Katherine

While searching for an article my grandfather wrote, I found this picture and a note that said it was taken on November 24, 1971. That's Joan Rivers right there with my grandpa. Weird stuff.

I met with Bmon's mom today. She wrote me a letter for my scholarship applications. Then I wasted a great deal of time in the radio station surfing the internet and chatting with random people. The meeting I was supposed to go to wasn't where it was supposed to be, so Kara and I bought some cupcakes and hopped on the bus with Alayne and Ashley. Derek and I have been watching television ever since.

Tomorrow I've got a study group session for my Grant Writing exam and a volunteer meeting/potluck at the Bloom Collective.

I've got a long list of things to do this weekend including laundry and scholarship essay editing/GRE studying/personal statement drafting. There's too much to do!

My mom got some photos developed.  She's been saving rolls of film all my life, it makes me wonder why she didn't just stop taking pictures once she had a whole brown lunchbag full.  Oh well. Only four pictures turned out at all from the most recent roll, but they don't look so good!

Check it out!

She's supposed to do a roll a week, so soon I'll have more. I'll be posting them, because it's exciting! Woop!

Great Grandma Beall, Great Grandma Brooke, Aunt Gabby, Mom, Grandma Beall
Grandpa Beall, Uncle Frank, Dad, Great Uncle Billy

I bought a ticket to fly home for "Thanksgiving".  I'm going home the weekend before Thanksgiving, so I can be here with Derek on the real Thanksgiving and study for the GRE, which I am taking the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  In a week we have midterms here; the semester is flying by.  This semester I'm writing a grant for the Kent County Literacy Council, exploring the City of Grand Rapids, reading twelve novels by and about American minority (mostly immigrant) writers and characters, learning about witchhunts, and reviewing the algebra that I learned some eight years ago.  In August, Derek moved to Michigan to live with me.  This apartment finally feels like a home.  Things are going really great.  I've started applying to graduate schools (UNC-Chapel Hill, UNC-Greensboro, Catholic University of America, and University of Maryland-College Park) and started to wrap things up as far as my B.A. goes.  It's kindof ridiculous to me that I will be walking down the aisle in my cap and gown in seven months, and actually graduating in eleven.  It just blows my mind.

I just baked a rainbow chip cake as a method of procrastination.  And posted in my LJ.  I guess now I need to be productive.

Please go watch this film... it is amazing!

Moving makes me ask a lot of questions about the things I own, namely how did I acquire them, and why do I still have them? I have so many binders full or papers and clothes I never wear, and clearly it makes sense to sort through these things before dragging them to a new residence, but when you're moving, there's no way you have time for that. So, now at my new apartment I have piles of books to read and sell, and piles of clothes that need sorting through, and fabric that needs to be made into different household linens -- handtowels, shower curtains, pillow cases, placemats, rugs -- will I ever have time to make those things and read those books and wear those clothes? Or will I just cart them around for the rest of my life?

In other news, Derek is coming to visit in two weeks, once I am done with exams. Derek will be only the second person to come to visit me here, the first being my mom. I think it really means something for someone to be willing to take time out of their daily life to drive 800 miles to visit you. In high school I fantasised a lot about a certain Michigander appearing in my classroom in Spotsylvania, but of course that never happened. Well in two weeks, it's happening. It won't be a surprise but it will be a treat to be able to show off my town and my life to someone I have known for six years.

I think I might ride back to Virginia with Derek to see my family and friends. My grandmother's birthday is May 7th, so I will be right in time for that. I'm not sure how or when I will get back to Michigan. My estimate is May 12th or 19th and I hope it is with my mom and my brother. I really want to show them my new place.

I'm trying not to make too many plans this summer so I can be spontaneous and do whatever I want, but clearly I have already made quite a few, including a trip to Hawaii in late June/early July, housesitting in Ferrysburg for Lege in July if I am back from Hawaii, and a vacation with my family in August, followed by some time in Virginia.

Now, I just have a week and a half to get through and then I'm free.

