Bored and hungry: a bad combination
So, I'm sitting on the floor at the Buffalo High School, very, very hungry and since the Buffalo High School is out in the middle of nowhere, it's not like I could even go and find some food (and my purse full of many many things is lacking food).
I mean, I have car keys, but somehow I don't think Pritschet would appreciate me just taking the Suburban out for a spin. Plus, they should be letting out chambers in a bit, so I'll steal a cookie or something.
The ballot collector also asked if I had wireless, which I do (thank God), so he's going to go start up his computer. In short, I really do love Forensics; the judges are only insane half of the time and I get to see the little ones, whom I miss a lot. More than I can express actually.
I'm going to go back to being hungry. *sigh* I should have bought something to eat at Dunn Brothers. But they gave me a free sample of ice cream which was really good and really nice of them. :)
EDIT: So Facebook and Hotmail are blocked, but hey! We'll leave YouTube open. That makes no sense. I hear people; people might have food! Food!
Labels: hungry, kara
Books!
So, I read this list and then felt like a slacker. :)
These are the top 106 books most often marked as "unread" by LibraryThing's users.
Bold what you have read,
italicise what you started but couldn't finish, and
strike through what you couldn't stand.
Underline those on your to-read list.
Jonathan Strange & Mr NorrellAnna KareninaCrime and Punishment
Catch-22One Hundred Years of SolitudeWuthering HeightsThe SilmarillionLife of Pi : a novel
The Name of the Rose
Don Quixote
Moby Dick
UlyssesMadame Bovary
The Odyssey
Pride and PrejudiceJane EyreThe Tale of Two Cities
The Brothers Karamazov
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
War and Peace
Vanity FairThe Time Traveler's Wife
The IliadEmma The Blind Assassin
The Kite RunnerMrs. Dalloway
Great Expectations
American Gods
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Atlas Shrugged
Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in BooksMemoirs of a GeishaMiddlesex
Quicksilver
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the WestThe Canterbury TalesThe Historian : a Novel
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Love in the Time of Cholera
Brave New WorldThe Fountainhead
Foucault's Pendulum
MiddlemarchFrankenstein
The Count of Monte Cristo
DraculaA Clockwork Orange
Anansi Boys
The Once and Future KingThe Grapes of Wrath
The Poisonwood Bible : a novel
1984Angels and DemonsThe Inferno
The Satanic Verses
Sense and Sensibility
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Mansfield Park
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
To the Lighthouse
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
Oliver Twist
Gulliver's travelsLes misérablesThe Corrections
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
The curious incident of the dog in the night-time
DuneThe Prince
The Sound and the Fury
Angela's Ashes: a Memoir
The God of Small Things
A People's History of the United States: 1492-present
Cryptonomicon
Neverwhere
A Confederacy of Dunces
A Short History of Nearly Everything
DublinersThe Unbearable Lightness of Being
Beloved
Slaughterhouse-fiveThe Scarlet LetterEats, Shoots & Leaves
The Mists of AvalonOryx and Crake : a novel
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
Cloud Atlas
The Confusion
LolitaPersuasionNorthanger Abbey
The Catcher in the Rye
On the Road
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of EverythingZen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values
The Aeneid
Watership Down
Gravity's Rainbow
The HobbitIn Cold Blood: A True Account of a Multiple Murder and its Consequences
White Teeth
Treasure IslandDavid Copperfield
The Three MusketeersI have read 19 books on the list, started another 8 and want to read another 8. Which equal 35. Not bad.
