Monochromatism

At last! Tandem in the Latin. Or possibly tamen? Whatever, the JFP finally called me, and I have an interview on Wednesday. Which means that tomorrow I need to go make sure that my hair is all one color, because as it stands now, it is not. I can't decide whether to go back to brown or stick with red. Dying it again will be a hassle from hell. It requires upkeep and money, etc, but it looks fabbity fab!

no news is annoying news

I sent in my writing samples yesterday, and ever since, I 've been checking my email every half hour. I know, rationally, that they're not going to get back to me that fast, but the nutso half of me (the larger half of me) insists upon it. My only consolation for the delay is that they might be so excited about my writing that they're running around screaming to everyone in the office about the briiiiiilliant kid coming to work soon.

I'm bored and I don't want to write my paper about the identity of otherness in Midnight's Children and The God of Small Things. I want to watch the new episode of the Tudors online.

!!!

Fab news, gentle readers! I sent out some resumes to most of the publications in the Jackson/Ridgeland/Madison area about a week ago, and today I got an e-mail from the Jackson Free Press about an internship! They want me to send in a few writing samples and then set up an interview. I can't believe this! I thought it was going to be way too late for anyone to take me, but I guess it's never too late for free labor. Which I am totally willing to do. We all have to suffer for our art at some point or another. Yay! I am using exclamation points a LOT!!!!

Snooze Button

I'm so tired. I set my alarm for two a.m. so I could finish some assignments, but I just let the alarm go off every nine minutes until six, when I actually did get up. Sooo, I spent all of my classes today dead to the world. And then there was a mild nightmare regarding me trying to turn in a paper. Basically, it involved me having to harass multiple people in the library to find out which computer I had saved my paper to because I had forgotten to e-mail it to myself. Luckily, I knew the guy who was on the computer that had it. He e-mailed it to me, because the school server was down. Go, Digital Doyle! Long story. Had to be there.
Anyway, I am now putting off working on my short story due tomorrow. Basically, I'll be revising one I wrote for a different class. I liked it a lot, but it had some inherent flaws, like that it pissed everybody off, and not in a good way. I need to redo the ending and doctor up the middle. That, too, will probably get posted on LJ, after I've looked it over again.
I have actually made a decision regarding my thesis! I'll be writing it on representations of subcultures in young adult literature. Which means that I'll get to read cool books like The Perks of Being a Wallflower and get a grade for it. Shiny!

LJ

Soooo, I've started a livejournal for my original and fan fiction. Don't worry, my four readers (if that many), I won't abandon blogger. Here is where I'll bore you with my life, and there is where I'll bore you with other people's lives.

The website is in my profile.

History in the Making. Or Not.

Shortly before 10:00 p.m. tonight, I finshed my very first fanfic. Star Wars, of course, because where better to start than with the thing I know the best? It's A/O with slashy overtones and just the tiiiiniest bit of dirtiness. But mostly, it's just sad. As soon as I can get Jo to help me, I'll post it.

Substance Addiction

Oh, my holiness. Civilization at last!

The long and short of it is that I left my computer cord at my parents' house this weekend, and I just now got it back. I've been going ot campus at 6:30 every morning so I could do my work for that day. I wasn't here when UPS delivered it, so I got my dad (a former UPS man himself) to call and find out where I could meet the truck to get my package. My dad is Santa and Q and Dumbledore all rolled into one. He makes it happen, cap'n.

I went to the grocery store finally and spent the most money I've ever spent at Wal-Mart, mostly because I bought the special edition of Juno as well. So now I have nothing to do. No errands. No immediate assignments. I am going to screw around on the 'net a little more (because I can) and watch Serenity. Finally. Je suis excite!

Forgive me, Bill, for I have sinned

I feel dirty.  Covered with the stench of guilt and infidelity.   Right now, I am in Weir Hall, and I am typing this blog entry on....oh, gorrammit, I'm so ashamed....a Mac.

And I like it.

