whew!

i am sooooo busy, but still breathing... barely.

marianne came, we had a blast, and had a funny airport-incident... i accidently got stuck on the train on the way back... it was great though... nothing like those lingering moments.

i've been reading furiously for the past few days... doesn't seem like it will let up for at least a week.

i have committed myself to no sugar for 2 weeks (incluiding fructose...so no fruit)... on day 2... yesterday i felt attacked by oranges. everywhere i went people were eating oranges and they smelled so delicious. i can do this!! yeah (eating a carrot)....

we are in the final countdown... just 12 days!! (well, 11 if you don't count the day david arrives, which i think is legal, right?)

yep... so, back to business.

Det Snoar!!

* * * last night a little after 11, it started snowing * * *
* * and it snowed * *

* * * * *

* * and snowed (really big snows...

like gauzy snow that gets stuck on you eyelashes and

makes everything white and blurrrryyy...) * *

beautiful, beautiful snow!! i love it!!

i was so excited that i couldn't even sleep... the spanish people in the corridor opposite of us were running around outside and screaming (less than five minutes after the flakes started to fall). and that was fun....

the best thing about snow is that it means that you can go outside and play and run and scream and the only people who give you weird looks are the ones who secretly wish they could be so carefree.

the snow brings up memories of funny hats, teal ski suits, and fun with friends....

* * * sending wintery-christmas-filled thoughts * * *

p.s. it is still snowing (they shut down the trains for a while, so looks like i'm here at school for a while =)

funny

did you know that if you drink lots* of coffee, your teeth turn yellow, fall out, and leave a coffee smell; your stomach turns yellow with ulcers, falls out, and leaves a coffee smell; and, your pee turns yellow, falls out and leaves a distinctly coffee smell?

well, now you do... i can attest to the last one at least... the first two are mere speculation.

fun stuff, huh?

friday

i got a haircut on friday... it is really short. just thought you might like to know. i tried to put a picture of it that i drew in paint, but i am so computer inept that i can't seem to get it on this bloggy thing.

oh well. i'll make you a "poem" instead.

I. friday
a disaster--haircut.

II. saturday
a night shower-- wet hair

III. sunday
a rude greeting-- hairmutt

i should...

i really should be working on my research paper right now, but i just have gotten caught up in e-mails and checking out all my favorite webpages, incluiding a certain friend's blog who was talking about wasting time online. so, i guess i don't feel so bad. at least i am not the only one.

ooo-ooo, and i am listening to super-smooth music on launch (yes, i will find a way to praise it at every turn =)

so, basically, i am in that mellow mood that is not particularly conducive to writing anything stuffy and academic.

do you know what i did yesterday? (no, of course, you don't... but, it's okay, i would be more than happy to tell ya') i came to school to work and i ended up spending a large part of the afternoon reading the webpages of some of my favorite childhood authors (ahh... the nostalgia...). anyways, can you believe that in over a decade i have fallen completely out of the loop? who'da thunk? so, i have a new objective on my to do list: read up on the recent works of my old time favorites. in case you are wondering which author(s) (actually, i have only fully explored one, but i like to make it plural since i did quickly browse a few others... makes it seem like i was a bit more productive, you know?)... the links are below. i particularly recommend the second one... it is the one i got stuck on....
http://www.terabithia.com/library.html
http://www.loislowry.com

guess what else is super exciting... i registered for classes on monday... here is my schedule (doesn't it just make you salivate with joy?) oo-oo... i can't wait... photography... can you believe that? yummy.... the only class that i will enter with caution is the history class... after this semester i feel a little histori-ed out... i have taken three history classes!!!

1. basic photo 2200 - 002 MW 1:40 - 4:30
2. advanced compostition 3130 - 001 MWF 11:30 - 12:25
3. special topics 3128 - 001 TR 11:15 - 12:35
4. american lit. ii engl-2120 MWF 9:20 - 11:15
5. constructing and reconstructing nations (history) TR 9:45 - 11:05
6. spanish short story TR 3- 4:30
7. colloquium T 5 - 6

here's a nice poet recommended by lois lowry that i ran into yesterday: billy collins, poet laureate

Consolation

How agreeable it is not to be touring Italy this summer,
wandering her cities and ascending her torrid hilltowns.
How much better to cruise these local, familiar
streets,
fully grasping the meaning of every roadsign and
billboard
and all the sudden hand gestures of my
compatriots.

There are no abbeys here, no crumbling frescoes of
famous
domes and there is no need to memorize a
succession
of kings or tour the dripping corners of a dungeon.
No need to stand around a sarcophagus, see
Napoleon's
little bed on Elba, or view the bones of a saint
under glass.

How much better to command the simple precinct of
home
than be dwarfed by pillar, arch, and basilica.
Why hide my head in phrase books and wrinkled
maps?
Why feed scenery into a hungry, one-eyes camera
eager to eat the world one monument at a time?

Instead of slouching in a café ignorant of the
word for ice,
I will head down to the coffee shop and the
waitress
known as Dot.
I will slide into the flow of the morning
paper, all language barriers down,
rivers of idiom running freely, eggs over easy on
the way.

And after breakfast, I will not have to find
someone
willing to photograph me with my arm around the
owner.
I will not puzzle over the bill or record in a
journal
what I had to eat and how the sun came in the
window.
It is enough to climb back into the car

as if it were the great car of English itself
and sounding my loud vernacular horn, speed off
down a road that will never lead to Rome, not even
Bologna.

but, really, i should get to work.... love ya' all!!

p.s. **did you notice the font change... yeah, i'm smooth like that....**

go aheand...stand in awe

http://vacation.apartment-paris.com/en/description/1071166-rue-de-lille-apartment/?sid=9207df6f24f53b0f4dd0970e02c55f66

yeah, that's right... my absolutely wonderful man snagged this flat for our little visit to paris....

go ahead... stand in awe... start drooling... you know you're jealous because:

1) you wish you could spend 12 days in paris (yeah, that's right... 12!!!)
2) you wish you could spend 12 days in paris in this apartment (look at how the surfaces glisten!!!)
3) you wish you could spend 12 days in paris in this apartment with the most absolutely wonderful man ever (yep, EVER!!!)
4) you, in fact, just plain wish.... =)

am i excited? you bet your buttons i am! =)

(gasp)

i realized when i was going to the bathroom this morning (i think the bathroom must be my site of realization and inspiration seeing as more and more of my stories start like "one time, when i was in the bathroom..." kinda like that girl from American Pie [which i saw part I and II since i last blogged!!]), that I haven't written on this thing since (gasp) OCTOBER 16th!!

Can you believe that?

i know, i know... i have just been so busy....

let's try to recall what i have done in the last month:

*started and finished (well, more like in the process of finishing) my struggles II class
*started (today, in fact) my "sweden: history and politics" class (did i mention that someone... cough...err... teacher... tried to convince me that this would be an easy class... perhaps i see "easy" differently... my definition of "easy" does NOT usually include reading 1000+ pages in three weeks, but that's just me.... BUT, the class and work promises to make me a bit more knowledgeable about current political issues in this tiny little country of sweden =)
*started and finished my co-written conference paper on charlie kaufman films and borges literature (joe and i are looking to get published now....)
*practiced and performed in a swedish choir
*handed out flyers and tried to promote a kid's hour at church (the parents were to be lured in with coffee =) so far, we are at week 3 with no success, though prospects look promising....
*attended my first film at a swedish cinema (de-lovey with kline and judd... can't say that i recommend it exactly but it was an experience....)
*re-arranged my room
*made a startling observation (which still makes me shake my head in delight when i enter... the BATHROOM!!)... here it is: many swedish toilets (the newer ones at least) have 2 different flushes... one for "big" flushes (indicated by a big water drop) and one for "little" flushes (indicated by a drop approx. half the size as the large one). genius i tell you!! pure genious!! (the funny part is that i realized this about 3 weeks ago!! i would like to blame that on the fact that my toilet at home only has one flush button... or that i pee in the dark... or that the pictures are rubbed away... but, i can claim only a few of these. really, i think that i had just never EXAMINED the toilet until that one day... that sounds like it could be a title of a coming of age movie.... this parenthetical thing-y is getting ridiculously long, so i will let you ponder on that as i end it....)
*ate a whole-lotta carrots (hmm... let me think... probably something around 15 kg... multiply that by 2.2 and that counts in at approx. 33 ibs!!) Don't worry... i haven't turned orange yet... i just really like carrots. i think i was a rabbit in my last life =)
*did loads of other things that i either don't recall at this moment or don't feel compelled to share on this list =)

so, that kinda catches us up!!

see you in a month!!

(hehe...jk... i will try to be a bit more regular from here on out....)

later gator


http://www.decentralized.org/gunther/sleepy_time.html