Last night I drove to Muskegon to hang out with Rachelle. My car got stuck pulling into her yard, so the boys had to come out and push it out of the street. Then my car was stuck again in two feet of snow, but we decided to forget it until I had to leave. We looked at old pictures, ate chips and peach salsa, and talked to Faith. I dreamed about being a night guard in a museum where everything comes alive at night. I'm not too creative when I'm dreaming. There was also a fashion show going on though. Anyway, this morning we had cereal yummm and Art helped us get my car out and we drove to Value Land. I got a sweet seafoam green sweater with triangles on it and a tiny pot to grow some living stones or a miniature african violet in. I almost bought a prom dress.

I drove back to Grand Rapids. Kathryn, Lara, Chris and I went to JCPenneys, clad in our best red and pink valentines outfits, ( to deliver a valentine to the manager. ) At first she was really excited, thinking we were there to give her something sweet and nice, but it was a tricky, accusatory valentine, so once the manager realized what we were up to, she got a little upset about it. She told us we had to leave and that she was calling mall security! All over a heart-shaped, glitter covered piece of poster board. Hurumph. So we left, giggling, and went to Little Africa for dinner. I tried soy curry and alicha or kik and I liked it! Amazing, I liked something made from vegetables.

Later we watched an episode of iron chef dealing with chocolate and coconut. Now all I want to do is make a chocolate cake.

some things are great. other not so much. i'm feeling really bored. sometimes having friends just makes you feel more lonely when they're not around!

Today Kathryn and I and some Students Against Sweatshops fiends drove to JCPenney to protest their involvement in a back/severence pay dispute at the Rising Sun factory in Kenya. It didn't go that well. We just handed out a few flyers and then when a security guard walked out, looked at our signs, and went back in the building, we all ran away. Atleast I got pancakes out of it, everyone else just left afterwards, but Kathryn made me chocolate chip pancakes! They were delicious. Other than that I read 30 pages of Haroun and the Sea of Stories and took a two hour nap. Now I just have to read the rest of that (77 pages) and The Left Hand of Darkness (370 pages) and two chapters for my non-profit class (52 pages). All by Monday night.

There are some fabulous things on the horizon. My teachers seem to like me, especially my children's lit teacher. I'm happy with my classes now. USAS National conference Impromptu Midwest Regional Conference is sometime soon I think, plus there are other events I'm excited about like the Presidents' Ball, Leadership Summit, and the Yule Ball. In addition, I've been meeting a lot of new people, going to parties, having people over to our house, and getting out of the house a lot more than usual. It seems like things really are sortof falling into place, though that's a scary jinx-y thing to say. But in general, I really feel a lot less crazy than I have in the last eight months or so, which is incredible. It's nice to feel sane sometimes. I rearranged my room and it was very worth it. I like it a lot better now. Sometimes change is good.

my mouth is all achey from getting my wisdom teeth. it hurts a lot less than it did last night, so i guess i am going to go to my dad's family christmas party.

since everyone is posting their grades, i guess i will too. i have a 3.3 for this semester. my cumulative gpa is 3.68. my lowest grade this semester was a B- in fiction. it's funny how i do the worst in the classes with the best teachers.i wish i had done just a little but better, but oh well. i'd like to have another 4.0 semester, like i did in the summer. so that means that i really need to try next semester.

:)

I worked today in the bakery (uhhmmm I kinda suck at that) and then I went to Student Knife Fight (Life Night). I scored:

- 2 apples
- five condoms
- assorted shampoo, hair products, floss
- two toothbrushes
- a gvsu tshirt
- a water bottle
- pedicure junk
- a stress ball
- a frisbee
- a dry erase calendar
- pens and pencils galore
- and of course caannddy!

I'm really glad I went. I sortof sat/stood at both the SAS and WCKS tables for awhile, but mostly I just walked around. Plus I signed up for a bunch of clubs (Environmental, Harry Potter, Ren Faire, Take Back The Night, others but I can't remember).

For some reason spiders find Kathryn's car to be a great place to live. They scare me to death though.

I've been real shitty about calling my parents lately. Argh.

Plus school is stressing me out way too much and I'm not sure how to fix that.

