*posts while waiting for toenail polish to dry*

I want Souvia. Marissa, Ali... you want Souvia, too? Cuz we can have Souvia on Saturday, if we want. :D

Today I went to the mall and got myself a pair of $20 Payless shoes for graduation tomorrow. If you care, they're these. Cute, simple, easy to walk in, and can be worn with a lot of stuff, so they're useful! Yay! I also picked up the third book in Robin Hobb's "Soldier Son" series, on a whim, because I have time to read again and I'm nearing the end of "Pattern Recognition". Mmm, escapism. Finally, I bought some soba at the crappy little Japanese place in the food court, which I suppose is an adequate replacement for Panda Express chow mein. Still, they better bring that restaurant back, soon, or I'll be sad.

This evening, I went to the Worship Associate meeting, where I found out doing Check In (when we all describe what's been going on in our lives recently) that I'm getting an A in Anne's class. (In case you can't tell, she's my professor as well as a member of the WA council. During her check-in, she described slaving over a stack of 15-20 page research papers, and mentioned offhand that mine was excellent and "Yes, Sasha, you're getting an A.") Woot. That is, by the way, the paper I had to redo due to its spontaneous bout of self-cannibalism, so I'm relieved.

During the meeting the council discussed our minister's up-and-coming and well-deserved sabbatical, and the parade of guest ministers we'll be welcoming on various Sundays until late November. There was some brief discussion about a certain celebrity minister, the district executive director or something like that. Apparently he's coming to give a sermon, and nobody really wants to be his WA because he's apparently very rude, self-absorbed and long-winded. I guess once he gave a 90-minute sermon and 3/4 of it was about himself. I was intrigued by the notion of this individual coming to our congregation, because many people described it as "politics" rather than a genuine desire---from either party---to have him come a-visiting.

So I volunteered to be the WA for his service. This should be interesting.

Ok, I think the toenails are probably dry now, so it's time to give Marissa's mom back her polish and go to bed. Good night!

Leaving work a bit early so I can run some errands---including buying new shoes!---before the Worship Associate meeting tonight.

It occurs to me to wonder whether or not Malia is available this afternoon to straighten my hair. I could do it myself if I borrowed Marissa's straightener, but Malia has all the "Product", as she calls it. "Product" makes my hair behave even AFTER sleeping on it, which is the goal here: to have nice straight, shiny, manageable hair tomorrow at graduation WITHOUT having to get up even earlier than 5:30am to mess with it.

That's right. 5:30am. Why? Well, I have to be on campus at 7:15am. I'm giving myself 45 minutes to get myself out of bed and ready, plus an hour to drive, walk and---if I have time left over (depends on where I get to park)---get coffee.

Fun times.

“Congratulations! As of today, you are an alumnus/a of the ASU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. We welcome you to our alumni family.”

o.O

But... I haven't even graduated yet!!

"Thanks for a good semester. As a last note on writing, keep in mind that every writing situation is different and you should be considerate of why you do what you do each time. Just because something worked for one paper doesn't mean that it will work for another. Different audiences will expect different forms of evidence and the use of different tones and different examples will be successul or not situationally. As GI Joe used to say, "Now you know and knowing is half the battle." If you know why you did what you did, you will be leaps and bounds ahead of most writers."

---My Engrish professor

:/

Before I forget: Saturday party? Yeah.... no. Rob, Marissa and I are all kind of... not in the mood. Right now I personally would rather game, write, stare at a wall, or sleep. So the party is scratched.

DONE.

I'm going to celebrate now... by going to bed.

Ugh. Someone motivate me, please.

I... think... I might be able to finish everything tonight. Maybe. If I'm willing to stay up again and half-ass my sad little public policy paper. I'm averaging about 1.5 hours of sleep for the last two nights, but I'm actually not feeling too incredibly sleepy...

So yeah... do I care enough about finishing everything NOW to plow on through? If not, tomorrow is another day... hmm...

Nah. I think I'll do the two easier assignments, then go to bed and save the public policy disaster for tomorrow. I don't feel like dealing with that damn paper right now.

Flying fuck-monster of fucking fuck!

MY FINAL PAPER FOR PUBLIC POLICY CANNIBALIZED ITSELF!!!

One moment I had a 16-page research paper. Then POOF, it was gone. Just fucking gone. All I have left is the version I emailed to myself from work, which is 4 pages shorter than it needs to be, worded somewhat differently, organized in an almost entirely different way, and missing the goddamn works cited page. Oh, and I have an even earlier and even more useless version saved on my desktop.

