There are earthworms everywhere! I guess the rain washes them out of their hiding places and onto the sidewalks in droves. Last time it rained like this, I counted something like fifteen earthworms outside the northeast entrance of Banning alone.
At breakfast this morning, I was chastised for not mentioning that my friend Alyssa got an "A" on her piano project with which I helped her and faithfully wrote about in one of my earlier blogs. Well... There you go, Alyssa. All eight people who read this blog now know that you succeeded on your piano quiz.
They've decorated the cafeteria for Halloween. It's all really cutesy and fun except for one thing--this enormous twelve-foot creature of death that looms between the salad bar and the silverware. It's terrifying. I think their intentions were to make it look ghostlike, but it really just looks like a gigantic version of Death from A Christmas Carol. I'm not excited about seeing that thing every time I go to eat.
Everything is so morbid nowadays. Batboy: The Musical is opening this weekend, as well as Frankenstein. There's also a blood drive this afternoon which I signed up for. I've never given blood before. Even though the thought of someone sticking a needle in my forearm and sucking the blood out through a tube is kind of unsettling to me, I hope I'm qualified. I've always wanted to donate. I figure, if my body can generate perfectly healthy blood naturally, why not give it to someone whose body can't?
I've noticed that if you walk into the atrium of the music building at 2:50 p.m. Monday through Thursday, you'll encounter the largest group of students hugging on campus.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
"What's That Ahead? A Diaphragm? Screw It."
Can anyone tell me what the point of leaf blowers is? I saw a man using one outside the cafeteria this morning, and I couldn't help wondering why he was getting paid to scatter leaves across the sidewalk.
I think I'm going to be a vampire for Halloween this year, partly because I can pull off the look, and partly because the costume is cheap and easy. Since I'm going to be working the dreaded haunted house, my plan is to do my makeup there and keep it on the rest of the night. I'm being frugal out of necessity, not principle. Someone told me that Hot Topic sells individual fangs with adhesive for a more realistic look for the low low price of $16. That's outrageous. Who has money like that to spend on looking like a monster? I retract that question, because I know there are people who go all out when it comes to Halloween, like my friend who's dressing up like Richard Simmons, complete with homemade bedazzled booty shorts. People are so creative.
Last Wednesday, I saw the movie "Paranormal Activity" with my friend Michael and his friend Emily. And let me just say, as a general rule of thumb, I don't get scared very often by movies. Especially mainstream ones. I go to the movies in hopes of finding a genuinely good horror film, but more often than not they turn out to be blatant and predictable, or bloody and full of sex, neither of which I find terrifying. But this one was different. Quite possibly, it was the scariest movie I've ever seen. Definitely one of the scariest. I read a bad review of it in the New York Times that criticized its thin plot line and lack of complexity, but that was what I found to be most effective--the simplicity of it all. It was believable to the extent that a horror movie can be believable without bringing in any unnecessary special effects or cliche scare tactics.
Speaking of phantoms... BREAKING NEWS: The identity of the Facebook Phantom has at last been revealed. Yesterday a source who shall remain nameless told me the name of the culprit behind all this anonymous sex talk, and though I had the strong urge to do so at first, I'm not going to give away the phantom's name on my blog, as that would be unethical. All I have to say it that it's all pretty funny, in a sad way. I think he's probably garnered his fair share of unwanted attention as it is. That's punishment enough, I'd say.
I had a dream about my best friend last night. I haven't seen her since the beginning of August, which sounds like a short period of time, but in best friend years, it's like an eternity. She's at a ministry training program in Minnesota that involves an intense first year boot camp-style experience, so she's not allowed to make contact with anyone who isn't immediate family until she comes home for Christmas. I think everyone has one other person in life who they just naturally connect with. Mine just happens to be isolated in Minnesota right now.
Quirky random fact of the day: Did you know that a diaphragm is also a form of contraception?
