Exam 1: Conquered

This blog is being written about five minutes after I finished my first exam. It is five minute after becaue it took me that long to locate a computer . . . the science center is a large building. But as far as the exam is concerned, conquered. I triumphed over that ten page monster like a dexterous dog would open a hot dog pack and cook them on a grill and eat. There was struggle, but in the end, I felt good. I feel good, still. And, as perk, when I finished the exam, I got a piece of a cinnamon roll, which my stomach welcomed after a small breakfast this morning because when I got out of bed it still felt like I had the tacos from dinner in my stomach.

And what does the rest of this exam day entail? Well, I've got nothing work-wise this afternoon, save a tour a noon, which will be cake, except its raining and I am wearing boots but I like boots and I like rain so it will be cake, which I also like.

Oh, I know what this afternoon will be full of. Bread. I will be baking bread. My goal number is twenty four loaves of bread in fact, but because of the set up of the recipes it will be more like thirty little loaves and four big loaves. But, anyway you slice it (yay puns) that is a lot of bread. It is Gingerbreaf load and Cranberry Orange bread, for exactness purposes.

Play Time 3

I almost promise this is the last one . . . you never know when I'll get a sarcastic streak and have to publish something under "play time" that has nothing to do with the title, kinda like the first one.

Anyway, my play was amazing. A big thank you to Elliot, Jake, and Meredith because they worked hard and brought Jake and Drew to life and I was very happy with what they did. Another big thank you to everybody who slogged through the original drafts; aka Zoe, Bonnie, and Katie. Overall the One Acts were a success and from the reviews I've gotten, the audience really enjoyed them.

I'll tell you what, it spurred me into writing another play. If I didn't have enough creative endeavors already, oy, but there is just something exciting-amazing-wonderful-terrifying, about seeing your play on stage and hearing your words being spoken. It is so exciting-amazing-wonderful-terrifying, that I want to do it again.

Also, it was great because my parents came in an got to see my work. They don't get to read much of my stuff so it was a treat for me to see their reactions to my writing and to hear what they thought. It was also fun to have three extra people sleeping in my apartment for a night because it's a good size . . . for two people and two cats. Five people and two cats is a bit cramped but we made it work and it was wonderful.

What else . . . exams. Blah . . . but they are a necessary part of college life and I will power through them like I powered through them last year and the year before. I'm not worried. There isn't any reason to be. And then after exams, the semester is over. Today was my last day of classes for the semester. It's unbelievable how fast everything seems. I'm going to be a senior is less than a semester. I just told myself to hold my horses . . . I'm not ready to think about that. Back to now, exams, ahh!

Have a great one.

Pictures: #1 is the photo from The Transcript of Elliot (Jack) and Jake (Drew). #2 is the Trio of Doom at opening night. #3 is also from opening night.

Play Time Too

I realized yesterday that the title of my previous blog, "Play Time" had a purpose until I started writing the blog which went in completely different direction then talking about plays, which was the original goal of the blog. So, in this blog, I cam going to attempt to focus on the plays which I was going to discuss in the previous blog. Not to knock the content of bloggo previous because it is great, its just I was trying to tie my title and content together and I failed without trying to fail. I believe Gretchen would call it an epic fail.

So, guess what readers, I am having a play produced on campus as part of the One Acts. The One Acts are where the playwriting kids, aka me and my classmates, write plays (duh) and then they are given to the directing class and the directing kids get the actors and put on the plays. Mine was chosen. Mine is in the One Acts.

Incoming shameless plug: The One Acts are Friday and Saturday (Dec. 5 and 6) at 8pm on the main stage of the drama center and tickets are free.

Come see them. They are wonderful and cover a wide range of topics that can only be witnessed by coming to see the shows. There are six of them and they should be able ten minutes so it's really only an hour-ish, so if your not a theatre buff but are dedicated to reading my blog you can still come and still be entertained. This be advantage one.

Advantage two, you can experience a different style of writing from your truly and it can be instant gratification instead of waiting for the novel which will be published someday but not as soon as someday which is my play which is tomorrow and Saturday.

Yay plays!

Have a great one.

Photos: 1. is Gretchen's "epic fail" face. 2. is my "writer's face". 3. is Shakespeare, except me.

Play Time

Hello Readers and isn't it a lovely December. Here at OWU, December is complete with snow . . . not that any of it is sticking but it's falling from the sky and being beautiful. I think that, and the passing of Thanksgiving have put me in the holiday spirit. To back up, my Thanksgiving was wonderful. It was just a quiet time at home and it was just my immediate family. We had turkey, taters, gravy, cranberry sauce, stuffing, rolls, butter, iced tea, wine, pie, and apple crumbly and green beans.

