The more I listen to Keane, the more I'm digging them. So, you go Sam.

Mum is coming tonight and I hope to spend a lovely week-end with her doing mother-daughter things like shopping and having British high tea. Because that is how a typical mother-daughter relationship is, right? Ha, no.

It'll probably be more like her cleaning our apartment and me doing my homework. Hopefully some shopping will get crammed on in there.

More than ever, I want to go to Montreal. It sounds like a wonderful city. As soon as I read in Lonely Planet Montreal that the citizens were major foodies, I knew I was going to have a good time.

Lots of thoughts, always forgotten while I am typing.

So carefully, so carefully, it was constructed, and held steady for longer than imagined. Then with the slightest touch, it collapsed gracefully, pieces floating down to perch precariously on the edge.

Hallo--I've got so much reading to do for my midterm tomorrow that I've basically given up. It's nice, not caring so much. I just want at least a C on this midterm. Ah, how the expectations have fallen!

Conversations with people are supremely exhausting when all they do is talk about themselves. And don't you hate it when you have news, too, but they aren't asking and you're about ready to burst? It seems that whenever people don't have anything new going on, other people ask them what's going on in their lives. Or maybe that is just the case with me. Perhaps I ought to just start spewing my news out regardless of whether they ask or not.

It's been busy busy busy. Catching up on homework, studying for my midterms.. and groan, this coming week-end looks no better, with a monsterload of French to do. It appears, however, that my social life is revving up. Perfect timing, no?

Tee hee--apparently a boy in from my orientation that I've sort of kept in touch with thought I was the hottest one in his group. I think he's joking, but I gotta love him for trying. Don't worry, people, he's totally got a girlfriend he's wholeheartedly in love with. But the sentiment is nice.

Back to cramming.

Sorry guys, for the week of no updating!

What's been happening in that week? A whole lot of nothing, really. After the excitement of Alfie died down, it was time for me to settle down and do some work. The question of whether I did or not... har har. I did some reading for my American Literature class and I must say, I am enjoying Whitman quite a lot--the way he expresses things so boldly, so brashly--well, there's something very attractive about it.

This week-end I also basically did no work, as I squired a friend from Minnesota around NYC. It was nice hanging out with another Mayo graduate, as I am constantly missing Rochester people.

Let's see here.. I wrote down some random notes that I thought I ought to share. Did you ever wonder why unleaded gasoline was called unleaded?

Haha, neither did I, but in Natural Science (basically Science for Dummies) our professor told us that they used to add tetraethyl lead to gasoline to make the engines run better until they realized it was bad for the environment. So all cars after 1976 had to use unleaded gasoline ever after. There's your factoid for the week!

Two midterms looming ahead. Mum visiting Friday. Garp.

Holy goodness.

I was just at the world premiere of ALFIE (new Jude Law movie)!!! And I actually got to go IN the theatre with the stars and all! Sadly, I didn't see Jude Law because I had my pride and didn't want to crowd the red carpet as there were lots of screaming fans already. But on our way in, I saw Chris Noth (Mr. Big in Sex and the City) and Jane Krakowski (Ally McBeal)! Pretty damn cool. And I got to see the movie for free ahead of lots of people, so I feel pretty lucky.

How on earth did this happen?

Well, I was lying on my bed after an exhausting day, watching VH1 when knocks sound on the door. Suzanne gets it, and I hear murmurs, then Suzanne says, "Jude Law!" Of course, I'm instantly alert.

"Jude Law? What?" I exclaimed. Suzanne enters our room with Richard, a frat boy on our floor.

"Yeah, I've got tickets to the premiere. But I need a girl in a dress in, oh, about three minutes," he replied, looking at his watch. I let out a teeny shriek.

"Suzanne, you've got to come with! Come come come!" I pleaded. I don't know Richard all that well, you see, and wanted a friend. She had to study, and no one else could come either, so it was just me and Richard, off to the premiere. I don't think I've dressed faster in my life. I tossed on black pants, red haltertop, and comfy heels. I didn't even have time for makeup!

