Bled for ten whole minutes straight
Ew it was awful
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Molly - More Quotes From Classes (100% more awesome and/or ridiculous!)
Hey guys! So we've all been neglecting the blog due to busy lives (what?? lives are more important than blogging?!) but I'd like to get it rolling again.
Hope everything is going great for you guys - Halloween preparations, birthday celebrations (Happy 25th Gus!), animal responsibilities and whatnot. My life is homework-laden but pretty darn awesome right now.
Now that we've gotten that out of the way!
Another round of Quotes from Classes, as I am doing homework right now and really only have time to do this kind of a post. But I've been meaning to do it again for a while, as the awesome quotes have been piling up recently...
"I got to page 10 and I threw up...I couldn't do it, not even for money." (professor, on attempting to write trashy romance novels.)
"Rhett Butler...oh I was in love with him! Oh well, you're only 15 once."
"Do you know anybody who kisses doorknobs? When I was younger there was a rumor kissing doorknobs was the best way to practice."
"Comma abuse - ahhh, poor little things. Think about writing an essay from the point of view of a comma - oh the misuse! This is what happens when you teach grammar for too long."
"That's wrong, but it's wonderful. Leave it be."
"Are you some kind of nut, or are you a brit?"
"Just astonishing vulgarity!"
"The trouble with sentences like this is that you haven't said anything. But that's OK in this class."
"You never know who you're going to have sex with in space!"
"This kind of crazy person that peddles things from the inside of a winnebago."
"Don't we all have one of those inside us?"
(my professor, disdainfully)"Quentin Tarantino is a movie director. He isn't writing fiction."
"Each ass cheek is now clinging to the ass."
"I remember I had a halloween costume that said "inflammable" on the tag. My parents thought it was fireproof, so I set it on fire. It burned."
(dreamily) "Maybe I'm just the boy who laughs."
"We all have basic needs, like food and sex....and water..."
"In some cultures, a poet will go to war and say a poem and the other side will stop fighting and be all 'whoa, that's a good poem."
"And aren't we all in danger of making choices that result in us eating our children?"
"If I could talk about whales..."
Adam: "I wanted to talk about it beforehand, cause I was afraid William would think it was frivolous and we wouldn't get to talk about it."
William (just walking in): "Adam, everything you say is frivolous and I don't want to talk about it."
"But people laugh at hiccups...do they laugh at lovers?"
"This is why your dad needs a young man."
"You one-eyed many-armed ugly thing, I'm going to put you deep down in the earth cause I hate you!"
"Maybe it's like, they're filling holes in each other...oh wait..."
"In your academic opinion, there's a butt on it."
"If I was lying in a field with Socrates and I pointed to a cloud and said 'that cloud looks like a snail' I feel like Socrates would say 'No, that cloud totally sucks.'"
"If you add a 't' to 'manic' it's like RO-mantic."
"Socrates could have any boy he wants."
"He's possessed by extra-terrestrial beings! Oh wait...they're not aliens."
"It reminds me of people who get swept up in the 'save the whales' campaigns..."
"I have all this wisdom, you should give me favors!"
"What a great pick-up line!"
"So, that was a bunch of things I think about."
"Revolution...happens...very...quietly."
"Grouping off makes me feel like we're in pre-school."
professor: "You ARE in preschool."
professor (on courage): "Try that harder rock climb, or try that fancier dance move."
Stay tuned for November's quotes!
Hope everything is going great for you guys - Halloween preparations, birthday celebrations (Happy 25th Gus!), animal responsibilities and whatnot. My life is homework-laden but pretty darn awesome right now.
Now that we've gotten that out of the way!
Another round of Quotes from Classes, as I am doing homework right now and really only have time to do this kind of a post. But I've been meaning to do it again for a while, as the awesome quotes have been piling up recently...
"I got to page 10 and I threw up...I couldn't do it, not even for money." (professor, on attempting to write trashy romance novels.)
"Rhett Butler...oh I was in love with him! Oh well, you're only 15 once."
"Do you know anybody who kisses doorknobs? When I was younger there was a rumor kissing doorknobs was the best way to practice."
"Comma abuse - ahhh, poor little things. Think about writing an essay from the point of view of a comma - oh the misuse! This is what happens when you teach grammar for too long."
"That's wrong, but it's wonderful. Leave it be."
"Are you some kind of nut, or are you a brit?"
"Just astonishing vulgarity!"
"The trouble with sentences like this is that you haven't said anything. But that's OK in this class."
"You never know who you're going to have sex with in space!"
"This kind of crazy person that peddles things from the inside of a winnebago."
"Don't we all have one of those inside us?"
(my professor, disdainfully)"Quentin Tarantino is a movie director. He isn't writing fiction."
"Each ass cheek is now clinging to the ass."
"I remember I had a halloween costume that said "inflammable" on the tag. My parents thought it was fireproof, so I set it on fire. It burned."
(dreamily) "Maybe I'm just the boy who laughs."
"We all have basic needs, like food and sex....and water..."
"In some cultures, a poet will go to war and say a poem and the other side will stop fighting and be all 'whoa, that's a good poem."
"And aren't we all in danger of making choices that result in us eating our children?"
"If I could talk about whales..."
Adam: "I wanted to talk about it beforehand, cause I was afraid William would think it was frivolous and we wouldn't get to talk about it."
William (just walking in): "Adam, everything you say is frivolous and I don't want to talk about it."
"But people laugh at hiccups...do they laugh at lovers?"
"This is why your dad needs a young man."
"You one-eyed many-armed ugly thing, I'm going to put you deep down in the earth cause I hate you!"
"Maybe it's like, they're filling holes in each other...oh wait..."
"In your academic opinion, there's a butt on it."
"If I was lying in a field with Socrates and I pointed to a cloud and said 'that cloud looks like a snail' I feel like Socrates would say 'No, that cloud totally sucks.'"
"If you add a 't' to 'manic' it's like RO-mantic."
"Socrates could have any boy he wants."
"He's possessed by extra-terrestrial beings! Oh wait...they're not aliens."
"It reminds me of people who get swept up in the 'save the whales' campaigns..."
"I have all this wisdom, you should give me favors!"
"What a great pick-up line!"
"So, that was a bunch of things I think about."
"Revolution...happens...very...quietly."
"Grouping off makes me feel like we're in pre-school."
professor: "You ARE in preschool."
professor (on courage): "Try that harder rock climb, or try that fancier dance move."
Stay tuned for November's quotes!
Friday, October 14, 2011
Tory - There vs. Their
I attempted to teach Jenny the difference between there and their over skype.
I laughed quite hard at the last bit, and since I am really tired, figured this would be a funny substitute for something thought provoking. Booyah.
Jenny = Nellie B.
Sourkiwis = Guess Who
sourkiwis: Their, not There
sourkiwis: There is like, look over there a dog!
sourkiwis: Their is like, their baby puppy is so cute.
Nellie B.: what?
sourkiwis: When you say THERE you mean a place
Nellie B.: Oh.
sourkiwis: When you say THEIR, it means something someone owns
sourkiwis: So THEIR blog
sourkiwis: THEIR house
sourkiwis: THEIR kid
sourkiwis: THERE is a frog
sourkiwis: THERE is the world
Nellie B.: By the way a sad thing happened to there friend.
Nellie B.: OOPS
Nellie B.: Their.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Nellie - In Which I Have Strong Feelings About Gay Cartoon Characters
So! There's been this sorta scandal/craze all over the interwebs lately, and it has to do with the Cartoon Network show Adventure Time.
It's an incredibly random, slightly troll-esque show that is supposedly aimed at kids- this is Cartoon Network we're talking about, after all- but ended up having a much larger teen-and-adult fanbase than anticipated. It's deliciously off and funny in an incredibly awkward way.
Moving onward, one of the characters and my personal favorite is Marceline the Vampire Queen.
She is just your typical angsty slightly antisocial teenage vampire. And she's pretty good at writing emotional ballads.
