Whole Earth Festival is a week from today! I'm so excited!! I get to eat organic cotton candy and make plant garlands and dance with the hippies!

I need to take a poll: Is this shirt funny or just lame?



Because I thinks it's kind of funny, but if everyone else thinks it's dumb....
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ps-The White Stripes' album cover has been REVEALED!

It looks somewhat similar to the cover of Elephant, except for with kind of an 1800's (maybe?) look, instead of a modern western look.

Aaah! I just wrote a three page paper on Rear Window for my film studies class. That movie is awesome, but I think I watched the opening scene literally about 6 times, since we have to have direct quotes from some scenes. Good times.

My friend Scott had his 20th birthday party last night--it was pretty crazy. There were a LOT of people crammed in there, and I doubt I knew half of them. But it was good times--Kaylan, my awesome roommate from last year, came up just for the party and we got to hang out all day (shopping at Gap and In-n-out! What typical Americans!) At the party, Jessica brought over one of her random dance mixes, and we danced (like, five of us for the whole time) for at least 2 hours. I had planned to leave no later than 1, but ended up staying til after 2. People jumped in apartment pool at about 1:30...then the manager got mad at us. :( But he didn't call the cops, so that was good. My friends Alicia and Karie also made about thirty birthday hats out of construction paper, which were pretty hilarious. They wrote things like:
"Diarrhea!"
"I'm sad"
"Late Bloomer"
"Milk was a bad choice" (from Anchorman, I made that one)
"Dancing Queen"

Yeah, they were pretty random. But it was fun to walk around and see which party hats people chose. I wore one that said "Sleeping Ugly," (instead of Sleeping Beauty, haha, get it?)

Me and Karie (not a particularly flattering one of me)


The crazy ones (I was NOT about to do that. But I DID take a picture of them.)

Ok, that's all. I hate Sundays. They shouldn't even technically be counted as a weekend, because everyone has so much WORK to do!
Hope everyone had a good weekend!

So, according to the BBC, Pope Benedict XVI has made his first act of his papacy: condemning Spain's recent bill to allow gay marriage.
Talk about progress.

The White Stripes' new CD is coming out June 7th!

It's called Get Behind Me Satan (huh?), and the first single is "Blue Orchid". This is the cover of the single:

Apparently the single's already been played on KROQ, but me being in little ol' Davis... haven't gotten to hear it yet. Hopefully soon!

I heard the whole album is piano, acoustic guitar, and marimba...very interesting. And SO EXCITING!

Here is a picture of my kitty, Demitasse (it means "half-cup" in French, like a little cup of black coffee--I didn't name her):


She is one of the sweetest cats I've ever met--she is verrry affectionate, and her one purpose in life is to sit on your lap and have you pet her!

IGNORE THIS SECTION IF YOU DON'T WATCH AMERICAN IDOL

And now for a rant on that show: what is up with so many of the boys not getting voted off? I'm sorry, but I think they all suck!! I mean, anthony Federoff has no presence, Anwar is boring, and I just don't like the sound of Constantine or Bo's voice--they're both trying to be like Creed or something. I like Vonzell and Carrie. And I like Nadia, but she got voted off!! What is wrong with American kids today? Geez!
Ok, I'm done. I hope Carrie wins, because she's the only one I like that might actually win.

Corie, Dylan and I had so much fun last night--it was awesome. Corie dragged us (not unwillingly, but hesitantly) down to Berkeley to see this guy who is the head of Asian Man Records, Mike Park, perform. We also saw Kevin Seconds, of the punk band Seven Seconds. Both people I'd never even heard of before, but it was totally worth it to go. It was such a small, funky venue, and both guys were really great. I really can't put it into words. But it was definitely worth the $5 donation.

A random thing:
This is one of the coolest things I've seen in a long time. If you've seen the movie Singin' in the Rain or just want to be entertained for a few seconds, check this out. I love it!!!

I'm fostering another cat! (Chet got adopted!)
I will scan a picture of her when I get a chance! (she is very cute)

I hope this post doesn’t offend anyone.

It’s so weird. Perhaps this rant is brought on by the death of the Pope, which I was really sad to hear news of. Which surprises me, because I know almost nothing about him.
I have generally considered myself a pretty non-religious person. Although I’ve never called myself an atheist, I never really was sure that I believed in any kind of god, although I’ve always been interested in religion. But it seems like now, when all of the people that I’m closest with aren’t religious at all, that I have become more aware in my daily life of the possible presence of a God, and that I have been acting more religious. I find myself praying or asking God things in my mind, when I don’t even feel like I believe in one. I don’t know if I’ll ever join a church or a temple or a synagogue, or anything like that, but at the same time, I think I just need some kind of structure or rules in my life—some kind of possible reason, even if I don’t really believe it, for why we are all here, and what we are supposed to do with our lives. I’m not sure if religion even really answers those questions, but it seems like it does help in many ways.