And for those of you who are interested in such things, all six books that Jane Austen ever published or were published in her name are on this list. Just in case anyone was wondering how influential she has been in the world of literature... It goes Shakespeare, Austen, Dickens... etc. :)
Labels: books, kara
Because stupidity makes everyone sad
Gems from yesterday:"A lot more people live in Latin America than Europe." - Kara's professorEurope's population: 727,000,000
Latin America's population (including Mexico): 520,000,000
"Didn't women get the right to vote with [the Civil Rights Act of 1964]?" - Student in the same class.I'm going to go crawl into a hole a die now. Okay?Labels: college, kara
There are just some things
There are some things I miss from home and other things I really like about college. One of the things I really like right now is the marshmallow war happening on my floor. Quick explanation: you have a marshmallow and the name of a person on your floor to hit with your marshmallow, you have their name and you must have it at the time you hit them with a marshmallow, at the same time someone has your name is attempting to hit you with the marshmallow, and you're not supposed to know who has your name but most people do (I don't, and it's freaking me out).
Well, last night before this all started, the boys formed an alliance against the girls, so the girls formed an alliance as well. So, if you're a girl with another girl you're safe until all the guys are down. However, our count, as far as we know right now, is two guys down to about six girls, although, that's about the ratio in the game, so we are probably about even.
Still, it's pretty freaky and lots of fun with the nerve racking bits and such. Oh well, I should do my homework. I don't think I'll be venturing very far from my room without my umbrella for a while.
And, our motto:
Labels: college, kara, marshmallow wars
College life
I have noticed several things now that I attend college. When people say right before tests, you realize how many people are actually in your class, they weren't lying. My Biogeography lecture easily had an extra 150 people today; the test is on Friday.
I have decided to continue adding really stupid/funny/bizarre quotes from my classes.
Today's winner: "Doesn't Egypt have a lot of oil? It's in the Middle East." - courtesy of GEOG 1372: Geography of Global Cities.
Also, I have three teachers that are absolutely horrific dressers. So, our newest segment on the blog shall be:
Examples of Really Bad Style Choices: Edition Kara's Professors. (Everyone else, please feel free to put in your own examples).
Case one: I show up to a class and my professor is standing in the front of the class in an Anime Hawaiian Shirt -- today's selection was a Transformers Hawaiian Shirt -- in fact as far as I know, the man
only owns Hawaiian shirts.
Case two: I show up for class and my professor is wearing a map of the world -- t-shirt style. The front had North and South America and the back had the rest of the world. It was a gift from the University of Illinois.
Case three: I show up for class and my professor is wearing a floor length floral print sack dress with a yellow base, and some very clunky and ugly black sandals.
Now, granted, do I show up to class in makeup with any real effort put in every day (or even very often)? No, of course not. In fact, today, I put on a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt and said, "I don't want to think" and wandered off to class.
But, I don't wear Hawaiian shirts of
any kind nor do I wear shapeless dresses or map themed clothing. Plus, I have really, really cute sweaters I am just dying to wear.
See, this is what college does to you. Makes you pay attention to ridiculous details (which I paid attention to before, but it's more fun now).
I'm off; enjoy your day!
Labels: college, fashion disasters, kara
College things
I've been in classes for over a week now, so I'm sure I'm an expert on all things college like. So here are some of my observations:
+ Admission to college does not equal a guaranteed boost in intelligence
+ When it comes to lecturing, most people actually really suck at it.
+ Having English as your first language as a TA of Americans is a huge plus (not like I would know as both of my TAs are foreign).
+ College professors still say really stupid things.
+ Along the same vein, people with personalities are inherently more interesting than people without.
And because I enjoy doing this, a list of really strange, stupid or funny things I have heard since I have arrived.
"A lot of hurricanes hit the coast of South America." -- Yeah because we're always hearing about the losses in Brazil and Venezuela when there's a hurricane.
A "great site" being defined as an excellent place for a city with natural fortifications or access to natural harbors and things of that nature. - "West Point, NY is a great site." "How so?" "There's a military academy there." Because the military is a natural physical feature.
"As you can see there are lots of big squares things, which means you're looking at the Western States."
"Deadly swarms of honey bees."
See, I've learned lots of things. :)
Labels: college, kara
I went clothes shopping!
So, my floor decided that homework was overrated today and 16 of us went to the Mall of America via the lightrail, which is good because I was in need of some shirts, so I now own two cute tops and a pair of brown flats.
