It's very sad when all you can do is force a laugh for someone you thought was one of your closest friends.

Yet another author meeting! Met Meg Cabot yesterday... she's the one who wrote Princess Diaries, you know, that movie with Anne Hathaway? Yup. Even though I probably ought to be reading more adult books, I enjoy her ya books lots and lots. I think it's mainly cause she writes as though she is still a teenager, which is great, very relatable. Got a photograph with her too, but I had hoped to obsess over Jasper Fforde but couldn't cause I didn't want to buy her book for her to sign, so they kind of rushed me along after the photo. Ah well. She talked about her next book, and answered a lot of questions. I probably ought to have posted about it right after, because I don't remember a lot of it, but what I did remember is that she seems like someone I would have as a friend.

Friday: Volunteered at the library, even though I was only able to stay for half an hour. It was really cute, cause there was this book called How to Be a Princess, or something, and I said I wanted to take it out so I could know how to be like a Princess. But Debbie, one of the ladies I volunteer with, said, "Oh, you don't need that book. You're already a princess, coming in today when you didn't need to. So gracious!" So that upped my day considerably. The reason I could only stay for a bit was cause I had to rush to the Met Opera for Wagner's Die Walkure final dress rehearsal, to which our Opera teacher had gotten tickets.

We actually got to sit in the Center Parterre, which now that I look at ticket sales on the website, says that they regularly go for $500! Holy crap! And to think, I left after the first act. Well, the weather was just gorgeous, and I was falling asleep in the theatre--shameful of me, I know. Call me a barbarian all you want, but I was raised in the generation of trash and empty calories, okay?

Anyway, that night, to celebrate Christina's birthday, we all went out to dinner and Hairspray! Hairspray was beautiful! The colors were vivid, and contrasted so wonderfully together. The songs were catchy and it was good that we were in standing room, cause that meant I could shake my booty along with the music! I am so glad I got to see Harvey Fierstein in the production before he leaves in April... annnnd... get his autograph! Yeah, that's right! Afterwards, Christina, who's seen the show about 25 times, got us in backstage for a short tour. Then we waited around outside and Harvey came out! He seemed noncommunicative, but apparently that's how he is after the show. Signed mjy program with a silver pen... yay!

As for today... we had a (an doesn't sound right) European picnic in Central Park! Mmmm.. the best cheese from Murray's and bread from this shop next to Murray's along with French limonade completed the feast. Found a lovely spot next to the ducks and settled down for a quiet lunch. Played some frisbee, tried to fly a kite unsuccessfully for around an hour or two. That's right, we went kite flying! But it was with this tricksy kite that Andres had and it was bad... had two spools and every time it would come swirling down to the ground. Bad business. But we had fun doing it! I'll get pictures up someday.

New Alias tonight!!!!!!!!!! OMG, who else LOOOVED the ending to last week's????

Survived my day of hell! Woke at 6 to write Lit paper, then rushed back after Lit to do ConWest paper. But that is boring to read about, so I'm going to stop.

After the high of meeting Jasper Fforde, meeting Garth Nix was low-key. After my ConWest midterm, which I finished way ahead of other people (most likely a bad thing), I rushed over to Books of Wonder and arrived a half hour early thinking I would never get a spot. But it was nearly empty! So after a bit of aimless wandering throughout the store, I bought Sabriel and sat down. Garth Nix arrived a little after 5 and there was a further delay of ten or so minutes before he came back out and spoke. He was of average height, with glasses and in a black shirt and beige suit. When he spoke, he looked over our heads, and I wondered if he was nervous about public speaking, if he finds it easier to concentrate on solid items, like ceilings, rather than moving humans.

He spoke about how the name Sabriel was coined--it's a combination of sable, which was what heralds called black, and the -riel Hebrew ending of angel names. Very cool. Then he told a story about a ring that he found in Persia 7 years ago which was accompanied by a voice telling him, "This ring will bring you good luck for 7 years, but after those 7 years you must pass it on or else you will reap a harvest of tears." I couldn't help but think he was bamming us, and that at the end, he would make some sort of weighty pronouncement such as, "And then I became the Lord of the Rings!" But he continued on, and said that this morning, he woke feeling very hot, like he was in the Persian desert again, and the voice repeated what it said all those years ago. Then he said that whoever raised their hand first would get the ring, cause he'd taken it out of his jacket by then, you see. A young girl got it, and I must admit, I felt rather jealous, even if I didn't really believe his story. I turned out to be right about the story; he'd made it up. The girl looked rather downcast after that; I think she truly believed she would have amazing luck.

