so my plan has been to graduate after next fall. but i was thinking about school just now, and i kind of don't want to graduate after only being at depaul for a year and a half. it's kind of ridiculous that i'm able to get all my degree requirements accomplished in that short of time. i'm being forced to take classes that i wouldn't normally have any interest in solely so that i can get certain requirements in my department fulfilled, and that doesn't make any sense. the point of college is to learn, not just to finish. so i think i'm going to stay for a full fifth year. because, goddammit, i want to feel like i gained something with all this school.
i'm excited to be able to take classes outside of the philosophy department, too. i can take more film editing courses! and more japanese! and maybe even a creative writing class! and i won't have to take summer school!
if i see one more person rocking the retarded "hipster headband," i'm gonna rip it off their forehead and shove it down their throat. that look was dunzo before it even started. you are not a hippie and you certainly aren't a native american.
in other news, some mexican dude is now wealthier than bill gates, which lead me to think about what i would do with 68 billion dollars. and i came to this conclusion: after i spent a couple billion installing water systems in third world countries, i think i'd feel entitled to wipe my ass with $100 bills.
i pinched a nerve in my back today. wow i am really looking forward to getting old and having that happen all the time!!!
happy 4th. eat brats, drink brews, blow your hand off with a firecracker, and finish the night with some pie. tis the american way.
ps: one week and twenty minutes till harry potter 5 movie. pps: 17 days and twenty minutes till harry potter 7 book. ppps: does anyone care but me?
it was a mistake to adopt dumbledore. he's adorable and sweet and loving and an amazing cat. but now i'm in a really hard situation: i'm leaving. soon. and he needs somewhere to go. but to be honest, i don't want him back when i return. i want him to be in a home where he can get the love and attention that he needs. i don't play with him nearly enough. but i have NO IDEA what to do with him! does anyone know of a family that wants a cat? aghhh. i need to do what's best for this animal, and what's best for him would be placement in a stable home where he can live out the rest of his years in cat-harmony.
so i just found out that the institute for shipboard education/semester at sea has cancelled all future voyages into burma. and my feelings about this are exceptionally conflicted.
for those of you who don't know anything about burma, it's been under a military regime since the early 90s. long story short, the military regime bleeds the burmese people dry economically and in the past couple of years, they've taken to killing minorities in a gratuitous manner that should be termed as genocide but has yet to be legally deemed so.
tourism in burma is allowed and encouraged, but the military regime makes sure that all appearances are kept up for tourists. any burmese person overheard discussing the political atmosphere of the country is likely to be killed.
at the same time, the burmese people live and strive off of the money they make from tourism--its just about the only money that is coming directly to them. tourists are encouraged to do business with the people on the street, and not with any place that is associated with the military regime. the co-founder of lonely planet said as much in an interview with npr, and she would fucking know.
archbishop desmond tutu was on the spring 07 trip and apparently he refused to go to burma. after his refusal, a bunch of students followed suit and started a petition against going to burma.
this was one of the countries that i was most looking forward to on the trip. apparently, the burmese people are the most kind and interesting people that anyone has ever encountered. and yes, what is going on in the country is horrible, but it isn't going to be stopped unless people are informed of and encouraged to help stop it. part of that education is being able to percieve the situation first-hand. at the same time, what is going on in myanmar right now is so beyond wrong. and encouraging the military regime in any way just perpetuates the situation.
Now that lilacs are in bloom She has a bowl of lilacs in her room And twists one in his fingers while she talks. “Ah, my friend, you do not know, you do not know What life is, you who hold it in your hands”; (Slowly twisting the lilac stalks) “You let it flow from you, you let it flow, And youth is cruel, and has no remorse And smiles at situations which it cannot see.” I smile, of course, And go on drinking tea. “Yet with these April sunsets, that somehow recall My buried life, and Paris in the Spring, I feel immeasurably at peace, and find the world To be wonderful and youthful, after all.”
montreal has been insane. julia and i arrived here monday afternoon. we ate some falafel and then napped and then had some italian food and then slept. tuesday, we went shopping on st. laurent and st. denis. i spent far too much money on not enough things. we got drunk by accident in the middle of the day on a pitcher of quebecois beer. we went to a jazz club for dinner and a horrible horrible bar afterwards.
wednesday, we went to quebec city. it looked like a fairy land. that night, we dined at a restaurant called holder where the waiters were all beautiful. it made me horny. then we explored old montreal for a bit and stumbled into a pub. we drank two pitchers of quebecois beer. and then we made french canadian friends. they're amazing. they have lovely accents. we drank a pitcher of beer all together and then we were very very drunk, all of us. sam drove us in his car (piled and piled on top of each other) and we went to get poutines. poutines are a nasty greasy french canadian food. i don't recommend them! i said "my eyes are bigger than my stomach!" and our candian friends taught me to say: "les yeux plus gros que le pense!"
today, we were very hungover from our great night with our new friends. julia felt badly. so we laid in bed all day and watched french rap. then we went to a chic restaurant called garder manger. everyone was 28+ and very successful looking. they all wore black and had nice haircuts. they all spoke rapid rapid french. i wanted to be beautiful like them. i ate cod (fish, not the cape) because there was nothing vegetarian on the limited (written on a chic chalkboard) menu. it was fantastic. i don't feel bad about it in the least. we met up with our lovely french candian friends at a bar called st. sulpice where we spent another 3 hours drinking and talking about american politics and chicago sports teams. half the time, one of them would say something that would piss another one off and they'd start talking in rapid rapid french to each other. julia and i giggled. and we all danced in our seats to early 90s music. and they taught us "te mai!" which means "yo momma!" in french, approx.
i love montreal, i love quebec.
i hate that we are coming back to chicago tomorrow. "tabernac" chicago! ([approx.] fuck chicago!)
If you read this, if your eyes are passing over this right now, even if we don't speak often, please post a comment with a memory of you and me. It can be anything you want- good or bad. When you're finished, post this little paragraph on your blog and be surprised (or moritified) about what people remember about you.
yeahhhh please do it! seriouslyyy. thank you michelle for doing this so i could steal it from you.
amused
disappointed
happy
bouncy
tired
