longing for lawn darts

this is a wonderful compilation.

oh i wonder

so p and i officially love stained grass bluegrass. i think. we've listened to it almost every sunday for maybe two or three months. at first, we sort of made fun of it. not that it was bad, but it was just so easy to mock; twangy accents, people using the word "ain't", and no one taking themselves seriously. well, now when we get up on sunday morning, we turn it on and just listen. i've always loved the sound of a banjo, but never thought i'd develop such an appreciation for the fiddle. i still don't know the first thing about bluegrass, but i have decided i like it.

hooray for late-onset virginia roots.

finals are almost over

uugghh. finals are almost over, and I am so beyond tired. i have to say, though, that today's final was the best one in my scholastic history. here's how it went:
teacher comes in.
teacher says, "shannon, you're here!"
i said, "yes, don't i have to be here?"
teacher says, "no. you don't have to take the final, and you will get an "a" in the class."
i gathered my stuff and sped home, singing.
turns out that she decided to drop the lowest exam for each student. i already had aced the first three, so i was in the clear and didn't know it. hooray for accounting 1.
now, it's time to begin thinking about planning to dread christmas shopping. 'tis the season.

movies

so many things right now could really change, but i'm worried they won't.
too, too much to begin to write about. so instead, i reccommend two movies in order to change the subject: lord of war, and borat.

oh my xenu

beck is a scientologist. dammit, i used to really like him.

borat borat

i know it's awful, but i am so excited for this movie to come out. for make benefit me.

"i think this will be the single greatest windfall of pennies i ever get." -p

so p & i drove out to his friend's rental house to assess the damage cause by the most recent renters as the friend has now moved across the country. what a sorry mess-- the renters left all but their bedsheets, from what i could see. An entire life's worth of stuff. i guess the woman and her two children just picked up and went to live with her sister, so they didn't bring any of their furnishings with them. it looks like the guy may still be squatting there.
these people are the working poor, and it's astonishing to realize that they were making $2000 per month rent payments before they fell behind. that's really not so poor at all. the only places around here that are cheaper are in the most ghetto school systems in (maybe) the country. i hope that they were able to move down to north carolina or something.
the friend who owns the house asked us to take whatever we wanted and as much as we could, 'cause he's going to have to fly up and get a dumpster or something for the rest. p made out with a big 2 quart container of pennies, to his delight. he is rolling them now, and is really excited, but we are both kind of sad for those people.

i hate the drug companies, even if it is not their fault.
i hate personal responsibility, as a shield, most especially when there is nothing i can do
i hate hate that i am not keeper of this universe, because i do care enough to fix it, or try
and someone should try
hate that i am not even keeper of those very few people that i love
not even keeper, if i could just keep them from pain and doom
i would dissolve into neuroinhibitors
and fuck up some proteins
or something

today i worked, worked worked. and then for lunch i dieted. i must say, though, that i am growing more fond of and more proud of my work, and the diet has me shrinking at a satisfactory pace.
it's straightforward and rewarding to set goals and keep the nose to the grindstone, but it's damn terrifying to have those "life is what happens while you're busy making plans" cliche's lurking among morning commute bumper stickers.

happy list

-The Squid and the Whale, and my new fondness for jeff daniels
- timmothy hutton and his fabulous get-ups on a&e's nero wolfe series
- seriously digging finance & fiscal policy, especially today's lively debate with enlightened enlisted classmate in full fatigues. we didn't agree on much, but i very much appreciate his point of view.
- i'm doing a damn good cover of "wish you were here"
- renaissance fair here is awesome and i'm not ashamed to love it. have flowery hair garland, ate soup in a bread bowl, blackberry cobbler, and pub sing.
- 5 months after moving, we are now all the way unpacked.
- (on behalf of the kittens) organic catnip

first day of school

new classes started today, and i'm tired. on mondays and wednesdays it's international finance and business finance. although they sound similar, international seems like it will be a lot of fun, whereas business will be a soulsucking experience.
for economical and bmi reasons, i have resolved not to eat dinner at schlotzsky's every night before class. (this is extremely difficult, because their "original" is the best sandwich on earth and it's two doors down from the econ building.) so james and i went to the grocery store instead of out to lunch today during work to stock up on healthy snacks like popcorn. unfortunately, popcorn is highly flammable, i guess especially the way i microwave it, because the first bag i attempted to cook (at work, in the 18th floor kitchen) not only burned, but actually ignited. and billowed smoke. i was really worried that i was going to be the next secretly-hated jackass to send everyone on all 19 floors down the stairwells on foot by setting off the fire alarm. And at the height of my dousing the popcorn bag in the break room sink while it popped and sizzled and smoked, i caught james running by and pointing. he ratted me out to all who could smell it as fast as he could.
and yeah, i'm still waiting on that promotion...

kitten mind control

so in addition to our two adorably wonderfull kittens, we're also boarding my sister's old, fat tatter-eared cat named fred. what fred lacks in cuteness he makes up for in sociability, and I've actually grown pretty fond of him. my kittens are not anti-social, but they are more interested in me entertaining and doting on them, whereas fred just straight up adores me. he breaks out into purrs if i just look at him.

i've been employing every cat behavior modification tactic at my disposal to try to get at least one of the kittens to idolize me like fred does, and i've reached an impasse. sometimes they will get it into their little heads that i am thisclose to giving them a treat, and although it holds their attention, it's obviously not the love i am going for.

i guess my point is that i would be pretty psyched if a kitten mind control device were to come to market.

a quick google search revealed to me that, according to one media analyst, this interest puts me in high-powered canadian company.

coincidence

few things swirling through my mind today, the most interesting having to do with my mind itself. on sunday night i heard a great program about how we interpret coincidence. it reaffirmed for me how nice and bland i could continue to have it as an empiricist (a belief i wouldn't defend it in an argument, but must cop to in the interest of full disclosure).
more importantly,
it reminded me that i don't have to have it just that way. i can't muster any genuine belief in spirits, holy or otherwise, but the psychiatrist guest (of all people!) reminded me that the very fact that a "miracle" is really just any old accident proves that immense meaning is mine to wield; not intrinsic to any phenomenon. and so i am grateful to my own mind for its ability to epiphanise, giving me full power to beware and be under the spell of the notion that chance favors the prepared mind.
now on to my preparations...