The Younger Folks
“The Internet has become a staple source of information for American households about health care, government services and potential purchases, a survey to be issued on Monday finds.”
Yeah, where have they been? For many, many years the internet has been a part of my daily life and in many other people's lives that I know. Perhaps we have grown into the adult consensus since we were younger in those days, blowing each other away with BFG's, but geez, get a grip on reality: The internet has been an information highway for years!
Now with this article out in the open, the internet won’t be my little secret anymore! *gasp*

Pet MRI’s
Now I can find out where my favorite ring went.

I wonder
Can I insure my fish, Pippin? The Gold Plan seems reasonable enough.

Rising College Costs?
Gee, I didn’t notice. I thought the value of the dollar was just getting smaller. It couldn't be anyones fault other than us College Students, right.... right?? And Ventura wants to knit us sweaters! How nice.

Family

My family is the place where I can sit back and be myself. We joke, we laugh, we yell, we tease, and we play. Last night I had my cousin sleeping in the room next to me, two more cousins sleeping upstairs, and another sleeping on the couch. We stayed up until 1:30am playing Nintendo games and computer. When we got up, we talked and goofed off. At 11:45 we piled into the car and headed to the theatre. I have now seen The Lord of The Rings 2 times! I was just as excited about it the second time as I was the first time. Now, this weekend I should be seeing it for a third time with my brother and his fiancée.

Eight of us played Taboo tonight and that was hilarious. I have to admit that I love that game and it makes a long evening fun! After a break, we then started playing our own version of Pictionary. I had the problem of trying to draw a “blue print” and it took forever! Not to mention that the markers for the board were almost dry and you could barely draw.

I did hear one good joke that I remembered: There was a woman who was dating a man with a wooden leg, until she broke it off. (Pun)

Merry Christmas

Sugar Cookies - I used a Pampered Chef cookie maker and boy did it work! I have no idea about the technology behind that tube of cookie dough and the squeegie, but the cookies that popped out were really neat. In some way, the cookies turned into christmas tree shapes and I was impressed. Yet, the idea that I was using a machine to make cookies was sad. Sure, I made them out of scratch, but then i shoved them into a plastic tube and squeezed them out onto my baking sheet, sprinkled green sugar on top and tossed them into the oven. What happened to the old days where you used cookie cutters? They may be in a tin deep in the back of a cupboard, but they are still there.

I also have my mother crocheting a scarf for me. I had her start and then as I described it I hedged around the idea of how long I wanted it. I don't think 6 feet is too long. It may take a while, but it would be worth it! I need a warm neck! "However, the head and neck are high heat loss areas ... " As one of my Professors commented on, the Neanderthals had very hairy faces to keep the warmth of the head. I would much rather have a scarf.

Home

The feeling of being home, the smell of your bedroom -as long as you didn't leave some kind of dish throughout the whole summer to find that you have actually bred a new species of fly- the love you get from your mother who has been missing you day in and day out, the pets who decide you are their new pillow and will take every opportunity to wipe their nose across your cheek, and the excitement of not having to get up early in the mornings.

My favorite has been the smell of coffee in the morning, rolling out of bed, grabbing a sweater and dragging my groggy self upstairs into the kitchen to find my mom has been up for about five hours already. She is bright eyed and asking me what I want to do that day. "Stay home." Is all I ever want to reply. I have no money - Christmas is the death of my checkbook- and I just want to cozy up in a blanket and watch old british comedies (Are You Being Served? and maybe Keeping Up Appearances), and maybe old star trek reruns, what a way to go back into my childhood.

We bring up dad off and on every day, missing him a lot during the holidays. We dropped off some christmas flowers at his grave yesterday and it looked good. Very cold, but I am sure he wouldn't be able to feel it. His spirit is definitely in the house as we watch movies he would have liked or play cards.

The Two Towers
The Two Towers came out in theatres last Wednesday. I was one of the many who stood outside during a cold day in nasty slush weather. My roomate and I only stood for an hour while some only five feet ahead of us had been there overnight. Now, consider this as you get to know Bemidji (my town) a little better. The first showing, unlike civilized towns had the first showing on Wednesday at 4:30 pm and 8:30pm. That was it. They picked only one screen for a phenomenal film! Yet, Harry Potter started around noon AND was on two screens. Something is terrribly wrong in the world. The funny thing was that it seemed to be one large college party. There were mostly college students, most of whom I have seen or know and many "line whores" who would run from one end of the line to the next to jump on guys' backs and talk. I got a pretty good seat for the first viewing and for having gotten at the theatre at 3pm. I felt a bit bad for those that stayed the night to be reduced to meat popscicles by the time the theatre opened the doors for us.

Legolas - Who can NOT admit he is hot?! When his name popped up in credits or when he first appeared on the screen, women caterwauled and moaned. I swear most had to get up and walk off their flashes of passion. I bet most of the boyfriends felt a bit clumsy after watching the women drool after such a lithe and frisky elf. I have to admit, once you've had elf, you can't go back. It must be the ears, but my roomate thinks it is his cat-like grace. I have seen his pictures with the dark hair, but I personally enjoy him with that nice long blonde hair and the ears. "ORCS!"