One!
Two!
And cute shoes!
And then I came back and read two chapters worth of homework. See, productive day!
Labels: kara, shopping
Scheduling woes
Yesterday, I had a lovely day. I met Rianna and Deebs for lunch, harassed Deebs for part of the day and saw a bunch of Debate people when I dropped a couple things off with Pritschet. I then came home and pretty much collapsed, which I think was because I was emotionally drained.
But the best part of my day did not come until about 10 last night. After thinking I had a scheduling problem yesterday afternoon, I went to check my e-mail to see if my roommate had e-mailed me or something. Instead, I found a lovely note saying that my Honors Seminar class had been dropped due to "expected" circumstances, which I took as typo and they meant
unexpected. But, whatever, I had five days until classes started to find a new honors course.
Good news, I found one (after only an hour and a half of searching), it's called Races, Religion and Migration; bad news, I had to drop Jesus in History to take it, and I replaced Jesus in History with Intro to Fiction Writing. So, I now have an English course first semester, two Geography classes, one sociology course and one math class.
See, that's balanced right?
I'm just glad that it's done and completely finished; now I should go see what books I need to buy from them.
EDIT: I'm reading
Chronicle of a Death Foretold in my English class!!!!!! Hee! I love Niemi and I love that book!!!!
Labels: headaches, kara, school
Days, minutes, hours
Actually, I haven't started counting down yet. Interesting, I know. Currently, I'm sitting here waiting for Crystal to finish up with her flute audition (why audition on flute you say, because she's crazy and is going to join Cobber band as well).
She should be back here within about three minutes; so I figured I'd give you a quick update on my life in the past month. Ready?
I lied she's back. But she's off to get her dorm key.
So, I worked and worked and worked some more and decided that people who don't get their hotels a year in advance for the races are an exceptionally stupid breed of human being and thus should be shot. Next, I have also decided that road trips to Illinois, although, well, boring in the drive part, are completely worth the, OMG, I DIDN'T KNOW YOU WERE COMING; I THINK I'M GOING TO COLLAPSE NOW PART! Madden's has really, really good food, and I do love my job sometimes. Phone calls late at night make me cranky but I will always sit on the phone for an hour anyway. I hate loans and my books make absolutely no sense to me and my room has been cleaned, organized and still isn't clean enough for my mother; plus everything I'll be bringing is sitting in random piles throughout my house. And I'm really happy Crystal has wireless; I want wireless in my dorm.
Okay, done. Not edited. Enjoy!
Labels: kara, life
Pictures!
So, no this isn't full of pictures from when we were in Kansas (those are stuck on Crystal's camera until a later date). These pictures are from my new camera. As some of you are aware, my camera died the night of graduation. Luckily, my father bought the two year replacement guarantee, so when I arrived home I had a lovely gift card with my name on it and the ability to go and buy a new camera. So, I'll leave you all with some pictures from my pretty new camera.
Okay, so not from the new camera, but I wanted to put these up anyway.
Hey look! It's my dog!
RED SHOES!!! Cute!
Debate shoes!
Sneaker shoes!
Camera box!Labels: kara, pictures camera
Classes I would like to take
So, I was taking a look at Michelle's possible schedule and that made me think there are certain classes I'd really like to take:
ENGL 3007 - Shakespeare - As an English major, I am required to take a Shakespeare course; might as well get it out of the way.
GEOG 1403 - Biogeography of the Global Garden - There is this pesky Biological Lab/Environmental Studies requirement, and this kills both of them with one class, and it even has a geography emphasis. See, I'm not stupid.
MATH 1272 - Calculus II - I thought I was done with math, but for a BS I need this class. Might as well finish it as quickly as possible before I forget Calculus completely.
Plus whatever Freshman Seminar and possibly another class; who knows? I just know that the one class I really want is the math class. Sick, I know, but at least then it can be done. I'll have one maybe two Spanish classes I'll still need to take, but that's not too big of a deal. I'll get it done eventually.
