"A roll of duct tape, WD-40 / Ain't nothin' too loose or locked too tight for a man like me." -- wisdom from both Dierks Bentley and my childhood

...And we all know that whenever we hear the words "too loose," we think of my roommate... whose first name I will not use at any point during this entry. Don't pretend to understand, unless you read her comment on my last post, in which case I guess you can pretend, but you don't. Hah. Occasionally, I may refer to her as "that girl."

FINALLY I HAVE MY GRADES BACK. I did in fact pull off an A- in Spanish, which brings the WORST SEMESTER EVER to a pretty good close. But enough about happiness; I'd like to take this opportunity to rant about the evils of credit cards and lying saleswomen.

Maurice's is one of the few stores in our mall. I really do mean "few"; the only clothing stores in the Southgate Mall are JCPenney's, Belk's, Style Setter (the display window usually sports torn-up shirts with a Playboy logo), and this one. Over Thanksgiving, I was approved for a Maurice's credit card, and since I'm all about A) building my credit and B) Maurice's jeans, I spent about $175.

The woman who worked there (who is Satan, by the way) told me that I would not receive a bill for two billing cycles "because of Christmas"; she further clarified that two billing cycles translated into sixty days. I figured that I would pay it back after Christmas since I'd have a couple paychecks from my transcription, as well as Christmas money, as well as the money left over from my crazy semester of work.

At some point during exams, I called my parents, and they informed me that an envelope had arrived from Maurice's (a local clothing store). Keep in mind that it hasn't even been a MONTH since my shopping spree, let alone TWO. I figure that it's just my card arriving and tell my parents not to worry about it.

On the twenty-first, I finally got down to going through my mail... to discover that the envelope contained a BILL informing me that the twenty-second (i.e. the next day) was my last opportunity to pay the first installment.

Don't get credit cards, kids. Just don't.

A half an hour later I'd paid the whole thing off, and, much calmer, came back to check the rest of my mail... and found a bill from the only other store where I have a credit card, telling me that I owed about $10, which is crap, because the last time I was in the store I made a purchase, checked my balance, and paid everything off.

Conclusions: Credit cards spend themselves and salespeople are incompetent. If they explicity tell you that you have no balance, they're lying. Your card has gone to the store behind your back and bought itself a lovely pair of earrings.

Far be it from me, however, to leave you with the impression that my break has been sullied by these events; everything's paid off and my payments were on time, so it's all good. More to the point, I'm heading to Avon in a matter of days and going clubbing in Virginia on Friday night. Life is good.

My great-grandfather ran a general store in Avon for years. It's been closed since he went out of business. I'm thinking seriously about reopening it. Since Avon is, fortunately or unfortunately, a tourist town, most businesses are only open for the summer -- perfect for a college student's schedule. Crystal and I would split the work (and the profits) between us, and since we know a multitude of talented people who would be interested in selling their goods (everything from wicker chairs to paintings to jewelry to clothes), we have a variety of stock we could sell. And it's an excuse to live in Avon for a summer, working days and surfing mornings and, hell, probably working nights at the pizza joint just to stay afloat and living -- living a dream and knowing you're satisfied.

Spring in DC, summer in Avon, fall in Germany... it might shape up to be an interesting year.

Finally, because it deserves to be said: Secondhand Lions is one of the best movies I've ever seen.

(Okay, fine... The Roommate/That Girl is pretty cool. This may not be an entry "dedicated" to establishing her quantity of awesome, but it does in fact mention it, and you have to take what you get. So there.)

Kenny Chesney understands.

^ Words I never thought I'd write. If you have any love for the beach in your soul, go pick up "Be As You Are," his second most recent CD. I, meanwhile, am going to indulge said love on Saturday with a week long vacation-within-a-vacation in Avon, when the town is blissfully free of tourists, somewhat desolate in the grip of winter, and incredibly cold, the kind of cold where the wind cuts you open and splashes salt water in your gaping wound while cackling, "Just HAD to come to the beach in January, didn't you? Sucker!"

The only remaining tie to the hell that was last semester is the insensitive little dash where my Spanish grade should be. Damn you, My American Dot EDU. You know that no matter how much I try I can't shut off the voices in my brain arguing about whether I still have a shot at an A in that class. You want me to torment myself. That's cool. After all, if our positions were reversed, I'd gladly gore you with a stake.

Speaking of gore, my Christmas present to Crystal was the Brothers Grimm DVD. It was surprisingly disturbing. A kitten got kicked into a machine made of blades and got sliced and diced. It was not Christmassy at all. The only way I've remained a functional, nontraumatized human being is convincing myself that it was a robotic kitten, with fake, Jell-O blood. The movie was good, though; I recommend it highly.

