everything · looks · so · quiet · from · up · here.

hot damn, I finally solidified my schedule. solidified.

monday
9.00-9.50 french
10.00-10.50 arabic
11.00-12.15 astronomy
1.15-2.30 shakespeare***
5.00-6.00 theatre board meeting
7.15-9.30 vocal jazz
tuesday
9.00-9.50 french
10.00-10.50 arabic
11.00-11.50 ballroom dance
2.00-3.30 history of the middle east from 1800-present at amherst college
6.00-7.00 jazz board meeting
7.15-9.30 glee club
wednesday
9.00-9.50 french
10.00-10.50 arabic
11.00-12.15 astronomy
1.15-2.30 shakespeare
4.15-5.45 vocal jazz
thursday
9.00-9.50 french
10.00-10.50 arabic
11.00-11.50 ballroom dance
2.00-3.30 history of the middle east from 1800-present at amherst college
4.15-5.45 glee club
6.00-7.00 arabic table
friday
9.00-9.50 french
10.00-10.50 arabic
sunday
5.00-7.00 arabic conversational study

***I had started out having intro to islam around this time, but I absolute hated everything about it. so. i'm now taking shakespeare with the amazing professor brownlow (a really tall old irish man with a voice like jim dale's only deeper and much more stately). he reads us passages from the plays and it makes me want to adopt him as my grandfather so he can read me bedtime stories every night.

also. I have as of late decided that i'm going to become an english minor. I didn't think I would have a minor because there was nothing else that would dedicate to my focus in arabic - besides international relations, but that doesn't come as a minor. I was thinking of religions, but I really don't want to have to deal with how philosophical and deep my essays needed to be for the classes. the french department is incredibly pretentious and makes the french minor impossible for me to do, and I didn't want to do politics or economics. so basically, the minor for me would just be something fun for me to do and not detrimental to a career. I didn't want to deal with the theatre department or have to work crew on a project because I don't have the time, so the obvious answer is an english minor. you only have to do four classes in order to be eligible for it, so why not? it'll be my fun class. I've missed english very much. shakespeare this semester, victorian literature in the spring, old norse next fall and the amherst emily dickinson class next spring where you go to her house and help with the general upkeep of the archives and such.

now I have to go catch the bus to go to amherst for some hot eye candy. I mean... learning.

one of the reasons going to a liberal arts school in massachusetts is lamesauce: you can't make a card play in apples to apples setting down "anne frank" for a "dead" green card (I mean, she is dead) and then laugh about it without half of the people in the group going "oooooh. that's terrible."

brief rundown version

I love being back.
my room is huge.
my desk faces our four-paned windows and I can always hear birds singing.
my first breakfast here consisted of amazing banana chocolate-chip muffins.
I miss the seniors from last year.
we have a giant meadow behind our dorm to frolic and picnic on.
I pounced my sixty-something-year-old arabic professor with a hug today.
I found another south dakotan guy in my amherst class who goes to umass.
(it's a very small world.)
I got into all the classes I wanted.
this year is going to be stressful and painful and difficult but i'm excited for it.
my new body wash smells like lotuses. (lotii?)

the end!

haagen-dazs has a new campaign to save honey bees, as they are slowly dying off. poor little things. visit the site to learn more about how to save the beeeees.

http://www.helpthehoneybees.com/#

i'm all done packing and I fly out tomorrow at some ungodly hour for school. i'm very complacent and chill. it's weird.

so. I just completely changed around my fall semester class schedule.
before it was
monday/wednesday: chem, arabic, french, intro to islam, vocal jazz
tuesday/thursday: arabic, french, pilates, glee club
friday: chem, arabic, french, chem lab

which made me want to vomit a little. i'm not even good at chem. I was just going to take it because ashley's in it and she's actually good at math and may have helped me not to fail. but I finally mustered up the courage to figure out an actually decent schedule that I didn't do just because it fit.
so now it is
monday/wednesday: french, arabic, survey of the universe (my non-lab. i'll just do my lab science in the spring.), intro to islam, vocal jazz
tuesday/thursday: french, arabic, ballroom dance, history of the middle east 1800-present at amherst, glee club
friday: french, arabic

the amherst professor said she'd take me as long as I just showed up on the first day. i'm happy. and ready to leave. I do not like hanging around in limbo.

this is probably the best youtube video I have ever seen. and I have seen a lot of youtube videos. anderson cooper (who did not make my last top five list but who I would still gladly reproduce with - half indian, half silver fox/vanderbilt babies!) + adorable baby bear.

okay, this meme was inspired by a post on dooce.com, that i've also seen elsewhere before. list your top five hotties. one of them must be a wildcard, i.e. old, someone nobody else really thinks is hot, etc. also, they can't be dead. I have thought about this meme thoroughly and this is the final draft (in no real order):

( up in here )

who's on your list?

the "livejournal writer's block" question of the day is:
While India's Independence Day is often celebrated with kites, the US celebrated with fireworks. How does each methods reflect its culture?

what the heck kind of prompt is that? you know everyone's going to say "the US likes blowing crap up and kites are... pretty."

here are some ridonkulus answers:
"I'd prefer kites actually. I've never heard of a kid blowing up his hand with a kite. They are beautiful, don't pollute, and are legal."
"We like to blow sh*t up."
"It reflects what is important to ones culture in how great one nation is to their people."
"Eastern cultures are more refined, skilled, and peaceful.
America just likes to see things blow up. :D"

what happened to all the "why do you like bubblegum?" and "which care bear is most like you?" questions?