I don’t know if that makes any sense, but I felt like posting it anyway.

Dang it!! I already have an essay to write this weekend for my German class. Why?? All of my classes this quarter have term papers, too . . .I bet most people think that's not such a big deal. And it's really not--I just didn't write a SINGLE term paper last quarter. If only I'd appreciated how lucky I was.
Ok, I'm done complaining for now. It's BEAUTIFUL outside! I should go out there. But then I won't be able to focus on my homework. Ach, du liebe Zeit!

New quarter starts tomorrow...could be the last quarter I take at Davis until I'm a senior...last quarter living in this apartment...hopefully it won't be too scary....

At least it will be warm, lie-in-the-sun weather!

I am back from le Canada!

It was great--in a lot of ways, different from the traditional "spring break" trip--it rained virtually the whole time, we didn't do much drinking, and we didn't do too much in general, other than find places to eat and sleep, and visit a new city each day. It was a lot of fun, though. I traveled with two boys (gasp!), but if anything, that made the trip even easier. Very low-maintenance.

We spent the night in:
Corvalis, OR
Port Angeles, WA
Victoria, B.C.
Vancouver, B.C.
Olympia, WA

We stayed at hostels, hotels, friends' houses, and Dylan's grandparents (who are, by the way, two of the sweetest grandparents I have ever met!).
Good times. I will post pictures in a little bit, if anyone cares to see them.
I'm glad there's no school tomorrow, so I can get my hair cut!<- (random thought, yes)

I'm going to CANADA tomorrow! Well, we're actually stopping in Oregon first. But we're ultimately going to Vancouver! That is, if Chris's transmission doesn't crap out. . . cross your fingers!
I hope everyone has a great spring break!

ps-I just got the "Good News for People Who Love Bad News" Modest Mouse CD--didn't plan on liking it (the singer's voice kind of annoys me), but it's actually VERY good! I recommend it!

Oh my goodness I am so out of shape. It seems like I always notice this fact around finals, when I have too much time on my hands while I should be studying. So yesterday I decided I needed excercise, but it was too late in the day to get to the gym, and I hate running, so I decided I was just going to do crunches and stretch a little. I did about 50 crunches and I just stretched to touch my toes, and I'm SORE today!!! After doing hardly anything! I think I might take an aerobics class next quarter, even though aerobics is probably one of the most pathetic ways to work out, in my opinion. But hey, it does give you a workout!

Oh, and yesterday was my roomie Colleen's birthday. We took her to Buca de Beppo in Sac--my first time going there. That place is SO good! Granted, I couldn't eat much because Dylan and I were the only vegetarians there. But I had the manicoti, and it was delicious, and I had the Chocolate Torta, or whatever its Italian name is, and it was definitely the best chocolate cake I've had in years, I have to say. My friends were giving me weird looks because I couldn't stop talking about how good it was.

Here's a pic of all of us (notice Theo sticking a straw up his nose)

Ok, now I must go study for my German final on Monday. Hope everyone's finals are going well!

Oh, by the way: I got accepted to study abroad in Germany! I'm going fer sure next year!! So exciting!

Ah...I love that there is a day every year where people have to wear my favorite color, or they get pinched!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Ah...I love that there is a day every year where people have to wear my favorite color, or they get pinched!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Did you know that in Swaziland (a country in southern Africa), the average life expectancy for a man is 33 years, and for a woman 35 years? I can't even imagine living like that. That would mean that right now, I've lived more than half of my life.

I read that statistic on a site called A Greater Gift. It's a website where you can buy products that support people in less-developed countries. I recommend it!

Connais-tu le cinéma français?
Oui, je connais quelques-uns. J’aime les films Amelie et L’Auberge Espagnol.

French oral exams on Monday. J'ai un peu peur d'examens oraux.

So remember how I said that I liked my German class in the last post? Well, I don't anymore. At least, I don't think I will until this weekend, when my stupid presentation is done. We have to do a group project on this essay we read about the book, Das Parfum.
The essay my group (just me and this other guy, actually) is about how the book is an excellent example of postmodernism, in that it contains many examples of pastiche and parody, especially drawn from the Romantic and Aesthetic literary periods. And then the author goes on to show all of the famous German works that the author is parodying, all of which I've never heard of.
So tomorrow, I have to explain the essay and whether or not I agree with it, all in German. Gah! It's hard enough in English, already!

But yes. That is what I am working on/putting off right now.

Oh, and this is kind of funny for anyone who reads this blog and took German: the periodical my article is from is published by the American Association of Teachers of German--aka AATG. They have come back to haunt me! Haha.