Break was lovely too. Class work was a bit less than the load I was given at mid-semester break so this break actually felt like a break and that was nice. It gave me time to work on the book and re-read Breaking Dawn and see Twilight . . . twice while I was home. Time one, I surprised my sister by picking her up and school and pretending to drive her home when we were actually going to the movie. It was opening day and she was super excited when we got settled at the theatre. Time two was with Jake.

Then, I got back to school and Sunday was bust as far as doing what little work I had to do so Zoe, Adele, and I went to see a movie. Points to whoever can guess which movie.

But to get back to now time; holiday spirit, yes. There are lights in our windows and there is tree-getting consideration and wreath-for-the-door consideration. And besides that preparing, exams are in two weeks. Studying would be a good idea. I have three exams, one is take home, and a presentation. Yes, I should study.

Have a great one.

My tree decorating story. After I put Phoebe down for her nap (picture one), the family decided it was tree decorating time. I saw some grapes and decided to eat them (picture two) and then Gretchen told they weren't real. So, after I stopped eating the ornaments, I started to decorate the tree, (picture three) which was actually Gretchen. Then, Santa fell from the sky and landed on top of me (picture four).

Knick Knack

By Gretchen and Samantha

This old man
He played one
He played knick knack on my thumb.
With a knick knack patty whack
Give a dog a bone.
This old man came rolling home.

This old man
He played two
He played knick knack while turning blue.
With a knick knack patty whack
Give a dog a bone.
This old man came rolling home.

This old man
He played three
He played knick knack in a tree.
With a knick knack patty whack
Give a dog a bone.
This old man came rolling home.

This old man
He played four
He played knick knack on a door.
With a knick knack patty whack
Give a dog a bone.
This old man came rolling home.

This old man
He played five
He played knick knack on a bee hive.
With a knick knack patty whack
Give a dog a bone.
This old man came rolling home.

This old man
He played six
He played knick knack with some chicks.
With a knick knack patty whack
Give a dog a bone.
This old man came rolling home.

This old man
He played seven
He played knick knack on his way to heaven.
With a knick knack patty whack
Give a dog a bone.
This old man came rolling home.

This old man
He played eight
He played knick knack on a first date.
With a knick knack patty whack
Give a dog a bone.
This old man came rolling home.

This old man
He played nine
He played knick knack while going back in time.
With a knick knack patty whack
Give a dog a bone.
This old man came rolling home.

This old man
He played ten
He played knick knack on Big Ben.
With a knick knack patty whack
Give a dog a bone.
This old man came rolling home.

This old man
He played eleven
He played knick knack because the bread was unleven
With a knick knack patty what
Give a dog a bone.
This only man came rolling home.

This old man
He played twelve
He played knick knack on some elves.
With a knick knack patty whack
Give a dog a bone
This old man came rolling home.

This old man
He played thirty
He played knick knack because he was dirty.
With a knick knack patty whack
Give a dog a bone.
This old man came rolling home.

This old me
He played a thousand
Because in German its ine tausend
With a knick knack patty what
Give a dog a bone.
This old man came rolling home.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Acid Paper v Acid Free Paper

In my efforts to be a good student, I decided to work on the works cited page for my media law paper and while searching for publication information in my textbook, I discovered that my book was published on acid-free paper.

This is a new concept to me; not because I assumed that everything was printed on acid containing paper but because I didn't know that there had to be a disclaimer about acid paper and non-acid paper. I decided to share this fact with friend Jake and friend Jake said he was aware of this difference.

So, I inquired as to whether I could die from eating a book. Apparently, in older times, when books were published, they were published on acid paper to keep the pages from fading. Nifty eh? Well, in our lovely environment preservation mentality, paper people have come up with a new acid-free paper that does the same thing as the acid paper. Cool beans, right?

And as far as the dying from literary consumption is concerned . . . I think just cramming the paper down your throat would kill you, but as far as death from acid paper, neither Jake nor I think it would happen.

Another random fact for ya'lls fact books.

Have a good one.

Pictures: More leaf fun from when I was last home. First is Gretchen with leaves. Second is us with leaves. Third is out shadows with leaves.

Thanksgiving Break starts the 21st. I can't wait to relax.

Halloween; Austin Manor Style

Unlike my other posts, I am going to make this one work with the title. So, there was a Halloween Party at Austin Manor.

