So That Was Pretty Amazing

The Best Fall Break Ever Highlights:

Horseback riding in upstate New York in the freezing cold but not caring because it was so beautiful outside. And by beautiful I mean freezing cold, rainy, muddy, and surrounded in a forest of bright yellow leaves.

Seeing everyone I so desperately missed. Renee, Lindsey, Kristen, Felipe--- everyone that I may or may not see again for a very long time but cherish.

Saturday's party was spent with me laughing way too much. Team Dance was created, Anna told a guy I had agoraphobia, and I realized around 1:00am that life is pretty fucking amazing.

AirTran having XM radio and me being able to listen to BBC World Service the entire flight up and back. Kick ass.

Wegman's grocery store and it's total and complete awesomeness. I will miss that place more than anything else in Rochester. Not even kidding.

I Have A Headache

I just paid $120+ in library fees.

Good part is that a book listed as "lost" under my account was on its shelf the entire time-- I had accidently left it in the library one day when making copies and someone reshevled it.

If I hadn't found it the total would have been over $200.



Fuck.

I hate it when I can't blame something else for my own mistakes.

Dinners, Movies, Parties, Races

FRIDAY
No classes.
Learn some more German.
Fantastic dinner at Lauren's (in which the risotto was done extremely well but mushroom-y, the salad chunchy and delicious, and the white wine nice and cold).
Saw Marie Antoinette and loved it, aside from the damn high schoolers who ruined it with constant chatter and cell phone usage.
Watched episodes of Legends of the Hidden Temple for a good hour.
Headed to a Halloween party and had good conversation with friends, ranging from the awkwardness of social gatherings to Chuck Norris jokes.

(I get: 5.5 hours of sleep)

SATURDAY
Tailgated at the house with Erin's family, which was awesome. Lots of great food and lots of people.
Went to game and left at half-time because it's not worth it anymore (thank God basketball and gymdawgs starts soon).
Ate more tailgating food.
Learned some more German
Went to birthday party later that night and was embarassed by the lack of quality in the "band" that started to play. Lauren threatened to shoot herself in the face if they did anymore covers from our middle school days. Cut to NSYNC'S "Bye Bye Bye" and us leaving out the back.
Get stopped by a cop before getting in the car and am glad I volunteered to be DD. After Kirsten tells him she'll put the nearly-empty bottle of wine in the trunk (which I cringe at) he tells her to leave it here, which she does. Note to all: It is illegal to have any open container in your car, no matter where it is located.

(I get: 4 hours of restless sleep)

SUNDAY
Wake up at 7 to get to the Dash for Darfur 5k.
We get there and I lock my keys in the car. Lauren (who has pulled her back and is in another car) goes to get spare key.
Run race in the cold and rain but make decent time.
Realized the spare key is not the right key and proceed to walk another 5k home with Marla.
Marla calls AAA and they unlock my car, I come home still cold from the mornings events and pass out. It is only 12:30.

Things I was happy about this weekend:
I like being DD for parties now. Watching everyone else is more fasinating.
Tom gave us a shout-out on the radio on Saturday during "SweatBox"; Erin's new song is "Peaces and Cream."
The Marie Antoinette soundtrack is amazing.

Wo ist der Stuhl?

Currently trying to learn German and so far so good. This is going to be a very long process, but I'll be damned if I'm not going to put forth the effort. I refuse to go to another country with no basic knowledge of the language. That, to me, is just playing into the "lazy American" stereotype.

Things are going...well. I say this cautiously because in all honesty things are better than well-- they are good. School is going great and I was called a "shameless whore" by one of my professors, a great thing to occur in my mind. I really respect this professor and the repartee we have is fantastic. They will definitely be someone I will keep contact with for a very long time, and I'm lucky to know them.

Family is okay. Mom and Dad helped fix Grandma's new place and apparently it's not as abysmal as we all feared. She still has a lot of stuff she can no longer hold on to and I'm debating on whether to ask for something. I'm afraid if I did get something that the guilt would never go away. I can just picture myself looking at her old coffee table and thinking "She had to give this up, even though she didn't want to. She had to and she still wanted it."

Stupid debts. Stupid credit cards. Stupid fucking Steve.

In more cheerful news I'm going to Rochester, NY in 6 DAYS for Fall Break. Visiting people I worked with at Camp (I'm calling it "Camp" from now on for various reasons), whom I have desperately missed since I left them three months ago. I can't believe it's been such a short time, because I think about my Summer every day. I miss it a lot, but hopefully I'll be there again (I turned in the application today).

Decided to not sign up for Peace Corps. I'm not as ready as I thought (or wished) I was. Mom and Dad are thrilled and I'm just disappointed. Still thinking about Teach for America though, but then again that's another two year commitment that I don't want to think about right now.

It's scary knowing that I only have my life planned out until next August. After that it's all up to me and figuring out what to do with my life. I know Grad school will be somewhere in the mix (which reminds me that I need to sign up for the GRE), but I don't want to go straight into that. I need experience first. I need to know what I want to do with my life before I go and get a degree in it.

