Vin: a Tribute

gather around children, i'll tell you the story of a Peep

wonderful tidings

yesterday i had the most fun, ever. i went to help my mom with middle school intramurals - there we played tennis. it was a blast, and the kids were running around and yelling like crazy. after that mom and i went to this BBQ joint where we sat and talked for about 2 hours, catching up on everything thats been happening lately. i broke the news to her about Europe and she seemed a bit nervous, but overall, took the information pretty well. i'll be sure to keep her updated.

i also told her about my hatred for my job. she also took this information pretty well, and more or less knew all along. i am pretty unhappy here. but gave her the whole linguistics run down and while i don't think she thinks it's 100% practical - i have her total support. she also made the comment that she was proud that i "had the balls" to go through with a change like this. so yay, i'm really happy!

i miss all of you guys, i really do. lately been seeing a lot of steve and nick. and a lot of work. i am going to schedule for a summer class tomorrow. i'm going to be taking Intro to Linguistics. i really hope that its everything that i'm expecting it to be. already talked to the scheduling guy at work here, and the first month is a b r e e z e . no problem with scheduling. i'll be starting right when we get back from europe. i'm nervous/excited about everything. everything except what i'm doing right now.

there are a few families that i enjoy, and there are some great people here, but alas. it's not what i want to do. the future shall give more answers.

Eureka!

if you've all been wondering where i've been hiding... the answer is mostly at work. it's march 1st and i want nothing more than to be outside. i'm having a lot of exciting new ideas about what it is that i actually want to do. right now, i'm still in the research stage of this idea. if i go back for a master's then i'll have to take the GRE's which i've been dreading since i haven't done real math for about 5 years. james already volunteered to help me in that department.

i'm hoping it will turn out to be everything i'm expecting. we shall see

so much stuff:















Valentine's day and happiness at Phipps
vegetable lasgagne













Observatory craziness
Steve and Nick sleep over
calculus sunday
mike, james, aaron and i make dark elves

Love

is in the air.

ack! it deleted my turkey thread! well i am going to repost the picture because i liked it... but i'm not retyping everything.

i must have messed up something with my comments, because i believe they are broken - at least for my turkey guys!

today i saw maria for the first time since she told me she was engaged. it was a nice random meet up for lunch. those are always fun. james, maria, and i all went to Pamela's for sandwiches, which i didn't expect to be as good as they were. i had a truely good time. then mario and i went to the computer lab while james had class. she showed me the first pick [of many probably] for her wedding dress.

i'm off to play a bit of the EQII free trial because i don't need to work!

thought of the day:

i love that feeling when the music is so loud you can get lost in everything and everything is perfect.

today i will:
-work (and it won't be so bad)
-meet up with james
-eat sushi
-go home
-call my gramma
-possibly see friends
-send out my bills
-sleep again

review.

I just finished The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky. Amazing. Really. It is about a boy named Charlie going through his first year of highschool and struggling with living his life. Its the type of read that makes you absolutely nostalgic, sad, and content at the same time. Its a very introspective view on life and what is important and how a friend can change your life. I really can't do it justice by writing my little review, but what I can do is recommend it to everyone. And I do think that everyone who reads this blog, anyway, would be able to take something from this book. It was fantastic. I would rate it a 9 out of 10.

Rambling.

Tonight I am working. As I did last night. I am pleased because I have been sleeping well lately and I didn't have to use Nyquil or Benadryl. I've been doing a lot of reminiscing (?) of high school and the times I spent being a typical teenager - it is probably due to my choice of book I am currently reading. Nonetheless, I've been thinking a lot about the first year or so of James and I knowing each other/dating. I've been remembering our firsts, and it makes me smile. There is one hole in the story though, neither of us remember the first day we met each other. It makes me a little sad but then again, its fun to try to think up all the different possibilities and strain our brains.

... it was funny back then. I drove everywhere for the group of boys that we hung out with. I was the oldest, and the only one with a liscence at the time. I miss those night drives to Irwin. See back then, with a lot of input from my mom - Irwin was a far drive. (When in reality, a drive to work is a long drive for mom... but I digress). I remember those drives and the songs on the radio and thinking "I'm young and I'm loving it." I miss that, maybe more than I miss the times. I liked the feeling that anything could happen in my future and that tonight is all I care about/am planning for.