That wasn't much fun (the title pertaining part because the party was excellent).

Now what. Daylight savings tonight; 2:00 am I believe. Stay up and party and the like. I'm super excited because my internal alarm clock doesn't let me sleep past 7:30 anyway and it doesn't have a daylight savings switch so 6:30 here I come. Oh well, at least I won't miss class . . . bad joke . . . really, really bad . . . but good for those classes that have attendance policies, and our professors can do that because out classes are small and they know, magic-like, or they hand around paper that you sign. I wonder if they actually look at the name or if it gets to a point that know handwriting or if they just count. It would be interesting to sign someone else's name, not like a name from someone in the class but like Benjamin Franklin or Joseph Heller or Jennifer Lopez . . . would that count as identity theft?

Anyway, I wonder, but with my luck there would be absent people and then it would get confusing and then I'd be counted absent when I really sat through the whole lecture. Oh well.

Watched the Twilight preview just a bit ago. Finished the book for time two yesterday.

Zoe just turned on her pants putting on song.

Anyway, have a great one.

Pictures: #1 us the mega sundae that Zoe and I got at Hoggy's the other night. #2 is my Halloween costume. I was Miss. Matched. #3 is the brain at the Halloween party. #4 is the line up for the costume contest fashion show.

Mormons in the News

It was a muffin morning (but actually I was eating a Cinnamon roll because all the muffins at the bakery would have killed me). I was reading the newspaper and in said paper there was a headline that caught my eye: "Mormon calender Helps Cost Grad his Degree".

Being a curious person, I decided to take a gander and this is what I discovered.

"Brigham Young University has yanked the diploma of a man who created a calendar featuring shirtless Mormon missionaries and was later excommunicated from the church." That is the first paragraph of the story.

. . .

. . .

Wow.

So, being a curious person, I searched online for this calender and I found it and Wow. The calender pages feature two pictures, one of the missionaries in their classic shirt, jacket, and name tag. The second picture features them shirtless and Wow. Mormon missionaries are not bad to look at.

Now, I don't want to ruffle any feathers . . . wait . . . but really? Shirtless guys = excommunication? I see worse things walking down the street, like shirtless unattractive guys. That is far worse the shirtless attractive guys. Sometimes guys that are wearing shirts are unattractive.

Oh, and what about all the attractive poses that women in calendars assume? Enough, said.

Also, it's not like the money was just filling the creators pocket. Each missionary got a reasonable cut to give to the place where his mission was located. Sounds like a sweet gig to me.

So, that's the news.

Have a great one.

Photos: #1 Censorship: sad. #2 Shirtless Mormons! Where are you? #3 Something equally pretty, waterfall!

Leaves!

You know, the kind that are on trees? It's not an order and I'm in no way been left and I'm not giving an order in a tense other than the order giving tense (yes, that is the technical term). It would be fun to write an entire blog in the wrong tense. It might frustrate you readers a bit, but you've been kind enough to put up with my grammatical errors up to this point . . . maybe it will happen. (For those of you who think it will never happen, I wrote an entire blog in Swahili once, don't mess with me.)

Anyway, so mid-semester break is where we left off and it went. It went quickly. Breaks tend to go quickly when every class assigns work (I'm not bitter) but in the midst of feeling like I was still at school, I did have some time to kick back and relax.

Gretchen raked up a huge pile of leaves and then invited me to jump in it, which I did. Olivia and I had our Chinese food fix. I spent an entire day in my pajamas. Spencer did not eat Phoebe. I got to spent time with mom and dad. I lost my keys and then discovered I'd already packed them because I am too efficient and I expect myself to remember this. I spent money at one of the best stores ever, Half Priced Books.

That is a good sum up. So, as you can read, some stuff happened and it was good. Then I got back on campus, got resettled (which involved unpacking and making a Kroger run) and then I went to class on Monday in which Adele informed me she found her Halloween costume. I want to thank everybody who considered submitting ideas, next time please submit them. But Adele is going as a French maid. I'm excited.

Have a great one.

Pictures: First is Gretchen laying in the leaves. Second is me rising from the leaves. Third is Phoebe not in the leaves. Fourth is Gretchen attacking me with a leaf in the leaves.

Waiter, I Would Like One BREAK Please!

Apparently there is this wonderful ask and you shall receive policy as OWU because right when I need a break, I'm being served one. As soon as classes end tomorrow, mid-semester break starts. In my case its as soon as tours end tomorrow I'm on mid-semester break. And this is the longest one since I've been at OWU. We get five days, Wednesday through Sunday, and it will be excellent.

