8.29.2003

I'm posting.

I shouldn't really be doing this right now. I should be reading one of the many chapters that was assigned to me, or writing a summary on the book I'm supposed to have read, or even writing in my real journal.

But I'm posting.

Things have settled down a little, but barely. I even tried to post and do some updating on Tuesday, but my computer was being dumb. So I re-formatted. Hah, just try to mess with me you piece of plastic and LCD....I will wipe you clean! Okay, so now it has Win 2000 Pro on it, but still. Hopefully it will just work with me and not be so darn difficult.

So I got to see Switchfoot the other night. Yeah, that was pretty amazing. Liberty has a block party every year on the night before classes start. They had lots of large inflatable games--you know, the ones with bungee cords that you attach yourself to, or slides that you bounce down...typical college student activities. ::cough:: Actually, I raced my friend Karla on this wierd obstacle course thing and it was fun. Mainly cuz I won. Mwahaha.

Anyhow, at the end of the evening (the very hot, sweltering evening), they had a concert. Switchfoot. It was simply incredible. Caleb had to run one of the games for the first few songs, so I went by the side of the stage and got some pictures (which will be developed, scanned, and posted as time and money become more abundant). Once Caleb finished "working" at 9:00, he took my hand and I followed him and his nice "Student Life STAFF" shirt right past the barriers on the right side of the stage. We sat on a sound equiptment crate less than ten feet from the stage and the view was amazing. Switchfoot puts on a great show, especially with Jon Foreman climbing all over the poles holding up the stage roof. Crazy stuff. And sitting there, listening to "Dare you to Move" with Caleb thisclose and the lights and the stars...it was one of those moments when the insanity of the past week and a half all culminated in my mind, and I realized that I really am back here at school. Exactly where I'm supposed to be. And that I am head over feet in love with the most amazing guy I could possibly dream of. Even better, he loves me too and takes care of me in ways I'd never even thought I could've wanted.

There were fireworks after the show; Caleb and I climbed up to the top of the hill to watch. As thousands of our tuition dollars exploded into bright bits of light and disintigrated within seconds. Sorry, I'm kind of bitter towards fireworks. Even in sixth grade I went on tirades to my parents about the need for libraries and better art supplies instead of measly fireworks. Sure, they're fun to watch, but I will never understand why so much money is being spent on them. At least build us a parking garage or something.

I've now attended every one of my classes and I'm pretty excited. Okay, so maybe "excited" would be the wrong word. But they're pretty good. Here's my Schedule:
MWF:

11:20 Math 115
12:20 English 102

T/TH
9:25 Graphic Design
12:15 Writing for the Mass Media

And then Thursdays from 6:30-9:30 I have Black and White Photography.

15 credits. Not bad, really--I dropped a class because I didn't want to stress myself. I'm already a Junior in my second year; I don't need to. But yes, good classes. Math 115 is NOT going to be fun, but that's because I hate math. And as I typed that sentance, I realized that I have a paper due on my "math background" for tomorrow. Crap. There goes another half hour of my sleep. ::shakes head::

I love my English class, however. Dr. Prior is a younger prof. and she has a great sense of humor. She's really down-to-earth, so the class isn't going to be stuffy. My other teachers are pretty cool too, although my Photography teacher kinda scares me...

He's at least six foot five inches tall, maybe seven feet (I'm short, okay, it's hard for me to tell!). Super tall. And he talks reeeeeally sloooooow. And he's a bit of a hick. I proimise, all he needs is a piece of hay hanging out of his mouth. He seems like a nice enough guy, but having a boring voice when you teach a three-hour, once-a-week class is not exactly an advantage. I'm really looking forward to having free reign of the darkroom, though, and being "required" to buy all of this photo stuff. I'm hoping to learn a lot and really apply myself this semester (yeah, I know, way to be uniquely ambitious).

Tomorrow I get to see Mae in concert. Cameron, Andy, Caleb and I are driving to Richmond for the show and I am extremely excited. I need to buy film, but my batteries are dying anyways. I'll probably just have to get a cheap one or something if have time. Which, sadly, I probably won't. But at least I'll see them. Ohhhh yeah. :)

Well, I have a "math paper" (what an oxymoron) to write, so adieu for now. Enjoy sleep while you can.

8.24.2003

I'm back.

I've been quite cut off from communication with the outside world (or so it feels) for the past ten or so days. It started with the huge blackout on August 14th (right before we left to drive down to school). Obviously no posting then. We drove all day Friday and pulled into Lynchburg around six thirty pm.

And at nine, I finally got to see Caleb. Even now, it feels like it's been ages, but walking towards him from the front of the hotel was so strange. It was all so brand new again, I felt like I was hugging him for the first time. It took a couple hours to get used to actually having him right there again, but then things felt perfect as always.

He got to meet my parents and my brother, which was really nice. We went out to eat, and he came swimming at the hotel and stuff. They loved him, just like I figured they would, but it was still reassuring. Saturday Philip and I went with Caleb and a bunch of the David's Place (that's the cafe/student center where he works) staff to Panther Falls. It was nice and relaxing, jumping off rocks and swimming in the rapids.

I didn't realize I would be so busy last week--every day there were meetings from 8:45 to 3:30 with a short break for lunch. Not to mention getting settled in and doing things with girls on my hall. I kept thinking, "I can't wait for classes to start so I actually have some time!"

This weekend was a much-needed break, though. Friday night I had to work, but Caleb and I got to walk around downtown for a little while afterwards. And yesterday was Caleb's 22nd birthday. We bummed around town in the morning and then I dropped him off at his dorm around 3:30. I picked him up at 7, with his truck full of gas and freshly washed. We got Take Out from Applebee's and had a picnic. It was so nice, and it made me so happy to know that he loved his birthday present (a decopaged Jones Soda label box with a "Trogdor! The Burninator!" t-shirt and a guitar-pick holder in it). I do'nt know why I get such a kick out of planning and making things for people, but I do. Yesterday was awesome.

Today was church--Cameron, Caleb and I went to Blue Ridge Community, which was pretty good. I really want to find one good church and stick with it, but it's so hard around here. I think we'll go back next week and see how it goes. We had lunch at Quizno's. Yum. I love their subs, especially the Mesquite Chicken one.

Oh, so the other reason I didn't post until now--our LAN connection has been crazy and haywire and...down. So i had either zero or extremely sporadic internet for the past week. Our phone was down too, which was not exactly enjoyable. I had the basic option of yelling out the window to reach people, and that's it. So sad. But now it's back, though I still don't have a very good laptop (I can't even use 780 x 1024 res on my screen). Things will still be a little crazy for the next few weeks, but hopefully I can post more and soon finish the site templates! Yay!

I'm off to enjoy a beautiful Sunday afternoon nap and then head out to David's Place and church. Hasta!

8.13.2003

Arright. This is it. I am updating! Woo.

I just finished watching The Royal Tennenbaums. I liked it. It certainly wasn't inspirational or "feel-good", but I absolutely love the way Wes Anderson's movies are directed. They're just so unique, they have such an interesting "feel" to them. Speaking of unique movies, I just found out that Audrey Tataou (the actress who played Amelie) is in a new movie. This I definitely need to rent.

So yes, that whole week I was gone. Really wasn't extremely exciting. We stayed at my Aunt Linda's trailer home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware (about 30 minutes outside Ocean City, MD) and it rained. A lot. So I went to the beach a total of three days (and one was only for about two hours). It was quite sad, I had really been looking forward to going in the water and stuff. But the ocean was absolutely frigid (even for the normally cold northern Atlantic), so I didn't go in much except for the last day. I did get a bit of a tan, which was nice, and I rode some really good waves in the one time that I did go in the water.

Ocean City is not somewhere you want to go for vacation, let me just say that. It ranks third under the "Extremely Cheesy Vacation Spot" catagory. (Wall Drug, SD and Atlantic City, NJ take first and second). The boardwalk was fully of horrendously cheesy crap. Sadly, it wasn't even the "cool" cheesy crap that's funny. Oh no, just trashy junk. I was quite dissapointed. However, I did but a few new shirts from Gap (ooh) and a really yummy funnel cake (ahh).

I feel as though I should write more about the vacation, seeing as how I was gone for a week. But...well, it just wasn't that interesting. I hung out with Andrew a couple times, we went golfing (and I don't think I did too terribly for my first time ever) and attempted to steal street signs, but we didn't have the right screwdriver. I really want to steal a street sign...I'm not sure why, but I do.

Is it bad that I don't have a thing packed, and I'm leaving for school Friday morning? At least I have Caleb's birthday present completely finished. I'll pack tomorrow. Really, I will.

It's 3 am ("I must be lonely"...sorry, Matchbox Twenty will forever have that line) so I really should go to bed. I'm hoping I'll be able to finish up the basic layout for the culture page before I go to school, but we'll see. There is much to be done. Au revior!

8.10.2003

Well folks, I am back. Oh yes, the party is just getting started. ::cough:: Anycrap, I'll write all about the vacation either tomorrow or later tonight, but for now I still have a lot I need to get done. Also, I just realized that my whole "comment" system has been screwy. I think I fixed it, but now you can't comment on any of my previous posts. I'm sure you're very upset about this, but I'm sure you'll manage. Somehow. Hasta!