Let this be a lesson to me: always have on some semblance of makeup no matter what!

Lovely week-end (I so adore how British people say WEEK-end, emphasizing the first syllable in a beautifully exotic way) full of eating, shopping, and laughing. Literally lots and lots of laughter. I laughed so hard several times over the span of the weekend that my stomach ached. I love my suitemates.

Friday night after work I headed downtown to L'Ecole again to eat with Suzanne and Andres. The appetizer (puff pastry with vegetables) I could have done without, but the main entree (crispy red snapper with tomato-fennel sauce) and dessert (apple charlotte) were excellent. What did we do after? Oh goodness, I have no idea.

Saturday was TARGET DAY! Happiest place on earth for me, I tell you. Bought practical things: a plate to replace one that had been broken, wet Swiffer wipes, foot scrubby thing, and jasmine scented candles. Then we went to DSW (big shoe store) where Tillie and I proceeded to try on exceedingly impractical heels. That girl has the longest legs EVER and she sure can run in those high heels! It was good times.

Then at night, Steve took us to Joe's Ginger which is an offshoot of Joe's Shanghai, one of the popular C-town hotspots. We were ravenous and irritable while waiting for our table--but it was worth it. Beef pan-fried noodles, special fried shrimp, chinese spinach, pork & crab tiny buns, and a free dish of pork tiny buns because the waiter made a mistake! We demolished the food in no time. I feel like I was eating eating eating straight for 15 minutes.

Have had many perfect moments over the weekend.

Hahahahaha... "who is you?" - Tillie tonight after dinner. Oh God. Good times.

Lindsay Lohan has her music video out now--it's called "Rumors" and you can check it out here (Yahoo account req'd).

I won't say anything, for fear of influencing opinions. Go watch it and come back with a comment/opinion, eh?

So happy I'm fit to burst--A on my Economics midterm which took me forever to do! There are other reasons I'm ecstatic, but I think those are best left to myself and those who care.

My weekend in DC was delightful. Friday night, hit up the Q and not U show at the Black Cat which was so awesome. Totally rocked out there, without a care as to who was watching and how I was dancing. Saturday went to the National Book Festival which was quite the happenin' place... all these authors and famous people hanging around. We saw Cokie Roberts, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Neil Gaiman, and Patricia Wrede, amongst others. The last was the reason I traveled to DC--for so long I've loved Ms. Wrede's works and as a fellow Minnesotan, I've been wanting to meet her for ages. We heard her talk and then got our books signed. I even had a little conversation with her--I told her that I was also from Minnesota, she asked where from, and I said Rochester. She said she had friends there and recommended a Rochester author to me. I thanked her and walked away on clouds.

We got lots of goodies at the book fest--a free orange bag which is just sweet, pencils, a cheesehead pencil top, a potato pin, and a cowboy pin. Also! A photo with Arthur! Yes, Arthur the aardvark--damn he's one sexy aardvark, let me tell you.

Then Sunday we ate brunch at Sequoia, which was delicious: I had scrambled eggs with salmon and it came with these amazing hash browns.. sigh. Good food makes me soooo happy.

I came home to my peeps and it was lovely seeing them again... all in all, a standup weekend, indeed.

I hate being put on the spot, even if it is in a one-on-one tutoring session. I don't know if I've always been like this, or if I just started noticing, but I've started fearing being wrong, which is absolutely silly. I think from now on in class, I'm going to say whatever just to confront this fear, cause in French class he always calls on me when I don't know what's going on and inevitably I answer, "Je ne sais pas" or "I don't know." Quite sad. And today, I had a tutoring session for French because we have a test Monday and preferably I would like to do well on it, so I signed up for some help. The woman helping me was awfully nice, but I couldn't help but get the feeling that "This girl is an idiot; how is she in Intermediate French?" was going through her brain at every moment.