Aaaaand moving on, there's also this other character, Princess Bubblegum. She's not my favorite but she's hilarious in her own right.
Now, if you're paying any attention at all you'll have noticed that both of these supporting characters are girls. The main characters are actually Finn and Jake, but they're not really important to this blog post, aside from the point out that the human character Finn is implied to have a rather large crush on Princess Bubblegum (Who, in case you're wondering, is actually part human, part gum. For real).
To actually show you the point to all of this, I'm going to have to add more videos. But it's worth it, I promise.
Recently, a new episode of Adventure Time aired, entitled "What Was Missing" and featuring another one of Marceline's ballads. Only... this one is kinda, well... you'll see.
If you don't want to watch the entire 11-minute video, you're a lazy ass and too bad for you. No, not really. The important bits are Marceline's song to Bubblegum at 3:00 and a bit at the end between the two of them in which Bubblegum confesses that she wears a shirt of Marcelline's as pajamas. Amid blushing.
Look, if you watched those two clips and come to the same conclusion I did, which was that the two girls' relationship is both Filled With Tension and also Certainly Not Platonic, you would not be alone. The fanbase pretty much flipped over this episode; "Bubbline" shippers are all over everywhere these days. Heck, even one of the creators and artists on Adventure Time draws "fan art" of the two in various romantic poses.
What fueled this fan outburst? Well, other than the blatant lesbian crushing going on in Fig. #1... there's this.
It's an official recap of the episode, and folks, it ain't exactly subtle about the romantic interest between the two very female characters. In fact, it suggests that such a pairing would be "adorbz"- a first, I'm sure, for any reference to lesbian relationships in a kid's show.
So, naturally, the guy in charge of said video was fired, all counts of possible "gayness" in the show have been written off as fans reading too much into it, and the video itself has been taken down- only to be put up again by all the frenzied youtubers who don't want it to disappear because it's inconveniant for Cartoon Network.
In summary, when are gay characters going to be allowed in kid's shows? In this same episode, Jake refers to Finn's "special time with a wad of Princess Bubblegum's hair". Uhm, excuse me? This essentially ruins the "oh-our-show-is-for-kids-no-mature-themes-or-subtext" in one fell swoop.
And also? Gay people doesn't equal mature themes. Bottom line. There are plenty of references to heterosexuality in both Adventure Time and in almost every little kid's show on the planet- would be nice to see a network for once not being a bunch of total wusses and actually sticking with the decisions they obviously made but hoped, what, that nobody would notice? *sigh* I guess that's too much to ask, so have some fan art.
Bubblegum and Marceline by ~vernavulpes on deviantART
Maybe next time.
What is this crack?
It's an incredibly random, slightly troll-esque show that is supposedly aimed at kids- this is Cartoon Network we're talking about, after all- but ended up having a much larger teen-and-adult fanbase than anticipated. It's deliciously off and funny in an incredibly awkward way.
Moving onward, one of the characters and my personal favorite is Marceline the Vampire Queen.
She is just your typical angsty slightly antisocial teenage vampire. And she's pretty good at writing emotional ballads.
Aaaaand moving on, there's also this other character, Princess Bubblegum. She's not my favorite but she's hilarious in her own right.
Now, if you're paying any attention at all you'll have noticed that both of these supporting characters are girls. The main characters are actually Finn and Jake, but they're not really important to this blog post, aside from the point out that the human character Finn is implied to have a rather large crush on Princess Bubblegum (Who, in case you're wondering, is actually part human, part gum. For real).
To actually show you the point to all of this, I'm going to have to add more videos. But it's worth it, I promise.
Recently, a new episode of Adventure Time aired, entitled "What Was Missing" and featuring another one of Marceline's ballads. Only... this one is kinda, well... you'll see.
If you don't want to watch the entire 11-minute video, you're a lazy ass and too bad for you. No, not really. The important bits are Marceline's song to Bubblegum at 3:00 and a bit at the end between the two of them in which Bubblegum confesses that she wears a shirt of Marcelline's as pajamas. Amid blushing.
Look, if you watched those two clips and come to the same conclusion I did, which was that the two girls' relationship is both Filled With Tension and also Certainly Not Platonic, you would not be alone. The fanbase pretty much flipped over this episode; "Bubbline" shippers are all over everywhere these days. Heck, even one of the creators and artists on Adventure Time draws "fan art" of the two in various romantic poses.
What fueled this fan outburst? Well, other than the blatant lesbian crushing going on in Fig. #1... there's this.
It's an official recap of the episode, and folks, it ain't exactly subtle about the romantic interest between the two very female characters. In fact, it suggests that such a pairing would be "adorbz"- a first, I'm sure, for any reference to lesbian relationships in a kid's show.
So, naturally, the guy in charge of said video was fired, all counts of possible "gayness" in the show have been written off as fans reading too much into it, and the video itself has been taken down- only to be put up again by all the frenzied youtubers who don't want it to disappear because it's inconveniant for Cartoon Network.
In summary, when are gay characters going to be allowed in kid's shows? In this same episode, Jake refers to Finn's "special time with a wad of Princess Bubblegum's hair". Uhm, excuse me? This essentially ruins the "oh-our-show-is-for-kids-no-mature-themes-or-subtext" in one fell swoop.
And also? Gay people doesn't equal mature themes. Bottom line. There are plenty of references to heterosexuality in both Adventure Time and in almost every little kid's show on the planet- would be nice to see a network for once not being a bunch of total wusses and actually sticking with the decisions they obviously made but hoped, what, that nobody would notice? *sigh* I guess that's too much to ask, so have some fan art.
Bubblegum and Marceline by ~vernavulpes on deviantART
Maybe next time.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Molly - Homeward Bound?
Hey guys!
Time is flying by. Every time I turn around I'm ripping off another day of my 30 Rock quote calendar, and sometimes I have to rip off two or three days of quotes at a time.
I've been looking forward to my Hendricks Days break, so the time passing quickly was, for a while, a delightful thing. HOWEVER!
Lately when I've been texting mom about the logistics of my visit, I keep accidentally referring to Marlboro as "home." As in "Great! When do you think you can bring me home, Tuesday night or Wednesday morning?"
When I realized I was doing this, I was all:
O_______o
How can I have two places I identify as "home"? Which is home and which is the imitation? Why does Plato now seamlessly work it's way into how I think about things? *shakes head vigorously in an attempt to rid of RLP references*
But then I stopped freaking out about it. I think it's OK that Marlboro is home now too - just like this summer when Nellie pointed out that Tower Co. is a legitimate second family. The idea that there's room for more than one family or home is a wonderful thing to me. I know that going to Marblehead is going to be great, but I also know I'll actually miss Marlboro and my Marlboro family while I'm away. I guess 2 months is a long time.
Anyway, regardless of my home identity shift, I'll be so happy to see Booths and Boothdom! I've been listening to The Edge of Glory in preparation for singing it with Jenny.
Gus, I enjoy your book-y posts.
Tory, I hope bunny farm is safe from the monster kitty.
Nellie, call me back gosh darn it. Stupidface.
Time is flying by. Every time I turn around I'm ripping off another day of my 30 Rock quote calendar, and sometimes I have to rip off two or three days of quotes at a time.
I've been looking forward to my Hendricks Days break, so the time passing quickly was, for a while, a delightful thing. HOWEVER!
Lately when I've been texting mom about the logistics of my visit, I keep accidentally referring to Marlboro as "home." As in "Great! When do you think you can bring me home, Tuesday night or Wednesday morning?"
When I realized I was doing this, I was all:
O_______o
How can I have two places I identify as "home"? Which is home and which is the imitation? Why does Plato now seamlessly work it's way into how I think about things? *shakes head vigorously in an attempt to rid of RLP references*
But then I stopped freaking out about it. I think it's OK that Marlboro is home now too - just like this summer when Nellie pointed out that Tower Co. is a legitimate second family. The idea that there's room for more than one family or home is a wonderful thing to me. I know that going to Marblehead is going to be great, but I also know I'll actually miss Marlboro and my Marlboro family while I'm away. I guess 2 months is a long time.