I don't have time for this shit. I almost don't care. It's worth 25% of our grade but I've had straight A's so far, so.... a C isn't that bad.... But Anne was nice and gave me until "whenever" tomorrow to turn it in... so I might as well finish the goddamn thing---AGAIN!---and turn it in.

*cries*

Sleep didn't happen last night--vitamins?--and the church service very much DID happen this morning. I guess I somehow managed to look and sound alive, because I got a few compliments after the service about my presentation from the pulpit. Apparently several of our more elderly congregates have had trouble hearing--despite the mikes and loud speakers--because people are not very well trained at speaking slowly and loudly from the pulpit. We've tried to provide Worship Associates with training, but the habits of a lifetime die hard, I suppose. Also, I know from experience it can be difficult to slow down and project when one is nervous or distracted. Nevertheless, it's a problem... and I'm glad it's not MY problem.

Also, I got a couple compliments on the Welcome, which was a relief; I had been instructed to rewrite it, and instead I just kind of edited it to better reflect my personality. Yet I guess the minute changes were sufficient, which is good.

After the service I had to meet with Celeste about the All-Dance service on June 22. We're going to be choreographing and performing a dance drama telling the story of John Murray and Thomas Potter, the first Universalist minister in the United States and the man whose vision brought him here. There will be 5 main dances during that part of the service, including: "Adiemus" (by Adiemus), "Gravity" (by A Perfect Circle), "Mystic's Dream" (by Loreena McKennitt), and "One Love" (Bob Marley). It should be a lot of fun. Originally I wanted Kati, one of the young dancers in the congregation, to perform as Murray, but apparently she's about to graduate and doesn't want to be memorizing lots of choreography. So yours truly is playing Murray, while Celeste (who is a wonderful dancer) will be playing Potter. We'll be wearing hats so that we can better communicate "men" hehe, and although I'm a little disappointed that we won't be having Kati play Murray because we'll miss out on all the flashy choreography (I'm nowhere near her level of talent heh), I'm still kind of excited about it.

Now I'm back home, having stopped by Wildflower Bakery to pick up a roasted sweet potato sandwich. I had to cancel gaming for today, because I have to research and write one 15 page paper and edit another, plus prepare a 5-10 minute powerpoint presentation. I suppose I'll get on that homework here soon... after doing a 1/2 hour of chores and maybe taking a 1hr nap.

Oh, by the way... Rob and I were talking, and we're thinking of having the graduation party on Saturday. Those who want to attend are invited! My Dad said he and my Mom might stop by to say hi. Those of us who want to game...well...if our presence won't be greatly missed at the party, perhaps we can sneak away after an couple hours, when everyone else starts getting drunk and annoying. ;)

Time to wear funny hats with Marissa and Rob to watch the Kentucky Derby.... while researching torture outsourcing. Yay torture outsourcing! Fun times, that.

I think I'm going to be the only roomie who isn't drunk while doing homework, because I don't like bourbons, Rob's the only one with Sprite in the house, and Wild Cherry Pepsi with Bourbon doesn't sound like a good idea.

Oh, and for the record? My Big Brown is better than Marissa's Big Brown, so if Big Brown wins, I win... not Marissa.

Sometimes...

Before starting on homework this evening, I needed to update my StumbleUpon so that Stumble would only display artwork and photography. I spent about a half hour deleting previous interests, selecting any interests which had anything to do with artwork and photography, Stumbling and hitting the "I like it" or "I don't like it" buttons, and then updating again based on what popped up on suggested topics.

Then I realized I had no idea whatsoever why the hell I was doing this. Like, I had been under the impression while doing it that I was working on some inane project or another, but either I have now forgotten what that project was, or there never really was a project. And I certainly don't want StumbleUpon to only display images.

That right there is irrationality and randomness at it's finest. W T F?!

Gah. Okay, time to get down to work.

Only 10 pages worth of writing,
20 pages worth of editing,
10 minutes worth of final presentations,
1 exam
and 8 days between convocation and I!

TO DO
1. FRIDAY: Nap
2. FRIDAY: Game
3. SATURDAY: Write welcome and offertory words for Sunday service
3. SATURDAY: Game
4. SUNDAY: WA for service
5. SUNDAY: Game
6. SUNDAY: Research and write Public Policy paper
7. SUNDAY: Prepare Public Policy presentation
8. SUNDAY: Edit Relational BS paper
9. MONDAY: Give presentation and turn in paper
10. MONDAY: Buy cap and gown
11. MONDAY: Complete Ethics final
12. MONDAY: Edit Wiki article
13. FRIDAY: Convocation!

