've learned this semester. Things are as interesting as you are interested in them. I came across many people who were uninterested in living in Italy, who were bored and complainers and couldn't wait to go home. I wanted to slap them, but that's not what this is about. What I'm trying to say is that you are in control of you.

I was watching the America's Next Top Model marathon on VH1 this morning, and became bored. I wanted to be outside and walk around. So I did. I drove to Parr Park, journal in tow, and spent some time outside. It was a good idea. Today is beautiful. When I first got there a little white dog with no owner in sight followed me around. A man jogging asked me what kind of dog he was, and I said I don't know, he's not mine. Then the man jogged after the dog and said, "Snickers! Snickers?!" Apparently he suspected it was his neighbor's dog, but the dog didn't respond to Snickers and so the man gave up. I didn't see the dog again until 45 minutes later when I was leaving and I saw another man run up to "Snickers" and say, "Snickers!" with relief in his voice. He was the aforementioned neighbor and it was his dog. It's felt funny, like I was on a TV show or something, the way it happened that this dog framed my time at the park. When I got there he was a mystery, and when I left, the mystery was solved.

I thought about this whole "interesting" thing while I was at the park, about how going there made my day more interesting.

A song by Kimya Dawson (I found her on the Juno soundtrack)comes to mind (it's also one of her songs that is quoted above)


The flower said "I wish I was a tree"
The tree said "I wish I could be
a different kind of tree"
The cat wished that it was a bee
The turtle wished that it could fly
really high into the sky
Over rooftops and then dive
deep into the sea

And in the sea there is a fish
A fish that has a secret wish
A wish to be a big cactus
with a pink flower on it
And the flower would be its offering of love
To the desert
and the deserts so dry and lonely
That the creatures all appreciate the effort


And the rattlesnake said "I wish I had hands
So I could hug you like a man"
And then the cactus said "but don't you understand?
My skin is covered with sharp spikes
That'll stab you like a thousand knives
A hug would be nice but hug my flower with your eyes"
Till the flower said "I wish I was a tree"


Happy New Year. (The song is called Tree Hugger, by the way. And the song quoted in my heading is called Loose Lips)