Anyway, regardless of my home identity shift, I'll be so happy to see Booths and Boothdom! I've been listening to The Edge of Glory in preparation for singing it with Jenny.
Gus, I enjoy your book-y posts.
Tory, I hope bunny farm is safe from the monster kitty.
Nellie, call me back gosh darn it. Stupidface.
Gus - Once upon a time...zzzzzzzz
Did you ever have a book that you were really looking forward to reading, that you just can't get into for whatever reason? Maybe it's the author's writing style, maybe it's the setting, maybe it's the fact that you keep forgetting to read the book because you got another at the same time. Maybe it's that you tend to start reading too late and keep drooling on the pages. Etc. etc. and so on.
Having the experience with one of David Drake's books. Pretty sure it's a combination of the "reading too late" and coming down off Craig DiLouie's "The Infection," which is one of my favorite zombie apocalypse stories that I've read. I also have no idea what the hell is going on in the scene I just read. That's a bit of an issue too; the changes between scenery feel a bit jarring sometimes, and other times I don't notice that we have a different cast in the room now. And the room is now in space.
But I'm going to keep reading because the book has a very interesting moral ambiguity to it - you want to root for the main characters because they seem likable and, after all, they're the ones you're viewing this world through. At the same time, it's quite apparent that the employers of the mercenary company you're following--this is military science fiction--are less than moral guys. It paints the whole story line, at least in the beginning, in very nice shades of gray. Characters and stories are much more interesting when they're three dimensional, and it always really appeals to me when I read a book that is a good story where there isn't a black-and-white approach to the plot.
*
Watch Land of the Dead. It was great, and I'm normally a very skeptical fan of Romero's later works. Hopper is excellent in it, and it's got a great "this is really screwed up" post-apoc vibe.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
A Skype encrypted blog post - Tory
Jenny had a fascinating conversation with me via Skype that will stand in as a blog post since i'm too tired to write real words. Or post on the right day. Sorry.
Key:
Nellie B. = Jenny
sourkiwis = Me
Poppy = Rabbit
Ivy = Rabbit
Steve = Rabbit
Monster Kitty = WTH
Nellie B.: =( (o)0 (o))= kitty waits for the right time to spring and eat your bunnies. be aware of this monster kitty..
sourkiwis: D:
Nellie B.: Time is running out!
Nellie B.: YOU MUST PROTECT THEM EVEN MORE!
Nellie B.: EVIL MONSTER KITTY IS WAITING!
sourkiwis: Poppy is rattling her cage like a prisoner.
Nellie B.: That means monster kitty is near.
Nellie B.: She is trying to tell you to run.
sourkiwis: D:
Nellie B.: Under stand?
Nellie B.: (wait) Do you under stand that monster kitty is near?
sourkiwis: D:
Nellie B.: (whew) you must run then wipethe sweat from your forhead as you run.
Nellie B.: ....please wait... predicting future.
Nellie B.: You will run and then suddenly you will realize your bunnies are not with you! you will run back to your room and find only one there if you sey the ones name now and put it on skype that will be the one that survives and you will find and svae.
Nellie B.: That is your future of the monster kittys!
Nellie B.: :) No pressure.
You heard it here. No pressure.
And as a bonus feature:
Nellie B.: Ivy will be found and you will take her with you. a word of caution: your bunny might starve if you don't give it food. you'r gonig to have to walk 100 miles to go to the stone of crystal where you will get the other two bunnies back from the monster kittys. this is your future and you will decide to do this. and even if you plan ahead you will do it.
Nellie B.: Risk at life for pets club.
Nellie B.: You'r now joining it.
Nellie B.: okay? okay.
a day at the office of wesley. all the dogs come and play all day steve joined it even thow he should have joined "the office bunnies". he tried it out and all you did was hop ovre and ovre again and meet new bunnies and have loyars and go to court and stuff it was real boring so he joined wesley's office witch is puppies and dogs playing all day and steve just chills and sips water and has pelets by the pool and sometimes gos for swim.
Anyone else terrified? My future sounds kind of hectic.
-Tory
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Molly - Quotes from Classes
I can't write anything too long this week, as I'm catching up on abundance of homework I couldn't do while I was sick. But I'd like to share with you guys some quotes from my various classes that might give you some insight into my education here at Marlboro ^_^
"Nobody in the world is interested in you but you."
"Look! I'm a fanatic! Come with me!"
"My best advice for life is this: don't do dumb things."
"Don't offend people who pay the bills. That's another item on my list of dumb things you shouldn't do."
"For God's sake use the right adjectives. If it's green grass I don't care, but if it's purple grass I want to know!"
"Did any of you go through an ironic phase around 14 or 15? Christmas is SOOO boring."
"Don't get white socks with different colored bands that go around the top. You'll never get those bands together."
"Achilles the Angriest Shepherd: A children's book."
On The Odyssey: "Home is where the heart is."
"I'm not saying Odysseus isn't awesome, I'm just saying I wouldn't want to hang out with him."
"What makes you think he'd want to hang out with you?!"
"This kind of had an 'informed virgin' feel to it."
"And then I kept looking for references to his cock (rooster) and I kept thinking 'it's coming...it's coming..."
Hope you enjoyed.
:P
"Nobody in the world is interested in you but you."
"Look! I'm a fanatic! Come with me!"
"My best advice for life is this: don't do dumb things."
"Don't offend people who pay the bills. That's another item on my list of dumb things you shouldn't do."
"For God's sake use the right adjectives. If it's green grass I don't care, but if it's purple grass I want to know!"
"Did any of you go through an ironic phase around 14 or 15? Christmas is SOOO boring."
"Don't get white socks with different colored bands that go around the top. You'll never get those bands together."
"Achilles the Angriest Shepherd: A children's book."
On The Odyssey: "Home is where the heart is."
"I'm not saying Odysseus isn't awesome, I'm just saying I wouldn't want to hang out with him."
"What makes you think he'd want to hang out with you?!"
"This kind of had an 'informed virgin' feel to it."
"And then I kept looking for references to his cock (rooster) and I kept thinking 'it's coming...it's coming..."
Hope you enjoyed.
:P
Monday, October 3, 2011
Gus - Cyber Warrior
So I got Deus Ex: Human Revolution last this summer while I was still at Blueberry Cove, the only game I've bought at full price since I became a college graduate. And it can be summed up in one word: reallyreallyreallygood! (screw you, spellcheck)
The premise of the game is 15-20 years in the future when it's become fairly common for people to "augment" themselves by having mechanical body parts or add-ons to replace old non-functioning ones, or, somewhat more darkly, to make them more powerful.
It's definitely heavy on Blade Runner in the inspiration category, which is a good thing; the game is very atmospheric, and the combination of the mortality of the lead character--you can't just run and gun unless you turn the difficulty way down--and the superb voice acting make it one of the most immersive games I've ever played. I like a good story, so it's a blast.
*
The Red Sox lost 4-3 to Baltimore in penultimate game of the regular season, completing a historic collapse that led to the Tampa Bay Rays sneaking into the play-offs via the wild card, one game ahead of the Sox. In the following week, the Red Sox manager of eight years, Terry Francona, decided he did not want to return for next year. Francona, who oversaw the first two championships since 1918 while managing the 2004 and 2007 teams, will be missed. As with many baseball managers, he did make some silly calls, but he was a good guy and protected his players. It says something about some of the Sox players, rather than Francona, I think, that they allegedly "stopped responding to him."
*
I need to get new running shoes this week, because I've really been meaning to resume my running. I was up to three miles on a fairly regular basis before breakfast when I was up at school. Now I need to get back in shape as one of my goals for this fall. Along with bombarding the world with job applications and such.