Gimlikins - What a cutey. I would toss him any day! I have to admit, I have a fetish for dwarves. They are so cute and gruff and grumpy! Makes me want to just go give them a big old hug and smooch on the nose. They realy did a great job in portraying the dwarf and his peculiarities, especially with his competition against that dead-sexy elf.

Aragorn - Elf maiden...Human Princess... Oh the poor man must be having a terrible time! I was all upset when I thought he may turn down the elf for the human, but as I got to know the human and saw the problems he and the elf were having, I felt that it may be better in the interest in the human world for those two to get married and unite the two cities. (I am starting to scare even myself!)

Ents - Yes, were big, bad, and burn easy, but we can KICK SOME ORC ASS! I have to tell you, that scene makes the whole movie. You just have to enjoy nice gentle creatures that could squash an orc like a bug go out and do just that!

Finals!
Oh, to be a college student during the Christmas Season is to have your brain turn to mush. Study, memorize, and listless nights. I, on the other hand, did my take home finals and finished all my projects and only have the ONE final on Thursday. I feel that I will be fine on that final and so don't worry, as I did go to every class, took notes and did wonderful on the quizzes.

All I have been doing is working at the computer classroom. It's been a lot of fun since most of the people in the class are friends of mine and I enjoy talking with them.

Blogs!
I am so addicted. I have my beowulf blog and I don't know what I would do without it. It is organizing my project and definitely helping out a lot with what I need to do.

It's absolutely amazing what kind of issues you can pull from a single book. We looked through Orson Scott Card's book, Enchantment today and we had a good hour and half of discussion on the religious, social conventions, and love conquers all issues. I love this book and will recommend it to ANYONE who loves history, languages, and fairy tales.

Papers
Well, I have gotten up to 9 pages now on my big lit.crit. 10 -15 pager. What a chore! I found a great theme in Billy Bathgate by E.L Doctorow, there is a fairy-tale like semblance within the story. I'm really excited about talking to everyone in the class about this, since I am not sure how many saw the key words that kept popping up.

Mom just dropped me off, she came to bring me to the bank and then i sat with her at Perkins. We ran into Janelle and Kyle which was a fun chat with them. Hopefully Janelle feels better. Mom then brought me to Luekens and she got us some groceries, we were low on a lot of essentials in the fridge.

I really can't wait until Christmas Break, I am so tired and need that 3 week break to shed the stress. I just hope I get the A's and B's that I am expecting. With my best dream I'll have my 4.0 for the semester like past ones, but I had a lot to do this semester and not sure if it will happen.

Beowulf...lalalalala...Beowulf
I have been terribly busy with my other Blog lately, it's a new passion of mine to obsess about Beowulf. I wonder how much longer I'll have friends. It seems I eat, sleep, and dream Beowulf, maybe I could marry the manuscript. Mrs. Beowulf. Our kids could me novellas based on the epic.

I read the rest of Chopin's The Awakening again (last read it in highschool). I still don't see the point in her killing herself in the end, sure it's not giving up her own self... just her LIFE! Good lord woman, move to mexico and make a new life, don't go drowning yourself :P

2 Weeks Left!
Yes, it has come down to counting weeks, starting next week I will be counting days! It seems I have been a good girl this year and most of my classes do NOT have finals! I have a Lit. Crit paper due though, a ten pager. /cry But, I have only and American Lit. and English Lit. Final.

The best part of finals is that Star Trek movie comes out that weekend and...and...and so does Lord of The Rings, The Two Towers! OMG

You can't have everything, where would you put it?
What a silly question! Aspen read this off a sign and I started telling here exactly where I'd put it all. I'd leave it where it was! If I owned it all, what does it matter where I put it? I'd just go and get it when I wanted it! We chatted about that for about twenty minutes and enjoyed the dream for a while.

I am officially car-less. My registration stickers came up, I don't have the money for it and neither does my mom. She was happy to take me off the insurance, since that would be cheaper on her and now my car is all alone behind the damn wood pile behind her house. I am stranded, stranded at school! I would guess this will last until I start teaching next year. Then, I'll definitely need to have my car, especially if I can't stay in the dorms next year. I wil miss my car, but I won't miss the gas money. I am just now paying off the rest of my Conoco card from my summer trip to Yellowstone!

Mmmmm... Turkey!
Yes, turkey, sweet potatoes, salads, dressing, PIE!. Oh what a wonderful world we live in that will kill a large bird, stuff it with all sorts of spices and breads, bring it to a table and let everyone fight over dark or light meat. I honestly have to say, I loved it.

It's been a wonderful holiday and I wish I could re-do it all over again. Yet, there is Christmas break coming up! More turkey! Maybe ham...!