     Ross is right, Macs are sexy.  I like its curves.  I like the little apple.  I like the spiffy keyboard and the sound the keys make.  That's a big thing for me, the keyboard sounds.  It's one of the small pleasures in life, to hear yourself pounding out whatever opus you have going on whether it be email, novel, or, just for instance, a blog.  

     I tend to talk a lot of shit about Macs.  I don't know how to work them, and I sort of resent their campaign tactics.  Like using a Mac will make you original when every single person on TV and movies uses one.  Have you ever noticed that?  I have not seen a PC on a TV screen in years.  Another reason I'm suspicious of Macs.  Also, I hate the mouse.  I mean why would you mess with something so simple and wondrous as the right click?

     I suppose the fight between PCs and Macs comes down to something simple.  The simple and utilitarian vs. the flashy and gimmicky.  Me and this Mac?  It's just a fling?  In a minute, I won't be able to work the word processor, and I'll go home to the comfort of my Gateway.

     Oh, PC, you unappreciated housewife.

     Oh, Mac, you fake-boobed cocktail waitress.

Best. Thing. Ever.

Wow. I say without hyperbole that Firefly = Life. I'm on the last disc, and my heart is about to break. My consolation is that there is a movie to follow, and after that, there's fanfiction. I wish I was Kaylee. I really wish I was Mal. Is there anything better than a group of fugitives on a rickety spaceship? I love the dynamic of a "Shepherd" (i.e. preacher) travelling with them. Why would Fox cancel this? In what universe is this worse than Joe Millionaire or The Bernie Mac Show? Shouldn't TV networks understand that Joss Whedon = $Awesome$?

Ugh

Have you ever had that feeling like every muscle in your body is in knots, and that you'll never get untangled again?

Yeah.

Linguistic Lesson

Take a moment to examine the word "y'all" lingustically (or whatever word means what I'm talking about). It is a contraction springing from the dialect of the Southern United States. The words it is contracting are "you" and "all." Not "ya" and "all." So why do people put the apostrophe between the "a" and the first "l?" Why? Whyyyyyyyyyy? Stop it!

PTA

I am totally apathetic to entertainment. Your CDs, movies and television can kiss it, if you know what I mean and I think you do. I am bored by everything in my DVD collection, everything in my iPod, and everything on TV. There is nothing new at all. I think it's because we have too many choices. I miss the days when my CD collection consisted of a John Mayer, some 70s soft rock, and Dashboard Confessional. It was easy to pick what was going in my CD player - it just depended on what kind of mood I was in. Now, I have at least ten different choices for whatever mood I'm in, so it ends up taking way too long for me to make a decision, and I just get pissed off, and the moment of having to pick a CD becomes an experience to be dreaded. The same goes for movies. I could watch the Godfather. Or I could watch the Godfather Part II. I could watch the Original Star Wars Trilogy, or I could watch the Prequel Trilogy. I am bored with all of it. Yes, I said I was bored with Star Wars. Get your tar and feathers now. I feel a little like I have Kurt Vonnegut's Post-Timequake Apathy (PTA). I should start saying Kilgore Trout's mantra over and over. "I was sick, but now I'm well, and there's work to be done..."

Dum Dum Da Dum

Oh, you know what I should be doing right now? Finishing my short story. You know what I am doing right now? I'm blogging. My priorities are soooo on. Anyway I think it's about time to share my Wedding Playlist. I have one or two that are kind of typical. I was not, after all, born singing Blitzkrieg Bop, but I do believe that I have a good mix of the delightfully obscure.

1. Do You Realize? - The Flaming Lips
2. Speak Softly Love - Andy Williams (I realize that this is from the Godfather and has all sorts of creepy decapitated horse connotations, but hey, you don't have to marry me)
3. Hey Girl - Dashboard Confessional
4. I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good) - Ella Fitzgerald (because every relationship needs a dose of realism)
5. Of All The Gin Joints In All The World - Fall Out Boy
6. La Vie En Rose - Edith Piaf
7. Someday My Prince Will Come - Miles Davis
8. Turn Me On - Norah Jones (dirty!)
9. Man - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
10. All I Want Is You - Barry Louis Polisar
11. You Make Me Feel So Young - Frank Sinatra
12. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) - James Taylor (what the hell is it with all these parentheses?)

