Blue Roses

It's done. For better or worse, the semester is DONE.

Voice exam wasn't bad. I feel comfortable with my studying and with the exam.

Anatomy? Oh, my God. I studied, man. not a lot, I grant you, because I was so wrapped up in voice. But I knew my muscles. I knew a lot of stuff. I did not know so much on the exam. I mean, I didn't fail it. But I didn't get better than a C or D. It was horrifying in all ways. Nicole and Jill had the same problems I did. We even were confused on the same questions. I swear he pulled those out of NOWHERE. Some of it I remembered from last year and not this year! It was truly horrific.

But over. I never have to see him again. WHOOOOOOOOOOO!

Now I get to pack and go home tomorrow morning. ::bounce:: Very very exciting. Hopefully I'll be able to update. I'm only gonna be home for two weeks, 'cause I have to come back to the job from HELL, so I'm not bringing my computer home. <.sigh> I'm a-gonna miss it. But I'm going to do my best to sign on at least, and read.

Meanwhile, I'm so super excited about getting my very own nsync story on Christmas eve. Happiness! Much with the funness. <.g> I am seriously excited. Even though I think I know who my partner is, and if so, then she's going through some really really hard, bad times right now. And I asked for a happy story. So I feel bad - first that she's having such problems right now and second that me and my happy story are probably compounding her stress and unhappiness. : (

Oh, but I got my XF one, too. From Meredith, and it was simply fantastic. 'Tis the season for really cool gifts. <.g> I just hope mine are received as excitedly as I was to get mine, ya know?

Posted by Rina at 04:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

UGH. No one's on! People, I need to be talking to people! Seriously. This happened last year, too - I got so freaked out by Kuehn's exam that I worried myself into this awful, awful funk, and I've gone and done it again.

You'd think I'd learn.

But seriously. I've worked hard today on Voice. I read my notes. I understood my notes. Things connected and made sense in ways they hadn't all semester. So I'm convinced I'm lying to myself and that I don't get it at all, I just desperately want to and am therefore hallucinating, basically.

I'm pretty damn creative, apparently.

So now I worked myself all up, and it freaking SUCKS. Jennie's out getting her new car, MA left her AOL on but isn't there, Kate's out seeing a movie, and I'm watching Survivor because I have to tape it for mom. I need to settle down and relax myself, but I also need to study, and the two are mutually exclusive.

GAH! Someone, please, give me something to do. Something quick, yet productive.

Posted by Rina at 07:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Blah. Bored. Very very bored.

Scared of my final this morning. It kicked me in the ass, yo. Mostly. Well, kinda. The essays, yeah. Big time. But the rest I think I did okay on. <.shrug> But. Scary.

I made WENN icons today. Super fun.

Should probably study for Voice. Then make cards tonight with Buffy. But, well. Lacking motivation. What else is new?

Downloaded an old, old nsync video forTogether Again, which was only released in Germany. (Song and video.) It has a Chris solo and a Joey solo, and a little duet with Joey and JC! And it's a Christmas video - Joey and Lance live together, are decorating their tree, when their friends come over and help finish decorating and then look at baby pictures. Saw quite a few new baby!sync picture - Justin in a high chair, Lance with a santa bear, etc. Adorable. Kate and I watched that one over and over. LOL

The most exciting part, though? My monitor is awful, and has never show videos very clearly. Until today! I finally figured out how to brighten it, and now I see pretty boys instead of blobs! I was very excited.

Still unmotivated. Still need to get work done. Blech.

Hope everyone else is having a better day. LOL

Posted by Rina at 04:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I bet you guys are WISHING for the days when I rarely updated. LOL

Tonight, mom and I were talking about movies that we will stop and watch, no matter what. Her list includes Armageddon (which started the convo, since it's on), Godfather 1 and 2, Rudy, Dirty Dancing, Philadelphia, Big, and Ghost. Mine were The Philadelphia Story, Ghost, Dirty Dancing, Sleepless in Seattle, Anne of Green Gables, and The American President. Do you guys have any movies like that? Where you'll be surfing, and you don't really want to watch a movie, but you see it on, and you HAVE to watch?

The tree has been decorated! And pictures were taken. Pretty fun. It's going to be weird not decorating with Kate next year - she's helped ever since freshman year, when I got it! However will I manage the lights? LOL It looks great, though.

