A little too much celebrating last night resulted in me spending most of today curled up on the couch and now I'm awake and restless. Ah well. C'est la vie. I maintain that it was my lack of drinking over the past month or so that left me so susceptible to what ordinarily would have been a totally reasonable amount of alcohol to consume. We started our evening at the Brickstore for dinner and high-class beer, then moved to Twain's for pool and darts. Thankfully (I'm sure Reese is especially thankful!) I made it almost all the way back to the boys' place, and safely out of Reese's car and into the parking lot before my stomach contents insisted on immediate evacuation. I then spent the better part of the night curled up on the floor of the boys' bathroom. Which wouldn't have been so bad except that we had a 10am appointment to look at an apartment this morning. Ouch. Anyway, apartment hunting is moving along and I suppose Anna and I will have to enter the decision-making phase soon. Always way harder and less fun than the researching phase.

Am I the only one to be really underwhelmed by "Lost in Translation"?

I PASSED!!!!!
I just keep reading that sentence in the letter over and over again, "I am happy to inform you that you passed the examination." I'm still having a hard time believing that it's true. My God! I never have to go through that again! I feel like I have my life back. And I feel like this whole debacle involved practically everyone in my life, so thanks, everyone, for tolerating and humoring me and helping me to hang on to my last shred of sanity. Let the celebrations begin!

Gah! Just received e-mail that exam results should be in our mailboxes by noon tomorrow! This is good news, I think, I mean, it's better just to find out....but....terrifying.

Morgan Spurlock - further evidence that good things come out of West Virginia. And if you have cable, check out his new show, you won't be sorry!

Doh! I've been memed.

1. What were three of the stupidest things you have done in your life?

a) just about anything I did my 14th year related to that boy upon whom I had such a raging crush. actually, just about anything I've ever done in relation to a boy I like. I hate to admit it, but I do dumb girlish things all the time when under the influence of a cute boy.

b) the one and only time I ever drove after consuming too much alcohol.

c) missed out on things due to fear

2. At the current moment, who has the most influence in your life?

Ah yes, I'll take the cheesy answer for this one too - my Dad. No big shock to anyone who knows me. He's one of the best examples of a good person that I have in my life. He's no longer the smartest person I know, but in my world, he still knows everything. And he's kind and passionate and sweetly and dorkily romantic with my Mom. And he's still the first person I call whenever I need advice about anything...well, almost anything.

3. If you were given a time machine that functioned, and you were allowed to only pick up to five people to dine with, who would you pick?

Thomas Jefferson - perhaps a bit of an ass, but with whom better to discuss how the hell to get our country back on track?
Eleanor Roosevelt - because every feminist needs a little inspiration now and again
Nellie Bly - in keeping with the feminist theme, and because when I was little I wanted to be a journalist just like her. Plus, how fun would it be to overhear any discussion between her and Eleanor?
Jonathan Mann - another one for inspiration, this time for human rights

4. If you had three wishes that were not supernatural, what would they be?

Well, since Carrie's friend already nailed universal health care, and she hit education, I'll go with

a) fulfillment of human rights all across the world
b) a truly fair, balanced, and independent media
c) a way for those who are not cut out for higher education to have rewarding careers that pay the bills

5. Someone is visiting your hometown/place where you live at the moment. Name two things you regret your city not having, and two things people should avoid.

a) enough things to do during the day. the best things about atlanta are bars and restaurants and other night time activities
b) a functional, useful public transportation system

a) the coke museum. lame and a rip-off
b) southern stereotypes. this ain't The South.

6. Name one event that has changed your life.

Deciding to change where I did my gymnastics training when I was 14. It was a huge decision for me at the time, and the ensuing discussions with my parents and coach were among the hardest things I've done in my life. Assessing my life up to that point, and weighing what was most important to me as far as gymnastics goals and friends and family and life outside the gym was incredibly difficult but a decision-making tool that I'm glad I gained early on.

7. Tag 5 people.

Ug, the worst part.

Overpoliticized
mallipoo
Scipio202
timshel
quenya_tattoo

 

And you thought I was making up the silent disco 

Like I said, interesting people 

Fire breathers/dancers 

Swingin' 

Travers and I on the last night (aw...we're adorkable!) 

Billmon is right. This is one of the best sites ever. My favorite is the "Super-Mathematics" one (under stupor powers).

News?

Periodically last semester I would think how lovely it would be to wake up on a weekend morning and indulge in a couple of hours of coffee sipping and newspaper reading. Sure, like the rest of you, I read/skim multiple online news sources whenever possible, but there's just something pleasing about spreading the paper out on the floor and turning the pages and whatnot. So...now that I actually have some time on my hands to indulge in this little fantasy, I'm trying to decide to what newspaper I should subscribe for weekends. At the moment, it's a toss-up between the Times and the Post, neither of which lives up to expectations, but both of which have their moments. But I'm open to other suggestions.