After that, he answered some questions, like how do you get over writer's block, are there going to be any more Sabriel books (there are novels, but they won't be written/published for a while), etc. Then it was time for autographs! I got to ask him how he liked working in publishing, and he said he enjoyed it. I replied, "Yeah, because I want to be a writer too, so I feel like I ought to know how they get published." He said, "Well, my business side liked it. Do it if you really love books" and so on and so forth. It was lovely fun, all in all.

Yay!!!! I love the freedom of no impending doom/homework! Apprentice is on tonight and guess who's watching it? Damn straight, it's me!

In a state of semi-confusion. But don't have time to think about any of what's going on in my head cause I have two papers and a midterm tomorrow. Yikes!!!!!!

I'm sensing it's going to be a looong night.

Been so tired lately. What is wrong with me? I am usually never like this! I need more sleeeeeeep!

Off to write papers. :(

Rawr, this is sad, but I'm tired about worrying over these tables!

Anyone know how to fix it so there isn't that white space after my links bar above? Or, basically, how to force the text to stay within the width of the links bar?

Work was fun! Then again, I was only there for 2 hours. But everyone seems nice... and it'll be good cause there's only one other girl working there. No crazy girl drama bitchiness! Tomorrow I'm going back for 2.5 hours. I can't wait to actually do stuff and know what's going on.

Classes were classes. I was dead tired cause I didn't have any time to eat lunch. So I had to get some, be late for French, and sneak some into my mouth like a fugitive every so often. French was interesting; I got partnered with a guy that I haven't really talked to before and it turns out he's pretty nice, crazy, and accepting of my wacky ideas. We had to make up a story about a photograph of Cameron Diaz feeding a dog with Justin T. behind her, you see, and we each made mad-as-pants suggestions and ended up going with his: Cameron likes to eat dogs, fat dogs, so she was fattening the dog in the photograph. Justin, meanwhile, is a zombie and is preparing to suck Cameron's brains out. Hmm.. now that I read back on that, I realize how strange we must appear. But we thought it was hilarious at the time.

And before that, we had to write a conversation where each of us described our awful weekends. First, I started off telling about how I was too busy listening to my iPod to notice a car speeding towards me. Therefore, I was talking to him from the hospital. Then, he said his weekend was worse. I asked why. He replied, "Mes parents sont morts." Or, en Anglais, my parents are dead. That was my idea. Mee hee hee.

Anyway, had a pretty good day back all in all. Sun was shining, 'twas a bit breezy, and .. well, what more do you need?

Last day of freedom.

Back to midterm, papers, and homework in 43 minutes. Le sigh le sigh le sigh.

I also start my first day of work tomorrow morning at 10 AM. Emphasize tomorrow morning. This morning, I woke up at least three different times in a panic about being late. The last time, I actually got up and turned on my laptop to check bus times before I reminded myself, "It's SUNDAY, you dolt." So I turned it off and flopped back into bed for another three hours.

Sometimes, I wonder if I should be leading the regular sort of life--going to bars, chatting up strangers (if I were single, of course), getting piss-ass drunk, and having those crazy nights that people always seem to have while doing one or more of the above. This wondering was furthered when my roomie returned from the Cayman Islands with tales of meeting people, famous or friend of famous.

Then again, I also have to wonder if I just wouldn't enjoy it as much I do my quiet life. To me, sheer bliss lies in a day full of sunshine, no work to do, and plenty of books. Does that make me any less happy than the people who are 'normal'? I don't know. I suppose I'll have a period in my life where I'll need to explore all that, but for now, I'm content.

Oh My Dear Goodness.

I have just had the most exciting night EVER.

How, you ask, on earth could you have a more exciting night than Kylie Minogue? Or the Love Actually premiere?

Well, I can and I did. Drumroll please...

I MET JASPER FFORDE!

For those of you who aren't cool enough to have read his books, Jasper writes these comedy/thriller/suspense/drama/anyothergenre books about a detective of sorts named Thursday Next. The first book in the series is The Eyre Affair, in which Thursday interferes with the plot of, you guessed it, Jane Eyre. Brilliant, simply brilliant. He uses all these classic characters, i.e. Mr. Rochester and Jane Eyre, in funny ways. If you ever read a book recommended by me, read his!