I scanned in one of my senior pictures, if anyone care to see what I look like. LOL I don't think they came out badly for planning an outfit half an hour before leaving. My mom was not thrilled. LOL But it's in the extended section.

Read a kickass story today - The Courtship of JC, by taroawen. It's an AU BSB crossover, focused on JC, where they're all summer camp counselors. The amount that I loved this story was very large indeed. Nydia and I spent a lot of the afternoon giggling about. Because it was AU, but so in character! I loved the "Honey, do you love me?" part - I hadn't even thought about that game since junior high. LOL Of course, we played it a lot more innocently - there was no singing of "The Stripper," for instance, nor was there, you know, stripping. <.g> I think Chris needs to come over and play that with me, man. LOL

Oh, and baking? Lucky Charm Treats - not so good. Although I think that was more me than anything. Cocoa Peanut Butter bars with applesauce instead of butter? Fan-freaking-tastic. Let me know if anyone wants the recipe - very yummy, and even healthy! Healthier, anyway. LOL

Posted by Rina at 09:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm kinda bummed I didn't have time to make this journal all Christmassy this year. I think this is the first year. : ( But then I realized the design is red and green already, really. LOL So it fits. But I think after the new year, I may want to change designs. I've had this one for a LONG time. <.g>

I decorated last night - place looks spiffy! Just have the Christmas tree left. I feel like baking today. Know what I don't feel like doing? Yeah, studying. LOL I should at least do my IEP today though. Get that done, and I'm good.

So why aren't I going off to do it? LOL

Posted by Rina at 01:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I got up this morning at 9. By 10, I was in front of my computer, working on grad school stuff. By 4:30, everything was filed, paid for, and mailed out. I am officially applied to six grad schools!! They would be

UIUC
Columbia
SUNY Buffalo
Wisconsin at Madison
Vanderbilt
Penn State

Everything is now completely out of my hands! I am so excited. I don't have to worry about anything except them accepting me!!!

Tonight, I plan to veg out, have fun, decorate for Christmas. Tomorrow, I start studying. I have three finals, only two of which are scary. I am golden, yo. : )

Posted by Rina at 04:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Tonight seems to be a whiny night. I guess I'm just exhausted. I'm done with classes for the semester, 3 classes totally done with 3 finals remaining next week. That's exciting. But I'm ready to crash now. LOL Going backwards, let's see what happened this week.

Today:
AR final. Eh. I think I did okay. I know I got the last question wrong. It was about the internal hardware of a cochlear implant, and answers A and D were the same. I knew it had to be B or A/D, but I figured that even if she was scattered, she wouldn't be so scattered as to put the right answer twice. She was. GRRRR. But I'm sure I aced the 375 quiz. And Dr. K got my letter of rec in!

Yesterday:
My tap performance! Kate came, which was fun. The whole thing was fun. I'm going to miss that class!

Tuesday: Dr. K e-mailed me and said he felt it would be in my best interests to find someone else to write my letter. This was days after reminding him I wanted to get everything sent out tomorrow. I cried. I then e-mailed him, thanking him for his honesty, but tough cookies, because he was writing the damn letter. He agreed. Also, got a B on my voice test, a class in which I've never gotten higher than about a 70. I cried.

Monday:
JC and Justin were awfully cute on the Billboards. I feel sure I did something else. Eh.

Sunday:
Lost Jon and Dave, did not talk to Jon and Dave.

Saturday:
Isn't it fun going backward? LOL Jon and Dave got here around 7:45. We ate pizza, and Jon and I talked about a lot of things. Dave was really antsy and bounced around a lot. We went out to their friend Billy's frat around 10. Don't like Billy's frat, don't like Billy. Went to a bar until 1. It was fun! Jon bought me a malibu rum and coke, we talked. I talked more with Kate, but hey, still. At 1, they wanted to go to a club that Billy said closed at 1:30. Kate and I decided to go to a coffeeshop until then, and Jon said they would meet us at 1:30 outside the club. Yeah, they never showed up. They didn't call the next day, and they didn't say goodbye even though their car was one block down from my apartment. GRRRRRR. Silly boys.

Oh, well. So there's my week. And there's more than one post on my main page! LOL Tonight, I rest and relax. And yell at my internet, which connects for 30 seconds at a time every half hour or so. <.g> Maybe I'll play Sims. And go to bed early. Because tomorrow? I send out ALL of my applications, yo. By the close of business tomorrow, it will aaaaaaaall be out of my hands. WHOOOO!