Right?

About Last Night

I've done worse things downtown than that, so I'm not even going to mention the events.


Starting to get colder here in Athens, which means my excitement level is through the roof. I'm donating a lot of clothes I no longer wear to Good Will and thus buying new ones that will accomodate the colder weather and my trip to Germany.

Though I do think I might have ruined those new jeans I got by letting a milkshake fall into my lap. That was not fun.

Funny, but not fun.

Parents, Papers

Mom and Dad are asleep in my room and I desperately want my bed. I just finished my midterm that I should have done with everyone else, but my professor let me have an extension and I took it.

Too bad I completely forgot my parents were visiting.

But it's great to see them and weirdly enough this is the first time they have ever spent the night in Athens. I've been here for four years and living the same house for two.

But it's only a short stop before they continue onto Cincinnati to visit Grandma. Mom hates the place Grandma is in right now and I know she hates it too. Apparently the windows are at the very top of high ceilings, so looking out the window is a no-go. Terrible, and I'm sure I'll hear more of it in the coming week.

Took the family to Last Resort Grill, which was even better than I imagined, even after all the praise my friends had given it. Mom and Dad loved it and we came back just in time to bestow on my Father the wonders of Project Runway, which he actually took interest in. Mom was enthralled with The Colbert Report as always and we had a good laugh.

Even though I'm constantly told "family comes first" I know they wanted me to get started on my paper. But really, you can't instill me from day one with values like that and expect me to put them on hiatus for French peasantry and how it's tied to French identity and nationalism in the first half of the 20th century, can you?

No, I thought not.


I directed the parents to Big City Bread for breakfast tomorrow, since I can't join them myself. For once I can't skip my morning classes and by the time I get out at 10:45 they will have hit the road already, braving cold weather and freakishly weird low pressure systems traveling across the midwest.

Phone Sex

Gilmore Girls has just dove into the world of phone sex between two of it's characters.



What little of you know is that my family loves this show. My father is more obsessed with it than I am, which is both weird and hysterically funny. I think it's due to the fact that Rory is the same age as I am, so it's like a window into my life for him. And Paris, who's character is so cynical and witty I'm midly surprised the actor on the recieving end of her rants aren't actually crying.

Anyway, I'm bringing this up because when I do call home to talk to my parents it's usually after the show. We small talk about the episode and then discuss family issues (which there are plenty of). But I'm dreading this call because I have a sinking suspicion my dad is going to comment about the phone sex bit.

There are certain things one does not discuss with parents. This is one of them.

Observations of the UGA vs Tennessee Game (And Then Some)

(from the POV of a not-so-sober girl that was very glad she didn't get a hotdog):

-Ran into many more people than I was expecting too, two of which who were wearing more paint on their bodies than clothes. Always nice.

-Realized that the whole "Black Out The Student Section" didn't go quite as planned and was sad.

-Saw a fight break out in front of where we were sitting between drunk guys talking too much smack. The amount of testosterone and Sonny Perdue stickers in that stadium would make any God-fearing Republican proud.

-I am extremely happy that I left the game when the going was good. After six hours of drinking and watching Cinderella we (Lauren, Erin, and I) decided that enough was enough.

-Had to assist a middle-aged couple in crossing the street due to their intoxication. Seriously, this woman didn't know how to cross the street and told the three of us not to walk away from her. I don't think her husband knew how to talk. Either that or maybe he's decided that it's better not to anymore with her around.

-Was told by a concerned Athens Police officer driving by that we were "walking through the projects" (read: what are you doing, be careful). This left me mad and with a bad taste in my mouth, lamenting why he called it "the projects" and not "low-income housing." Stupid authority figures, at least act like you're in a position in which people look up to what you say and do.

-Legends of the Hidden Temple was/is a great show. Too bad Kurt Fogg did absolutely nothing as host. And poor Tammy-- that one challenge was just too much for her.

-Cold weather is awesome.

-Night games screw up my entire weekend schedule and now I have two 5-8 page midterms to complete.

Vomit-Inducing

Notice the smaller print: "Pancake Batter Covering a Sausage Link"





This is why other countries hate the United States, I swear.

Harvest Moon

Go outside, check out the moon, and bask in the awesomeness that is your ability to see perfectly clear in the dark. For the next week or so the moon will be the biggest and most beautiful it's been in some time, all because of the Harvest Moon.

Today in my observation I had the amazing and sad encounter of teaching a 6th grader how to spell the word "largest."

6th grade and he doesn't know how to spell. What's worse is that he doesn't know how to read. He was just copying down the shapes of the letters on the board. He knew "A" was the first letter of the alphabet, but what's the use of knowing that if you can't do anything with it?