Last night I finished, A Wrinkle in Time, the children's classic. Overall I did enjoy the book, but I wasn't overly impressed by it. I felt like the plot line plowed along and it ended up being very predictable. But I do acknowledge that it is for younger readers, so to be fair, it can't really be too complex. By far my absolute favorite character was Aunt Beast. She was amazing and I loved her chapter. I did like the fact that it was a fast read though. On a scale of 1 to 10 - 1 being garbage and 10 being The Brothers K - I would give this book a 5 or 6.

weekend

This weekend was the weekend for birthdays. Nine and Em's to be exact. Last night we headed down to Emily and Jason's for birthday-type gatherings. We watched a movie about Chum and Scrubbing. It was horrible, that is all I will say about that. After everyone else headed out, Jason, Emily, James and I sat around and had 'church'. It was perfect. Four very different opinions on religion (mainly Christianity) throwing out ideas, questions, and anecdotes about our own religious experiences.

We were delayed arriving at the Chiarizio/Rosemyer residence, though. This was due to something that happened at the Turnshek residence. James's younger brother Alex had fallen on a ski slope and mangled his face. We met up with him back at his parents house after they had returned from the ER. I then helped apply the medicine to his face, gave him his medicines and generally tried being a nurse for once. After that, Mrs. Turnshek and I talk a long while about another dilemma in my life: my sister's engagement. Her words were rather comforting and truth-filled. I needed to talk to someone about it, preferablly no one in my own family because of previous biases and lack of rationale for this situation. I have yet to see Maria in person since she has told me the news - its been about a month.

I'm off to work tonight and tomorrow, I'll write more later little blog.

Finished!

While I cannot do it an sort of justice by writing my own review, I felt the need to comment. I have finished the most amazing book I've ever read, The Brothers K. I was sucked in, feared for them, laughed with them, and felt like I grew up with the Chance family. I as I normally do, feel a sort of emptiness after finishing a good book - I just don't want it to ever end! I'm enormously grateful to Em for having recommended this book to me, and I hope to find the same delights with my future recommendations (though I find it hard to believe myself... I just don't think Harry Potter is going to do the trick). In a sentence: this book has left me changed, reflective and curiously at peace by the end (not to mention downright emotional).

last night:

I went to a few thrift stores looking for some wall hanging for our kitchen. found a lovely set of 4 with pictures of various oils/spices. while there, i also found some bird wall hangings for Em and Jay's bird room. so, naturally i wanted to meet up with them to give them the little things, so we ended up meeting at Gulifty's.

as we walked in we learned it was "Jazz Night" free of charge and we could dine and listen to some smooth tunes. my only qualm with the performance is the same as James's. the musicians constantly did flares and trills and stuff of the sort. it would be nice to have some calmer/less flashy jazz. not to say i didn't enjoy myself, just critiquing.

after that, Megart met up with some of us, and we all [minus Jay, plus Aaron] headed back to our place. it was definately good times, and as usual Aaron stayed super late and we were able to shamelessly talk about videogames.

i've also been making a lot of progress reading this week. i'm now over halfway through The Brothers K, and i adore it. i got teary last night for the first time in the book, finding out Winnie got his papers... so i think, where it's going, there are going to be a lot more emotional outbursts in the future. i'm really attached to the characters at this point.

dubiety.

It's just me and you, little blog... me and you.

Belated.

I know it's a little late for talking about New Year's, but I am going to anyway. I finally uploaded pictures from that night and it donned on me that I had passed it up. James, my gramma and I went to my Aunt Suzie's house for the festivities. I didn't get to see my extended family for the holidays, so I took this opportunity to do so. I'm not really into getting smashed at some random bar/club for the New Year, anyways.

My two youngest cousins, Justin and Jason, absolutely loved having us there. We played a much too difficult version of trivial persuit for them, but it was still fun when all was said and done. Suzie made so much food and I loved all of it! Hopefully I can get some decent time off of work so that i can see both of the boys' games/matches this year. I have never seen them play [baseball, football, wrestling] and I think it would mean a lot to them.

Well I'm off to work for the night, goodnight my little blog.

Yesterday: Haircutting.

Yesterday, we went to Em and Jay's so that Beth could cut James's hair. After all was said and done, this morning I was informed "Now my hair looks even more like Patrick Bateman's!" So I guess that is a good thing. We also headed to India Garden last night, possibly the best place on earth. That Mahkni will never get old!


We left our pillow at my gramma's house last week, and sleep hasn't been the same since. I love that little pillow. I can only take a few more days of stiff necks and sore backs.

Tonight I think we are heading to Em and Jay's again to see some friends who are heading back to school shortly. Should be a good time as always.