More unintentional consequences

(from Ms.)

"When Ohio voters said yes to a gay-marriage ban in November, they unwittingly may have approved of domestive violence as well. Because of the ban, a judge ruled in a case involving an unmarried couple that the man's physically abusive behavior didn't legally qualify as domestic violence. That's because the state constitution now excludes unmarried couples from the rights and protections specifically extended to a husband and wife - which include protection from domestic violence. The case in point involved a man who slapped and pushed his live-in girlfriend, but he was convicted only of assualt, a misdemeanor, rather than domestic violence, a felony."

Georgia's anti-gay-marriage ban is similarly vague and all-encompassing. What's even sadder is that this case resulted in such a crappy ruling, rather than an opportunity to overturn the ban as unconsitutional due to it's over-reaching wording. Then again, why should I be surprised? To the kind of individuals who support the gay marriage ban, homosexuals aren't people, and all too often, women barely are.

I heart Dave Eggers. In today's NYT he, Nineve Caligari, and Daniel Moulthrop defend the art of teaching and explain how so many teachers today are getting the big shaft from everyone, from their communities on up to their government.

Dear anti-choice activists and advocates,

You and I disagree about many things. We disagree about when life begins. We disagree about what decisions should be between a woman and her doctor, and how much privacy should exist regarding those conversations. But surely, surely, we can agree that what happened to this woman was never an intention of your misguided legal maneuverings. Martha Mendoza was a happy, healthy 37-year-old mother of three when the child in her fourth pregnancy died at the 19th week. A dilation and evacuation was the safest option for removing the dead fetus from her womb, but 74% of all medical schools do not train doctors in all possible abortion procedures, and President Bush's signing of the 'partial birth abortion ban' in 2003 leaves very few doctors able and willing to perform the procedure. One of those unable to do a D&E was Ms. Mendoza's regular Ob/gyn. So she made an appointment to see a specialist. Who couldn't fit her in for a week. Within a day, Ms. Mendoza started to bleed. Her body was beginning to spontaneously abort the pregnancy, the least safe of her possible options. She called her doctor, who told her to wait. She called other specialists. All told her to wait. A few days later, still bleeding, she went to the emergency room at a teaching hospital where they still performed D&Es. They told her they couldn't help her that day or the next, but to check into a nearby hotel, as driving from home may take too long if her condition worsened.

Eventually, Ms. Mendoza did get her D&E and is currently in good health. But I need to believe that you agree with me that this woman suffered, physically and emotionally, needlessly. I need to believe that you did not support legislation that resulted in her suffering out of neglect for women and their health. I need to believe that you don't actually believe that women view abortion as a flip decision, as some form of birth control. Because I need to believe that someday it may be possible for you and I to meet on common ground, to have a productive dialogue, to work toward making sure that women and children (and men) are healthy and respected and loved.

Sadly and regretfully yours,
m

Gah. It's freshman year all over again and I'm becoming an insomniac. Because putting off going to sleep for as long as possible is more appealing than waking up in the middle of a panic attack. (at least in the dorms I had fellow insomniac Kate to keep me company and entertained) (disclaimer - I'm trying not to turn this blog into all anxiety all the time, because really, how much fun would that be for anyone? but maybe getting some of it written down and out of my brain will help. it's worth a try) So last night I was going to post about how nice it is to be making progress back toward 'normal' since I went out with friends and had a good time and even handled a typically anxiety-inducing setting (crowded dance floor in basement = claustrophobia) without freaking out, but decided I was too tired and just went straight to bed. Then woke up around 5 am in the midst of what should have been a fairly run-of-the-mill panic attack. Even though I have them mostly under control, I still periodically wake up feeling short of breath. No biggie, I just sit up and take a few breaths and talk myself down. This time when I sat up my heart rate also jumped up, and for some reason, for just a minute, I felt like I might pass out. So of course my brain freaks out about what might happen if I passed out when no one was around (duh - virtually nothing considering that the primary risk from losing consciousness while alone is hitting your head, and from a sitting position in a soft bed, that risk is pretty low) and what should have been a two minute thing turned into a 30 minute episode. Blah.

and for the crazy cat lady section of this entry - maybe it's just something in the air lately, because the cat is all worked up too. everytime I sit down anywhere in the apartment she's on me, immediately curled up in my lap, and if I pick her up to move her because I have to get up, she cries. totally out of character.

I should have posted this ages ago, and maybe I did, but I'm too lazy to check the archives. Either way, friends of a friend made this cool website, 28 days of rock! Go check it out. Here's their explanation:

what the hell are we doing?

It's called 28 Days of Rock and each challenger must record a brand new song every day for the entire month of February. That's it. THere are only 3 rules:
1- you must write an original song every day (with one exception: see rule 2)
2- you may record one cover song per week
3- SECRET RULE
That's it! enjoy the show, and let us know how we're doing.