WHAT I'M MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO ABOUT GRADUATION:
-I'll be working enough hours to afford to take a lunch break again!
-Having time to work on writing more often. MY writing, that is, not just collaborative pieces.

'Spell Checker Blues'

Eye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.

Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.

As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rarely ever wrong.

Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect in it's weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.

Anon

[ Solran: Madussa ]: 'paste the ur racial sexyness staops the bitch from his motives thingy'
[ Solran: You ]: '*blink*'
[ Solran: Narlos ]: 'uuuuuhhh what?'
[ Solran: Madussa ]: '- anti-offensive tactics 11%'
[ Solran: Madussa ]: 'that'

I still don't know... but I giggle every time I see that first line.

Today's recipe for misery: Monday

Ingredients
1 woman, drained
3 hrs work, diced
3 hrs Relational Epistemology
3 dollops bullshit
1 dollop hatred, grated
1 coffee shop
1 cup hot tea
1 hr writing.com
1 hr Nodeka
3 hrs Public Policy presentations
1 dollop bullshit
1 pair pajamas, soft
1 gallon coffee
4 syncretism articles, unprocessed
4 syncretism articles, semi-processed
1 Microsoft Powerpoint
1 dollop bullshit
Sleep (optional)

1. Steam woman in work.
2. Press woman firmly into Relational Epistemology and saute in three dollops bullshit and one dollop hatred.
3. Woman will emerge simultaneously droopy and prickly; transfer quickly to coffee shop and marinate 1 hour with equal parts hot tea, Nodeka and writing.com.
4. Beat woman with Public Policy presentations and drizzle with bullshit.
5. Transfer woman to another bowl; rinse, dress with pajamas, let rest 1 hr.
6. Pour 1 gallon coffee, slowly, into woman, while simultaneously sifting in articles.
7. Allow articles to settle.
8. Carefully cut articles into Powerpoint, garnishing with bullshit.
9. Fold woman into sleep (optional).

I think Marissa, Rob and I should have a yard sale before we move out, so we can a) make money and b) get rid of unwanted clutter. But in the interest of making it fun, perhaps anyone and everyone who has something they want to get rid of can contribute, and we can make it an "Event"? We could even sell muffins and lemonade, like Marissa and I did last time and my parents always did when I was a kid!

But we'll want to do this probably sometime in May, methinks. Early June at the latest. Otherwise there will just be misery.

Been feeling kind of semi-sick for a couple days now for no apparent reason. Basically it's fatigue that's generally impervious to rest, extremely minor nausea and headache, a general intolerance of being even the slightest bit cold---no fever though, thank god---and the kind of shakiness that normally comes with too little food but, in light of the fact that I'm eating well, cannot be explained by that. Sometimes there's a strange feeling of medicine-head, too, like I'm walking, slightly lightheaded, through a dream or something.

I felt this way increasingly more during gaming Friday night, and assuming I just needed to eat or something, when I got home I dragged Marissa with me to Denny's, since it was past midnight and I didn't want to make anything. Food cut the hunger but nothing else; I went to bed and it felt like I was DRUNK; like I almost didn't need to breathe, and everything kind of felt like it was swimming in the dark. I fell asleep, woke up today feeling a little better but not 100%, and although I feel better tonight than I did last night, I still feel under the weather. I'm going to try tonight for 9 hours instead of 7 hours of sleep, and hopefully that'll help.

Am I getting sick? Stressed? Not sleeping enough? "Girl troubles"? This makes no sense!

I'm waking now from a five-hour nap with a heavy feeling like I don't need to breathe. There's a nice compelling urge to go back to sleep now, but that would be a bad idea and make me miss out on gaming.

My partner still hasn't responded to my portion of our final project---due tonight---or sent me his portion. If I don't have it in front of me by 10, I guess I'm giving him a call to see what's up and then maybe doing it myself. Which pisses me the fuck off (and wakes up a bit more) because I don't WANT to do his goddamn work, I have things I DO want to do tonight which don't involve computers or homework, but I also don't want to fail this particular assignment because my partner sucks.

Fortunately, this is the only assignment I have a real compelling need to work on this weekend; the paper originally due Saturday night is now due Monday night, and although I really should---and probably will---do research and some writing for that paper and the presentation I have to give in class on Monday, this weekend is a little less scary than it originally would be.

Tomorrow there is the Librarian (actually "Libarian" or even "Liberian") Army get together. That should be fun; we're dressing up as librarians, only with slight army touches like fatigues and guns. Hehe. Then tomorrow night there's Eberron. Finally! It's been what, a month??