I think I'm going to be a vampire for Halloween this year, partly because I can pull off the look, and partly because the costume is cheap and easy. Since I'm going to be working the dreaded haunted house, my plan is to do my makeup there and keep it on the rest of the night. I'm being frugal out of necessity, not principle. Someone told me that Hot Topic sells individual fangs with adhesive for a more realistic look for the low low price of $16. That's outrageous. Who has money like that to spend on looking like a monster? I retract that question, because I know there are people who go all out when it comes to Halloween, like my friend who's dressing up like Richard Simmons, complete with homemade bedazzled booty shorts. People are so creative.
Last Wednesday, I saw the movie "Paranormal Activity" with my friend Michael and his friend Emily. And let me just say, as a general rule of thumb, I don't get scared very often by movies. Especially mainstream ones. I go to the movies in hopes of finding a genuinely good horror film, but more often than not they turn out to be blatant and predictable, or bloody and full of sex, neither of which I find terrifying. But this one was different. Quite possibly, it was the scariest movie I've ever seen. Definitely one of the scariest. I read a bad review of it in the New York Times that criticized its thin plot line and lack of complexity, but that was what I found to be most effective--the simplicity of it all. It was believable to the extent that a horror movie can be believable without bringing in any unnecessary special effects or cliche scare tactics.
Speaking of phantoms... BREAKING NEWS: The identity of the Facebook Phantom has at last been revealed. Yesterday a source who shall remain nameless told me the name of the culprit behind all this anonymous sex talk, and though I had the strong urge to do so at first, I'm not going to give away the phantom's name on my blog, as that would be unethical. All I have to say it that it's all pretty funny, in a sad way. I think he's probably garnered his fair share of unwanted attention as it is. That's punishment enough, I'd say.
I had a dream about my best friend last night. I haven't seen her since the beginning of August, which sounds like a short period of time, but in best friend years, it's like an eternity. She's at a ministry training program in Minnesota that involves an intense first year boot camp-style experience, so she's not allowed to make contact with anyone who isn't immediate family until she comes home for Christmas. I think everyone has one other person in life who they just naturally connect with. Mine just happens to be isolated in Minnesota right now.
Quirky random fact of the day: Did you know that a diaphragm is also a form of contraception?
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Cinematic Leaves & The Facebook Phantom
So the most magical thing happened to me today. I was casually strolling down the sidewalk that I always stroll down en route to the lounge in the music building where I'm currently sitting, and a gust of wind blew dozens of leaves around me. It sounds rather blase, but it was actually quite amazing, like something out of a movie. Do you ever watch a movie and think, "Wow... I wish my life were like that." I feel that way about "You've Got Mail," the one with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. Nonetheless, just the fact that the weather was cloudy and not too cold and that fall is making itself evident around campus was enough to make me happy. I hope everyone appreciates this weather.
On a similar note, I got a present today! My friend Kat painted me the most magical picture while she was in Frisco over fall break. It's a blue background with a sparkly silver crescent moon and my name in cursive script. I feel like I should frame it and hang it in my dorm, but that might prove to be problematic because my walls are basically cinder blocks. I'm not a fan of nailing things into cinder blocks...
There seems to be an Honesty Box phantom lurking around campus. A gay phantom at that. An alarming number of guys are getting mysterious and overtly sexual Honesty Box messages on their Facebook profiles. One can only wonder what would possess a person to do such a thing. I mean, not that Honesty Box has a reputation for being the classiest Facebook application; most of the messages in them are either rude and catty or unabashedly sexual. Apparently, people think it's okay to expose their deepest, darkest feelings toward another person under the guise of anonymity. But let's be real. Facebook is ANYTHING but anonymous. There are already rumors circulating about who this mystery person could be. And it has to be one person, because all the messages are word-for-word identical. I mean, he could've at least tried to be creative. It was like one of those mass text messages people send out. Really impersonal and really sad.