When I was in 5th grade my reading level was so low I'm embarassed to say. My parents, frustrated because they couldn't connect the dots themselves, sent me to the Sylvan Learning Center. The progress was amazing and I am so thankful my parents made the right choice to send me to a specialist. I always laughed at the thought of a "reading specialist," but because of Sylvan I'm the fastest reader in my family.

After today and for the rest of the semester I'm going to dedicate my observations to figuring out how to make School Tracking work in a way that's beneficial to all tracks, not just the upper tracks. The class I'm in now, with the lowest and highest students mixed together, isn't working. The higher-level students are bored and the lower-level students aren't getting the attention they need.

It's just so frustrating to see. I've always been told "tracking is bad" and it is because those in the lower tracks are not given the same opportunity, encouragement, and care that the higher-level students are. There has got to be a way to make it so those in the lower track are treated the same as those in the higher. It's hard though, when there's learning disabilities, physical limitations, and behavioral problems to take into account. But most behavioral problems stem from lack of care and lack of education.

Bleh. How can you be in 6th grade and not know how to read? And how are there students in higher grades also unable to read or write a paragraph?

This seriously makes me want to be a Reading Specialist. Everyone should know how to read. Everyone.

$20 Million In Emergency Aid To Go To Darfur

Congress Approves Reid/Obama Legislation to Provide $20 Million for Military Assistance in Sudan
(See the release on US Newswire Here)


Legislation authored by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-[Nev.]) and Senator Barack Obama (D-[Ill.]) to provide $20 million in emergency aid to African Union (AU) peacekeeping forces in Sudan passed the Senate today [Friday] as part of a larger Department of Defense (DOD) spending bill that will soon be signed into law by the President.

"With the severity of this situation growing worse, and as the government of Sudan continues to block the deployment of a United Nations peacekeeping force to Darfur, the African Union force remains the front line of security," said Senator Reid. "Now that the African Union has decided to increase its force and extend its stay in Darfur until the end of the year, this legislation will be a good step towards strengthening the African Union Mission in Sudan."

"In August, I met with AU commanders in Eastern Chad where thousands of Sudanese refugees have fled from the violence that has engulfed their country," Obama said. "It quickly became clear to me that bolstering the AU mission is critical to short-term efforts to protect innocent civilians and allow humanitarian operations in the region. While we have so much more to do to stop the slaughter of innocents, this funding, combined with recent pledges of assistance from European governments, is an important step in the right direction."

Reid and Obama's amendment provides $20 million in emergency military assistance to the AU peacekeeping force. The AU is the only international force in Darfur working to prevent a further deterioration of a situation where 400,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been driven from their homes.

U.S. assistance is crucial to their efforts as the 7,200-member African Union force does not have the resources or mandate to prevent the escalating violence. Sudan's president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir has refused to accept into his country a 22,000-person United Nations peacekeeping operation to relieve the African Union contingent, which recently agreed to extend its mandate until the end of the year.

In late August, Senator Obama visited the Mile Refugee Camp, one of 12 encampments on Chad's eastern border. The camp is home to 15,000 refugees who crossed the Sudanese border seeking safety from Janjaweed militias who have been terrorizing ethnic African tribes in Darfur. During his visit to Eastern Chad, Senator Obama met with refugees from the Darfur region, AU military commanders, local Chadian officials, U.S. military officers, and U.N. personnel.

The legislation was cosponsored by Senators Dick Durbin (D-[Ill.]) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-[N.Y.]).

What The U.S. Knows About Its Visitors

A pretty long but extremely worthwhile article centering on what information the U.S. has been asking EU members to hand over on flight passengers.

Eating Out, Getting Fingerprinted, and Watching Movies

Today was the weekend of absolute relaxation and for once having an open schedule. It's only been this year that I'm starting to write all my appointments, meetings, and key dates down but this weekend was a complete blank, save for Friday night at 10pm. I love my Moleskin planner more than necessary.

Friday, thanks to an amazing schedule, I have no classes. So of course I'm going to sleep in and enjoy my time. Had lunch with Amy at Five Star, and then got finger printed in the Sheriff's office (I need to get clearance by the FBI in order to teach). I think out of all of the people I saw while there the little old lady that did the printing was the funniest, along with one immate that was quite indignant that I was able to leave once I was done.

The rest of my Friday was mainly hanging out with Lauren and Ben. Between laughing at our depressing waitress-- appropriately named Summer-- at Carabba's, trying to get my compatriots up to speed on LOST (they are still on the first season!), and attending a Pants Party in which Lauren almost killed me with my own Mojito, it was a pretty damn good night.

Saturday was just as entertaining and uneventful as Friday. All you need to know is that I watched a total of two rented movies and two non-rented and ate my leftovers from Carabba's, kettle corn, chocolate chip cookies, and cereal over the span of the entire day. Lauren, of course, was my partner in crime the entire time. Huzzah for getting hit on the back with sticks and throwing worms into the middle hot pavement (a reference that only fans of Whale Rider and Chocolat will understand).

Also, I sincerely and desperately hope a letter arrives for a certain someone on a particuarly important day.