So I get to the bookstore an hour early--I didn't know how many people to expect, and I thought an hour was a good amount of time. Turned out I was right. I was able to snag a seat in the second row (I could've had my pick of the first row, but then I felt I would have been too close, you know?) and so I settled down with the book I'd brought along. All around me, people slowly started taking seats until they were all filled up. In the end, there were many people who stood in the back, so I was glad I'd gone early.

At 7ish, the man himself strides past. I was surprised, cause I thought he'd have come in through the back or something equally tricky as that. He begins by telling us about how the book, Well of Lost Plots, came to be ("horitcultural ineptitude"). Apparently he'd written in the first UK version of The Eyre Affair that daffodils bloom in summer, when they bloom in spring. So that brought about the whole idea of a book upgrade, etc. I knew most of this from his website. Then he told us about the special features section on his website that we could access if we used the correct password from the Well of Lost Plots (I also already knew about this). He read to us the section about how the Book came to be (you'll know what I mean after you read it) and told us all sorts of funny things. He has that British, dry sense of humor, which I adore. Oh gosh, I can't even remember what else.

He then answered questions, and I asked, "If there was no such thing as copyright, which character would you have loved to use?" I was somewhat disappointed when he gave the same answer as he did in the WLP special features section. I was hoping for something different. In any case, other people asked questions about his focus puller work, if there'd be a Thursday Next movie ("not unless I make it"), and which book he'd step into ("Alice in Wonderland would be fun").

Finally, the autograph session. I didn't know what to say to him, so I asked if I could get a picture and his girlfriend, Mari, took it for us. He said my flash was complicated looking, which it is, as it emits, like, 5 flashes. I made some small talk about Minnesota, cause I knew he'd made a tour stop there. He said he thought it was snowy and cold, but that he and Mari had liked the skyways, cause "you'd never have to go outside."

Afterwards, I considered hanging around to see if there'd be an afterparty or something, but decided I had had enough excitement for one day. So I headed home, and typed this.

I still can't believe it!!!!!!!!!!! I was shaking the entire way there and shaking the entire way back to my dorm. I can't wait for the 4th book to come out; it sounds really really good! And it's out in August!!!!!


Another interesting tidbit I just remembered: The Eyre Affair was meant to be a stand alone, and it is. Whereas his 2nd, 3rd, and 4th are a sort of trilogy. That's why the Well of Lost Plots felt to me somewhat like filler; after all, the 2nd book of a trilogy usually is, in the way of The Two Towers. Oh yes, and funny bits about his first books. First book was about Humpty Dumpty's death ("why would someone kill a 180 pound egg?"), second about Goldilocks and the Three Bears. I'm just trying to record bits and pieces for myself so future me will remember! Focus puller was fun job.. in tight knit community as well as prime spot on set. Erm.

BTW, Arney has got to be the best BF ever! He bought me a gift certificate to the Elizabeth Arden Spa. Yeah. So now I have to decide what treatments to take! Any suggestions? Arney's telling me I should head for the hot stone massage cause it sounds cool. I have to agree. But if any of you have personal experience...

Pop me an e-mail at christine@luverly.org!

Oh thank goodness.

I feel a chapter in my life has finally closed. I don't know how specific or vague I want to be about this... so I think I'll choose to be more vague. Generally that's the best option after all, eh?

So tonight I feel a craving for the old days, so I sign on Instant Messenger to try and relive them. Luckily, pretty much everyone on my buddy list was away... very lucky, because otherwise I might have done something rather stupid. I settled for a less instant version of communication and lo and behold, three words blink out at me (from the screen.. I'm not hallucinating... yet).

Yeah, right, like I'm going to tell you what those three words were. In any case, I finally feel like I can let a certain something go that's been niggling at me for a considerable amount of time.

Hurrrrahhhhh!!!

I'm back home.

I have missed seeing the night sky full of stars and clouds. It's the sort of sky that inspires and clams up the tongue, all at once.

All I can say is I'm watching a Chinese soap opera and I'm pretty darn happy.

Tomorrow I go back to high school.

Oh yeah, I wanted to write about pop/teen generation haters.