Yesterday, the postmistress asked me if I would like a different box number, one that's higher than my current one and thus more easily accessible for a person as tall as myself. With a smile beaming across my face, I said, "Yes, please." She actually considered my predicament, which was touching. She's right, though: box number 669 is just too low to check with any sort of relative ease. I am now the proud resident of university post office box number 541. Spread the word.
Isn't it funny how a good night's sleep can change your mood? I felt like a disaster when I went to bed last night, and by disaster, I mean worried mess. I guess it was just one of those nights when all of your past actions come into perspective and you begin to analyze them down to the very last detail... Wondering why you said this or what made you do that. None of it matters. I feel great today, especially thanks to this optimum weather, which has an uncanny effect on my mood as well. I just wish I could've gone to sleep earlier and saved myself some trouble.
I mentioned to my friend Hannah at lunch that I feel like college has brought out the stranger side of me.
On a similar note, I got a present today! My friend Kat painted me the most magical picture while she was in Frisco over fall break. It's a blue background with a sparkly silver crescent moon and my name in cursive script. I feel like I should frame it and hang it in my dorm, but that might prove to be problematic because my walls are basically cinder blocks. I'm not a fan of nailing things into cinder blocks...
There seems to be an Honesty Box phantom lurking around campus. A gay phantom at that. An alarming number of guys are getting mysterious and overtly sexual Honesty Box messages on their Facebook profiles. One can only wonder what would possess a person to do such a thing. I mean, not that Honesty Box has a reputation for being the classiest Facebook application; most of the messages in them are either rude and catty or unabashedly sexual. Apparently, people think it's okay to expose their deepest, darkest feelings toward another person under the guise of anonymity. But let's be real. Facebook is ANYTHING but anonymous. There are already rumors circulating about who this mystery person could be. And it has to be one person, because all the messages are word-for-word identical. I mean, he could've at least tried to be creative. It was like one of those mass text messages people send out. Really impersonal and really sad.
Yesterday, the postmistress asked me if I would like a different box number, one that's higher than my current one and thus more easily accessible for a person as tall as myself. With a smile beaming across my face, I said, "Yes, please." She actually considered my predicament, which was touching. She's right, though: box number 669 is just too low to check with any sort of relative ease. I am now the proud resident of university post office box number 541. Spread the word.
Isn't it funny how a good night's sleep can change your mood? I felt like a disaster when I went to bed last night, and by disaster, I mean worried mess. I guess it was just one of those nights when all of your past actions come into perspective and you begin to analyze them down to the very last detail... Wondering why you said this or what made you do that. None of it matters. I feel great today, especially thanks to this optimum weather, which has an uncanny effect on my mood as well. I just wish I could've gone to sleep earlier and saved myself some trouble.
I mentioned to my friend Hannah at lunch that I feel like college has brought out the stranger side of me.
Monday, October 19, 2009
"Excuse Me..." Says the Old Lady to the Woman Unwrapping Her Candy
This afternoon, my friend Hannah and I went to the opera with a group of senior citizens who paid for our tickets. Apparently, they buy four tickets specifically for OCU students for one performance of each of Tulsa Opera's three seasonal shows. This afternoon's production was a stunning rendition of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor," starring Oklahoma native and OCU alumna Sarah Coburn. She was really the talk of the town. Everyone loved her, of course. I mean, why wouldn't Oklahomans be proud of such an amazingly talented and charming young singer? Her mad scene was enthralling.
We got back at seven, when I immediately proceeded to my room with the intentions of doing laundry, which, by the way, I had been putting off only because I hadn't retrieved my laundry card from my roommate. I ended up hanging out with my friend Michael instead. I did do laundry in his building, though. The laundry is the same everywhere on campus. We spent most of the night watching t.v. and listening to Imogen Heap and Regina Spektor songs on YouTube. I find both of those activities to be worthy time wasters.
