Here kitty, kitty, kitty...

1. Since I was a youngling, cats have always been my favorite animal. They're just so cute. And I love that they live with humans but can take care of themselves.
   
2. There are a bunch of cats in my neighborhood and I love it. It's even more exciting than all of the flowers and all of the children, which are both very nice. I go on walks often and usually find a kitty that will let me pet it. It's wonderful.
   
3. A good indicator of whether I'll be good friends with someone or not is whether they think Anderson Cooper is a good name for a cat.
4. Tony was at a friend's house with a cat for several hours the other day and didn't feel anything. Please let this mean that he's somehow not horribly allergic anymore or that there's some breed of cat out there that he's not allergic to or that somehow he can learn to love cats as much as I do.
5. When I was a child, I thought Edgar the butler on The Aristocats was a huge meanie, but when I think about it now...I mean, how would you feel if the lady you've been working for for years and had no heirs left all of her money to a cat and three kittens?
   

Why Iowa?

1. I don't know a single person in Iowa. Fresh start. No past embarrassments.
2. Cold winters, warm summers, temperate falls and springs. Weather like it ought to be.
   
3. Caucuses. Swing state. Early primaries.
   
4. Seemingly down-to-earth. Seemingly friendly.
   
5. I've only driven through it once. Mystery. Adventure.
6. I'm fascinated with rural America. Flat. Folks with old-fashioned values plus tractors.
7. More vowels than consonants. Fun to say.
8. Desire to be unique. Nobody runs away to Iowa.
   

Nate the Nerd

My brother Nate is about as much of a nerd as one can be while still being likeable. Allow me to present the evidence. Here is an email he sent me last night:

holy cow! what did you get me into. Now that I've sort of started up facebook again it seems like everyone's attacking me. I'm up to 21 friends now. I know you have way more, but this is pretty rapid growth. You have more friends than I, but my d[friends]/dt is greater than yours in the domain time is greater than when I got back on facebook.

Oh yeah, that reminds me. A few days ago I heard one of my new favorite quotes. It describes perfectly what life is like in my classes after the AP test. Here it is (the setting is a bunch of us overlooking a chess game in Calculus):

"Hey look! the Queen is a rotational solid!"-Greg Philbrick

As if just playing chess wasn't geeky enough. We then discussed which other peices were rotational solids and why they are or aren't in the most common types of chess sets.

Within the next year I need to...

either get married or move to Iowa. I see no other options. And both are equally appealing/unappealing.

Two Thoughts Concerning Kevin Bacon:

1) My cousin got married to a girl named Devon Bacon last weekend. Ever since I met her last summer, I've thought there was something fishy about her name and assumed it was because it's a traditionally male first name. It took my mother misspelling it as "Devin Bacon" for me to realize what it really was: her name rhymes with Kevin Bacon. What a shame.

2) My friend/old roommate, Emilee, had a friend, Kristin, who's mom was once in a play with Kevin Bacon. Yes, that's a mere four degrees. Thank you. (I may actually have some facts wrong on this...I'll talk to Emilee and edit if needed later.)

Playlisting/Facebook Addiction

I really like planning dance parties. Particularly putting together playlists. So the scenario for the world is this: You are putting together a playlist for a dance party and want to throw in some nostalgia pieces. To meet your Will Smith quota, do you play "Gettin' Jiggy Wit' It" or "Miami"? To meet your Destiny's Child quota do you play "Survivor" or "Jumpin'"? And then how much of the Backstreet/NSync/Britney genre are you allowed to play before all the males leave your party? Have we reached the day and age where you're allowed to have a dance party that doesn't play "Yeah" by Usher, or is it still too soon? Can you even play Destiny's Child if you're doing later Beyonce songs, or is it too much? Same question, but insert 'NSync and Justin. Where the heck is that one Timbaland song that we all love but can only find on the movie You Got Served?

I wouldn't call myself a facebook addict by any means. I know several people who are far worse than I am. But when I create an event on facebook, there is nothing that can stop me from checking every ten minutes to see if someone new is attending, see if there's someone else I should invite, see if anybody's posted on the wall for it, etc. I will be able to think of nothing but the facebook page for Emilee and Sterling's birthday party until the party is over Saturday night. Which is a shame because I have other things I need to do before then.

Stop the Presses!

This story will change your life.

You know your career is over when...

The Usual

• The best classes are the ones where you don't know what's going to happen next. I think that's why I miss math so much, you always knew you were building up to something, but you didn't know what. And then it all comes together later and you can use the math to do really cool things. My Modern Latin America class is so much fun for the same reason. I have such a limited knowledge of Latin American history (there were the conquistadors, then, umm...the Panama Canal, and whatever-the-heck Cinqo de Mayo is celebrating happened somewhere in there, and then Castro in Cuba...the end.) It's so much fun because I'll be reading about a revolution in Bolivia and have no idea if it's going to turn out successfully until I get a few more pages into my textbook (where, inevitably, every revolution fails).
• Sometimes when I'm in a bathroom stall in a bathroom that I don't go into often, I have the thought come to me with such force that I know it must be true: I am in a men's restroom. I try to remember going into the restroom. I can't remember seeing the sign with the woman on it when coming in. I didn't notice any urinals, but I might've just missed them. I wait until I hear no sounds and the bathroom is empty before I come out of the stall. I hurry and wash my hands, nervous that someone's going to walk in on me and I'll be caught. Then I walk out and the nightmare is over. Of course it was a women's restroom. I don't think I've ever accidently gone into a men's restroom. I don't know why I'm so paranoid about it, but I've gone through this routine more often than I'd like to admit to.
• The phrase "Old friends, new lovers, and the disabled - Welcome all!" has been playing on repeat through my head as if I were on the Disneyland trip again. In Ian Shepley's voice rather than Michael Scott's, because I've heard it so many more times that way. It's really rather fitting for me these days, though.

