Anyone remember how I predicted "Totally F*cked" from Spring Awakening would be my theme for the semester? I was right.

Writing about French political involvement in Africa is depressing at worst, and boring at best. Remind me, why, exactly did I pick this topic again for my French research paper? Writing this thing is like pulling teeth....

Okay, so I had a few really, horribly dorky moments today at work that are so very worth sharing. Firstly, a guy came in wearing a tshirt reading "Bad Wolf", and came to my register. I rang him up, and just *had* to ask "Is that a reference to Doctor Who?" and he was like, "Yes! Ohmigod, you're the first person in over a year to catch the reference." and I squeed and was a happy fangirl. Later, a lady gave me the names of some YA authors to check out, and I wrote them down, but accidentally had the list in my pocket of my jeans, which are in the wash now..... Then, some other guy came in, and I handed him his change, one bill of which was one of the older style twenties. And I was like, "woah, old bill!" So then he showed me a few really old-fashioned two-dollar bills, one of which was from the 1930s. They were wicked awesome! I was totally in dork heaven.

Also, one of my regular families came in for the first time since I've been back. I was so excited! Their son, who's probably about four now, was way happy to see me. He was like, "The lady with the blue shirt is here!" So I had a fun time chatting with them, and seeing the kid, because he's ridiculously adorable.

Yesterday was fun as well. Keebee and I went to buy tickets for Lookingglass Alice, which we saw later that evening, and I spent time with Malory, which was fun. Lookingglass Alice was absolutely fantastic. There are just not words a;lghai;hfaejf. I was surprised at the melancholy of it. But it was a whimsical melancholy, if that makes any sense. I really want the upper body strength that the actress who played Alice has. The acrobatics were superb as well. I was just overall really impressed. I also adored the Charles Dodgeson/White Knight character(s). There was definitely something that struck a chord with me in that show. I love it when that happens.

Okay. So. I decided awhile ago that I was going to take off a year to work before going to graduate school, because I want to be able to afford it without being more in debt than I already am. Well, my mum was talking with Dr Raymond, who's the head of Bellarmine's Econ department, and according to him, I can get super great benefits by saying I want my PhD in East Asian Studies instead of just my Masters, and get a stipend and have a job as a TA at the uni. This sounds absolutely spifftastic, especially since I can decide later to just stop at my Masters. I don't particularly want to work hard enough to get my PhD. I'm kinda lazy that way. In any case, I've started researching timelines to apply for OSU and IU Bloomington. And I've pretty much determined I'm completely borked. Most uni's want you to apply by November. I haven't even taken the GREs yet. This is so incredibly frustrating. I may just take the bloody year off anyway at this rate, because I've sat on my ass too long. Why does it take so much money to become educated? Why did I pick such an incredibly useless major? Whyyyyy?

In other news, I'm back at WW Cousins, but at least I'm getting payed better this time 'round. And it's relatively mindless work. Schoolwork isn't too bad yet, but I imagine it'll become a total beast as the semester wears on. I really need to stay on the ball this semester and not goof off too much. I cannot procrastinate the way I usually do, or it will end in tears. On the bright side, since there's absolutely no sound on my laptop, it's harder for me to spend hours watching videos on youtube, or various downloaded tv shows and the like.

[Edit] I totally shouldn't watch MonsterQuest before going to bed. I'm so definitely going to have nightmares tonight.

That's another thing. I definitely want to buy a new laptop. I'm hoping to be able to afford one by Christmas or so. Then the next thing to save up for is either a car or money for an appartment/house for graduate school. I'm leaning more towards the car right now. I'm thinking of trying to save up some money and either put it into a CD or a mutual fund. I've got to find ways to save up. I guess this means I'll be finding cheap ways to have fun this year. woo freaking hoo.

I've wasted enough time. Methinks I should get more work done.

Why lookit here, it's an actual update!

So today was made of ow. But it's okay, because yesterday was made of awesome and win, and therefore totally makes up for today's ow. On Friday night, I decided fairly last minute that I wanted to go down to the opening of Master Wiz's new school, seeing as I won't be able to make it down for testing next saturday, and my next opportunity to go would be in October. I got up at around 6h30, and was at Bellarmine by 7h30 so everyone could leave. Everyone ended up being me, Mr Welsh, Mr Voyer and his son, and Jane. Jane and Mr Voyer were both gonna leave early. So I hitched a ride down with Jane anyway, since I really haven't gotten to know her well outside of class. She's way super nice, and we had a great time chatting on the way down, and were super proud of ourselves for finding the usual breakfast stop.