Labels: college plans, kara
Officially
Officially, I am attending the U next year (I even sent out the lovely little card thing today with the confirmation agreement). Both Stanford and Columbia decided they did not want me to attend, making my life considerably easier than I could have imagined. My mother is slightly heartbroken that I will not be at Columbia next year, but I don't think it will take her all that long to get over her grief once she realizes that I'll only be two hours away.
Overall, I am just relieved. I want to go to the U, but having to explain that I turned down Stanford or Columbia was not something that I was looking forward to. So, thanks to both admission boards for deciding I wasn't worth it.
I don't think it occurred to me how much the entire situation had been exhausting me until I arrived home last night after our little Debate get together, and I crashed for ten hours. I know the weather is not helping my mood, so I hope it's sunny tomorrow; otherwise, I am so going tanning. Fake sun is better than no sun at all; I don't care if I get skin cancer.
I saw Crystal on Thursday, and it was very exciting. I recommend
Children of Men to everyone; it is simply stunning, my little crush on Clive Owen withstanding. And the debate get together last night was quite fun; I miss the little ones even Tom, who talks more than my brother.
And to make the rest of you happier due to the nasty weather: a wonderful Costa Rica picture.
Labels: college plans, debate, kara, school
Who now?
Forever, yes, I know. Sorry, everyone, but look, I'm here, and I'm going to
try to post with more frequency than I have as of late. So here it goes.
I thought about doing a massive Costa Rica post, but then I realized, it would be way more fun to tell you everything in person with pictures and other fun things. I'll simply say, I had lots of fun, there were times when I missed all of you like crazy, the sun was nice, but I'm glad to be back home. You can see the pictures over on Facebook as I slowly load them since Facebook hates me right now and isn't allowing massive upload.
My college update is this: excluding the pretty-much-impossible scenario of Stanford accepting me when I check on Friday (1PM), I will be attending the University of Minnesota's College of Liberal Arts next year. I'm really looking forward to it; my intended majors are two things that I know I will enjoy studying, English and Geography, and I've accepted the fact that I'm going to be poor for the rest of my life. Yay!
In other news, today we had to identify 133 out of the 192-ish countries in the world in Human Geo and I didn't do too badly, 125/133. Most of them I missed were in Asia, as in Lebanon and Syria, Georgia and Armenia and Qatar and UAE; I also confused two in Africa... Oh well. I aced the "stans" (Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, etc) and Central/Southern Europe; I do know the difference between Slovenia and Slovakia. Hey, this is exciting for me; see my intended majors from above.
Otherwise kind of a blah day and tomorrow doesn't seem to promise anything overly exciting other than the political geography discussion. I'm sick, I know, shut up.
Labels: college plans, costa rica, kara, school
Tomorrow, tomorrow!
Let's talk about last night first. Rianna, I think that is the best time I've had in a very, very long time! (Not that I don't love you Crystal, but this was fun). I've missed you lots and lots; in fact, I miss all of you lots and lots!
Now, today, I'll be packing! Actually, that's not exciting at all. We'll be going through everything I need to bring to Costa Rica; so that when I wake up at an ungodly early time tomorrow morning (yes, 4AM is ungodly early), I will have everything packed. By the way, does anyone know how long an iPod battery can last? Because, I plan on killing mine, and I don't think I've ever used mine for more than half the battery length and it's been close to six hours. Oh well... I'll find out tomorrow.
Speaking of tomorrow, there begins my "grand adventure" with the 43 other people on the Spanish field trip next week. I've become cautiously optimistic about the whole scenario, which is better than not sure I wanted to go at all which was how I was last week at this time. It doesn't matter, in twenty-four hours, I'll be at MSP airport looking for my plane to Houston. At least I'm in Qualley's group for this trip; although, considering CaLyn's my roommate, I probably didn't have any other choice.
I'm going to go relish my last little bit of freedom before my mother wakes up and forces me to start packing.
Labels: costa rica, kara
