Phantom
08.31.04
There's a new movie version of The Phantom of the Opera coming out this fall that's supposed to be as good as the recent movie version of Chicago? How did this escape my notice? Be still my heart. I've seen all of the past movie versions of Phantom, I've read the book, and I've seen the Broadway show three times. I'm rather partial to the Andrew Lloyd Webber version, so seeing it on screen...wow. Please please please be as good as Chicago was.
Now where's my Rent movie???
10:37 PM [link]
Short political rant:
08.27.04
I have issues with people who blame soldiers' deaths on Bush. Hello, when the person signed up for the service, he or she knew that the military involves fighting and the possibilty of injury or death. It doesn't matter if they join in a time of peace and don't expect to face combat. That person decided to join the military.
I was just reading an article about a woman moaning, "He was only 20 years old, I blame it on Bush," about her dead Marine cousin.
Uh, no. Blame it on the crazy bastards who killed him. Blame it on the Marine for joining an organization that carries a high risk with it. It really undermines the meaning of being a part of the military if your family members are complaining about how it killed you.
12:01 PM [link]
Dress code craziness
08.24.04
So all the 1L's are invited to a party at a bar here in Chicago. According to the email invite, the dress code at this bar is as follows:
* Jeans acceptable with dress shoes and dress shirt
* No hats
* No athletic apparel
* No T-Shirts, dress T-Shirts acceptable
* No over-sized or baggy clothing
* No exposed jewelry or big chains
* No open-toed sandals
* No sleeveless shirts
* No gym shoes of any kind
* No Construction/Work boots
All I can say is, WTF? Apparently this bar is supposed to be packed all the time; I can't believe that many people go through the work of putting together an outfit satisfying ALL of those criteria just to go to a stupid bar. I've seen dress codes for bars that consist of a few of those rules, but I've never seen so many in conjunction with each other.
09:48 PM [link]
Mr. Winkle
08.24.04
I want a Mr. Winkle. He seems pretty famous, I'm surprised I haven't heard of him before. Who wants to get me a Mr. Winkle?
Off to the second day of law school. If it's anything like yesterday, it should be all good.
08:13 AM [link]
Interesting, interesting...
08.22.04
It's always interesting when you trace an IP from an insulting, childish blog comment and discover it goes to an organization where a high school classmate works. And, ironically, the organization is a "non-profit, non-partisan, inter-religious organization that seeks to shape the public participation in policy of the American community of faith."
What a moral, upstanding citizen this young man is, working for this religious-centered group and using the organization's ISP to leave comments in my blog suggesting I'm a fatass. All, possibly, because I turned down his invitation to prom an entire three or four years ago? Who knows.
I wonder what his co-workers at this religious organization think about this. I love "staff" pages with individual email addresses.
In other news, I was on the set of Batman Begins yesterday. They've been filming around Chicago, and yesterday when Will and I walked out of the train station underneath Michigan Avenue, there were crews all around and security guards very quickly ushering us up the stairs out of the underground tunnel. I had a strong urge to run around until I found Christian Bale, but then our bus came.
07:44 PM [link]
Holy crap
08.20.04
I'm eating Cinnabon popcorn right now, which is Orville Reddenbacher's newest flavor. It's cinnamon butter popcorn with Cinnabon icing that you pour over it. It's so rich and decadent I think I might puke if I eat too much more. Flavors like this really need to come in those smaller popcorn bags, which only regular butter popcorn seems to come in.
12:25 AM [link]
Orientation over
08.18.04
I haven't posted in a bit, but I've had an intense three days of 8 to 9 hours of orientation. It's now over, and I can consider myself a master of the Chicago bus system. There's nothing nicer than jumping on a bus and letting someone else navigate the traffic, even though I'm pretty sure it's the bus driver's goal to kill us. Today on the ride home, the bus ran three red lights.
I'm looking forward very much so to the shorter REAL school days...I'm in at 9:35 (10 on Fridays) and out at 2:30, 3, or 3:30 depending on the day. I also have, at minimum, a two hour break between morning and afternoon classes, and at most a three and a half hour break. I fully plan on using those times to get work done so I can free up as much of my evenings as possible.
I've also become a big advocate of packing my lunch; the school's cafeteria is very greasy and expensive.
I would also like to brag that my school is like a big, fancy office building. Although walking to and from the bus stop is going to suck in the winter (only about four blocks, but CHICAGO WINTERS...eek), it will be nice not having to walk out of the building anytime between arriving and leaving.
10:25 PM [link]
In Chicago...wow
08.11.04
I must subconsciously be against oral hygiene, since I left my toothpaste at Will's brother's apartment when I stayed overnight there before my 8:30 a.m. meeting in Bowling Green, and then I left my toothbrush at home when I moved.