We ate breakfast at a random McDonalds in Cave City, which is where we *always* stop on the way to Nashville. Breakfast was tasty, if overly greasy. Once we arrived at Master Wiz's new school, I realised something absolutely awful. I'd left my purse at the McDonalds in Cave City, about an hour away, with my credit card, debit card, and a rather large amount of cash inside. I called myself ten kinds of idiot, and just felt plain stupid. Amazingly, while we're trying to figure out the phone number of the place to call and ask if they'd found my purse, Mr Welsh got a call from my sister. Someone at the McDonalds had found my purse, and used the info on my drivers license to find my phone number and call to let my family know they'd found my purse and would hold on to it for me. I wish I knew who was kind enough to do that so I could pay them back somehow. In any case, we worked it out so Jane picked it up on her way back to Louisville, and hid my keys in the car and my purse in the trunk. When I checked my purse that night, my credit and debit cards were both there, and none of my money was missing. Amazing. Things like that help me re-discover faith in humanity.

After all the drama of the missing purse, I had a super-awesome day. We started out with a two hour taekwondo practice, run by Mr Hasfjord. It was way crazy high aerobics, and we practiced tumbling! I love tumbling. We only did falling backwards, but that's okay. I reviewed, and found I can still fall towards the front and not hurt myself. We also worked some on forms, but nothing higher than pyeong-ahn  2. After that came two hours of hapkido. Hapkido was loads of fun as well. It reminded me a lot of the aikido lessons I took while I was in france. I'm absolutely terrible at joint locks, but I got fairly decent at getting out of wrist grabs. I thought those were incredibly useful, especially as a single woman. It was definitely a great workout. The only thing I *really* didn't like was that for so much of what we were learning, you have to stand in a horse-stance. I bloody hate horse-stances. If you're doing them properly, they start to ache after a while. If there's a hapkido school in Louisville, I'd love it if Bellarmine Taekwondo could practice with them some time. Once Hapkido ended, we went into an hour of tai-chi. *That* was amazing, and watching Master Rust pretty much take down Master Wiz with little to no effort was completely worth the three hour drive to Nashville. Master Rust was also freaking hilarious the whole time. At one point, he was like, "Oh my god! You all listen! I *love* teaching martial artists!" Normally, he works with physical therapy patients and the elderly. He told us a lot about the practical applications of tai-chi, as well. I'm not so sure if I believe in chi or ki or whatever, but it is way cool how studies have shown it makes for a great aerobic workout, despite how very low-impact it is. And it *is* low impact. I felt great once we'd finished.

So, five hours of lessons later, we get to the BEST PART EVAR- Board breaking. There is no better feeling in the world than to break a board. I broke one with a jump-axe-kick, which was fun, even though I had a smidge of trouble with it. Later, I got to break two boards in one go with a palm strike. Now, I'm pretty confident about my palm strikes. I break a board with one of those, I just about know it's gonna go through on the first try. Two boards made it a liiiiitle more difficult. I went straight from a khiyap (sp???) into an "ow!" when it didn't break right off, and I think just about everyone got a good giggle out of it. I got it on the second try though! It was so much fun. Once copious numbers of boards had been broken (including Mr Hasfjord breaking one with his head.....why is it always the men who do that?) we cleaned up our new dojang, went out for dinner, and headed on home. Really and truly, a very awesome day.

In summary, I worked out for five hours almost straight through, got to break some boards, and had a yummy dinner, and now I hurt all over. Good day indeed.

Today has sucked ass. between getting soaked, burning the crap out of my arm, and learning about all the new drama Bellarmine TKD is facing, 'bout the only thing worse that could happen is my computer completely frying itself and taking the external harddrive with it.

Okay, so as usual, I fail at posting regularly on LJ. So, here's a list of things I'm into this summer, with a few explanations along the way

+Summer school: Surprisingly not bad. The teacher is pretty awesome, so that helps make up for the readings that are as dry as dirt
+Peacemaker Kurogane: I'm finally finishing up this series. I started watching it in High school. I've seen the first three episodes so many times I can practically quote all the dialogue. Finished the fourth DVD tuesday, hope to finish the fifth and final DVD this weekend.
+Getting back into shape: I love being back at taekwondo. I missed it like crazy. I'm also trying to get into the habit of walking on the treadmill every day. Not so much luck with that. I am having better luck with following the Weight Watchers diet though!
+Writing fanfiction: I've got a piece in the works that I'm very fond of, but it's only coming in little fits and starts. I'd like to finish it in the next couple of weeks though.
+Stargate SG1: Megan got me started on this series, and I'm really enjoying it a lot. I do love me some sci-fi
+Temeraire Series: This series is amazing. I cannot recommend it enough. The books read like Regency England novels with dragons. Plus the lead dragon speaks French and Chinese, how awesome is that?
+Learning to cook: Who knew it could be so much fun? I've yet to blow up the kitchen, and everything I've made has been deemed edible, so I'm a happy camper
+Buying dresses: I love feeling pretty, and simple summer sun dresses just make my day

So I feel kinda lame for not having updated LJ since......October? or thereabouts? In my defense, my computer would freeze every time I opened up the update page online. But yeah, I'm home from France now, mad times were had, and I'm super happy to be home. Trying to get around and see people I've not seen since last summer. It's crazy. My parents rearranged the house a bit, so I get confused from time to time, and I keep waking up at like, 7 or 8 in the morning, thinking it's the afternoon already.