Now to find food.

Posted by Rina at 08:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I don't understand my family. And for once, I don't mind my immediate family. I mean the extended one.

Where to start? Let's start with my grandmother. Grammy is hurting. I know she is. I understand that. But she's lashing out at my mother, and I do not stand for that. I am a mama's girl through and through, and proud of it. I guess it's been pretty constant, although mom only tells me highlights. Such as my cousin's engagement party when mom told her how beautiful she looked, and asked how she was doing. Grammy's response? "Well, 95% of the time, I wish I was dead." Lovely thing to say. After the party, she called mom and yelled at her for being "too effusive." How dare people be happy at an engagement celebration? This was also after Rachel asked her mom, Grammy, and Grammy's mom to take a picture with her that night. Grammy got arranged in the pic, but right before we began to snap, Grammy actually got up and LEFT. Rachel was so hurt.

And then we have today. Where Grammy told my mother that she couldn't have a relationship with her anymore. Per her "late husband's wishes," because my mother was not to be trusted. I was furious. I refuse to believe that Po would EVER say or think that. Or that Grammy would use him like that. Just, no. Pisses me off greatly. So of course mom was upset. Then came this bit of news.

My dad's nephew Jay is married. Linda had three kids before the marriage - the boy is 11 and the twin girls are 10. They've since had 3 more kids - a three year old, a two year old, and an infant. They're poor. That's fine. We see them every Christmas so the kids can get presents. Okay. We like kids, we like buying presents for kids.

They're all coming in next Sunday, for dinner. Okay. Little time crunch with me coming home that day, but okay. The kids are fun, you know? Then mom invited them to stay Sunday-Dec. 24. Okay. Verging into less happy, since I only have two weeks of break, and only a few days with my family before Christmas, but okay.

Mom was talking to Linda today, about gift ideas. She and Jay told the kids that Santa Claus wasn't coming this year. The older kids, only. Because they're the ones old enough to expect gifts. She told them that Santa Claus wasn't coming for them because they had been too naughty.

Ten and eleven years old. Being told by their parents that they were too naughty for Santa to come. I want to fucking smack them around, the bastards. You don't TELL kids that. Tell them Santa is leaving presents for them with their grandpa's family. Tell them that Santa doesn't have enough money to give everyone presents this year. You don't tell them they've been too bad!

I told mom that there was no way we were going to give Jay and Linda any gifts this year. Toys for the kids, the older ones especially, absolutely. But Jay and Linda are old enough to expect presents, and they should know that they've been too naughty this year to get even one fucking thing. If Grammy's behavior pissed me off, this made me fucking irate.

Obviously, this too upset my mother. We - mom, daddy and I - love children. And behavior like that is inexcusable, in my eyes. So, yeah, mom had a really crappy day. She was greatly upset.

But nothing is ever all bad. The good things that happened? Daddy bought her a charm bracelet with snowmen, and she watched JC's new video. She loves her some Blowin' Me Up, man.

Posted by Rina at 07:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Okay, Jon and Dave will be here tomorrow around 6. What do I do with them? LOL Can't see MBFGW - Jon already did and doesn't like it. Although it's "amazing how pretty she was when she got rid of her glasses and started to wear make-up." Great, says the woman in black glasses and no make-up. <.g> Eh, well.

So really, what do I do? Eeek! I guess we'll order pizza or something at first. Kate, what time do you have to be at work?? Maybe we can all eat together at least, decorate a little? Then maybe go out? I need to find people to go out with us. Maybe Jill? Aarti? Kate, really wish you weren't working. <.g> Oh, maybe Nicole. I'm such a stay in person, this is foreign territory for me. LOL So, really, ideas welcomed.

Posted by Rina at 05:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Whooo! My first letter of recommendation is IN!!! And Jill mailed hers yesterday, so that'll be in!! All that's left is Dr. Kuehn! And I know he's super responsible and will totally get it in very soon. YAY!!

Meanwhile, stupid gre.org isn't loading "interpreting your GRE scores," so I have to go in tomorrow to the testing center and pick up a sheet to get percentages. GRRRR. But I have to return my video tomorrow anyway. It fits.