Family Time

I got my mom to see Juno. She really liked it, thank goodness. I thought the abortion humor might have put her off. It made me mildly uncomfortable so there was about a fifty-fifty shot of it making her head explode. I was also concerned about the hype. I know that when I hear eighty thousand people telling me how great a movie is, it totally kills it for me when I finally do see it. I'm sure I would have liked Donnie Darko if I hadn't seen it after my friends had been having moviegasms about it for over a year. Luckily, I saw Juno before the bulk of the over-adulation started, so I actually got to enjoy it.
Now I'm over at my grandparents' house. I know that visiting one's grandparents is the right thing to do, since I, too, one day will be old and boring and will want my bitchy, emo grandchildren to visit me, but I still spend most of my time on the computer. Or reading, if there are enough people here so that I can actually get away with it. On holidays, when everyone comes to our house, my mother is fond of coming into my room and yelling at me to put down my book and socialize with my relatives, but the crystal-clear subtext here is "If I have to be out here with them, then you have to be out here with them."
I do have some relatives that are kind of cool, but I can still only spend quality time up to a certain point. My coolest relatives, my much older second cousin and his wife, live in Dallas, and we never see them. They shun us, as they have every right to. Maybe one day, I, too, will become cool enough to shun my relatives.

Use you f***ing words

Today in my fiction class something came to my attention. When we're going around the table and saying what we think of the stories, there is this one girl who frequently says that the stories are "superb." Everytime she says it, she drives me crazy. That is a serious word, and it should only be used when it's true. She's contributing to the horrible pandemic of word inflation that our world experiences. I'm guilty of it, too. I say that I hate nuts. I don't hate nuts. I dislike nuts. And I always say stuff like, "Velvet Goldmine is the greatest movie ever." It's really good, but it's not the greatest movie ever. The more we throw around these adjectives and adulations, the more they are devalued. What words will we use when something really deserves it?
Perhaps the greatest victim of this disease is love. Who hasn't loved pizza or American Idol? For that matter, who hasn't been in love when it's really just a crush. Love is a word that has been used so much that it almost doesn't even exist anymore. Love, real love, (in the romantic fashion) happens only once, if you're lucky. And we should treat the word with the respect it deserves.
So this is me saying to you that the next time you say something is perfect or horrifying, take a moment to think, Is it really? Or someday you may find that your words don't mean anything.

P.S.

An amendment to the previous list. At first I thought it was a little too inappropriate, but then I thought that anyone at my funeral who I actually like will find it just as appropriate as I do.

10. Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) - Green Day

For All Occasions

Due to a couple of funerals I went to over Christmas (two uncles died within two days of each other), I started thinking about my funeral. Easily, the most important aspect of the funeral is the music. I'll be dead, and I won't really give a crap what kind of lining is in the casket, but it is certainly the duty of any responsible person to provide some decent tunes for the prostrate mourners. Nothing sappy, i.e. no Sarah MacLachlan or James Taylor, though under most circumstances I do love me some James Taylor. Anyway, here, in no particular order, is the list I briefly compiled from my iTunes.

1. So Long, Astoria - The Ataris
2. If the Brakeman Turns My Way - Bright Eyes
3. The Swiss Army Romance - Dashboard Confessional
4. Thanks for the Memories - Fall Out Boy
5. Learn to Fly - The Foo Fighters
6. Bruised - Jack's Mannequin (when the hell is that new album coming out, by the way?)
7. Seven Years - Norah Jones
8. Miles Apart - Yellowcard
9. Several Ways to Die Trying - Dashboard Confessional

Now, hopefully, I will have many, many years until there is a need for this list, and I will most likely add and detract from it as those years pass. However, as it stands, these are the choices.