Hooray!

I am posting this from a working computer and a working internet connection right here in my room! Glorious day!

I've always been intrigued by wireless internet connection. I know it's not a super new technology these days, but it's still amazing. All of that information and you don't even have to be plugged into anything!

Grey It Up

I'm just going to come out and say that I love Grey's Anatomy. Judge me if you will, but I don't know what I'm going to do with myself now that the third season is over. I need to know what happens next. But it's been a good season. Starting off with Meredith helping Izzie take off her prom dress and ending with Meredith helping Christina take of her wedding dress. And that sounds a lot worse than it is.

Oh, the heartbreak/relief of disintegrating couples!

I'm pretty sure my boyfriend hates that I just wrote that. I still like him, though.

Apartment 328 Quotes

It's been a couple weeks now since leaving that glorious place, or rather, that glorious roommate dynamic, and, as promised, it's time to record the quote board so that it won't be lost to future generations:

"This year, I think we should wear clothes."

"Don't lie to me, young lady."

"I'm so glad I'm not dating a ninja turtle."

"I'm Swedish--and I can date whoever I want, you Nazi!"

"My boobs don't lie. Because they don't."

"I can't tell you what we were doing, but I can tell you it involved tweezers."

"I made it more masculine with the windup...Drop It Like It's Hott."

"My dad is president of the family Speedo club." "Does that make you the treasurer?"

"Please tell me you just saw that?" "Oh yeah!"

"It doesn't work because I have to defecate."

"J-Lo's love may not cost a thing, but mine is fifty bucks a pop." "What exactly constitutes one pop of Andrea love?"

"Uh...did you see this?"

"Does a pedophile make sound?"

"I've got it! We'll carve a bust of Neil Diamond out of cheese!"

"It's a resilient little mammal!"

"I just want to jump into bed with him!...like he was my brother, not my lover..."

"Urine conquers all."

"Now pull up your pants and let's go to yoga."

"Does Donald Trump cry?"

"Circle of fifths...that's really hot somehow."

"I could pee my pants in front of you guys...I just really really really really don't want to."

"Why does she get the bigger half?" "Because I have the bigger baby...what?"

"Wow, you know how to use water." "That's why I'm a chemical engineer." "Uh, more like that's why you should be a caterer."

"Are you leaving the house like that?"

"Easy Mac is better than nothing...In fact, it's better than a lot of good things."

"17? That's like...more than a dozen!"

"You are not Pam-ing the cheese!"

"What's more important: my sister or my celestial prospects?"

"I don't think I've seen that one."

"Ashlee Simpson's talent is the faith to be healed. Not singing."

"Fecal Fiesta?"

"The real question: what's more important: your celestial prospects or chocolate peanut butter malt?" "How about a celestial prospect that buys me chocolate peanut butter malt?"

"I want a bed full of kittens...and Christian Bale."

"Some people like to get monkeys high. I'm one of them."

"Frankie Muniez: born December 1985. Eat That."

Looking for a new school bag

My backpack, as aforementioned, is gone. My school bag for the last few days has been my trash purse (found it in a trash can and fine condition while working custodial a couple years ago, it's been a good friend since), but I need something I can fit my things in properly soon, so I've been looking at bags. I don't really want to go back to a backpack. It's too hard to pull things out of when you're wearing them and they take my jackets/coats/cardigans off with them when I take them off. They're just awkward. I'm going to go with some sort of messenger bag or tote, if I can find something that's just right. I didn't think I'd be this picky about it, but after quite a lot of looking, I haven't found anything that's just right enough to buy. Some I've looked at and liked:

This bag is cute enough and would serve my purposes size-wise, but I feel like it's too casual for days that I want to dress up. I need something more versatile. Also, while the flip-over top is okay, it's also kind of annoying to work around.

This bag is super cute (paisley is one of the best things ever invented) and is about what I'm looking for (there is a smaller interior pocket that you can't really see, and that's about all I need compartmentally), but it's about an inch too small in all directions for it to work for me. Also, I'd prefer a zip top so I don't have to worry about rain getting into it, though that's not a major concern.

This bag is just about perfect. It's exactly what I want style- and size- wise (I've always loved canvas bags with leather trim). And just about $200 over what I'm willing to pay for a new school bag.

Disconnect

I don't have a computer in my apartment (a couple of my roommates do that I can use briefly for important things, so it's not desperate, but...) and I don't have time to do much internetting on campus. I have no idea what's going on in the world. I haven't thoroughly read the news since before the Disneyland trip.

It's all okay, though. Living a very simple life. Work, school, people, sleep. Repeat.

My roommates are good thus far.

"There will be no enjoyment of violation in this car!"

"At least you're dating. All I've got is drunk Guatemalans who only want me for my American citizenship."

Back to School

What a month it has been. I've been celebrating my freedom from school and work with various trips with various friends, because I figure I'll never be this unattached again. I've seen fascinating historical sites in Boston, gone surfing in Huntington Beach, eaten so much food I could die in New Orleans, etc. It's been a good month, but now it's back to school.

My first day back in classes started out with a bang: the strap to my backpack said goodbye to embracing the pack and my shoulder forever. The relationship has been strained for a couple years now, slowly unravelling. My trusty Jansport has seen me through four years of high school and three years of college and has finally decided enough is enough.

I should have realized when I signed up for Modern Latin American History that it would turn into a huge mission story swap fest. So many guys serve in Latin America that those of us who've only read and heard things about the region are not entitled to opinions.