Also, typed up my statement and keep futzing with it. It's not bad. It sells me well. I hope. <.g> Things are going well, I believe. ::nods::

Still no word from Jon or Dave yet, but oh well. I have a clean(er) apartment, a letter of recommendation in and ready to go, and a date with my big fat greek wedding tonight. Life is good. <.g>

Posted by Rina at 04:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I really need to get back in the habit of posting here. I mean, it's my homepage, for heaven's sake! Whenever I open IE, up pops MT. That should be an easy way to post. Theme: I suck. <.g>

Today I need to finish my personal statement and send it off to be "beta read." <.g> Anyone wanna volunteer? I also need to compute my major GPA. And hey, what's a viable way of rounding? LOL If, for example, we have the number 3.76, can it be rounded to 3.8? I mean, they ask for it on a 4.0 scale, not 4.00, ya know? Just askin'. <.g>

Luke has seriously gone off the deep end here.

Jon never called back. <.pout> Oh, well. If they come, great. If not, gives me more time to do school work. Either way, I'm going to see My Big Fat Greek Wedding tonight. Wheeee! And I straightened up the apartment, which is always nice.

Hmmm, what else is going on? Not much, I don't think. I found out yesterday that Glenn Quinn, Doyle on Angel, died this week. Apparently from a drug overdose. I'm really quite sad about that - he was a fantasic actor who could have done so much. I always wanted to go to his club in LA. He seemed like such a cool guy, you know?

I'm kinda hungry now. I had a few spoonfuls of Lance ice cream for brunch, so it might be time to eat something. LOL

Posted by Rina at 02:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Shocking, isn't it? A post from me!

Let's see. Brief rundown of break - I saw Santa Clause 2 (and it was fantastic), got a new ID card so I'm legal, cooked a lot, and went to the circus (also fantastic). Also went to my cousin's engagement party in Greektown, bought cool gifts, drank ouzo, and got asked to be a bridesmaid. Wheee!

So Saturday, when I'm out shopping for card materials (dude, Lady K, need your address. Not like I'm going to send you something or anything. ::rolls eyes:: Surprise), Jon calls to see if we're on for him coming out. I'm out, obviously, but mom tells him I'll call at 9 when we get back from Rae's party. 11pm, mom reminds me to call him. I forgot Jonathan! His entire existance, poof, in my mind. I suck. So I call, he just left. I leave my cell number. I call last night, he's at work. He calls today, I'm in class and accidentally hang up on him when trying to send him to voice mail. He calls back and leaves a message. I call after class, he's busy. He calls five minutes later, I tell him to stay on the line because I'm busy, but won't be for long. LOL

So. Done playing phone tag, and we talk. He's so fucking cute. We talked and joked and talked on top of each other constantly. Anyway, he and Dave are gonna come down Friday or Saturday, whenever he can get off work.

Jon: Oh, is it okay if my brother comes with?
Me: Of course!
Jon: 'Cause I was telling him about going down to see you, and he asked, "What about me? Was I invited?" I told him I was pretty sure he could come, but I'd ask. Because-
Me: No! He can't come! Ever! He's not allowed in Urbana.
Jon: See, that's exactly what I thought.
Me: He comes with you, and he can stay out on the street! There's no snow, he'll be fine!
Jon: You have no snow? That's not fair.
Me: I know.
Jon: Anyway, yeah, I figured I'd ask if he could come along.
Me: Duh. Like he's not welcome here.

He's so cute. Watch him fall in love with Kate in front of my very eyes. LOL And I love Dave, he's such a sweetheart, but he had a crush on me for years and therefore never talked to me. Seriously. 17 years, and from about age 7 on, I could only get a few words out of him. Hopefully he'll talk now! I'd like that a really lot.

So if they come on Friday, we'll go to an on campus a capella concert and go out to bars. (And Kate, MBFGW is playing this weekend, too. What time is the concert? Maybe we could do both? I wanna see.) If they come on Saturday, we'll go see MBFGW and go out after. And decorate my apartment for Christmas earlier, maybe. Something fun.

Although he laughed at me when I said if they came on Saturday, I'd go out Friday with Kate and her friends and take them out the next night. Apparently it's funny that I might go out and drink. It's funny that I drink in general, actually. Wait until he sees me drinking. Jennie found the chat she saved from the last time I got drunk, and is laughing at it. A lot. I'm sure he'll be equally amused. I sing and everything. Just ask Jennie.

This weekend should be fun. <.eg>

Posted by Rina at 07:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)