Everyone knows at least one--or you may even be one yourself. They're the people who groan at MTV, who disparage Britney and Christina, moan at anything remotely girly, and despair at "today's youth," even though they're one themselves. Now, I, as well as anyone else, can admit that yes, pop culture is tiresome and over the top at times, but come on, people! I highly doubt that you don't find MTV, etc. appealing to some extent.

I suppose there are actually people who truly don't like pop culture and its associations, but to me, it's always seemed like those who are most vehemently against it are the most pretentious, as though they want to be known as going against the mainstream. And that's just plain sad because there are thousands of people doing the same, so you're not unique, okay?

And no, there hasn't been a specific incident or anything, but these things build up from a lot of different sources and it just pisses me off. I'd like to be able to enjoy my Newlyweds and America's Next Top Model with some sort of impunity. It's not as though I make fun of you for liking your purposely obscure, pompous musician/television show/etc.

P.S. I really like the first five minutes of Robi Draco Rosa's "Dancing in the Rain." It's seductive, slow, jazzy. Rosa was a co-writer of Ricky Martin's "Livin la Vida Loca," I believe. Don't let that deter you from giving him a listen on Launch.

Argh, I'm not completely happy with this website design.. and god all the tables were SUCH a hassle! But it'll do for now.

Had a midterm Monday.. really hard cause it didn't cover anything we'd learned in class.

Erm, stuff has happened but I'm too tired to think back. I'm just glad to be going home in a day. Sigh.

Blah blah blah.

Oh, the glory of Mozart!

Reminder to self: write about being thisclose to seeing Colin Firth in SNL dress rehearsal.

Haha, I bet y'all are just dying to hear about my Erno Laszlo pHacial experience at Bergdorf's, eh?

Well I'm going to tell you about it anyway, so you might as well read on.

I arrived at Bergdorf's 15 minutes early and so they started my consultation right when I got there. I got to sit under a glaring light while the obviously gay consultant asked me questions about my skin type. I could literally feel myself getting sweaty, which made me more nervous, cause I didn't want to look a liar when they were asking me questions. Finally, he said I was a "one o'clock" according to Dr. Laszlo's clocking system (which I think sounds like a lot of crock) and sent me on in to the aesthetician.

The aesthetician, as it turned out, was from the Dominican Republic, separated, and was originally going to be a doctor here but they held her papers for 3 years. Also, she has one son named Rudy, aged 11, who is asking awkward questions (examples of these questions to follow). I learned all this while she was giving me a massage.

But let me backtrack a bit here. Okay, so I walked into the room for the treatment, and right off had to wash my face using their technique. Their technique, as far as I can see, is also a bunch of crock. First, I had to spread some sort of "non comedogenic" oil (I highly doubt the veracity of the quoted part) on the dry areas of my face, then dip the seamud soap into the basin of hot water and scrub my face with it. Next, and this was the part I had the most trouble with as I wear contacts, I was supposed to splash my face clean. Apparently, I was doing it wrong, so I had to re-splash my face about 20 times. Then, I reclined on the massage chair while she turned on the fluorescent light. She said she normally didn't turn on this light, but she had to look at my face as I had a lot of impurities. "We don't do extractions here," she said. I nodded in understanding.

She then proceeded to spread volcanic rock and aloe on my face (I know this because I asked about the ingredients). The massage came next. It was during this that she told me the aforementioned information. Her son was the spouter of such precocious utterings as:

"Mama, I feel a bing when I see a girl in a bikini."
"Mama, why you have titties and I got none?"
"Mama, how do babies come out of the little hole?"

Yup. This was all highly amusing to me. I liked how she didn't feel the need to censor anything she was saying. The massage was very nice also, as she used a wonderful smelling lotion. My neck, hands, and shoulders ended up very well-lotioned indeed.

She washed the mask off my face, then came the pain. She used toner-soaked cotton pads to extract. Yes, even after she said they didn't do extractions, she still chose to squeeze my face all over, and my poor nose until my eyes teared. Afterwards, she spread on some makeup, because I think she was frightened of the effect she had had on my face, as I have dermatographism, which is a skin condition that causes me to swell up when people scratch or poke at me.

Finally, I went out, back to the glaring light where the salesman told me I looked 'glowing' and another said he didn't even recognize me. I laughed inside, as I could feel my swollen nose. They tried to sell me their products, but I firmly refused and said I needed to talk to my parents about it. I ended up getting little samples in a Bergdorf's bag to take with me, so I was happy.