I'm going home. Phoebe and I are making the drive tomorrow afternoon. Yes, Phoebe is going home and she will be meeting her "step-siblings" seeing as how I've got four cats at the Cincy homestead. And let me just say I am super excited about the drive because of the lovely music I'm sure she'll be making. The solo meows, I will have to invest in the CD . . . the Solo Meows sounds like a great band name. There's another one for ya Adele.

Adele is collecting cool could be band names. She's come up with some great one. Not that any are jumping to mind at the moment but trust me, they are great. I think the best part about this trying to remember jig is I know exactly where I was standing, my kitchen washing dinner dishes and I know where Adele was standing, next to the table with her arms folded, when we had this conversation.

Speaking of brain farts, Adele needs our help to find a Halloween costume. Her favorite holiday is Halloween yet she is blanking on costume ideas. Help her out and submit something amazing, or not so amazing, to the comment section!

Have a great week.

Pictures: First if the I-need-a-break face and who can argue with that? Second is just how happy I am to be getting me break and to be going home. Yay! home. Third is about where Adele was standing during out conversation. Fourth is Adele, begging you with her sultryness to help her find a Halloween costume.

Homecoming and #16

Can anybody guess what this weekend is? No hints because if ya'll read the title as is the natural tendency when going from the top of a document to it's bottom then ya already know. But what you might be confused by is the number.

I'll tell you what it is not.

16 is not the number of this weekend's events we've had (see how I'm creatively not giving away the answer to question 1?) 16 is not how old I am. 16 is not the number of DVDs on our DVD shelf. 16 is not the number of meatballs on my samich tonight. 16 is not the number of toes on my left foot. 16 is not the number of trees on campus.

I'll tell you what it is.

16 is how old my sister is. 16 is the number of tiles in my kitchen minus two rows. 16 is the number of toes on my right foot . . . haha . . . and 16 is the number of president's OWU has had because Rock Jones president number 16 gets inaugerated tomorrow. Woot!

I get to try out my arm waving skills tomorrow as a parking attendent. Yes, if you thought my tour guide arm waving skills were impressive you should check out the parking lot attendent arm waving skills. 7:30 tomorrow morning I will be waving wildly in a parking lot on campus. parking lot . . . I thought one more would be good.

Have a great one.

Pictures: First is Gretchen, who is sixteen, with Jaz, who is not. Second is the chunk of chocolate I found in my ice cream. Third is the number 100, which is not the number 16. Fourth is Rosemarie.

Jeff Dunham Dot Com

On Thursday the Trio of Doom plus John and Red and Adele's sister, Sarah, and her friend Alice went to see Jeff Dunham. It was excellent. It was super excellent. It was totally super excellent. In the words of George Carlin it was "moderately neato". It "was not unwell".

Background: Jeff Dunham is a ventriloquist comedian. He had two tours; "Talk With Myself" and "Spark of Insanity" (which we saw) and he is starting work on a Christmas special due to air on Comedy Central in November. While doing a bit of stand-up the show revolves around the puppets he bring to life. At the show we attended he had Walter, Achmed, Peanut, Jose Jalapeno, and he provided Bubba J as an encore.

Oh for the sake of heavens, it was hilarious. And we definately got our money-worth. The show started at eight and went until eleven. It was wonderful. Accompanying Jeff Dunham was a comedian called Guitar Guy. Guess what, he was a guy with a guitar (I thought I'd help ya'll out) and he was excellent.

My favorite material was when Jeff Dunham and Guitar Guy were both on stage and Jeff Dunham would improv to make Guitar Guy laugh and then immediately ask him to play music. The laughter made my face hurt.

Achmed and Peanut are my favorites.

Overall it was good and I would totally go see him again.


Pictures: #1, the Trio of Doom before the start of the show. #2, Jeff Dunham and Achmed. #3, Jeff Dunham, Peanut, and Jose Jalapeno. #4, me and Zoe after the show.

Have a great one.

September Sum Up

Hello. It's been a bit since the last writing. Besides being overrun with work, both the school and the tour kind, I've been sick. Yes, I got the ick and while today I'm feeling good, yesterday and the day before I felt terrible. This is the first night I've eaten in my room this week and it will be the only night. Monday was an Austin Manor dinner, yesterday OWU President Rock Jones has the tour guides to his house for dinner, tomorrow night is Jeff Dunham, Friday is the tour guide dinner at Hilary's. Yes, a week of good food.