Part of my lack of French knowledge, I think, is due to the fact that each French teacher has a different method to teaching and usually teaches different amounts of things, so we end up with a mixed up amount of information. It would also probably be helpful if I had taken any French at all in high school.

...

Last night, I called him. My elementary school crush. It was strange; I almost didn't recognize his voice, but after a while, I could hear the lilting pattern in his voice again, and memories from elementary school came rushing back.

He was one of my first big crushes. I always loved his dark eyes, and even his silly little rattail. I can't even remember precisely why I liked him so much, the way I could say why I liked someone these days by pinpointing aspects of personality or hobbies or common interests. All I remember are little things, the little signs that I took and hoarded in my mind for hope that he liked me too.

Crushes in elementary school are so--what's the word?--lovely and innocent. Those days, a smile and eye contact was more than enough for me; hormones hadn't kicked in yet and there wasn't that desire to touch and feel for more. I don't know what I hoped for, now that I think about it. Just the knowledge that he liked me too would have been enough.

As for now, in the present, what I want is a friendship. He's one of those people who's always doing something interesting, be it volunteering with the hurricane aftermath cleanup effort or doing film production work. It'll be nice to hear about a life that doesn't revolve around college.

I think it's amazing how things can be the same and yet be so different. Contradictions--that is what my life is all about sometimes. They make the most sense. To me, at least.

Today at work, the old crush IMed me and he is apparently not doing so well, his girlfriend having broken up with him and sleeping with other guys while he's in the house. I didn't know what to say to him. What can you say? Yo, I'm sorry your ex-gf is a bitch? There are more fish in the sea? I'm so bad at this comforting thing. Then again, I don't think I've ever been properly comforted. At least, not by words. A hug is a thousand words, I say. Usually when people try to comfort me, they make it worse or keep it about the same. I guess it's the thought that counts.

I'm kind of rambling, mostly because I should be studying for a test, but also because of my freakin' huge bug bites and the thought that I'm going to die of West Nile virus keeps going through my brain. I'm sort of a hypochondriac--a minor, minor one. Whenever I go to the hospital for something it turns out that I could have solved it myself or doctors botch it up. I really do think a combination of Eastern and Western medicine is best--like Isabel Allende wrote in Daughter of Fortune. Western medicine does seem so invasive and causes more harm than good, I think. I don't think I've ever gotten results from pills my doctor has prescribed for various things and end up going through it without medication anyway and I turn out fine.

But I digress. What was the point of this post again? Oh yes, things are same but different. Things are happening on the home front--apparently the Ross family is moving here to New York, which I applaud, even though I don't know them all that well and probably won't ever see them. And juicy gossip is abounding. I'm reminded of Patiently Alice. Don't ask me why. Poor reader, I'm throwing all these random book references and most likely you have no idea to what I'm referring.

Ramble, ramble, ramble. I miss being healthy. Damn stupid bug bites/hives/who the hell knows what they are! Argh, what happened to my ability to write good posts?

Well, for those of you who care, my friends here said red/blue/no answer, so there you are. I much enjoyed everyone's answers though... I would like to know people's rationale behind their answers, though, for those who didn't explain why. And Amy, yes, it is kind of unbelievable and wrong that Britney is a stepmother. Good luck to those kids! But I'm being uncharitable.

While riding the bus to work, I was watching the outside traffic go by. I enjoy peering inside people's cars; it's that voyeuristic tendency in everyone, I think. It's like when you're driving around a neighborhood and lighted windows with shades up draws your eye and curiosity gets the better of you.

In any case, a black sedan drove past and the license plate said, "LJS." Well, reader, the first thing I thought was "Long John Silver's! That place had good fried chicken for a seafood place!" Then I paused. People most likely wouldn't want to label their car with the Long John Silver I was thinking of. What do you think it stood for? I never found out.

This has been such a good day, honestly. I'll keep the reasons why to myself, but hopefully y'all are having wonderous days as well, wherever you are. Mmm, over-cheese factor there.