Most of my friends have gone home. Or to Dallas. Or home TO Dallas. But it's halfway through fall break now, and I've accomplished a great many things: met an up-and-coming opera star, noticed the beautiful colors of autumn, eaten four sugar cookies in one hour, stolen a friend's hat, found out that vodka tastes like hydrogen peroxide, and rediscovered my appreciation for The Cranberries.
We got back at seven, when I immediately proceeded to my room with the intentions of doing laundry, which, by the way, I had been putting off only because I hadn't retrieved my laundry card from my roommate. I ended up hanging out with my friend Michael instead. I did do laundry in his building, though. The laundry is the same everywhere on campus. We spent most of the night watching t.v. and listening to Imogen Heap and Regina Spektor songs on YouTube. I find both of those activities to be worthy time wasters.
Most of my friends have gone home. Or to Dallas. Or home TO Dallas. But it's halfway through fall break now, and I've accomplished a great many things: met an up-and-coming opera star, noticed the beautiful colors of autumn, eaten four sugar cookies in one hour, stolen a friend's hat, found out that vodka tastes like hydrogen peroxide, and rediscovered my appreciation for The Cranberries.
Friday, October 16, 2009
A Blue Jay in October
Yesterday I helped my friend Alyssa record her piano project and upload it to Facebook. It literally took us eighteen tries. She wanted it to be perfect, and I was just being impatient. But we finally got it near-perfect, which we were both willing to accept at that point in time. None of this would've ever happened had I not told her that she was playing the song in the wrong meter...
Anyhow, yesterday also felt like Friday, so today feels like Saturday to me. I slept through my 10 o'clock music theory class and barely made it to my 11 o'clock voice lesson. My voice teacher is no fool. Plus, we have a pretty open relationship. I'm pretty comfortable just talking to her. I told her about sleeping through class. She just laughed and made a sarcastic threat to whip me. I love her.
Why am I not doing laundry right now?
The fact is, I love October weather. Scratch that. I love all weather at the end of the year. Lately it's been really cloudy and excessively cold. But today, the sun is out in a way that's not abrasive or threatening. It's one of those days when the sun is just there to keep you cheerful and warm your skin while the wind chills your face. Looking outside my window, I could easily be misled to believe that today is a typically hot and sunny Oklahoma day.
This evening I'll be working the Ultimate Terrors Haunted House at Belle Isle. It's a pretty amazing haunted house. It's actually three separate haunted houses. The people who run it really went all out in making it over-the-top terrifying. It's got all the goods--clowns, laser lights, ghosts, zombie brides, corpses hanging in bags, creepy little children, and fog machines galore. Not to mention the massive amount of technical machinery they built specifically for the three houses. There's one spot in the "Code Blue" house where an electronic snake lunges a good foot and a half out of a wooden crate and spits water at the passerby. It's completely terrifying.
The most terrifying part about the haunted house, though, is working it. Fridays and Saturdays it runs from 6 to midnight. That's SIX HOURS of screaming, moaning, sweating, and acting insane. It's definitely a tiring process, especially on the slow nights during the week, like Monday or Thursday. Luckily, the haunted house is only open for FOUR hours those nights.
We're basically being blacklisted by the main director of opera/music theater at the university if we don't work the haunted house, because it's a fundraiser for the highly-revered senior showcase.
One of my friends told me last night that he wanted to watch an old Christmas movie and drink hot cocoa. And as much as I said I hate old Christmas movies, that actually sounds like a good idea. This cold weather is just magical. I can't imagine how obnoxious it must be to other people to have to listen to me prattle about fall and winter weather. It's one of the few overtly simple things in life that make me happy, so I enjoy talking about it.
When I was walking back to my dorm after lunch, I heard this awful squawking noise coming from the tree above me. I looked up and saw a handsome little blue jay perched on a branch. It was he who was making that awful noise. I guess I've never actually heard a blue jay before. I was surprised to even see one on campus.
It's laundry time. For real now.