Extra! Extra!

I must say that the life of a newspaperwoman is no stroll on the beach. I spend more time working on my articles for the Daily Mississippian than I do on my schoolwork. I am a very awkward person when on the phone, and this job requires a LOT of talking on the phone, especially to strangers. I had to buy one of those earbud thingies so that I may talk and type at the same time when on the phone. Next, I'll have to buy a tape recorder. On the whole, making things up in journalism is frowned upon. In fact, mere seconds ago, whilst I was writing this very entry. I was given two more assignments for this week in addition to the one I already had. It's not like I have midterms this week or anything. I've got it all under control, though, I think. I think.

Crushed

I hate having a crush. And I love having a crush. Of course, it's a completely inappropriate and unattainable crush, but then if fulfilling the fantasy was even remotely a possibility then it wouldn't be as much fun. And torture. There's always that tiny corner of your mind that holds onto the possibility. I hate that corner. And I love that corner. When am I going to get a crush on a guy who will like me back?
Is there a day better than Valentine's Day for watching Romeo and Juliet in Shakespeare on Film class? R&J is the least romantic play in the world masquerading as the most romantic play in the world. We are all so cynical. We trashed the Zefferelli version, and sniffed at the Luhrman. I hate this holiday.

Freaking Finally

It's over! We are finally free! The WGA has announced an end to the Writer's Strike! I will finally get my Heroes back! I have been jonesing so bad. I really hope they bring back Adam. He's too good a character for them to leave him buried alive forever. Plus, I am one of the few people of the opinion that Adam/Takezo's downfall was largely Hiro's fault. I ended the season very put out with Hiro. Why would you convince a man to fall in love with a girl and then steal that girl from him? Just for s's and g's? Anyway. Our favorite TV shows and movies will be up and running shortly which means I will not have to spend the next few months watching Big Brother 75 and Survivor 145,693.

No Woodward. No Bernstein.

I never realize how awkward I am until I have to talk to people. I write for the Daily Mississippian which often involves calling up strangers and asking probing questions. Actually, I don't know how probing the questions really are. I'm not quite up to the level where I'm trying to get people to divulge information about their secret CIA operations, but still, it's awkward. Especially because I'm usually on the phone, and I have to type. I have to have it on speaker phone which makes it hard to hear. I'm going to have to get one of those obnoxious ear thingies for your phone. I hate those. There is nothing more annoying than those people who walk around All. The. Time. talking on their bluetooths in public. Unless you're driving, or have to have one for work, there's no reason you should need one.
Anyway, if I'm going to pursue this career any further, I'm going to have to learn how to talk to people. I'm a journalist, it's my job to be annoying. I just need to get some sort of format down. I guess it will just take practice.

Explanations

Deviant: adj. departing from the norm

Girl: n. a young, immature woman, esp. formerly, an unmarried one.

Geek: n. a peculiar or otherwise odd person, esp. one considered overly intellectual

Sadism and Hot Boys

What have I done? I am taking twenty-one hours this semester. Why? Because I'm a sadist. And a nerd. I'm a sadistic nerd. The classes all sound great on the first day, but then you actually have to go to them and do the mountains of work they all require. Of course, no one would be psychotic enough to take that many classes, so why should they cut back on the homework?

Did I mention that I'm also writing for the Daily Mississippian and am the Fiction Editor for the Hyperbole? I guess having a life is sort of out of the question. Any guy who asks me out had better be hot because that's the only way I'm going to sacrifice my precious time.

Poems

As I'm on the literary magazine at Ole Miss, and as such, I have access to all kinds of budding writers' hopeful works. We had our meeting to decide what gets in. Most of the cuts were well deserved, but one that I loved didn't get in because the writer already had two in the magazine. I thought I'd put it here, so at least it would be somewhere.

Names

Lane. May. Soph. Rach.

Jess. Elise. Maggie. Jane.

Names -

To 622.

Names -

of all the ones who weren't you.

by Eric Solomon