Did someone say dance?

Anyone that knows me well knows that I can't dance. I hate dancing. I'd rather go to the dentist than dance. But today I, self-proclaimed dance-hater, invented a dance. A quite remarkable dance I might add. I like to call it my "Avoid stepping on the snake while still watching the sharks" dance. It's quite a simple dance really. It involves two (smallish) sharks feeding on fish along a breakwall, one facinated girl (in this case, me) walking along said breakwall, and one Mexican king snake, sunning himself on the same breakwall. The first movement of the dance is really nothing more than a concentrated stare toward the moving sharks and a slow ambling walk as the perfomer tries to keep up with them. It is important to NOT FOCUS on where the performer is walking however. At this moment, the snake enters the dance and things get a little more complicated. The facinated girl (again, in this case, me) jumps violently sideways on one leg (furthest from the snake) while shaking the other leg (closest to the snake). I assume this is to not step on the snake and further incite him to flee for his little life (which he was doing quite fine on his own), but I'm still not sure. The other key ingredient for successful is a look of surprised horror then embarrassed relief (both that the snake was not trod upon and that there were no witnesses to view the dance) This is probably the most difficult part of the dance to master, but I'm sure with practice it can be achieved. I highly reccommend that you all start practicing this dance as soon as you can...I predict that it will become extremely popular once it catches on...

New Laptop

So, I got a new laptop yesterday... It was super scary laying out that kind of money with such a limitted income and so many looming expenses. But, in hindsight (so far at least...) it was a great buy. I got a Mac iBook and I LOVE it. Plus, knowing I have funding for Costa RIca this summer helps with the sticker shock. Okay, thats about it for now. The brain is fried from the 3 hour evolution class i just had...complete with test. Yuck...

unreasonably irked

So, I know I haven't posted in a while, and sorry to make this post one big long complaint, but if you don't feel like hearing it, just don't read. Our house has been on the market for three days now, and I know I should be happy about how many people are looking at it, but honestly, I'm thoroughly sick of this whole process. On Thursday, I went to the stupid supermarket FOUR times, because I had nowhere else to go. I even had to eat dinner there. It sucked. I had to walk around the park for over an hour in the snow, because again, people were in my house and I had nowhere to go. I get up at freaking 8 am to clean the house and pick everything up so I can leave the house and not come back till 3 or later in the afternoon. I'm sick of it. This is suppose to be my Christmas break, and it sucks. I've spent over 8 hours in the library wasting time because (big surprise) I have nowhere to go. So today was suppose to be a fun day for me. I was going with my parents to see my dad's team that he coaches play a game, then we were going to go to the Danbury Mall. I've been wanting to go shopping for a really long time now (since i have money for the first time in about a year) and it just keeps getting put off...not my me, but by everyone else who I ask to go shopping with me. Shopping by yourself is no fun. Like in Hilton Head, all i wanted to do was shopping at the outlets. But no, after the first store our real estate agent called and we had to run off and meet with him. (i know i'm blowing this out of proportion, but hey, i'm in a bad mood) Anyway, I've been wanting to go shopping since sometime after thanksgiving and everyone keeps canceling on me. So, today was finally my day to do what I wanted instead of do what other people wanted me to do. And, since I'm typing this in a pissy mood, I'm sure you can tell what happened. Yeah, didn't get to go shopping. I am now sitting in the library (for the 7 time in 3 days) typing this entry because I forgot I had to lifeguard today from 12-4. I didn't even WANT to guard on the weekends, but Mom so conveniently told Ron (my boss) that I was available to work weekends, which has already brought about other problems (which i've already taken care of). But, instead of being able to relax at home till work, we had a stupid showing from 11 to 12. As a result, I'm sitting here in the library, in my bathing suit and work uniform, with a dumb bag lunch in the car. I am so sick of this. I just want to relax and have some fun for once instead of cleaning the bathroom every single day, brushing my teeth in the kitchen sink so i don't make the bathroom sink dirty, dusting the floor every single time after people leave. I'm sick of emptying the garbage every day and putting down the toilet seat after relator's clients leave it up. I'm sick of being at this stupid library. And most of all, I'm sick of my parents being stressed out and taking it out on me, and constantly nagging and reminding me about every little thing. I'm not stupid, I KNOW what needs to be done. But sometimes I just don't feel like doing it in the 15 or 20 minutes I have at home. I just want to be selfish and have my own way for ONE day and do what I want. I just want to have some fun, I want my house to be my own for a day. And I don't know when that will happen. We even have a showing tomorrow, on a SUNDAY. Who does that!?! All I know is that no one better misbehave at the pool, cause I'm pretty sure I'll take their head off. Its not going to be three strikes and your out, more like one strike...poor kids.