And that's my story.

Lots of good news!

1) I GOT THE WEB DESIGN JOB!!! It pays $10/hr.. pretty nifty!!! And plus, it sounds really cool.

2) We FINALLY got the housing situation sorted out.. we're def. going to live in Chinatown next year! Oh yeah.... six crazy girls in one suite? Complete chaos!

3) Was social in classes today!! Talked to this guy who apparently is roomies with the son of OnStar's creator. Yup, NYU kids are so freaking privileged. Also have study group for Opera class, which comes as a biiiig relief.

4) Arney AND Samantha are coming this weekend! Yay!!!! Lots of reminiscing to come...

5) The weather was beautiful, AGAIN! I almost wore capris! There were many people walking around in shorts, etc.

I am soooo tired. I want to sleep. I think I shall.

Oh my goodness.

I just received a letter from Arney for our six month and it was absolutely beautiful. I mean, afterwards, I felt completely wretched because I don't feel like I deserve him. So thank you darling, for putting up with me. I love you.

End of public display of affection.

I'm watching Two Weeks Notice on DVD right now with the commentary and it's really quite amusing! Sandra and Hugh actually are commentating, which is rare as usually it ends up being the producer/director/sound guy who does so. I would highly recommend you rent this DVD, if only for the commentary, which features such moments as Hugh musing on the beauty on an actress's shoulders, playful banter between Sandra and Hugh, and overall merriment and jokes. Course, it helps if you're a fan of Hugh's.

Today was another balmy, beautiful day. Humid! Felt such longing for home.

I actually spent an hour talking to my Literary Interpretation teacher today; he's a TA, so I don't feel as intimidated. And he's young enough to be able to relate to what I was saying. We spoke about writing and books and other such things, which was really nice, because I don't know anyone else who is actively trying to write fiction. So it was interesting to hear another perspective, and helpful!

Top Model tonight!

I just spent the last hour and half reading this journal. I'd advise you to start at the beginning. Colin is a wonderful writer--I chuckled to myself quite a bit, and that's rare when I'm reading.

I found his website by searching for "An American Girl in London." Yup. Girl.

But why were you searching for that, Christine?

Because, I'm trying to find out what it's like to live in London. After I visited Paris in 2002, I was pretty sure I'd want to go back and live there for a semester. I fell in love with the architecture, the Musee d'Orsay, and how European it all was. I even overlooked the rampant B.O. and strange odors that rose from the street, because I was charmed.

But after visiting Florence, I don't know if I would like to be with non-English speaking people for a whole four months. It's comforting to know in a foreign country that if you get lost, you'll be able to communicate with someone and ask for directions. Plus, those British accents!

I know I ought to trust my initial instincts, which tell me: Paris, Paris, Paris. These are the instincts that remind me of the observations I made when I was last in London, back in 1999. I wrote a travel journal for Laura (we ought to restart that, as a matter of fact), and from what I remember of it, British girls wore too much makeup and dressed trampy, British boys seemed greasy, and no one wore colorful clothes. All this came as a shock to me, as I have grown up with the old BBC shows such as "Keeping Up Appearances" and "Fawlty Towers." In those shows, the men are adorably flustered, while the women manage to be elegant even under dire circumstances.

In addition, the British men we Americans are exposed to seem to be the cream of the crop-- Prince William, Prince Harry, Jude Law. How on earth are ordinary British men supposed to measure up? I don't say this to be mean. Indeed, I could reverse it and say how on earth are ordinary American women supposed to measure up to American beauties like Halle Berry and Jennifer Garner? Impossible expectations result in disappointment, is all I mean.

So, my destination for study abroad is up in the air.

Final tally of Oscar predictions: 14/24. If only I had followed my instincts.. I would have much more right.. I'm so happy for LOTR! Finally, the recognition it deserves. Bill Murray was robbed, though. I never saw Mystic River, but Bill's performance was amazing: just the right amount of comedy, just the right amount of tragedy.

I thought it was shameful how Sofia Coppola didn't mention Scarlett at all in her speech. It's not as though Bill carried the entire movie. Without Scarlett's eyes, the way they could convey the restlessness beneath the calm... for shame.

More later.