I went on the most difficult grocery store trip ever today; going from not having anything at all to trying to create a kitchen full of stuff I can make food with was hard. I also spent on me what my mom spends on a family of four. Granted; most of it was stuff that it'll take me forever to use up, like peanut butter and butter and all those staples. I know there's so much more that I'll need if I actually cook for myself (I stayed away from anything pre-made that you just warm up...expensive and unhealthy!), but the grocery store is a block away and I'll just need to start a list of things I notice I need.
My parents are mildly freaking out that they just left their oldest daughter in Chicago and drove back home, and I'm mildly freaking out about living alone in a big city where I don't know many people ("Am I going to be able to feed myself? Can I figure out how to get to school on time on the bus?"), but I'm sure it'll all be fine.
06:03 PM [link]
First post...
08.10.04
First post from my new home in Chicago! Now excuse me so I can go pick between strangling myself and unpacking.
(N'ah, I'm not that dramatic. Really.)
I've already realized I left stuff at home. *sob*
10:48 PM [link]
Compatibility
08.09.04
Everyone take the Which Kallurian Are You Most Compatible With? quiz! Then feel free to post your results here; I'll give a cookie to anyone who's compatible with me.
11:17 PM [link]
Changing size...or not...
08.08.04
I can never figure out how my body works. All of the pants that I wear on a normal basis and have had for a while have always fit the same. There are some pants I'm trying on (trying to clear out the closet as I pack) that used to fit but now don't button. There are some pants that I had but never wore because I thought I needed to have them taken in since they were too big, but now they fit beautifully. My weight hasn't changed, and it's not like the pants that don't fit anymore were bought earlier when I hyopthetically was a different size; some were even bought at the same time as the pairs that have always and still fit normally.
The only thing that I can conclude is that some seamstress fairy came and shrunk the pants that I don't really like in order to encourage me to get rid of them, because ironically, that's how it worked out. All the ones that are too small now are ones that I've never been a big fan of. The seamstress fairy also shrunk the pants that I loved but thought were too big.
I'm also clearing out my book and CD collections. I've sold most of the books I didn't want anymore on eBay, and a few of the CDs sold on there too, but a lot of them went unbought (take the O-Town CDs, dammit! I know there are teenies out there!!!). The good news is Media Play has started this deal where you can bring in used CDs on Tuesdays, and for every five they take, you can get a new release for free. Granted, I run the risk of there not being any new releases that I want, but I figure I can then turn around and sell it on eBay. I have about 15 CDs that I can take, which potentially means 3 new releases. They said they're picky about the condition the CD is in, which shouldn't be a problem because I'm anal and my stuff stays in immaculate condition, but I don't know if they're picky about which CDs they are.
Getting rid of 15 CDs might sound like a lot, but keep in mind I have over 300.
04:58 PM [link]
Wow...DVD writer!
08.07.04
Apparently my laptop has a CD/DVD writer in it. That's what I call a nice surprise! My dad, who bought the laptop for me, didn't even know it had one. Why can't I get good news like this every day?
07:11 PM [link]
I'm done...
08.06.04
And just like that, it's all over.
After three years of classes (yes, I'm a nerd who had college credit before college ever began), a summer internship, and an 8-hour meeting yesterday, I'm done with college.
I have a DEGREE! :D
Now I'm off to be Melantha's law school guinea pig.
10:35 PM [link]
Last day!
08.04.04
Today is the last day of my internship! I'm sad to leave the people at the office behind, because everyone was SO nice and made the experience so much better than it might have been, but I'm also excited as this means that I'm only a few days away from moving. I've gotten most of the furniture (I'm lacking a couch), and I'm about ready to move onto decorating. That's the fun part!
I've recently become obessed with Smoked Chipotle Tabasco. I've been eating it on everything, even things that you wouldn't normally put hot sauce on. This obsession stems from my obsession with Chipotle, the Mexican fast food place, which the aforementioned people from work got me addicted to. Thankfully there's one two blocks from my apartment. ; )
07:43 AM [link]
Can't ever be happy...
08.03.04
This proves Americans (or American journalists, at least) can't be happy with anything the government does. First the government was blasted for not doing anything to prevent 9/11. Now that we have intelligence about possible attacks with very specific information, the government is being criticized for raising the alert level on "old" information.
What IS it that they want?
Wasn't 9/11 planned for years in advance? If on 9/10/01 security was beefed up and the airports were doubly guarded, would the press complain that the information was planned years ago, why are they stepping up security now?
I often think the press is more evil than the government is (not that I think the government is evil at all), and I thank the Lord I turned in my journalism aspirations for a criminal justice degree.
Speaking of degrees, in less than a week, I'll have one! (That's amazing me to no end, I'm such a geek.)
02:39 PM [link]
Ace of Base
08.01.04
I'm going through my CD collection now to put it all on my iPod (I don't know if I'm doing it right - anyone know if I can delete the file off my comp after I transfer it to the iPod but keep a spot for it in the iTunes library?), and I must say, Ace of Base is one of the few artists whose CDs don't have a speck of filler on them at all. Bless their Swedish hearts.
03:17 AM [link]