Yes We Can

I’m naturally snarky.  Sometimes, I can’t help it and other times, I just don’t try to hold it in.  But lately, messages of positiveness  have kind of gotten to me.  Professors have emphasized remembering the good parts of the books we are critiquing everyday and I just got an email with the message that rather than snip at Sarah Palin (much like I’ve been doing) we should talk about the good things that Barack Obama is doing and will do, if he becomes president of the United States.   I like this idea.  It appeals to the touchy-feely in me and I like remembering my liberal hippy touchy-feely roots. 

 

I am voting for Barack Obama in the upcoming election and I am voting for him in one of the critical swing states.  I purposefully kept my voter registration in Colorado because that is where it is needed the most.  I am voting for Barack because he will pass legislation that will make my life better.  He will support women’s healthcare and my right to choose, he will lower taxes for me and those in my bracket, he will help to pass laws that specifically benefit the working class. To put it more personally, he trusts me to be in charge of my own body and feels like I have the ability to choose the right person to marry, regardless of their gender.  He approves of my decision to get advanced degrees, to speak multiple languages and to eventually teach in higher education and he wants to help other people get the same benefits I have been so lucky to have.   He thinks that I need my money more than the oil companies, drug companies and the top 1% do and he doesn’t want me to have to choose between my health and my house, my meals or my transportation. 

 

But even more, if Barack Obama gets elected, he is not going to hurt the people who didn’t vote for him.  He is not going to raise their taxes or enlist their children into military service, he will not kill their unborn fetuses or ruin their sanctity of marriage but I cannot say the same thing for the Republican candidates—if they are elected, they will hurt my quality of life as well as millions of other people’s quality of life. 

 

I don’t like cheesy rhetoric but I do like change.  No, it’s more than change; it’s an entire rethinking of social priorities.    I want Americans, to be all that we can be, I want people from other countries not to mock us, I want to experience the freedom that I keep hearing so much about rather than being weighed down by high gas prices, bureaucracy and fear of terrorism.   I want Barack Obama to be our next president.  He is the only choice that will bring these things into existence.  I would be happy if he could bring even partial changes to this country because it would be a step forward after 8 years of galloping backward. 

Please, here is a website that makes my heart ache in a most hopeful way.  Check it out.  And vote, too.  Yeah, VOTE!   

A Love Letter

Dear Tina Fey,

I love you. And everything that you do.

I'm really excited for 30 Rock to come back. I'll even carve out time in my reading schedule for you.

Girls with Sassy Glasses Unite!



Yours in Affection and Solidarity,

Kimberly

This Makes Me Scream on the Inside

WTF?

Liberals don't say you can't be a good mother, we say that you can't co-opt the feminist rhetoric you've bashed for the past 40 years. I also call you, Sarah Palin a hypocrite for not even being able to live up to your own ideology.


More posts later. Suffice it to say LA is amazing and I really, really love life and grad school.

How do I not have grey hair already?

I'm not a super-fun person to hang out with right now. Like, I might officially be kind of a bummer. I think the only people who really enjoy me are my brother because I let him drive me places for his necessary driving hours and the twins because they are six and I bring them presents, usually with a pirate theme. It's just that the essence of me doesn't really resond well to change and everything is changing right now and thus, I am consumed with worries pretty constantly. Worries like these:

1. Surviving grad school and particularly impressing one JB, the world's most intimidating, intelligent and amazing professor who I made an ass out of myself in front of. Like, i need to make a ridiculously good 2nd impression and my plan for that is to stay silent for a little while till I figure out what she likes.

2. Fitting all of my shit into my car for next week. i think I have enough room but I also have more clothes than anyone should ever have, ever. And the vacuum sealed shrink bags won't stay vaccuum sealed. And I have 3 boxes that are just toiletries. (I scaled those down tonight.) I hope Klaus doesn't mind riding on the roof.

3. Resuming a healthy eating/exercise routine. I had to quit the gym because I was leaving and I miss it desperately. Exercising at home doesn't appeal nearly as much to me and thus I haven't been doing it. This makes me even more cranky. I also miss doing my own grocery shopping and cooking because I tend to eat like the people I am with and that is oh so bad for the jeans zipper. I know that I just need to be careful now but not worry about it until I have control of my life again but that doesn't sit well with me and I worry about my body constantly.

4. Throwing away something that means a lot to me. I have been clearing out my childhood bedroom and closets and stuff with a lot of sentimental value and I know a lot of it needs to go but it means things to me and so it makes it very hard. There are people I don't want to remember and so it is easy to get rid of that stuff but there are people that I really do want to remember and I worry that I will forget them without that one photo or birthday card.

5. Maintaining friendships when I am not sunshine and rainbows to be around.

Group and Dump

I hate the "what have I been doing" posts but this post is what it is. I am going to do most recent stuff first.

1. I have done something unknown to my shoulder that is causing me a great deal of pain. I can't use my left arm much and I can't really turn my head and I keep waiting for it to get better but unfortunately, it does not appear to be healing. I'm concerned, Tim Gunn style. It hurts a lot and I usually have a pretty high tolerance for pain (the amount of accidents and surgeries I have had does that to you) but last night, I even reached for some leftover vicodin from when I popped my jaw out of its socket at Christmas two years ago. (Yes, I am the queen of weird, freaky medical issues. Some people think it's hot.)

2. Packing, packing, packing. I leave in less than two weeks and even though all of my stuff is primarily in a POD in Pasadena, I still have quite a bit of clothes and other miscellaneous items that I have to figure out how to fit in my car. The other thing I did was order the majority of my books for this semester while I am still in Colorado and so I am transporting about 30 extra heavy volumes that I did not own until about 2 weeks ago.

3. For the first time in about 4 years, I am completely single. I was single for about a month last summer before I met someone that has been on and off for this entire year but I had the "talk" with him a couple of weeks ago and it was fine and I am not sad about it the tiniest bit although he is a great person. I think the talk went better because I am moving and it was no secret but honestly, I would have broken up with him even if there was no relocation in the mix. But, then in our off times, I dated a couple other people like The Professor and so I was really only quasi-single at best. Basically, what I am getting at is that single now is nice, I don't want to date anyone else but it's also weird, just like everything else in my life.

4. PhD reading. I have 2 out of 3 reading lists for next semester and both of those two require a couple of books to be read before school has started and so I am working on that. These books are good but packed full of information so it's a little slow going. Plus, I have devised an outlining system so that I have notes to refer back to upon studying for quals and also, for class discussion in a month. I figured I would be too stressed to read them all a couple days before class but that I wouldn't remember enough if I read them in the beginning of the summer so thus, the outlining system. (I'm trying to take this PhD thing super seriously if you can't tell.) I'm also taking a class on Carolingian Europe, the one class with no pre-reading, thankfully (my prof was so nice about this--he said he figured I had enough to to with moving that I didn't need to be pre-reading for his class.) However, I know jack about Carolingian Europe so I am reading a couple books Carol recommended to get a little caught up and not make an ass out of myself in the class.