My room is a complete mess. I know I won't be here long enough to unpack my clothes, but it's kind of ridiculous to keep them crammed in a suitcase, so I compromised and scattered them all over the floor. The last three or four times I've been to North Carolina, I've promised my parents that I'll clean up before I leave... it never happens. I always rush off in a hurry, leaving a more-than-partially-concealed hardwood floor. I would say that it won't happen this time, but there would be no point.

My country music binge has continued, earning me such friends as Dierks Bentley and renewing my appreciation of Toby Keith. I pity my roommate.

...or season's greetings, or happy holidays...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

"No need to rush, folks; we're home now."

Hear ye the wisdom of the train conductor as we pulled into Newport News, Virginia; he spoke the truth.

I slept about ten hours last night and the night before... I don't even know what to do with that. It feels illegally good. On the down side, my nightmares are back... but that's cool because I'm sleeping when I have them.

Driving downtown with the windows down and the radio up is STILL the best form of therapy ever; I am already more human. My car's engine alternately purrs like a kitten and roars like Aslan in the new Narnia movie, and if you've seen that movie, you know exactly how awesome that is.

One of the families I sit for in DC has a Mercedes that I got to drive on my first day, due to a slight mix-up with the other cars. Compared to my Lumina, that car was possibly the least fun vehicle ever. I tapped the brakes and it practically skidded to a halt; I tapped the gas and it accelerated without a murmur. I understand that these bland cars are fashionable, but I want a car with an engine that roars at thirty-five but can hit a hundred without a problem.

I just want ONE more bypass joy ride and then I'll be happy.

I still haven't done all (read: any) of my Christmas shopping. *cringe* I'm just not sure what to get everyone; I know what I'm getting my two grandmothers and my mom, but I'm drawing a blank on almost everyone else.

I am slowly falling in love with the South. There's a very genteel Southern accent that some of the older women here have; I wish I could perfect it. I've also redeveloped my taste for country -- hurrah!

I'm entering a pool tournament on Monday night. *crosses her fingers* It's $12 to enter, but the pot's decent... I don't think I'll win it this time, but I'll be entering a few more times before I leave. Wish me luck.

And now you CAN wish me luck, because I turned the comments back on (just for people with blog accounts, though), at least until the spam starts up again.

Just twiddling my thumbs...

I'm here to take my exam, which I thought was at 10:00... I was certain the professor had forgotten, but apparently he had said 10:30, so now I have twenty minutes to sit in Clark going "GAH! VIETNAMIZATION!", which would be incredibly counterproductive, so I'm just going to play Reversi.

Anxiety. So much anxiety. I want it to be 1:00 already. I know my material, but I'm worried that I'll blank or something. Honestly? I'm just worried I'll miss my train. I want to be gone. I want to be out of here. Anxiety.

I may be freaking out a bit excessively, but as long as I'm calm enough to take the exam, I'm okay with that.

I want to be home.

One more dance, and I'm like yeah...

I hate Usher with a passion, but I still can't get this song out of my head.

I'm getting over a crushing illness that has sporadically involved fever, chills, loss of voice, coughing-to-the-point-of-near-death-experience, and a cold.

I have a Spanish exam tomorrow (today?) at 8:30 and a Justice exam at 11:20. I have an Analysis of US Foreign Policy exam on Tuesday at 10:00. I have a train to catch at 2:30 and then I will be gone.

I have an A- in my Theories of Democracy class (which I'm furious about because supposedly I got an 83% on the final after a solid semester of nothing-but-A work and I KNEW my crap, rahr, I want some justification for that grade but then again an A- isn't so bad). I am checking the online posting compulsively to find out what I got in Macro, but so far, no word.

I have a fantastic idea for a novel and I can't wait to sketch it out.

One way or another, by 2:00 tomorrow, I'll be nearly-almost-sort-of free.

Hiatus

Due to the mounting stress and/or hysteria of exams, I'm going to be staying off AIM except when necessary for academic reasons (i.e. communicating with a study group, etc.). I will also be checking only email that appears related to my classes and absolutely necessitates reading. I'll still be available by phone, but if I ignore your call, it's only because I'm dying, not because I don't like you.

Macro exam in an hour. Less than three hours of sleep last night. The first line of this post was originally "due to the mounting stress and/or hysteria of demand," which probably means I've spent too much time thinking about markets and the individual hand... wait, the invisible hand...

AAAAGH!

The Continuing Saga of RepairKat!

...as opposed to "Repairwoman," which is too politically correct for me.

The family whose computer I fixed last week got me to come over today to fix another one. It took me three and a half hours to get it working again; the operating system had been so corrupt that originally I couldn't even turn it on, and after that I couldn't open Explorer. However, I taught it to respect the Kuhls by smacking it with my iron fist, and now it's running like a dream.