*
Jenny played an awesome soccer game for Team Spain yesterday, and they won narrowly over Canada 1-0. Very proud of Jenny for being so game, as this is her first year playing soccer!
*
Henry apparently needs to be fed again. Hungriest. Guinea Pig. Ever.
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Molly - RABBIT RABBIT! A Summary of Life ATM
RABBIT RABBIT! It's October 1st! And I'm sick again!
-_-
Anyway, I should be going to the library right now but I'm gonna wait a little a while until my Advil kicks in. Thanks to a fine, dapper young fellow I have plenty of it so I'm not worried about running out. Yet.
So life! Life is good. If it wasn't for my health, everything would be pretty much perfect. I didn't feel like that at all at the beginning of the week (hence the randomly writing a post on a Saturday instead of Tuesday) but now I'm quite satisfied. My papers are all in order to get off meal plan, I'm running more than I ever have before, I love my workstudy job, and...
CLASSES!
Schoolwork is eating up my life in such an extreme way right now, so I thought I would share with you Booths what my classes are and why I like them. Hopefully this is interesting to you, if not I apologize. I am however, putting a big surprise at the end of this post to encourage you to read the whole thing. I'm aware there's a scroller. RESIST TEMPTATION!
Religion, Literature and Philosophy Seminar (RLP for short):
This is a six credit course, and by far the most demanding reading I've done for a class. In the last month (It's been a whole month! Ahhh!) I've read The Iliad, The Odyssey, Sappho, Agamemnon and The Eumindes, Philoctetes and The Oedipus trilogy. We just began Plato's Republic and we'll be spending lots of time with Plato in the coming weeks. I love this class because it made me realize LIT517 wasn't a one-off - I really do love literature this much and it's so great to be in a class that requires such crazy text immersion. It's an exciting course, and I'm glad I took it.
Elements of Style:
English grammar! I study good. Honestly, this class makes me a little uneasy. Sometimes I get everything the professor and the texts explains and I feel smart and happy. Other times I feel like I'm taking a math course...and we all know how I feel about math. But I'm learning a lot and that's what matters. God, I have so much EoS homework to do this weekend. *collapses*
Fiction Workshop:
I took this course to force myself to write fiction on a regular basis. It fulfills this desire quite well, and I like that. Every week about half the class submits a piece, and we all read "the packet" of work over the weekend, and come ready to comment on the writing. It's like a more organized version of Writer's Block. So far I've written one new piece that I kind of like, and I have to write something this weekend too. We'll see how that goes...I'm finding it's tricky to write something compelling that doesn't naturally emerge. But that's what writers have to do!
Beginning Modern Dance:
LOL! I know, right? And perhaps those who know me and aren't familiar with my dance background (or all the details of it) would probably think I'm crazy for taking this course. I'm a complete and total spaz/klutz...HOWEVER! This class is awesome and gives me a chance to feel graceful again, which I haven't felt in a long time. I trip over stuff, I spill all my drinks, I knock everything over. But in the dance studio, something's different and I get to feel confident in movement. I had forgotten just how nice that feels.
So those are my classes! Other activities include:
Working as the Social Media Assistant at the Career Development Office (sounds official right?), which means I look for internships/jobs to add to our database, make posters/hang up posters, and encourage people to go to the career office. I love the people I work with and I get to be somewhat creative. It's a pretty dreamy workstudy.
Being on the Film Committee. It still has yet to meet, but I'm excited for when we do! I get to help pick which movies play on campus on the weekends!
Participating in our QSA. I'm making posters for our adorable activities, and we sponsor the homecoming dance. There's a rumor it's going to be fairytale-themed!
And running as many days a week as possible. And watching "Project Runway" every Friday after RLP with Elisabeth as a get-through-the-week reward. Best reward ever!
To paint you a full picture, I'm usually pretty busy with homework during the week, but there's a lot of cool stuff happening on campus in the evenings. I've been rockclimbing, to movies, and open discussions called "People Talks." And I usually get into Brattleboro at least once a week. We also had an awesome event this past Wednesday called "Apple Days" where someone got thrown into the Fire Pond.
So, I don't really have a surprise except that I'll be home October 14-18th for our mini-break Hendricks Days. HUZZAH!!
In the meantime, I will trudge up to the library and spend some time with euphemisms, wolves, and Plato. A delightful combination.
-_-
Anyway, I should be going to the library right now but I'm gonna wait a little a while until my Advil kicks in. Thanks to a fine, dapper young fellow I have plenty of it so I'm not worried about running out. Yet.
So life! Life is good. If it wasn't for my health, everything would be pretty much perfect. I didn't feel like that at all at the beginning of the week (hence the randomly writing a post on a Saturday instead of Tuesday) but now I'm quite satisfied. My papers are all in order to get off meal plan, I'm running more than I ever have before, I love my workstudy job, and...
CLASSES!
Schoolwork is eating up my life in such an extreme way right now, so I thought I would share with you Booths what my classes are and why I like them. Hopefully this is interesting to you, if not I apologize. I am however, putting a big surprise at the end of this post to encourage you to read the whole thing. I'm aware there's a scroller. RESIST TEMPTATION!
Religion, Literature and Philosophy Seminar (RLP for short):
This is a six credit course, and by far the most demanding reading I've done for a class. In the last month (It's been a whole month! Ahhh!) I've read The Iliad, The Odyssey, Sappho, Agamemnon and The Eumindes, Philoctetes and The Oedipus trilogy. We just began Plato's Republic and we'll be spending lots of time with Plato in the coming weeks. I love this class because it made me realize LIT517 wasn't a one-off - I really do love literature this much and it's so great to be in a class that requires such crazy text immersion. It's an exciting course, and I'm glad I took it.
Elements of Style:
English grammar! I study good. Honestly, this class makes me a little uneasy. Sometimes I get everything the professor and the texts explains and I feel smart and happy. Other times I feel like I'm taking a math course...and we all know how I feel about math. But I'm learning a lot and that's what matters. God, I have so much EoS homework to do this weekend. *collapses*
Fiction Workshop:
I took this course to force myself to write fiction on a regular basis. It fulfills this desire quite well, and I like that. Every week about half the class submits a piece, and we all read "the packet" of work over the weekend, and come ready to comment on the writing. It's like a more organized version of Writer's Block. So far I've written one new piece that I kind of like, and I have to write something this weekend too. We'll see how that goes...I'm finding it's tricky to write something compelling that doesn't naturally emerge. But that's what writers have to do!
Beginning Modern Dance:
LOL! I know, right? And perhaps those who know me and aren't familiar with my dance background (or all the details of it) would probably think I'm crazy for taking this course. I'm a complete and total spaz/klutz...HOWEVER! This class is awesome and gives me a chance to feel graceful again, which I haven't felt in a long time. I trip over stuff, I spill all my drinks, I knock everything over. But in the dance studio, something's different and I get to feel confident in movement. I had forgotten just how nice that feels.
So those are my classes! Other activities include:
Working as the Social Media Assistant at the Career Development Office (sounds official right?), which means I look for internships/jobs to add to our database, make posters/hang up posters, and encourage people to go to the career office. I love the people I work with and I get to be somewhat creative. It's a pretty dreamy workstudy.
Being on the Film Committee. It still has yet to meet, but I'm excited for when we do! I get to help pick which movies play on campus on the weekends!
Participating in our QSA. I'm making posters for our adorable activities, and we sponsor the homecoming dance. There's a rumor it's going to be fairytale-themed!
And running as many days a week as possible. And watching "Project Runway" every Friday after RLP with Elisabeth as a get-through-the-week reward. Best reward ever!
To paint you a full picture, I'm usually pretty busy with homework during the week, but there's a lot of cool stuff happening on campus in the evenings. I've been rockclimbing, to movies, and open discussions called "People Talks." And I usually get into Brattleboro at least once a week. We also had an awesome event this past Wednesday called "Apple Days" where someone got thrown into the Fire Pond.
So, I don't really have a surprise except that I'll be home October 14-18th for our mini-break Hendricks Days. HUZZAH!!
In the meantime, I will trudge up to the library and spend some time with euphemisms, wolves, and Plato. A delightful combination.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Nellie - Quick, Succinct and To The Point
So, for the past week or so, I've been essentially drooling over this song.
I'm not sure why I found it, but for some reason it really captured my attention and now I use it as drawin' music.
THEN.
I found the official music video.
...man, what a buzzkill.
That is all.
Love,
Nellie
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Tory - I'm So Tired...
I know this isn't my day to write, but I skipped last week's because I was busy and tired, so.
I forgot to take my socks off before I got in the shower.
That is all.
Gus - Lalalala, bullet points because I'm tired!
* My girlfriend is leaving for France!
* I saw Molly this weekend!
* The Red Sox are awful!
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Nellie - Human nature?
Ok! Hey, everybooth. It's WEDNESDAY WEDNESDAY GOTTA GET DOWN ON WEDNESDAY.
...sorry.
I'd just like to make it clear that, while I know how Wednesday is pronounce, every time I see it in writing I think of it as wed-nez-day. Every. Time.
Today I'm going to talk to yo about animal cruelty!
I got a whole pile of books out from the library, (Including one outstanding graphic novel, one good graphic novel, one crap graphic novel and a couple normal novels) and the one I'm really psyched about and just generally gaga over is "Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat" by Hal Herzog- tagline "Why It's So Hard to Think Straight About Animals". I saw it on the shelf in all it's lurid coloring and I fell in love instantly.
Of course, once I was done plowing through the graphic-novel-goodness, this was the first proper book I started reading. I'm 42 pages in at the moment and, in this case, you can judge a book by it's cover.
...sorry.
I'd just like to make it clear that, while I know how Wednesday is pronounce, every time I see it in writing I think of it as wed-nez-day. Every. Time.
Today I'm going to talk to yo about animal cruelty!
I got a whole pile of books out from the library, (Including one outstanding graphic novel, one good graphic novel, one crap graphic novel and a couple normal novels) and the one I'm really psyched about and just generally gaga over is "Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat" by Hal Herzog- tagline "Why It's So Hard to Think Straight About Animals". I saw it on the shelf in all it's lurid coloring and I fell in love instantly.
 |
| DFSDGF- JUST LOOK AT IT <3 |
It's already touched on a few really interesting subjects- Dolphin Assisted Therapy, for instance. As someone who doesn't think dolphins should be kept captive at all, well, putting them into little concrete pools so people with real problems can float above them and pretend their sonar is bathing them in radiant wonderful mind-healing rays? For $700 bucks an hour? The levels of stupidity and meanness there are off the charts.
BUT. The part that has been most interesting to me so far is the section on the correlation (and there always has been one, allegedly) between a child showing cruelty to animals and that child growing up to commit violent crimes towards other people.
It's long been "common knowledge" that torturing animals as a child is a sign of a psychopath, but in one study cited by this book, 35% of the violent criminals participating had abused animals in the past, and in the control group- and these are normal people, you understand- 37% had committed some form of animal cruelty as children.
In another surprising study, out of 354 cases of serial murder, only 20% of the perpetrators had a history of animal abuse. Huh. May want to re-think that common knowledge thing.
In another surprising study, out of 354 cases of serial murder, only 20% of the perpetrators had a history of animal abuse. Huh. May want to re-think that common knowledge thing.
That being said, it isn't why I'm writing. As I'm reading this section, the author asks some of his friends if they ever abused animals as children. The results are surprising- one friend blew up frogs with firecrackers, another killed his puppy when he was five years old by tossing it over a fence again and again, a third said that yes, she had indeed been involved in animal cruelty when she was a child- but she couldn't talk about it.
The part that disturbs me is that a fair amount of people abuse, torture, or kill animals as children. Up to a certain age, I suppose you can justify it- oh, he/she didn't know they were hurting them- but the rate at which this happens is so startling that when reading this section of the book, I was struck by how glad I was that I never killed anything when I was a kid. All of these people, all of the good ones, anyhow, carry around the weight of having done something horrible when they were younger, and having no way to fix it. They have to remember that their entire lives.
I stepped on a snail three years ago, when I was fifteen. It still brings me to tears to think about.
I was talking to my Dad about all of this, and a few minutes into the conversation he asked me if I wanted to hear about the worst moment of his life.
He had a little japanese turtle named Yogi when he was a kid- he had a lot of snakes, rats, turtles, etc- that he was especially fond of, no bigger than the palm of your hand. One day, while he was cleaning the cage, he accidentally forgot Yogi was on the ground and stepped on him. You could tell, from the way he talked about this, that he hadn't been joking or exaggerating- years and years and years after the fact, he still remembers killing that little turtle, and feels incredibly guilty.
So, in conclusion to all of this, are people just generally messed up? Do all kids need to kill or torture something when they're young, just to know how it feels to have power over something that can't fight back? Obviously, some don't, and the ones who do often seem to be wracked with guilt- but why does it happen so often? And why am I exempt from all of this? (Thank goodness!) Is it just good genetic material that kept me from wanting to pull the legs off of grasshoppers? NATURE OR NURTURE, PEOPLE?
Also, purebred dogs and their owners really do look alike, but mutts and their owners do not. Go figure.
 |
| o-o |
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Molly - Hopes and Dreams and Ick
Hey Booths!
I've enjoyed all of your writings, and I can't wait to see those of you who are coming to see me on Friday. Mom is bringing me a 5 lb. bag of sugar, so I'm looking forward to that too. Mmmsugartea.
Anyway, right now I am absolutely disgusting (Here's where Gus says "Right now?"). I've caught what is referred to at Marlboro as "The Ick"...basically an awful cold that everyone gets because my school is adorable and pint-sized. My brain is fuzzy and I had a fever earlier and I'm supposed to be reading Aeschylus. Lurvely.
I'm writing this because I want to pose a question to my siblings (and any readers/friends who'd like to respond as well): what are your hopes and dreams guys?
Like, what's the ideal right now?
I guess I'm wondering because mine keep changing. Right now I've decided I want to be an author/English + literature professor but I'm acutely aware that my goals tend to fluctuate depending on what I'm studying atm. I'd also like a couple cats and a cute apartment. Maybe in Boston.
So I call for the first time, a formal response from each Booth. Someone help Jenny do it too, because I'm sure whatever her goals are, they are adorable. Tell me what you're hoping for! A career, a school, a new barbie movie, an outcome at a tournament...what is it?
I've enjoyed all of your writings, and I can't wait to see those of you who are coming to see me on Friday. Mom is bringing me a 5 lb. bag of sugar, so I'm looking forward to that too. Mmmsugartea.
Anyway, right now I am absolutely disgusting (Here's where Gus says "Right now?"). I've caught what is referred to at Marlboro as "The Ick"...basically an awful cold that everyone gets because my school is adorable and pint-sized. My brain is fuzzy and I had a fever earlier and I'm supposed to be reading Aeschylus. Lurvely.
I'm writing this because I want to pose a question to my siblings (and any readers/friends who'd like to respond as well): what are your hopes and dreams guys?
Like, what's the ideal right now?
I guess I'm wondering because mine keep changing. Right now I've decided I want to be an author/English + literature professor but I'm acutely aware that my goals tend to fluctuate depending on what I'm studying atm. I'd also like a couple cats and a cute apartment. Maybe in Boston.
So I call for the first time, a formal response from each Booth. Someone help Jenny do it too, because I'm sure whatever her goals are, they are adorable. Tell me what you're hoping for! A career, a school, a new barbie movie, an outcome at a tournament...what is it?
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Jenny/Tory - Squid/Wesley's Haircut
JENNY:
(Slightly edited by Tory for readability, but mostly left to maximum adorable spelling-errorness)
Hi monie guess what! :3 I finally got to install feral-heart (game on computer) and it works now the wolvys can howl and the lions, tigers, and lots of other cats can roar! Anyway i am planing on writing more of "paws daughters feather and rain' the second book of paws! Webly looks funny in a bathing suit by the way.. and he looks funny with his "short fur" hair cut.
Any way bunny farm whent on from 9:00 to something like 12 or 1 in the after noon of course when it started it was morning time. any way all the pets are happy.. and harryit is pretty happy and i think she likes me alittle more seen that she curled up on the pillow when i was asleep.
Also she put her head on my lap when i was sitting down on a chair and she had bin lieing there. Marco and martin the guina pigs are also doing fine and so is all the other "piggys" and as usall tommy is a happy white cuddly fat cat . and shadow same! peanut likes me more too! and stripes is stripes!
Tory and I played "dogs" and I was Lily the Samoyed and she was sugar the German shepherd.
TORY:
I am finally writing, even though i'm kind of stealing a dog that doesn't belong to me to write about. These things will happen when you become an Auntie to a standard poodle, just you wait.
Excitingly enough, this time the 'good groomer that didn't savage his ear hair' was there when Nellie called petco, thus making the haircut much more promising than last time.
At three Nellie and I walked Wesley to his doom haircut, and once we got there he obviously sensed something was afoot, attempting to eat nibble taste fiddle with one of the groomer lady's hands. He then lunged for a toy poodle as she was exiting the store with her owner, causing the lady poodle to bark at him quite ferociously. After being dragged off her, we abandoned him with the grooming staff and walked home.
Nellie was still at work, so Mom and I drove to pick him up three hours after we had dropped him off. When we got there Courtney, the groomer, met us and informed us he had begun to stress out (panting and drooling, it's incredibly charming!) by the end of the hair cutting, so she stopped working on him and he'll be returning tomorrow, breaking it up and causing Wesley less stress.
Wesley came out from the back room looking rather derpy and adorable, still wet with his head poof hair squished down in his eyes, as it hadn't dried into pure fluff yet.
But not really acting adorable as he panted, barked at a Pomeranian that was very concerned and disdainful about Wesley's behavior, and jumped on Mom, desperately trying to...I have no idea what he was trying to accomplish.
I'll call it pure madness from realizing he smelled nice. I made the decision that this called for a bully stick, and he sat on my lap eating his bully stick on the way home, not at all fazed that he was riding in the front seat.
Hopefully tomorrow he'll avoid the wrath of small dogs.
Another day in the life of Wesley + Auntie!
(Must go, I hear the screams of an 8-year-old losing a battle to reclaim a stuffed hedgehog...He's still not quite over the haircut.)
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Nellie - Too Pony or Not Too Pony
Greetings, sportsfans, family members, friends, stalkers peering at this blog post through binoculars, and the rest of you. As Molly has reminded me approx. 80,000 times (A simple guesstimation) - wait, make that 80,001, my phone just buzzed- today is my day to write the blog post. My day.
And I'm going to write about ponies.
Lately, (Well, for the past year or so) I've been in a bit of an art funk. I've doodled, yes, and I've come up with a few good drawings, but I've been lazy about even putting pencil to paper and certainly not motivated enough to do what I actually aspire to: Become really good at digital art using my laptop and my tablet and learn better techniques for getting the effects I want.
But lately, I've had a immense change in attitude. I've got plenty of inspiration for digital work, and I've been reading tutorials and using textures and playing with lighting and all of that jazz.
The only problem? All my art if of MY LITTLE PONIES.
A few words of explanation: When I was younger, say, up until maybe 12 years, I was obsessed with collecting My Little Pony toys and forcing my female siblings to have hours and hours of games with them. I never liked barbies very much (Aside from using them to make many ketchup-heavy horror films all focusing on either beauty pageant contestants gone psychotic OR prom gone wrong!) and I was rather dismayed about the lack of male ponies- where the hell did all the babies come from- but there was something extremely appealing about the quasi-equine creatures of rainbow and glitter. We cut off their hair and made the ones with the most androgynous names into guys (Sorry, Shelly).
There were also some movies, which Jenny adored and most of us older kids secretly made fun of for their terrible stories, characters, and animation. Oh, and because there were no guys. (Still wth.)
Eventually, I outgrew My Little Ponies and completely forgot they existed. I collected dragons instead, because they are more badass.
AND THEN.
You may or may not be aware of this, but there is actually a massive fanbase of older people (Mostly men? o-o) who love the new MLP show, Friendship is Magic. I heard the hype and one day, while Jenny was watching it, I sat down and watched an episode.
Ok, ok, show is genuinly cute. The animation is Powerpuff-Girls-esque and very cute, the characters are distinct and funny, and the stories are much more solid. There are even guys! But I did not become an instant Brony. I do not fantasize about hanging out with Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. Maybe Twilight Sparkle, but not Rainbow Dash or Pinkie Pie. (I kid.)
But for whatever reason, I was really into the idea of making my own pony. I guess because it's such a systematical thing? You pick the tramp stamp (cutie mark) and the m@g!c l33t sk!llz (talents) and a few colors and BAM, you, too, can be having as much fun as the other pony-crazed weirdos appear to be having. Bro-hoofs abound.
So I did, and I named her Sweet Dreams and I made her an Alicorn which is both a unicorn and a pegasus because they are better and I drew her. Once. And, naturally, I uploaded said picture to deviantart.
And I did it again.
And I find myself asking if anyone has a character who wants to be friends with my character so that I might draw them together, MOAR PONIES!? What is wrong with me?
And I'm going to write about ponies.
Lately, (Well, for the past year or so) I've been in a bit of an art funk. I've doodled, yes, and I've come up with a few good drawings, but I've been lazy about even putting pencil to paper and certainly not motivated enough to do what I actually aspire to: Become really good at digital art using my laptop and my tablet and learn better techniques for getting the effects I want.
But lately, I've had a immense change in attitude. I've got plenty of inspiration for digital work, and I've been reading tutorials and using textures and playing with lighting and all of that jazz.
The only problem? All my art if of MY LITTLE PONIES.
A few words of explanation: When I was younger, say, up until maybe 12 years, I was obsessed with collecting My Little Pony toys and forcing my female siblings to have hours and hours of games with them. I never liked barbies very much (Aside from using them to make many ketchup-heavy horror films all focusing on either beauty pageant contestants gone psychotic OR prom gone wrong!) and I was rather dismayed about the lack of male ponies- where the hell did all the babies come from- but there was something extremely appealing about the quasi-equine creatures of rainbow and glitter. We cut off their hair and made the ones with the most androgynous names into guys (Sorry, Shelly).
There were also some movies, which Jenny adored and most of us older kids secretly made fun of for their terrible stories, characters, and animation. Oh, and because there were no guys. (Still wth.)
Eventually, I outgrew My Little Ponies and completely forgot they existed. I collected dragons instead, because they are more badass.
AND THEN.
You may or may not be aware of this, but there is actually a massive fanbase of older people (Mostly men? o-o) who love the new MLP show, Friendship is Magic. I heard the hype and one day, while Jenny was watching it, I sat down and watched an episode.
Ok, ok, show is genuinly cute. The animation is Powerpuff-Girls-esque and very cute, the characters are distinct and funny, and the stories are much more solid. There are even guys! But I did not become an instant Brony. I do not fantasize about hanging out with Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. Maybe Twilight Sparkle, but not Rainbow Dash or Pinkie Pie. (I kid.)
But for whatever reason, I was really into the idea of making my own pony. I guess because it's such a systematical thing? You pick the tramp stamp (cutie mark) and the m@g!c l33t sk!llz (talents) and a few colors and BAM, you, too, can be having as much fun as the other pony-crazed weirdos appear to be having. Bro-hoofs abound.
So I did, and I named her Sweet Dreams and I made her an Alicorn which is both a unicorn and a pegasus because they are better and I drew her. Once. And, naturally, I uploaded said picture to deviantart.
 |
| This is the picture. |
50 FAVORITES
50 OF THEM
Favorites are the blood of deviantart, and I have an average of 5-10 favorites per picture.
FIFTY SEPARATE PEOPLE LIKED MY PICTURE.
I mean, I pretend not to want favorites, but let us be honest here: Who doesn't want their art viewed and appreciated and have proof of said viewing and appreciation? It warms ones internet heart to have people looking at your work and enjoying it enough to hit the +fav button.
Perhaps I should have run then.
But instead, I made another.
 |
| ANOTHER. |
 |
| This one has snow! :D |
So here's my question: I've been drawing more. In general, not just with regard to ponies. If you click any of the links you'll see that my gallery has filled up an awful lot on the past few weeks, and I've really been enjoying what I'm doing.
But is this a good thing? My Little Ponies, with their squishy little bodies, cute pug-nosed faces, huge eyes and sparkly accessories, are a subject well within my comfort zone. Part of me thinks that if the only reason I'm enjoying drawing again is because I'm drawing ponies, I should just keep drawing them- But another part of me, the part that thinks that people who draw Sonic fan art day-in-day-out instead of actually coming up with their own work are lame... that one says I should quit the whole idea asap and draw something that came out of my brain, and my brain only.
The other night, that part of my brain tried to take over. The result is a perfect visual example of what happens when fan art and a deep need for originality come together.
...It isn't pretty.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Molly - Homeostasis
One of my biggest worries about moving to Vermont was that I'd change. I know that's kind of the point of going away to college - independence and freedom and whatnot - but it scared me. I've spent the last five or six years consciously trying to develop a sense of self, and what? I move out and have to start all over again?
But I was also looking forward to a less hectic schedule - I was anticipating that I would probably exercise at a less alarming rate, sleep in, drink more tea, and spend a calm semester getting to know the school. I wanted to be a more relaxed person in general, so I was looking forward to that change.
And when I got here, I did all of those things!
I slept till eight every day, I registered for a dance class and mainly used that for exercise, I became obsessed with tea, and I was careful to give myself a reasonable class schedule. I even ignored my planner!
This lasted for about two weeks. Slowly, Spring Semester '11 Molly elbowed her way back in.
For example, this morning I woke up at six and ran four miles before breakfast. I am beginning to wean myself from abundances of caffeine again. I'm starting my work study position today, and I'm interviewing for a Film Intensive tomorrow. My planner looks like that of a mad man's.
The truth is, I don't think it's in my nature to be relaxed. Those two weeks I attempted to chill out more, I often felt nauseous and freaked out. As it turns out, I really like to be busy - I like to have things to fill almost every time slot of my day. Fighting it, strangely enough, is too exhausting.
Without my trying, I've slowly returned to patterns I cultivated eight months ago. Maybe college isn't going to drastically change me - maybe I'm too set in my ways for that to happen.
So, so far, I can only document a couple changes in myself since I've come to Marlboro:
1. I eat way more vegetables, and so little meat I am dangerously close to becoming a vegetarian. But this is not because I find it morally impossible to eat bacon, but more just the dining hall soaks all their meat in some form of corn-syrupy sauce or cakes it in corn-starchy breading.
2. I'm a little shy. This is the oddest sensation in the world, and I honestly don't remember the last time I felt shy. Maybe when I first started working at AAT? But I remember feeling comfortable pretty darn quickly. Regardless, it's a strange thing for me not to be able to make eye contact with people, or feel nervous walking into the dining hall. This is slowly fading the more time I spend in the classroom - I'm such a loud mouth in there that I guess it just carries over to my social life.
Anyway, thought you guys would like to know that I'm still me, neurosis and all. I hope everyone's having a wonderful week; I can't wait to see you Booths the next time you come to visit. Jenny, there's a rumor you're the fastest kid on your soccer team, and I wanted you to know that doesn't surprise me at all. I would expect nothing less from The Fast Dragon.
But I was also looking forward to a less hectic schedule - I was anticipating that I would probably exercise at a less alarming rate, sleep in, drink more tea, and spend a calm semester getting to know the school. I wanted to be a more relaxed person in general, so I was looking forward to that change.
And when I got here, I did all of those things!
I slept till eight every day, I registered for a dance class and mainly used that for exercise, I became obsessed with tea, and I was careful to give myself a reasonable class schedule. I even ignored my planner!
This lasted for about two weeks. Slowly, Spring Semester '11 Molly elbowed her way back in.
For example, this morning I woke up at six and ran four miles before breakfast. I am beginning to wean myself from abundances of caffeine again. I'm starting my work study position today, and I'm interviewing for a Film Intensive tomorrow. My planner looks like that of a mad man's.
The truth is, I don't think it's in my nature to be relaxed. Those two weeks I attempted to chill out more, I often felt nauseous and freaked out. As it turns out, I really like to be busy - I like to have things to fill almost every time slot of my day. Fighting it, strangely enough, is too exhausting.
Without my trying, I've slowly returned to patterns I cultivated eight months ago. Maybe college isn't going to drastically change me - maybe I'm too set in my ways for that to happen.
So, so far, I can only document a couple changes in myself since I've come to Marlboro:
1. I eat way more vegetables, and so little meat I am dangerously close to becoming a vegetarian. But this is not because I find it morally impossible to eat bacon, but more just the dining hall soaks all their meat in some form of corn-syrupy sauce or cakes it in corn-starchy breading.
2. I'm a little shy. This is the oddest sensation in the world, and I honestly don't remember the last time I felt shy. Maybe when I first started working at AAT? But I remember feeling comfortable pretty darn quickly. Regardless, it's a strange thing for me not to be able to make eye contact with people, or feel nervous walking into the dining hall. This is slowly fading the more time I spend in the classroom - I'm such a loud mouth in there that I guess it just carries over to my social life.
Anyway, thought you guys would like to know that I'm still me, neurosis and all. I hope everyone's having a wonderful week; I can't wait to see you Booths the next time you come to visit. Jenny, there's a rumor you're the fastest kid on your soccer team, and I wanted you to know that doesn't surprise me at all. I would expect nothing less from The Fast Dragon.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Gus - Wait, hey, this isn't a happy song!
I got on the subject of songs that have melodies that really don't match the lyrics song in a conversation recently, specifically about the song "Pumped Up Kicks" by Foster The People. I think some people, including one that I was talking to from school the other day, find the juxtaposition of the music and lyrics of a song to be somewhat disturbing. I actually really enjoy the discord between these two parts of a song; don't get me wrong, this is far from the only kind of song I like. But I like it when the songwriter deceives the listener into thinking one thing with the music, then switches it up with the lyrics.
This is the Foster The People song I'm referring to. It's very easy to find yourself humming along the cheerful-sounding chorus, especially during the parts where the band members whistle. The chorus has a tune that suggests the song should be about falling in love--since "love" is what about 90% of all songs are written about, anyway, why not?--or at least something happy. Like discovering that the Pittsburgh Steelers just got creamed by their archrivals 35-7 and turned over the ball seven times! Or, you know, having a good day or something. I don't want to get too specific.
Thing is, the song's about shooting people. It's a wonderfully dark ditty about how the other kids better "outrun my gun."The cheerful chorus serves to obscure this at first to the casual listener, and then later on we discover that there's something creepy going on here once we start listening more intently. And the thing that strikes me about this is as being so cool is that the song mirrors the message so well; people think of the teen years as such a carefree, happy time...when they're on the outside, looking in. Look a bit closer and there's some really messed up stuff going on, culminating in some places in Columbine-like events. It's really heavy stuff.
Foster The People are hardly the first performing artists to utilize this sort of way of sending their message. Lily Allen's "Fuck You,"--not be confused with Cee Lo Green's "Fuck You"--is another song that you can find yourself humming along to happily-what a pleasant tune! And then you hit the chorus, and you start paying attention, and you realize that the song is not about butterflies and rainbows and the boy she just met. It's a song that bashes the closed minded masses; the card carrying members of the flat earth society who claim it's not alright to be gay, or different from them in any way, and the jerks who still cling to our society like leeches in this supposedly enlightened age.
Above all, the thing I really like about sending a message this way through music is the "oh, snap!" moment the listener gets while listening to the song. It makes the message hit harder, and it makes you think. Thinking's a good habit. Winky face.
And now, back to your regularly scheduled sisters.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Molly - Reflections on Lake Champlain
Hello Booths! Greetings from Vermont! *insert post card of Hurricane Irene*
At my new 4-year school, Marlboro College, all new students (even us oldey-moldey transfers!) go on a week-long orientation trip with other new students. Adorkable, I know. My trip was a kayaking/camping trip, and it was frickin' awesome. Among other things, every night we would sit around our camp fire and say our "Rose" our "Bud" and our "Thorn" of that day. Meaning the best parts of our day, what we were looking forward to for the next day, and what maybe-kinda sucked about that day. We all did it with a sense of humor, but took it pretty seriously too. Adorkable, I know.
Anyway, that's what I'd like to share with anyone who's reading this - the best parts of my trip, the little annoying things, and what I hope for as I begin my first semester at Marlboro. Cheesey to the point of puking, yes...but have you met me? Cheesey is what I do.
Roses:
-The people. I was afraid of going on this trip and getting sick of everyone super quickly - that each day would get worse socially. In fact it was the opposite, and each day made me love everyone more and it was kick-ass. I made some awesome friends who I get to sit with at meals every day now, and cuddle with. It's a beautiful thing when people aren't annoying.
-Kayaking. We got to kayak in solo boats AND two-person boats called tandems. We spent some time on both smooth and choppy water, and I feel like my kayak skills reached a new level. We also spent a lot of time singing "I'm on a Boat", and other Lonely Island songs as they applied.
-Singing. We sang. A lot.
-The Butterfly Funeral. We found a stunningly pretty dead butterfly at one of our campsites, and held an impromptu funeral, joining hands and singing "Taps". It made me feel super confident in my choice of school, because obviously the people I go to school with are dorks like me. Also, I accidentally got the lyrics wrong at the end and sang "God is high" giving a whole new meaning to the song.
-Mindfulness. We were so busy every day - moving boats around, setting up and taking down camp, cooking all of our meals...I had zero time to be homesick or grumpy. I lived in the present for a whole week and it was blissful.
Thorns:
-Allergies. I had some issues with the tents and my sensitivity to air-borne stuff. One morning I woke up very early with one eye completely sealed shut, and I took a zyrtec and sat out on the rocks, waiting for the swelling to go down and admiring the lake. Then I saw a naked man chilling on his boat. So maybe that was a Rose too...
-My hair. I didn't get to wash it. It was gross, and it bothered me a lot. You can ask my fellow trip-mates...when I did get to wash my hair I cried I was so happy. Or maybe I didn't, it was raining so that's still up for some speculation.
Buds for Marlboro Fall Semester:
-I hope my roommate and I continue to be the awesomest roommates ever. There's no reason this wouldn't happen, in fact it's definitely going to continue to happen. Claire is awesome; I love her. Also, we have a doormat (Thanks Nell!) that proclaims our room "Party Central" and we have received many compliments on it.
-I hope to meet even more people who are interesting and wonderful, although it seems everyone here is so I guess that's a guarantee.
-I hope to stay in touch with the people I love in various states across the country.
-I hope my classes don't kill me.
-I hope my family doesn't forget all about me and turn my room into a swimming pool or a pie factory.
-I hope to grow creatively and intellectually. That's why I'm here. Durrr.
Anyway, I hope all the Booths are doing great, and I can't wait to read your posts! That includes you Jenny...I want to read Paws!
At my new 4-year school, Marlboro College, all new students (even us oldey-moldey transfers!) go on a week-long orientation trip with other new students. Adorkable, I know. My trip was a kayaking/camping trip, and it was frickin' awesome. Among other things, every night we would sit around our camp fire and say our "Rose" our "Bud" and our "Thorn" of that day. Meaning the best parts of our day, what we were looking forward to for the next day, and what maybe-kinda sucked about that day. We all did it with a sense of humor, but took it pretty seriously too. Adorkable, I know.
Anyway, that's what I'd like to share with anyone who's reading this - the best parts of my trip, the little annoying things, and what I hope for as I begin my first semester at Marlboro. Cheesey to the point of puking, yes...but have you met me? Cheesey is what I do.
Roses:
-The people. I was afraid of going on this trip and getting sick of everyone super quickly - that each day would get worse socially. In fact it was the opposite, and each day made me love everyone more and it was kick-ass. I made some awesome friends who I get to sit with at meals every day now, and cuddle with. It's a beautiful thing when people aren't annoying.
-Kayaking. We got to kayak in solo boats AND two-person boats called tandems. We spent some time on both smooth and choppy water, and I feel like my kayak skills reached a new level. We also spent a lot of time singing "I'm on a Boat", and other Lonely Island songs as they applied.
-Singing. We sang. A lot.
-The Butterfly Funeral. We found a stunningly pretty dead butterfly at one of our campsites, and held an impromptu funeral, joining hands and singing "Taps". It made me feel super confident in my choice of school, because obviously the people I go to school with are dorks like me. Also, I accidentally got the lyrics wrong at the end and sang "God is high" giving a whole new meaning to the song.
-Mindfulness. We were so busy every day - moving boats around, setting up and taking down camp, cooking all of our meals...I had zero time to be homesick or grumpy. I lived in the present for a whole week and it was blissful.
Thorns:
-Allergies. I had some issues with the tents and my sensitivity to air-borne stuff. One morning I woke up very early with one eye completely sealed shut, and I took a zyrtec and sat out on the rocks, waiting for the swelling to go down and admiring the lake. Then I saw a naked man chilling on his boat. So maybe that was a Rose too...
-My hair. I didn't get to wash it. It was gross, and it bothered me a lot. You can ask my fellow trip-mates...when I did get to wash my hair I cried I was so happy. Or maybe I didn't, it was raining so that's still up for some speculation.
Buds for Marlboro Fall Semester:
-I hope my roommate and I continue to be the awesomest roommates ever. There's no reason this wouldn't happen, in fact it's definitely going to continue to happen. Claire is awesome; I love her. Also, we have a doormat (Thanks Nell!) that proclaims our room "Party Central" and we have received many compliments on it.
-I hope to meet even more people who are interesting and wonderful, although it seems everyone here is so I guess that's a guarantee.
-I hope to stay in touch with the people I love in various states across the country.
-I hope my classes don't kill me.
-I hope my family doesn't forget all about me and turn my room into a swimming pool or a pie factory.
-I hope to grow creatively and intellectually. That's why I'm here. Durrr.
Anyway, I hope all the Booths are doing great, and I can't wait to read your posts! That includes you Jenny...I want to read Paws!
Gus - Post One
Oh hey, this is the eldest Booth child, chiming in. My name is Gus, I'm 24 and I just graduated college this past May. I worked at Blueberry Cove summer camp for the next three months--fun and exhausting!--but now I'm finally back home and enjoying some downtime while I fix my computer and read...read...read. The books I just picked up with my graduation gift card:
* Hammer's Slammers, Volume One, by David Drake
* Imperial Glory, by Richard Williams
* On Basilisk Station, by David Weber
* Blood Pact, by Dan Abnett (I already have this one, but I'm a huge Abnett fan and I wanted a paperback version)
* The Infection, by Craig DiLouie (which needs to hurry up and arrive in the mail!)
...which is a pretty good haul. I've been cleaning up at the bookstore lately since I'm looking for more good science fiction/fiction material to inspire me to create my own stories. Plus, well, I am a total book worm.
Be right back, Orelia the Fire Hydrant needs saving.
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