5. Intellectually discussing The Dark Knight. So obviously, I am not the target sudience for this movie but I don't care, I loved it anyway. Mikey and I had a long talk about the philosophical statements the movie overtly made and I think we came up with a couple--a Jesus/Devil symbolic thing going on, a comparison to current foreign policy strategies and a commentary on how this movie was anti-utilitarian, meaning it was the worst for a few rather than the greatest good for the most. Also, on a last note, I thought that Heath Ledger's characterization was so thorough and amazing, which I know isn't new or profound but I was duly impressed.

6. Eating too much ice cream. I realized after having access to a working freezer, that my old freezer pretty much ruined food but specifically ice cream. Now that I can have ice cream whenever I want and it tastes so good, I have a difficult time exercising moderation. My perrenial favorite is cookies and cream but I especially love the Oreo version Breyer's puts out.

7. Gambling. I went up to Blackhawk a couple of weeks ago and for the first time ever, I actually won money! There was this random little game called "Jackpot Party" and let me tell you, party indeed. I ended up about $45 ahead which was pretty super. I love the trashy, Vegas tinged elements of Blackhawk because it's just so cheesy and geared toward the elderly. They make me feel young again!

8. Not drinking. I'm on the wagon right now basically because I don't need the calories, I will probably be drinking once I get to Cali and the booze seems to be triggering headaches for me. I am really enjoying not drinking though, especially since I have a much longer way to drive home than I did two months ago.

Blech, there's more but all this stuff was boring enough. This summer has been kind of rough and really busy considering that I am not working or doing anything else of substance. It's amazing how much there is to do for moving and grad school. My Master's program surely didn't take this much work.

An Excellent Reason to be Pro-Gun Control

There are few things I hate on this earth like guns.  I have even done a little anti-gun political campaigning.  I think that this is exactly why I do it:

Man Kills Pregnant Wife While Cleaning His Gun.

I never thought I would say "Thanks, Fox News!"

I'll do more posts later--it's just been a really busy time.  I leave in 2 weeks!

6 Word Movie Reviews

Lots of movies lately, only a few words to describe them.

1. Baby Mama: Tina Fey can do no wrong.

2. WANTED: Gigantic Fight Club Rip-Off, obvi.

3. Made of Honor: Many clothes that I wanted to wear.

4. Get Smart: Carell: Super funny, Hathaway: Super hot.

5. Akeelah and the Bee: Made me love words even more.

6. Pretty in Pink: Not John Hughes' best cinematic work.
John Cryer got ridiculously screwed over.

7. Mad Money: Not funny but not dramatic either.

8. Prince Caspian: Excellent but needed some Mr. Tumnus?

9. The Bourne Trilogy: Damon is ripped, great German girl.

Next week: Mama Mia with my own dear madre and Batman with Jessi. I'm psyched on it. My shameful secret of the week is that I want to see Kit Kittredge. Don't judge me--Carol told me I would love it.

Also, I got my Mile High Music Festical ticket today--maybe I will get the chance for John Mayer to drip sweat on me.

Truer Words Were Never Spoken...

I don't love Maureen Dowd, for reasons that I will not get into on this post, but I do love this column.

I've seen most of these relationship issues in action, either first hand or with my friends and they are relationship killers.

Good News!

In other news that is deemed "good", I seem to have finally gotten next semester's class schedule straightened out. I thought I had everything chosen a couple of months ago until it turns out that all of my elective choices conflicted with the two classes that I must take. This made me really sad because one of them was this English class on Medieval English Literature with the theme Deferred Pleasures. You read Chaucer and Caroline Bynum and Margery Kempe and Le Morte D'Arthur and so many things that I either love and need a refresher or just plain need to read. Oh, sadness. But last night, I finally figured out an option--a 400 level undergrad course call Carolingian Europe. I'll take it as an independent study and so extra readings and a longer final paper but this will be good for me because my early medieval Europe knowledge is woefully lacking. Super. I am glad this is taken care of.

I also got some really great shoes two days ago after my mom's dog ate one of mine and I had to go replace them. It' seemed like it was destined though because these are the kind of whimsical kind of flats that I love.

Bad Habits

I have a couple of bad habits (actually, I have dozens of bad habits but this post is only about two of them.) that have reared their ugly head recently. The first is that I tend to want to avoid any uncomfortable situations or confrontations as much as possible. It's like I stick my head into the ground and pretend it isn't there until I actually have to deal with it. This is terrible and really immature of me. I was supposed to do some paperwork and write a petition weeks ago and now I have to do it and it makes me worried because what if the petition gets denied? Then I am up shit creek and I don't know how to swim.

The other habit is that I also really and truly believe that doing nothing breeds the need to do more nothing. You can't ever have enough time to do nothing and at the end of the day, you have accomplished, well, nothing. I did this the year after I graduated college. I had a job but even that seemed too stressful and all I wanted to do was be at home watching Netflix, or in other words, lying around doing nothing. It was pretty terrible and in retrospect, I was probably mildly depressed. I even lost the love for reading everything but US Weekly and that's just embarrassing. I'm not doing exactly nothing in my life right now but it is very unstructured. I might have plans to work out or go out with friends or a mystery shop but this is not a regular schedule and the time I am not doing a structured activity seems to be wasted time. (Although my "wasted time" this morning was cleaning out the basement, mopping the kitchen and washing the dishes so gauge that as you will.) I just feel like a bum and I have so much energy that just seems to be festering. I need to smack myself around a little and get off my lazy ass and do something productive.

Phew. (A Large Exhale of Air.)

Oh, goodness, it has been a long time since I have posted. I would like to blame it all on busyness and travel (and for the most part, I have been busy and travelling) but honestly, I just not have been in a blogging frame of mind. I have about 100 more substantial and interesting thoughts going through my head but I can't seem to commit them to paper. Some are about politics, most are about movies and a few are about growing up and transitions. Maybe not that interesting on second thought. Here are a few little tidbits that I can make almost cohesive.

1. I think my roommates and I have found a townhouse. It's beautiful with a huge kitchen, a washer/dryer, air conditioning and 2 balconies. It's in a delightful and very famous part of the city which is good to be able to point out to people.

2. I went to LA for a few days and it was sticky hot but also delightful. I managed to navigate the great LA area with a GPS perfectly and got fairly acclimated to the supposedly treacherous freeway system. I went to bars with my ridiculously hot cousins and got a phone number given to me by a guy who insisted he would take care of "a fellow awesome Colorado girl." I promptly and accidentally lost the number because I am a dumb ass and I can't efficiently operate my phone. That's all right, I probably wouldn't have called him anyway. We also went dancing and that was a nice change from the stodgy Colorado bar scene. The only problem with the trip was that I took it up the ass with rental car prices. I am going to try my hardest to never rent a car again. It blew goats.

3. I've been seeing lots of movies lately--mostly because I am broke and it's cheap but also, air conditioned. WANTED was an awful watered-down graphic novel Fight Club. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Baby Mama was utterly delightful and Tina Fey is perpetually my idol. I would watch that woman read the phone book because it would be funny.

4. I really, really, really want to go to the Mile High Music Festival but the money would probably make me feel so guilty, I would shit a brick. But John Mayer, the love of my like and also Dave Matthews and so many more. I would really like to see Ingrid Michaelson too. Oh, I am so torn!

5. I am not adjusting super well to having empty days. Like, not empty, per se because I am going out a lot with friends and the gym and other errands but I am really struggling with a lack of structure.

6. Jessi and I have brought our separate groups of friends together and now we are all friends and I LOVE these people, all of them. They are delightful and make the summer oh-so-fun. There was a kick ass 4th of July barbecue that was pretty much my best Fourth ever.

7. I frequent several libraries in the area. I just love libraries. I also have read 32 books out of the 52 I intend to read this year so that's cool. The last few books have been a pretty shameful quality so I may not count them. I do need to start some PhD reading though.

8. I am learning to bake pie. Chocolate pie, lemon pie, apple pie, ALL pie. As Scott says, the biggest problem with feminism is the fact that there would be less pie. I can't argue with that.

9. I am also writing a cookbook and testing the recipes. Not that I know what I will do with this book once I write it but it is a fun project. It's mostly salads right now but the pasta and egg dishes are becoming more numerous. I may put them on a separate blog. I am also thinking of starting a restaurant review blog. The hobby of food is getting more and more consuming.

A Confessional Post, Of Sorts

I have been MIA for a while and quite a bit has happened since then. The last few weeks haven't been easy--I've had to make some hard decisions, some big decisions and some disappointing decisions. I've had to be overtly selfish and it made me realize that while I am subtly and sneakily selfish all of the time, I really rarely vocally and actively put myself first. Yikes.

I guess the first thing is I quit my summer job. The hours were overwhelmingly ridiculous for money that truly was not worth it. I would have been working an average of 48 hours a week with one day off about every 11-13 days. This was on top of taking two of the hardest classes at CC--intermediate and advanced Latin and so I would have been occupied literally from 9:00am to midnight every single day for 3 months. I couldn't do it. Not with my health, which while I work really, really hard to stay healthy, I still deal with weird fatigue autoimmune thyroid shit that was diagnosed this last spring on top of the ever present PCOS and also not with my family because my grandfather had a stroke and is really struggling in the aftermath. And lastly, for totally selfish reasons, I want to spend a lot of time with my family, especially my brother who I adore more than words can say and my mom who wants a lot of quality time before I "run away to college." I also want to spend a lot of time with my remaining friends in Colorado Springs. I don't know when I am going to get to hang out with T&M again and even though Jessi will be pretty close to me in LA, it's still not like she will be up the block like we are now. I also have another person in my life that I feel like deserves a lot of time and attention that I just wouldn't be able to give--we would have had to have a post-midnight relationship and that seems a little cheap. All of these things mattered more to me than $8.00 an hour. I resigned from my position a couple of weeks ago. I felt sad and sorry because I had a lot of loyalty toward my place of employment but I just couldn't do what they were asking me to.

And then the next bomb hit. I got a few days into my Latin class and was struggling intensely. I had studied really hard before the class began but I was nowhere near the level that the class required. The class itself demanded a high level of sophistication and the homework increased every day. I was spending 8-9 hours on what should have taken me 4-5. Not good. I should have know that Latin on the block plan does not mix with me. Studying on my own over a long period of time worked--intensive Latin memorization daily does not for me. We were reading Caesar's book about the Gauls. I was getting the gist (sometimes) but the idiosyncrasies of the grammar were evading me consistently. On the third day of the class, after a heart to heart with my mom and with Jessi, I decided to drop the class and petition to get a refund. Again, another hard decision and I am sad if I have disappointed the Classics department, particularly Owen Cramer who I adore pretty much more than anyone else in this world and who has been exceptionally kind to my but I was a round peg in a square hole. (Think about it for a sec.)

I am struggling with these decisions. I get validation from being busy and I have a weird Protestant work ethic thing where I think that hard things must be good things. (That's what she said.) I feel guilty not working because with the exception of Wales and a few weeks in summer 2006, I have been working since I was 16. I don't know how to fill all of my time and I feel like a wastrel. But at other times, I feel peaceful and I hope that I figure out how to get satisfaction out of a more slowly paced life. I also feel healthy. I have been able to eat right for the most part (except for the peanut butter martinis at happy hour--like 10 points each but OH SO GOOD) and I have been gymming it regularly and sleeping heartily. It's not a bad way to live for a little while.

So now, I am a professional bum. A pretty poor bum but my needs are reasonably few. But it feels nice. I am watching a lot of movies, going to the gym and getting my apartment ready to move out of. This weekend, I, along with my two favorite strong men in my life, moved all of my furniture and other assorted crap into a POD, to be shipped to Pasadena. I was ridiculously worried that all of my stuff would not fit into it but more fit into it than beyond my wildest dreams. So, I am not left in the aftermath of my apartment with an air mattress and the remnants of what I decided not to take with me. It is, unfortunately, more than I intended but I am just going to have a gigantic garage sale in July. My living room is empty but the bedroom is still chaotic. I have until June 30 to solve all of this though.

Well, I had originally intended for this post to be a bit confessional, in part because I am embarrassed that I have failed to do what I set out to do this summer and partially because I feel just like a failure in general but slowly, this feeling is beginning to dissipate. I don't regret my choices even though I am sad that I had to either hurt or disappoint some people. io think this might be one of those adult lessons where you learn that sometimes, you have to let people down and that that's ok. Oh man, I need to go watch an after school special.

Camping!

I'm leaving today for a combination of camping and Casa Bonita.  How is that not awesome?  I spent pretty much every summer in Rocky Mountain National Park as a kid and I am excited to do it before I leave for Cali.   It's possibly the most beautiful place in the world.  

Failure at Life

I'm kind of failing at being the person I want and should be for the past week or so. I'm not being very nice to my body, I'm not doing what I need to do for my intellect and my mood is certainly suffering for it. Also, my apartment is dirty and that is not how I like to be either. Not to mention piled high with boxes destined for Pasadena.

The worst parts are that I am not being the sister, daughter, friend and other things that I should be either. I'm trying but obviously not hard enough. I just can't get my head together.

I don't feel like this very often. I hope it passes quickly because I have a lot of things to do, people to please and spirits to raise this summer. :(

Movies About Break-Ups

I've seen a couple of really, really good movies this last week and it makes me so happy on the inside. While seemingly disparate topics and certainly directors, Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Sex and the City: The Movie really hit home with me for the some of the same reasons. They both depicted what seemed to me, really emotionally touching and surprisingly accurate break-up scenarios. Funny scenarios, yes but also they really were able to convey the pain and the horror, the illogical feelings and the desperation of the moment.

Sex and the City the television series got me through not one but two icky break-ups. My freshman year I lost the person who to an innocent eighteen year old was the love of my life. I spent my afternoons in bed after class watching the Carrie/Big/Aidan/Natasha tragedy (La Dolour Exquisite) and it seemed like a healing salve at that time. Last summer, Jessi and I found the missing parts of the show on DVD for $19 which was in a word, awesome. It really made the entire summer a lot better. Watching the movie felt like catching up with good friends from a really long time ago, as cheesy as that sounds.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall is my favorite Judd Apatow movie today. Knocked Up just plain offended me almost to tears with its moronic morality tale and Superbad, while funny, tickled my stupid bone a little too much even though I adore Michael Cera. Forgetting Sarah Marshall was a really fantastic blend of hot Kristen Bell, ridiculous humor and pretty costumes which are really the only things I require for a movie. I really liked the subtlety of the movie that was able to convey still being able to appreciate past relationships while at the same time hating what they turned you into.

Next up on the summer movie quest: Get Smart. More pretty costumes! Anne Hathaway! Steve Carell! What could go wrong?

Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost...

I'm quitting my summer job on MOnday for my physical and mental well-being. It's pretty liberating. Money isn't happiness, you know.

Stuff and Junk

I have tons of things running through my head right now so I decided to purge them on my blog. It's so of a "What was the best/worst part of the weekend" kind of a thing except without bests and worsts. I just discovered that not everyone likes the best/worst game. Stupidheads.


1. I really, really need a haircut but Stacey, my stylist, is $50 bucks a pop plus tip. I just don't know if I can justify that right now. I might just have to go one looking a little shabby until later in the summer.

2. I've had to work a whole ton of hours at my new summer job already and I have to work again for this whole week. I know I need the money (see above) but at the same time, I really just want to play with my Wii.

3. Speaking of the Wii, I want the new Wii Fit so badly it hurts. Yoga? Check. Working out? Check. Awesomeness ignited? Check!!

4. I am taking Latin classes this summer and have been running my own personal Latin refresher course. it is sort of kicking my ass. Latin is a beautiful language and I am getting better at the translations but I do seem fearfully slow. I'm really concerned that I will be ready by the time class rolls around in two weeks. Like right now specifically, I should be studying neuter nouns.

5. I just watched You, Me and Dupree from Netflix. I ordered it when I was in a particular mood but by the time I got it, the mood had departed. Thankfully and surprisingly, I liked it was more than I expected to. Owen Wilson was great. I do always feel a little uncomfortable when watching films about women who try to control their partners and their partners who try to deceive them because that was my reality once upon a time. I work exceptionally hard at not being that girl anymore but I think I pretty much err in the other direction because I can't seem to form emotional attachment at all anymore. But I digress.

6. I switched to a new eating plan where I don't count anything and I just eat fruits, vegetables, lean protein and fat-free dairy. I hope it ignites my lack of energy because I am tired a good deal lately and just push through it.

7. I had to have an MRI on my knee last week. it was exciting and a little worrisome all at once. Those things just fascinate me. I knew that I had to avoid wearing any sort of metal so I didn't wear a bra for the underwire or jeans for the buttons and took off all of my jewelry. I was so proud of myself and my good planning that when the tech reached down to take off my forgotten toe ring, I was surprised and felt a little silly.

8. I did Territory Days yesterday. It was fun and a lot of fried food but I expected them to be a little more, you know, territory-esque. It just seemed like there was only people, food and things to buy. I bought chocolate fudge with walnuts.

Ok, I think those are all of the things on my mind. Actually, I'm not going to lie, there is a lot more but it needs to marinate more or at least calm down before getting discussed. I can say that it is certainly keeping me up at night though. Blast and damn.

Indy 4--Some Thoughts

Ian and I went to see Indiana Jones on Thursday night. For opening night of the record-breaking movie, the theater was surprisingly empty. Out of all action movies, Indiana Jones tends to be one of my favorites because one, it's main character is a professor that kicks some serious ass. I, too, will kick some serious ass as a professor but just probably not Nazi ass. As well, these movies are all firmly rooted in "history" or at least the popular perception of history. Either way, I am glad for the pandering to my discipline.

As for the movie itself, to put it simply, there were some good things and some bad things. I am an uninformed Indy fan so I think that my standards were much lower than others. Ian, who I believe really, really loved the first three was supremely less than thrilled. I think a few things in the movie definitely kicked a lot of ass though.

1. Harrison Ford still has it. He was awesome and I hope that I am that limber at 66. He was funny, Indy-ish and still devastatingly handsome but as most people well know, I love curmudgeonly old guys (Anthony Bourdain, anyone?). They made a lot of age jokes about him in the movie but I found them almost unnecessary. His age made sense and was obviously well-explained throughout the storyline.

2. Cate Blanchett and the Ruskies were delightfully bad. I think that to reincarnate previous nationalistic forms of prejudice with 1950's attitudes toward Russia was both ironic and a nod to our current views on terrorism and the Middle East. Cate was her usual chameleon and while not as awesome as when she plays Queen Elizabeth, she was delightful and evil and had sleek black hair.

3. Excellent car chase scenes. They were totally green screened which was patently obvious, even to me who watches primarily low-budget romantic comedies but at the point where it is unclear if Shia LeBoeuf's balls are going to survive, I was hooked.

The Bad:

1. Shia LeBoeuf made me throw up a little in my mouth. I like him. I think he is kind of hot and I remember him once upon a time in a little something called "Even Stevens." I also rewatched Holes on Saturday and greatly enjoyed that as well but here he played a comb-happy greaser and it was just too cliche even for me. He was so caught up in the persona that he didn't really act like anything other than a greaser. Also, SPOILER ALERT!!!, it was a little "Luke, I am your father" when Indy's connection to him was revealed. Ick.

2. The entire outer space alien plot line lost me. As I said before, IJ is about history, anthropology, archeology and other stuff. There is nothing about aliens in there and so when the entire plot line devolved into crystal skeleton Martians, I judged George Lucas a little for not reading more books about the ancient Mayans.

3. Snakes. Not unique to Indy but I had to hide my eyes.

All in all though, totally worth a Thursday evening but I wouldn't see it again. I am however, pretty excited for the new Batman movie. Ian and I are also doing Forgetting Sarah Marshall later this week. I call it Superbad with Romance but he didn't seem to buy into that. : )

Important Purchases

Today was a day full of errands because it was my first day off in nine days. I'm not going to lie--I am pretty fried but I have at least a week to recover. Anyway, I came home with so many good things! And by good things, I also mean necessary things but they still make me happy. Sometimes, I love capitalism!

1. One pair Donna Karan purple eyeglasses. SO hot right now. I will never switch to contacts--I love me in glasses that much.

2. One pair Nicole Miller Bronzy, Rosy glasses that maintain my ever so sleight of a resemblance to Tina Fey, an idol of mine.

3. One pair of high heeled sandals, cute for day but specially useful for those evenings when it is quite convenient to be a few inches taller.

4. Several summer shirts, most of them with the perfect amount of cleavage and hopefully, almost stylish enough for the ever looming Los Angeles. They are certainly stylish enough for this week's exciting and hectic social calendar.

5. Teal eye shadow. Don't laugh, it rocks. For as much as I spend on beauty products, I should be way more attractive.

6. Large trash bags. (OK, I fully acknowledge that this one is the least interesting but I need something to transport my myriad pieces of clothing and bedding for the POD in two weeks.

I don't love money but I do love stuff... I hate that about myself though, on both a moralistic level as well as the pain in the ass it is to move everything cross-country.

In other news, Jess and Tony are coming tomorrow. Tres excellent!

Tofu is gross and other stuff

I think this article explains some of my feelings about vegetarianism. Hear, hear!

I'm blushing...

I've officially accidentally blogged about my sex life twice now and had to remove it out of good taste. For shame, K. I may verge on crass in the spoken word but no need for it to fully permeate my blog... I think the worst of it was when I also accidentally worked in anecdotes about (nameless) friends. I think I just got a little SATC and Samantha on my own ass. Speaking of SATC, I have a couple of friends that a planning a cocktail party and a glamourous evening for the premiere but I am worried that gas prices and wonky schedules may put an end to that.

The Freedom Party

I had a shindig at my house last night that was in the making for several weeks. I dubbed it "The Freedom Party" because I was celebrating not only the anniversary of a necessary break-up but also my release from my increasingly burdensome job. I made a bunch of Mexican food and brownies from scratch and more importantly, bought a shit-ton of beer and a gallon of tequila. The shit-ton is an exaggeration, the gallon is not.

The party was pretty amazing. My favorite people were there, including my heterolifemate and my best friend who flew in from Phoenix for the weekend. We got kind of ridiculous. And by we, I mean me and I can't really remember what anyone else did. At the point where I started remarking that the tequila tasted like water, I probably think I should have taken a step back from the alcoholic part of the kitchen. Also, I tried out a new recipe for pineapple margaritas. They were delightful. Definitely worth a repeat. The Berry Wheat beer tasted like kool-aid though. That was not worth repeating in the slightest. I hope there is not too much leftover in my refrigerator.

I love entertaining. Totally worth it. Although I knew that this sort of excess is something not to be repeated when I couldn't get through half of my breakfast at Western Omelet this morning. I'm really hungry right now though and I would kill to have that green chili back. Mmm.

Tee Hee

I also have a new Gmail address--a professional adult one to take the place of my old one that I will lose in a few months. I feel so grown-up!

What Have I Been Up To?

Long time, no post and all of those cliches. I've been pretty busy lately with end of the year stuff and saying goodbye to a lot of people and most of all, getting ready to move. Here's a general rundown.

1. I've been having a lot of houseguests lately which is wonderful. My friend Amanda from Georgia was here last week and my favorite person in the whole world is about to arrive this week. It's lovely to have company and to see old friends again. Amanda and I hung out with a lot of our alum friends and celebrated 8th Block style, including completing the Big Lebowski Challenge with Jessi and Kappa Sig guys. We ended the weekend with pizza and watching bad ABC Family Channel movies that we both secretly delight in.

2. My job is over as of Wednesday! I start a new on on Thursday unfortunately but I am really relieved to be out of my office because it has become increasingly difficult to hold the pieces together of late. This week should be pretty easy though--lots of lunches and celebrations and stuff. I started writing my goodbye emails yesterday though and I got way sadder than I expected too. As much as I want to tell the school they can suck it, there are many, many people that I love and care about here and I will miss them a good deal next year.

3. I'm seeing Carrie Underwood on Tuesday. I don't know if I like her and I am pretty sure that country is not my scene but someone else bought the tickets and it should be a fun night. I got debriefed by friends who are country music fans and hopefully, I will know country music concert protocol now.

4. I made the very stupid mistake of going outside to my car in bare feet last night and got a piece of brown glass wedged in my heel. I'm OK now but it was a little scary because I didn't have any of my super-sharp tweezers with me and I try to always carry those.

5. I got my first book list for one of three grad classes next semester. 15 books. And that doesn't include the articles that we will read. I won one of those books. It makes me a little nervous because I could arguably be reading 46 books in a semester and spending over a thousand dollars on them. That being said, the book list is baller and JB is ridiculously amazing.

6. I think May is official Alcohol Drinking Month. I just discovered an amazing happy hour with $2.50 white Sangria which is like the nectar of the gods and Big Lebowski Challenge is intense. I'm also going to do Champagne on the Quad with all the new graduates because I feel like I am FINALLY graduating. I didn't go to my COTQ because I was crying out of desperation and having a mini-breakdown because I felt like a failure. I am not a failure anymore though so it's time to celebrate. Champagne on the Quad is something that all the seniors do at noon on the last day of class and throw their bottles into the ground. It's symbolic and stuff.

7. Gossip Girl, holy shit!!! That's all. If you watch, you know.

There's more but I think they require separate posts.

Losing My Academic Conference Virginity

I attended, presented and worked at my first academic conference this last week. It was up in Denver and it was wonderful to stay in a baller hotel for free and even more wonderful to get away from my office for a few days as work has become pretty excruciating of late. Here are the things of note:

1. I presented a paper I wrote last semester that I fully intended on revising over the past few months but naturally, didn't. I actually didn't end up even reading it all the way through until the night before I was supposed to present and luckily, as I was reading, my initial thought was the this shit was pretty good. It might be one of my finest papers ever, to my great surprise. I hope I am able to produce history papers like this next semester. The topic of the paper was about the rhetoric in advertisements in feminine hygiene products over the last century. I was able to look at over 100 ads and code them into themes. The paper is interesting, appropriately narrow and even really funny at times. Sweet. For some reason, I am able to think in much narrower terms for my women's studies coursework than for my history coursework and I need to find some way to translate that skill. Anyway, back to my presentation. It went well although my delivery was a little choppy. I presented with another guy my age about his dissertation on cybersexuality in MMORPGs, which also was a fascinating , fascinating project although I secretly suspect he chose the topic purely because he could incorporate his game play into his academic work. People asked questions and had some interesting comments and one professor from New Mexico even wants to use my paper as assigned reading in her Intro to Women's Studies classes, so that is pretty sweet.

2. I learned a great deal about socializing with academics. It comes as only a surprise to me that some are boring, some are interesting and some of them are interesting to me. I tend to idolize academics a little too much sometimes and I need to remember that they are all just people too--sometimes cool people, sometimes awkward people, sometimes people I want to be friends with, sometimes angry and inconsiderate people. I was invited to dinner by both the sociology people and also the history people, although the majority of them were americanists and I fully realize my American history knowledge is not very detailed. I got some cards though and so I feel like this will be useful in the future. I also got to see Abby and one of her colleagues, who was my section leader. I adore Abby to pieces and also, I really, really liked the other sociology people. Unfortunately, I put my foot in my mouth a couple of times and I am sad about that but I think maybe only one person noticed?

3. I'm getting sick. I have not been sick in forever and so this sore throat and cough business is making me even sadder. I am going to make my dad take me to go get Airborne this afternoon so that I can get on top of this unfortunate business. I also seem to have wrenched my knee and I hope that heals quickly so that I can get back to working off all of this week's brownies.

I think that's all. I'm glad I got to attend a fairly low key conference because next year I hope to be able to go to the enormous Medieval Congress in Michigan and possibly the Women's History conference in a couple of years. I like this life. I'm glad I'm getting my doctorate.

Rock of Love 2-The Pantieless Stripper Occupation Bitchfest

I don’t know how many people know about my undying devotion to this show but I think the number may be exactly three: Cianna, who I discuss it with every Monday morning and debate over who is a big enough slutstack to win Bret’s heart, my brother who had too much time on his hands last summer when the original ROL aired and Jessi, my dear friend who accidentally walked in on me watching it early this winter and has been kind enough to not overtly judge me for my crap taste in television.

Anyway, the finale was last night. It was a dubitable battle between Daisy, the 25 year old stripper niece of Oscar de la Hoya who Tina Fey was able to parody so brilliantly on SNL a few months ago and my personal favorite, Ambre, who spells her name weirdly, gets confused about whether she is 31 or 37 and has abs that a 16 year old would envy. Ambre won, which was the mature decision for Bret to make, seeing as how she was not 20 years younger than him and her boobs never fell out of her shirt. She was actually a woman rather than a rubberized sack of crazy, like daisy was. I am pretty sure that she turned the tides in her direction when she flashed her pantieless crotch not once but twice at a semi-intimate dinner. This made me think that she was not as classy as I had originally perceived. We’ll see how next week’s reunion goes although we’ve seen that the focus might be less on Bret and Ambre and more on girl on girl violence, as the previews indicate.

I enjoy Rock of Love so much because it is the best distinction between good crazy and bat shit crazy, an important distinction to be sure. Everyone woman participating in the “contest” is obviously off her rocker (no pun intended) but there are those, like Daisy, who truly believe that they are in love with a man who is simultaneously dating 16 other women and that they truly are there for their humor and intellect and not for the oversized saline pillows on their chests. On the flip side, there is the crazy like Kristy Joe, who was my personal favorite. Sure she had restraining orders against both of her ex-husbands, including the one that she had yet to divorce but she also knew that it wasn’t sanitary to kiss Bret after the other women and also, that dressing in classic full-skirted strapless dresses was going to be far more effective than wearing clear plastic stripper shoes and Daisy Duke shorts for 3 weeks straight.

And then, of course, begs the question of Bret Michaels himself. Why does an aging 80’s hair band star who admittedly wears extensions and can’t seem to describe a women with any other phrase other than “Smokin’ hot” warrant a television series and a woman? I can’t put my finger on it, but Bret is likeable. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying out of Rock of Love 3 but I think he’d be a cool dude to drink a 30 rack of Coors one Saturday night. I think that he actually wants more in a woman than the requirements for a stripper and I respect that even as he still gets distracted by those attributes.

Songs to Sing for Your Soul

Far away far away, I want to go far away.
To a new life on a new shore line.
Where the water is blue and the people are new.
To another island, in another life.
-Ingrid Michaelson, "Far Away"


Sometimes you just find a musical artist that seems to be exactly on your page at this particular moment. They are writing songs that express exactly what you are feeling, just more eloquently and melodiously than you really have the talent to do. Alanis Morissette has done this for me through each of her albums--almost like we have grown up together and in a way, I guess we have.

My artist of the moment is Ingrid Michaelson. Cianna turned me on to her a couple of months ago. She is folky, acoustic and has an excellent sense of whimsy and humor. Although she is in love and I am actively trying to avoid love, she seems to be able to articulate all of my current joys and frustrations.

Here's to you, Ingrid Michaelson and here's to me for getting the blessed opportunity to start over soon.

Rant of the Day

My newest pet peeve is people who cannot banter but try to anyway.  The result of this is not lighthearted and witty repartee but rather words and comments that smack you in the face like unripe apples.  In essence, bad banter sucks some serious goat balls.

I think at the heart of this is that not everyone is meant to trade quick and funny insults and whimsical references to pop culture.  This is analogous to the same way that not everyone is meant to be a supermodel or a professional tennis player.   I just really want to destroy anyone who has delusions that they are a Gilmore Girl.  You are not funny and at times, you come off as vaguely offensive.  

I can banter.  And I have many friends who are also very skilled at it.   Maybe my standards are higher than most.  Either way, brevity is the key to good English.  If your words are not substantive, entertaining or passionate, leave them in your mouth.  

Note: Sometimes the amount of bitchiness I can project astounds me, too.  I just have occasional periods of rage.  Maybe it's because I never get angry whilst driving.  

Breaking it down, list style.

Things That I Like But I Shouldn't
1. Salty Nut Bars
2. Miley Cyrus's newest song
3. Bret Michael's Rock of Love
4. Hooded sweatshirts and fleece
5. Being fickle.
6. Rachael Ray's magazine


Things That I Do Not Like but Really Should
1. Tofu
2. NPR
3. Reading about current events and the world at large.
4. Community Service
5. The "Internationalization" of college campuses
6. Foreign Languages
7. Barack Obama (I only dislike him sometimes but I don't like him nearly as much as my young liberal credibility demands.)
8. Hiking, camping, skiing and generally enjoying the great outdoors for longer than about an hour at a time.


Things I Love Dearly Which is Just the Right Amount
1. John Mayer
2. Potatoes
3. Cassandra Hilpman
4. Food in History
5. Clean sheets
6. The Gap and Banana Republic
7. Freshly made tortillas.
8. Aveda beauty products.
9. Sushi


Things I Hate Which is Exactly What Should Be Felt
1. Poor grammar
2. Only studying "American" history. Bullshit.
3. Most of the attitudes of the Millennial Generation--a generation that I am apart of but whatevs.
4. The pedagogy of public schools and their teachers.
5. Ginger. (The spice, not the Spice Girl. I like her.)
6. Cheap vodka
7. Not liking one's self.

How Do you Get to Know Everything?

I got an email last night from my (hopefully) soon to be graduate advisor who is AMAZING and a rock star of the medieval history world asking me and the other 4 students taking her Later Medieval History class next semester what we want to read and what suggestions for books and topics we might have. I had three initial and frightening thoughts because I still very much want to impress this woman or at worst, not annoy her and my track record was not so great at my visit with her in March. (I babbled and was starstruck. SO not attractive.)

1. This is a test. One which you will fail because you don't know what big books are really important in the field right now.

2. Can you really only want to read about medieval women all of the time?

3. Sweet lord, this has to be the right program for me because it's a cooperative and helpful atmosphere without so much emphasis on hierarchy like some programs you got into. (Cough, CU, cough.)

I told my woes to the brilliant and fabulous Owen Cramer at lunch today and he had the most comforting response that I would never have thought of myself. he told me not to approach this like I already had my PhD but to be thoughtful and decisive about what you want to learn about but really be there to learn and to make up for your deficiencies. I found that to be very comforting. I am deficient in a lot of medieval history areas but I am eager and ready to learn as much as I can.

But my big question of course, is when do I know everything?

On Excercise, Stress Relief and Crazy Old Women

Last June, I made a major overhaul of my exercise routine. That overhaul being, of course, that I went from refusing to exercise at all to exercising when possible, 4-5 times per week at the gym. I go to the local YMCA which is a warm and welcoming place with no pressure like some other gyms that I have belonged to. Even though sometimes, I purposefully skip a few days or I get a little bored with my routine, I generally love being physically active and I really, really love the energy that i get and the way I feel post-workout.

Lately, I have also been feeling more stressed out than normal. I think it is because I over committed myself and also because planning a full scale move across the country when I have never moved more than 10 miles from my last location (Wales excepted but that was a small scale temporary move) and I have been overwhelming myself with all of the things that I need to do. I went to a lunch on Monday where the presentation was about how to manage stress mentally, physically and emotionally. The presenter, a psychologist, was a really interesting guy and I feel like I learned a lot of tips but he just kept reiterating over and over again that cardiovascular exercise is one of the best stress management tools in existence.

I had to ask myself if my exercise made me any less stressed than I was before I started in June and the answer was a resounding yes. I am happier now and less dramatic and fewer things really get me all kerfluffled. I also can feel my ability to manage stress decrease when I have been forced (or chosen!) to skip working out for several days in a row and I definitely find that I have a lot of nervous energy. A couple of weeks ago was one of those times. I just didn't feel like going to the gym and I had so many other things to do and felt so perpetually behind on my life that I sacrificed my one on one time with the elliptical machine. Poor choice, Kimberly. This actually meant that I became even more overwhelmed.

This brings me to the crazy old lady part of this post. I have needed some alone time for the past couple of days because for the month of March, I was overwhelmingly social (which was awesome but at the same time, my psyche needs a bit of a rest.) and so I have actually been doubling up on my time at the Y. I go do cardio and sometimes weights in the morning and then at night, I do some sort of pilates/yoga/stretching business. (Generally, I just go every morning before work.) Last night, I went to a class called "Gentle Yoga" that I had never been to before. The woman who taught it must have been in her early seventies and introduced herself with both her given name and her yoga name. She was a hoot and completely awesome. We did affirmation claps and also, a mindfulness walk. I think I burned a total of about 12 calories but really, this is irrelevant because as kooky as it sounds, it really did relax me and restore my peace of mind. The money moment of the evening came when one of the regulars pointed out that the teacher's embroidered sweatshirt was misbuttoned and that it was screwing up her ability to relax. The teacher replied, "Oh, so it is. This is how it came out of the dryer!" and left it misbuttoned for the rest of the class. I respect that attitude so much, it's ridiculous. She was just so in the moment and full of joy that those kind of details don't bother her at all. That's the kind of relaxation I want to achieve.

And I Thought I Didn't Have a "Culture"

My new favorite blog is called

Stuff White People Like

I have been reading it for a couple of weeks and it pretty much scarily describes me perfectly. Really, it should be Stuff Yuppie and Pretentious White People like. My particular favorites are Graduate School and Study Abroad.

Also, I really love hyperlinking things lately. I'm going to hopefully be working on a big medieval website next year and so I am working on getting my web skills up to snuff. Hyperlinking is just that little tiny iota of things I will be doing but practice is practice, natch.

6 Word Reviews

I've been watching a lot of movies lately and I am always a fan of the 6 word movie review.

1. The Notorious Bettie Page: No social commentary but many boobs.

2. Ratatouille: Rat looked a little like Klaus.

3. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day: 1930's period movies are the awesomest.

4. Good Luck Chuck: My eyes hurt from the sex.

5. What a Way to Go!: Shirley Maclaine was a beauty. Seriously.

6. A Knight's Tale: Really, I talked through this film.

7. Wild Hearts are Never Broken: Feel good film with jumping horses.

8. Click: Christopher Walken saved this beastly business.

I like these even though their level of informativeness is dubitable at best.

Because I just love lists.

A Short Meme...

Things I'm Passionate About:
Medieval History Cooking and Eating and Experimenting
Feminism
Books
Meeting one's potential
Pilates
Classic Fashion
Being funny.
My new PhD program
Lifelong learning


Things I Want to Do Before I Die:
Get my PhD.
Visit Japan and Austrailia.
Publish a book.
Meet my goal weight.
Speak 6 languages fluently.

Things I Say Often:
FACT.
Inappropriate.
But vagina is just so salty...
I'm a simple girl.

Books I've Recently Read or I'm Currently Reading:
Early Medieval Women 400-1100 by Lisa Bitel
Midwives by Chris Bohajalian
Cult of the Saints by Peter Brown
The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (an incredible book--I couldn't put it down.)

Songs I Could Listen to Over and Over:
Ecstasy by ATB
Love Song by Sara Barielles
Hide and Seek by Imogen Heap
The Way You Make Me Feel, Michael Jackson
Moonlight Sonata, Beethoven
Angels of the Silences, Counting Crows
DooWop (That Thing) Lauren Hill Things

That Attract Me to My Best Friends:
Humor
Intellect
Passion
Vulnerability
Intriguingness

Top Reasons I am Excited About Moving to LA

1. Lots and lots and lots of delicious Mexican food. Yes, I know they have that here too but it tastes even better in LA and I already have a promise from a friend to go explore new Mexican restaurants.



2. Museums and Libraries. Specifically the Getty and the Huntington but there are others. Because I will be a graduate student at a very prominent institution, I get special access passes to both of these places. I can do research in real archives and the Getty has several rooms devoted to medieval illuminated manuscripts which is something I greatly want to perhaps specialize in. (I've thought about doing work with medieval pets in art and literature.) Colorado Springs has lovely libraries and museums but certainly nothing on par to these. Even though LA's image is not an intellectual one, I can think of no better place to practice the art of history except for maybe New York City.



3. Never, ever having to drive in the snow again. Ever.



4. Having the option to get a (free) tan if I want to.



5. Easy access to fresh sushi all of the time.



6. Having multiple Sephoras within short driving distance. I will be able to have expensive and ridiculous beauty products at my fingertips!



7. Farmer's Markets year round. Also, lots of vegetarian food.

8. Getting to hang out with really, really cool people who I have a lot in common with, including my cousin, my new roommates and a couple of people I dearly would like to be my new best friends. Also, everyone I've met in LA seems to love cats, which is awesome for both me and Klaustopher.

9. The possibility of meeting famous people. While I was in LA a couple of weeks ago, the other grad students took me out to a delicious Mexican restaurant. There was sangria and margaritas had by all, which was fabulous in and of itself but at the end of the dinner, a couple of them remarked how disappointed they were that they did not see any celebrities at the eatery. I asked who they have seen before and apparently, George Michael, also known as Michael Cera, frequents this particular joint. I really just plan to stake that place out now because who doesn't want to meet George Michael and ask him about Maeby?