I got home Tuesday evening, safe and sound. My flights were boooring. I don't like sitting still for so long, and I couldn't sleep on either flight. I pretty much just vegged out on Wednesday, and went to see Up with mama, daddy, and Marian. Yesterday I babysat some, got my hair cut and dyed, and hung out at Taekwondo (it was like a second home-coming!) and I've spent most of today with my mom and my aunt and uncle, who've come into town. We're having a family "welcome home" party tomorrow. woo hoo. So I'll be unavailable for most of the day. But it will involve my grandma's green beans. She makes the best green beans in the whole world. So that's about the shape of my life right now. I'm pretty broke, but hopefully I'll find a job in the next couple of months.

The problem with LJ: we all think we are so close, but really, we know nothing about each other. So I want you to ask me something you think you should know about me. Something that should be obvious, but you have no idea about. Ask away. Then post this in your LJ and find out what people don't know about you!
 

In other news, I'm happy and healthy here in France. I've lost 10 lbs! I had to break down and buy a belt, because jeans are waaaay too expensive here. But I think I'm going to splurge on boots. And apparently, I don't suck at French nearly as much as I think I do. So all in all, life is good. ^_^

I have been bitten by a plot bunny, and a strange one at that: A RurouKen/Sherlock Holmes crossover. Because it would totally work. It's the same basic time-period. Someone either talk me out of it, or take it from me or something, because this is weird, even for me

HEY ALL!!!
I'm aliiiiiiiiive, and in france, and having a blast! I'm really, really happy right now. I've mostly stayed in St. Etienne, which is fine, because I've made friends with some of the other Americans here, and I went to Lyon last weekend for a visit. The first few days were rough, but I'm doing fine now. Just checking in, I'll do a longer update when I'm not ready to pass out on top of my laptop

Okay, for some clarifications after my last post, the Navy is pretty much last in my options, though it is one that I'm considering. If I were to be involved with the military at all, I'd rather be involved as a civilian, not an enlisted officer. And pretty much, even if y'all didn't kill me, my mother would.

I'm definitely looking at other ways to pay for school. One of my biggest concerns, though, is working for someone who will let me choose where I go to school. Because there is NOWHERE in Kentucky where I can get a Masters in East Asian Studies or Chinese. I'm glad y'all weighed in though. Especially those of you who took it seriously enough to give me good advice. I really appreciate having such awesome friends.

Out of curiosity, how many of y'all would kill me if I joined the Navy to pay for grad. school?

So, I know a lot of people post their fiction, fan- and original, on Livejournal. And while I have an Insanejournal for just such a purpose, I've been toying with the idea of posting my writings here on LJ as well. So, just to see what the reception would be here, I'm going to post one of the pieces that I'm.....proud isn't the word I'm looking for, but it'll have to do....a piece that I'm "proud" of. So, for your perusal, I offer this piece of fanfiction, originally "published" on fanfiction.net on March 31, 2007: I would appreciate any feed-back that can be given. I know a few people have already read it. Should I continue to post things here? I'm never particularly confident about anything I write, so constructive criticism makes me a happy person

Eh heh....sorry for not posting until recently! I haven't had much to post about. Well, there were some crazy adventures in Chicago (ask me about the tornado I got caught out in, if I haven't told you already....), and my cousins have been in town, but mostly I've been in denial that I'm leaving this month. I've opened a blog on blogspot, so you can find me at www.allonsyyall.blogspot.com

I also started a writing journal on Insanejournal, but I haven't really put anything there yet. but you can find it at torikkusuta.insanejournal.com

So yeah, that's pretty much the summation of my life right now. Kinda sad, ain't it?

So I've been thinking a lot recently about what I want to do with my life, because it occured to me, "Hey! I've only got two years of college left. Maybe I should get an idea of what I'll do once I graduate"

And this thinking has been coupled with my keeping up with the situations in Burma/Mayanmar and China. It makes me so mad that I'm sitting here, not doing anything, when I'm educated and working towards becoming bilingual. It drives me crazy that I just sit here and do nothing. 

So I'm seriously thinking about going into an NGO or something. I'd actually started thinking about this while I was in International Trade and Finance. We studied a lot about how America has a tendency to bugger everyone else over. So, any suggestions? Am I crazy, or what?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7334233.stm

OMG. I love the news you can find on the BBC website. I mean, seriously. I giggled when I read this....

Is it horrible that I had flashbacks to the days when I read the Redwall novels? Poor little hedgie...