Kara is bringing over hoola hooping supplies soon. Last night at Richard's bday party, Bob and Emily's downstairs neighbors were having a bagpipe concert and hoolahooping. The gypsy lady let us try out her irrigation pipe hoola hoop. it ruled. i am going to become a world traveler, performing with my hoola hoop to earn money and food and lodging. yup. so now i'm shopping on the internet for colored tapes to decorate my hoola hoop. This website has glow in the dark, glittery, and shiny tapes. i want them all.

Uhmmmm I have work later. That might suck.

A girl just called me and asked me if I could work for her on Tuesday. I didn't know how to say no. So now I'm working Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, which isn't that bad considering the shifts are only 3-5 hours long. Monday's shift was really hard. I was working in Grand Traditions, which is the homecooked kinda place, and the entire five hours of my shift I was slicing logs of pork. I had blisters from doing it. I felt like fainting/puking a lot. Well, yesterday's shift was a lot easier. I was cooking tortellini all night. I still have a really hard time multi-tasking, but the union guy helped me a lot, which really isn't his job but I am thankful. Also, everyone at work is really nice. However, they all like to tell you to do everything a different way, so then I guess I just take my pick and do it however it seems right. I think it will get much easier as the semester progresses. I've earned like $60 already. I really think people working jobs like mine should get paid more than the people who work secretary jobs and mostly just get paid to do their homework. I really wish I had a job like that, but I don't, and I want mo money! I have yet to work the dishroom or the grill or the bakery (which is where I'll be when I'm subbing for that girl that called me), so there is still lots of scary stuff ahead.

I feel like my classes are already going poorly. Maybe I'm not ready to be taking 300 classes. I already bombed two quizzes and a reading response, and I am not really ready to be in Spanish 202. I hope I get the hang of everything.

My modern dance class is awesome. It's really mostly ballet and it's funnnn and I know how to do everything so I feel special and I get to help the other girls. I think I'm going to shave my legs though because it's kindof awkward to have my hairy leg up on the barre in some girls face. I think this class will help me to lose weight and get back in shape so that I can start dancing again. I talked to the teacher and she said I would be fine taking her intermediate/advanced class in the winter semester. Yay! I do miss ballet. I don't miss recitals and performances, but I really do miss the classes. There is still a part of me that wants to just say fuck everything and switch to a dance major. That's probably not the best idea though. I don't know what I would ever actually do with that... unless I could get into a library science grad program with it... which is sortof possible. Well whatever. I could always switch this winter if I really wanted to, since I'll be almost all done with prerequisites and junk.

I've got just a few days left here in good ol' Virginia. I'll be arriving back in Michigan at 2:35 pm on Saturday (MacKenzie, if you see this let me know, I'm sorry that I haven't called you to let you know!). I have missed Michigan a bunch. However, I am totally freaking out about starting classes and work and being the radio station librarian and whatnot. I feel like I have too much to do and that I am going to fail at everything. Whatev, atleast I've had a good vacation. Philadelphia was nice, the beach was relaxing, and home has been bittersweet. Mainly because it's frustrating to spend so much time with my mom.

Highlights:

Philadelphia
-meeting new people (namely Neil and Jenny, I didn't meet many others)
-seeing some sweet city stuff
-walking a lot
-spring rolls
-my first protest

Ocean City
-riding a jetski for the first time
-seeing a school of dolphins swimming ridiculously close to shore
-air conditioning
-television
-thrasher's fries

Virginia
-seeing Jasce randomly at Target
-riding rollercoasters at Kings Dominion with my brother
-my mom driving me to Charlottesville to see Samantha, Ben, Dan, and Andy
-knowing uva's campus well enough to give my mom a tour
-deciding that i must at some point in my life live on the range
-bike riding with my mom downtown in a Civil War battlefield

I watched a lot of t.v. this afternoon. Then Jacob and Kara came over. We went to pita house. Then I took Kara and Richard to get slurpees. Now my slurpee is almost gone and I guess I have an hour to finish Heart of Darkness (yeah right!) before my bedtime. Tomorrow: classes and my interview at FFC! & more heat. Wheee.

oh my gosh. katamari damacy. i have waited so long for this. holy crap! best game ever! i have two papers due friday but i don't either will happen because i am obsessed with this game!