Anyhow, yesterday also felt like Friday, so today feels like Saturday to me. I slept through my 10 o'clock music theory class and barely made it to my 11 o'clock voice lesson. My voice teacher is no fool. Plus, we have a pretty open relationship. I'm pretty comfortable just talking to her. I told her about sleeping through class. She just laughed and made a sarcastic threat to whip me. I love her.
Why am I not doing laundry right now?
The fact is, I love October weather. Scratch that. I love all weather at the end of the year. Lately it's been really cloudy and excessively cold. But today, the sun is out in a way that's not abrasive or threatening. It's one of those days when the sun is just there to keep you cheerful and warm your skin while the wind chills your face. Looking outside my window, I could easily be misled to believe that today is a typically hot and sunny Oklahoma day.
This evening I'll be working the Ultimate Terrors Haunted House at Belle Isle. It's a pretty amazing haunted house. It's actually three separate haunted houses. The people who run it really went all out in making it over-the-top terrifying. It's got all the goods--clowns, laser lights, ghosts, zombie brides, corpses hanging in bags, creepy little children, and fog machines galore. Not to mention the massive amount of technical machinery they built specifically for the three houses. There's one spot in the "Code Blue" house where an electronic snake lunges a good foot and a half out of a wooden crate and spits water at the passerby. It's completely terrifying.
The most terrifying part about the haunted house, though, is working it. Fridays and Saturdays it runs from 6 to midnight. That's SIX HOURS of screaming, moaning, sweating, and acting insane. It's definitely a tiring process, especially on the slow nights during the week, like Monday or Thursday. Luckily, the haunted house is only open for FOUR hours those nights.
We're basically being blacklisted by the main director of opera/music theater at the university if we don't work the haunted house, because it's a fundraiser for the highly-revered senior showcase.
One of my friends told me last night that he wanted to watch an old Christmas movie and drink hot cocoa. And as much as I said I hate old Christmas movies, that actually sounds like a good idea. This cold weather is just magical. I can't imagine how obnoxious it must be to other people to have to listen to me prattle about fall and winter weather. It's one of the few overtly simple things in life that make me happy, so I enjoy talking about it.
When I was walking back to my dorm after lunch, I heard this awful squawking noise coming from the tree above me. I looked up and saw a handsome little blue jay perched on a branch. It was he who was making that awful noise. I guess I've never actually heard a blue jay before. I was surprised to even see one on campus.
It's laundry time. For real now.
Intro.
I've started this blog for a simple reason: I don't want to use MySpace for blogging anymore.
Also, I see this as a step in the right direction to better develop my voice in writing. Writing is something I love and am passionate about; I just can't ever seem to do it as well as I would like. So here's to my hopes of becoming a more honest, reflective, intellectual, and compelling writer.
I'm going to try not to write about myself as much as I used to. I've found it to be vapid and pointless, for the most part. Maybe I'll stick a few personal things in here and there (in the most subtle ways, of course), but on the whole, I want to write about the world around me. It's so fascinating, and I'm only now beginning to realize this. My goal is to uncover those underlying threads of similarity in life that connect me with every other human being, or perhaps that even larger, incomprehensibly massive common denominator of humanity. Okay, maybe a bit too ambitious, I'll admit. Let's start with the simple things and work our way up from there.
Less excessive, more tactile.
Also, I see this as a step in the right direction to better develop my voice in writing. Writing is something I love and am passionate about; I just can't ever seem to do it as well as I would like. So here's to my hopes of becoming a more honest, reflective, intellectual, and compelling writer.
I'm going to try not to write about myself as much as I used to. I've found it to be vapid and pointless, for the most part. Maybe I'll stick a few personal things in here and there (in the most subtle ways, of course), but on the whole, I want to write about the world around me. It's so fascinating, and I'm only now beginning to realize this. My goal is to uncover those underlying threads of similarity in life that connect me with every other human being, or perhaps that even larger, incomprehensibly massive common denominator of humanity. Okay, maybe a bit too ambitious, I'll admit. Let's start with the simple things and work our way up from there.
Less excessive, more tactile.
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