But, as the title says this is the Septemeber Sum up. For the past two weeks I've been commenting on all the blog I should write. Instead, I'm going to sum up and hopefully, this way, I will remember to elaborate on the more interesting stuff.

(1) High winds at OWU knocks down tree at Austin Manor.

(2) Don't see Burn After Reading because critic me says it is a waste of time.

(3) There are cool staircases at OWU.

(4) Hoggy's, a new Delware resturant has good food.

(5) The Columbus Zoo has animals.

(6) Jaz and Phoebe are getting bigger and have more toys than they know what do to with.

(7) When procrastinating on writing new articles, spend time at the Mean Bean.

(8) Come see Fashion! (OWU theatre department) because I sewed some buttons.

(9) It just took me four hours to do half a load of laundry.

(10) When keys are lost, look in the lock on the door, that's where I found mine.

September Sum Up! Have a great one.

Welcome Jasmine and Phoebe and the Couch

One of the perks of my new residence is the ability to have pets. So, Zoe and I got kittens. They are orange tabby cats and they are currently wrestling on the couch. Oh! we got a couch too. My parents brought it up from Cincy. It's more a love-seat than a couch but it's perfect because Zoe, Jaz, Pheobe, and I all fit on it. When the cats get bigger I doubt that will be a possibility but right now it is nice.

It's also nice when they wrestle on your face, eat your hair, become a hat, become a scarf, and sleep on your bladder all when your sleeping.

So what else has been happening . . . class. There is also sick traveling around OWU right now which it ick. I know a bunch of people have been stomach blah and sore throat blah and stuffy nose blah and I'm denying that I'm any of those despite the rawness of my throat though half of last night.

Zoe and I and the kittens watched August Rush last night and I believe there were eight thumbs up across the couch.

What else, there was an excursion to Red Lobster sometime back which was good. And I think that's it.

Have a good one.

Pictures: #1 is Phoebe under my bed the day we brought her home. #2 is Jaz (on the chair) and Phoebe wrestling. #3 is Nelson at Red Lobster. #4 is me at Red Lobster.

Why Do Anime Guys Rips Off Their Shirts in Every Day Activities and Real Guys Do Not?

That is the question we are addressing today.

Since my internet connection has again become reliable (mainly because I'm using the cord signal and not the wireless signal which still has bugs) I've been watching more Anime. I recently finished Yu Yu Hakusho (demons and spirit detective, if you've got no idea don't worry about the specifics) but it is good.

While watching, I noticed that majority of the guys would just randomly loose their shirts. While riding a bike, that was my favorite. I'm riding a bike, no shirt. Yes, that's how it went. In the most recent Kenshin episode a man jumped off the roof and ripped his shirt off. Why? And why can't guys in real life do that?

I believe that if I were walking across campus and a man on a bike rode by and his shirt ripped off, randomly, I would be entertained and in some circumstances forced to stare. In other circumstances I would be disgusted but overall I would be entertained because of the fantastical nature of it.

The jumping off the roof thing is a big harder to the real man. First he must survive the fall. Second he must have enough dexterity to rip off his shirt. It might be too much to ask.

Now, my dear readers, I will include a disclaimer so when the crazies get on here and have the desire to try this . . . just don't try this. Don't jump off the roof. If you are riding your bike and attempt to rip your shirt off and then get his by something it is not my fault, it is your own stupidity for trying. Thank you.

Have a great one.

Picture #1: My face when odd shirt-loss occurances occur on anime shows. Picture #2: My face if I were to see something like that in real life. Picture #3: My face if anybody were to jump off the roof of a building after reading this post.

Week One Update

Week one done and I've got a pile of work next to me that resembles that piles of work I had that the end of previous semesters except this is the beginning of the semester and when thinking about the work that I will have at the end of this semester I begin to worry if it will resemble the height of our table which would be sad because our table is very tall.

That might be an exaggeration, especially since I just stacked everything up and it took a lot of creative supplementing in-order to make it high enough. And that would truly be ridiculous and nobody should have to do that amount of work and if they do my sympathies.

All of my classes are good and I think that after these first few weeks the group of us will settle into a nice schedule of work, playwriting, and Transcript work. Some reading. Some more reading. Hopefully some reading for pleasure.

And that's it because my brain is about to explode in stimulous overload. Have a great one.


Pictures: First is our table leg and how tall it is. Second is my actual stack of work. Third is all the stuff I would need to make my stack of work as tall as the table leg. Check the stack. It's amazing.