10. Hotter than average guys. I've decided I want a fellow grad student but that I will go cross-disciplinary. I'm going to start with the Physics Department and move out from there. I just want to find someone who will be more employable than me because as awesome as history is, it's not exactly the world's most lucrative profession.

Today's Horoscope: It's Good to Be Alone

I get my horoscope everyday and here is mine for the day:

Fickleness is the keyword today, dear Kimberly: You really don't know whose fiddle to dance to! One moment you're saying Yes, only to change your mind and say No five minutes later . and you're making half-hearted promises to everyone. The Fool and Temperance point to the fact that your primary goal is to keep your independence - in love as much as in friendship - without taking into account what your loved ones actually want.

How apropos. I made kind of an important decision this week and there were hurt feelings and now, I am really questioning if what I did was the right decision. But my e-horoscope tells me that what I did to preserve my independence was the right path and e-horoscopes are always accurate, right?

I'm Doing what to Matt Damon?

This video cracks my shit up. I really admire Sarah Silverman's comedy even though she is so crass and this is probably one of the funniest things I've seen her do.

Also, it's just really reminiscent of "Scotty Doesn't Know" which if you know me, occupies a very deep and warm place in my heart.

Nothing Doing

I want to blog regularly again, I really do but I feel it just takes so much energy to squeeze out interesting words on the page that I rarely feel much past the temptation to write. I think I am in absorbtion and not production phase right now. I think probably I produced just a little too much writing last semester and now I am just trying to replenish what knowledge left me.



I went to a DG Ladies Who Lunch Brunch on Saturday and the lovely older women asked me what else was going on outside of my life other than preparing for PhD school. I felt really boring at that moment because I thought other than work, maybe I don't have that much going on. This concerns me.



1. Intensive Reading Schedule Last year, I promised myself that I would try and read one book a week. I failed pretty miserably at the because I only ended up with 29/52 which is just a little embarassing considering 6 of those were Harry Potter. This year, I made the same promise and am actually keeping up with myself. in order to ready my mind for the PhD marathon, I am making myself read academic writing for a minimum of one hour a day. It has been going really well and I am mainly reading Latin and books by my future professors at this point but at least I am totally up to date with my book a week goal. The only problem with it is that I also try and work out for an hour a day and the 2 hour commitment screws with my social plans, so sometimes I have to say fuck it and abandon both.



2. Intensive TV Watching My favoritist person moved back to C. Springs a few weeks ago and we have been like peas and carrots. And this can of peas and carrots watches a lot of amazing television. With her, I don't feel guilt that my hobby is the boob tube and together, we celebrate the Joy of TiVo. And joyful Tivo is. LOST premieres tonight and we are so ridiculously excited. We have been planning this LOST party for weeks and it will most certainly be the television highlight of January. I also got her hooked on Veronica Mars and Arrested Development and I love the validation that I feel when someone else likes my stories.



3. Intensive Drinking I went to 15C last night for the first time in 1000 years and I forgot that I really like that place and I also forgot how much I really enjoy the smoking ban in Colorado because I came home reeking. Blech. But the fun and the boys were worth it. I just have to be careful about too much drinking because it slows down my metabolism like crazy.



4. Intensive Working Out I love the gym but not so much in the cold so I have to force myself to go a lot and I don't always appreciate that force. However, I've started getting out of my jogging/elliptical niche and doing more yoga and pilates and while it makes muscles hurt that I forgot I had, I do like the results. It totally makes it apparent which set of abdominal muscles are the weakest. It also makes muscles hurt that I typically only use in an intimate relationship and that's a little weird.

5. Intensive Travel Schedule. LA, maybe several times, maybe London, maybe Denmark, maybe New York, maybe Chicago. We'll have to see where the cookie crumbles.

Blogging feels so nice. I need to do it more. Perhaps I will try since I am not taking any classes this semester. I just gots to practice my writing skillz for PhD school. And in answer to the DG ladies question, no I don't really have whole lot of interest going on in my life right now but that's ok. I'm getting to spend a lot of time with my friends and my family before I relocate and the slower pace is a welcome change the the frenetic sleeplessness of last semester. I'm happy right now and I am about to embark on doing exactly what I want to do with my life which is a tremendously fortunate opportunity.

Cloud 9 is Where I'm At

I got a phone call from a young woman last night which may have been the best phone call of my life. I was just about to go out to the gym and run some errands and so I hadn't even intended on answering it. I thought that it probably was someone from the Obama campaign because the just keep calling me for my support. (On a side note, I will support Obama 100% if he gets the nomination but right now, my support is for the articulate and savvy H. Clinton.) The phone call was from an Early British Modernist at my top choice university. She was calling to tell me that I have been accepted with full funding, living stipend and health insurance to their graduate program. I was one of two medievalists and one of 16 total acceptaed candidates. They are flying me out in early March to visit the campus and meet the other students and faculty. I really just feel like I was handed everything I could want on a silver platter. I also feel incredibly blessed.

I have a lot of people to thank because it certainly was not just my efforts that got me to this place. I have many family members, faculty advisers and friends and fate to thank for my incredible gift. Sometimes, I get a little self-righteous and think to myself that I have just been wasting my time when I could have applied to a program two years ago but in all honesty, things happen for a reason and I wasn't ready then. I needed to hit bottom before i could pick myself back up and see that the PhD path was really what I wanted. I needed this semester in grad school to reformulate my thoughts and strengthen my academic voice and I needed the to understand how I should prioritize my values. I wasn't ready to apply for fall 2006 or 2007. Now I am ready. Scared silly but ready. I am armed with my lists, an amalgam of glorious O. Cramer Latin advice, a summer job plan and a shit ton of youthful naivety.

My mind has wandered a little to the "Do you really deserve this" question but I don't want to contemplate it. It doesn't matter why they chose me it just matters that they did. I do though really want to see my acceptance letter just in case the lovely phone call was a cruel joke. J. and my mom think that my Doubting Thomas stance is ridiculous but it all does feel a little to good to be true.

Yes, I still have to wait for 6 other schools answeres but at this point, it doesn't really matter a whole lot. It can't get any better than 1st choice plus full funding. I can't really think of any reason I wouldn't go to this school and Carol has confirmed that. (I would be a Trappist monk though if Carol told me she thought it was best.)

Well kids, I'm moving to Los Angeles in a few months. What am I going to do next? I'm going to Disneyland!

I Just Love the Fug Girls...

I'm not as in to celebrity gossip as I used to be. I think because it just gets too repetitive in it's tragic glory and I get bored. I'm avoiding the whole Britney stand-off thing entirely just because it makes me tired. That being said, I just love the Go Fug Yourself website. I just can't ignore their witty repartee and their biting sarcasm. Better quality writing can not be found. They also have a column in New York Magazine which is awesome. I just wanted to share this:

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2007/12/the_fug_girls_since_when_is_je.html

Sassy. I like it.