I have a bunch of work due tomorrow in Spanish, including a presentation. Eeeeh. Oh well; soon it'll be over. More to the point, I am terrified of the debate happening tomorrow night.

For those at AU: 8:15 tomorrow, in the McDowell formal lounge, Prof. Brenner and I will be debating Prof. Quainton and Zak about whether the US should leave the Venezuelan government alone. There will be free pizza. Join us!

I'm bubbling with energy. I'm seriously scaring myself, so I pity everyone who's talked to me in the last half hour.

Solstice

And just like that, winter's here.

She's full of addictions with a cannonball smile
That whispers snow spells 'til midnight
I pray I'm there when they come true
I've got some dreaming of my own to do

So guess how much work I got done last night?

That's right. Zero. I could look at this as a negative thing, or I could look at it as a blessing; one day, when I have some kind of high-power job and my boss dumps two extra projects on me a few days before the deadline, I'll know what to do.

And just what is that? Well, I'd love to go into it, but I'm not sure who reads my journal.

On a similar note, I'd also love to go into something that's annoying the hell out of me, but I went through enough drama last year not to write specifics.

Sadly, this is actually reminding me of a theory from Theories of Democracy class: we do sort of have free will, but there are so many outside considerations, so many societal pressures, etc., that our behaviors are regulated nonetheless. This is perfectly exemplified by the fact that even though it's my blog, insert "no one can tell me what to write!" rant here, there would be so many bad consequences that I'm essentially prevented from writing what I want anyway.

So, if anyone takes Peach's class next year, there's an example you can use in the class discussion.

My Justice prof emailed me back and told me that I couldn't move the date of my exam; in other words, even though every other exam falls during "study week" and I could be home by Friday, I have to stay for the entire weekend just to take a freshman-level exam, and my parents can't pick me up on their way back from NH. Eh, it could be worse, I guess. I'll have some extra study time, and I'll be able to study with Ash instead of working on my own.

I'm expecting finals week to be a very creative time, because I have a tendency to have tons of plot ideas when I should be doing something else. When I was writing my US Foreign Policy paper on Wednesday night, I also wrote an excerpt that has become one of my two favorite sections of Guardian. So, although finals week will no doubt be filled with horrible angst and insomnia, at least I'll get something important done...

...And speaking of getting something done, I need to get to that Macro reading, and then to that Macro paper writing, and then to that Theories of Democracy reading, and then to that Theories of Democracy paper writing, and then to that Spanish presentation writing/practicing...

You know what gets me through this? The promise that, very soon, I will be in Avon.

I dig my toes into the sand
The ocean looks like a thousand diamonds
Strewn across a blue blanket
I lean against the wind
Pretend that I am weightless
And in this moment I am happy...happy

I wish you were here

I lay my head onto the sand
The sky resembles a backlit canopy
With holes punched in it
I'm counting UFOs
I signal them with my lighter
And in this moment I am happy...happy

I wish you were here

"Yeah, these die are totally weighted. Clearly you're part of an underground gambling ring. Your game is up and I'm gonna tell your parents."

Tonight I babysat the coolest kid EVER. For those who read Animorphs, he was mini-Marco: hilarious and sardonic. As soon as I got there he looked at me, went up, got the DC version of Monopoly, and started laying out money. Now, despite my intense heartage of Monopoly, I haven't played in years. AND I GOT TO BUY UNION STATION. DANCE DANCE. He informed me that I was not like other babysitters at all, but he seemed to like that, so... yay?

More for my benefit than yours... I present a to-do list.
-Narc work every night until this Sunday, and possibly a little more afterward
-Monday: Spanish presentation, Macro paper, & Theories of Democracy paper #1 on reading that will be absorbing my life tomorrow; meeting w/US Foreign Policy professor for the on-campus debate
-Tuesday: Babysitting from 12:30-5:30
-Thursday: Spanish debate, Theories of Democracy paper #2
-Friday: Babysitting from 12-6
-Saturday: Babysitting from 7-12
-Monday: Theories of Democracy final
-Tuesday: Babysitting from 12:30-5:30
-Wednesday: Intro to Justice final, if he lets me move it
-Thursday: US Foreign Policy & Macro finals
-Friday: Spanish final & HOME!!

The list doesn't look that bad written out, which is exciting. And soon... it shall be done.

Lately I have been on an Eve6 binge... mainly because they have lyrics like this:

Lay off the coffee and the Kafka and the coughing
Lay off the means to an end
And mean what you say more often
-"Still Here Waiting," Eve6

I'm officially procrastinating now, so off to work...