Copper Makes me Smile

I love Copper. I would buy him in a second if I could. This weekend I went home so I could ride him (like he was my very own horse...) while Katja was at a show. The plan was to use my saddle and girth with his saddle pad, gel pad and girth cover. However, when we finally got Copper out of his paddock (over the river and through the woods, then up a HUGE hill...) and into the barn, I realized that the girth cover was nowhere to be found and neither was the gel pad. So, I figured I would just improvise a bit. But then I discovered that there was no way my girth was going to even remotely fit Copper. It was about 5 inches short of the billet with the elastic stretched to the max. But, using my highly advanced problem solving skills (developed and nurtured by organic chemistry...I knew that class was good for something!) I decided there was a simple solution to my dilemmma. I would just ride him bareback! Since this was the first time Katja asked me to ride him, there was no way I was going to miss it just because of not having a saddle. So yeah, we had tons of fun. I even did a little bit of trotting on him (and am totally sore today, but it was worth it). And, to make things even better, Barbara asked me to excercise her horse, Ketchup, for the next two weeks cause she's visiting her kids in Singapore. So, I'll be getting my horsie fix for quite awhile :-) Oh, and to make the day even better, on the way home I saw about 10 wood ducks sitting on a log. I couldn't get a picture cause they're so shy, but I got a great look at them. They're such awesome birds! And I got some great pictures of a wildflower garden with butterflies. So, overall it was a great weekend

RIP teal-mobile

Talked with the garage that towed my car and they think it's pretty much totalled. So, the great car search begins. It would be fun if I didn't feel so much pressure to find a car soon and if I could actually afford it. But oh well, I guess it'll all work out. In the meantime, here are some pictures of my poor little car...:-(

My Teal-mobile...

Today was suppose to be our departmental reception, but since everyone I know wasn't going, I too decided to skip and get home several hours early. Hindsight truly is 20/20. I carried my bags to my car rather than driving onto campus and parking outside my dorm, cause driving on campus is so crazy, cars and people going every which way. So, I lugged my stuff the 50 gazillion miles to my car and headed home. Traffic on 195 was the typical stop/go that precededs a weekend at UConn, everyone either coming to hang out or leaving to go home. A bunch of people were waiting to cross the road (at a crosswalk of couse...) and a car about three cars ahead of me decided to be nice and let the people cross. So, I too stopped to let them cross. Being the responible/paranoid driver I tend to be, I left about 20 feet between me and the SUV in front of me. It was obviously NOT enough space. A girl behind me was TOTALLY not paying attention and slammed into me from behind (she claimed she hit the brakes, but there was no way she did...) and pushed me 20 feet forward and rammed me into the SUV. Her car was fine and the SUV was fine, but my poor teal-mobile is not. Since the SUV was so much higher than my little car, my hood took most of the impact and is now crumpled like a used tissue. My radio came shooting out and lodged between the dash and the shift...I had to pick it up so I could shift into park. I also lost my left headlight and I (well my car at least) was dumping out antifreeze at an alarming rate. To add insult to injury, the girl who ruined my day, called her mom and told her that the accident "really wasn't a big deal, everything is fine..." Fine my butt!! She was able to drive her car away, while mine was loaded up on Tony's flatbed to be towed to Tony's Garage. Then, she has the nerve to fight with the officer about getting a ticket issued to her, for following to closely. In my opinion, not what she should have been charged with, because it implies she and I stopped about the same time. However, I had been sitting for several seconds before she hit me. Now I understand why people sue. Her parents want to handle the cost of repairs themselves, but I want to get the insurance involved, cause I honestly don't trust them. Plus, I have the scary feeling that my car is going to be totalled, cause its got 100,000 miles on it and its a '96. Oh, and to make things even worse, I just put $600 dollars worth of repairs into it not even a week ago! I made sure I mentioned this SEVERAL times to the girl (her name is Laura, by the way), to the other guy in the accident, to the cop, and to my friend Steph who stopped to help me. Yeah, more about Steph. She's the ONLY person I know at UConn really well. We worked together the past 4 years and she's one of my closest friends from home. She just happened to decide to go on a little shopping trip instead of study (which she NEVER does...procrastinate i mean...) and then on a whim bought herself some coffee. If she hadn't of done that, she wouldn't have been driving by right after my accident. But, she stopped and waited the whole time with me, the drove me and all my stuff back to my dorm and took me to get lunch. I really don't know what I'd do without her. Now, I'm just kinda hanging out, waiting for my parents to come get me so we can look at the car and figure out what to do. It definitely sucks, and now I'm starting to get sore from the whiplash. I think I'm going to the doctor tomorrow. Okay, on that note I'm going over to the Co-Op to window shop and make myself feel better...

Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground. (Rumi, Sufi Poet)

This was a quote on an email that I got from a girl who is in the EEB department with me at UConn. I read it and absolutely loved it, so for no other reason, I decided to make it the title of this post. I'm getting settled up here, my room is starting to look less like a hospital. My next project is to make my office look nice as well. I went home for the weekend and was able to play with my new camera. I'm teaching my first lab tomorrow and I'm a little nervous. Hopefully no one asks a question that I don't know the answer to. On a happier note, I met with my advisor on Friday and he told me to drop the GIS course I'm in currently (and hate intensely) I'm going to do an independent study in GIS through Natural Resource Management and Engineering next spring to make up for it. The guy I've been talking to (who will most likely oversee my I.S.) seems like a really cool guy, so I'm happy about that. (My current prof. is very nice, but is totally stuck in the '60s as far as teaching styles and techniques are concerned...our syllabus was done on a typewriter. Kinda scary to think he was going to be the one teaching me GIS, a computer based technology) Okay, I"m going to wrap this up and hit the shower, but I'll leave you with some pictures I took this weekend for your viewing pleasure: