Oh fuck I miss college.

Also, this.

As of 4:18 pm today, when I e-mailed my 19 page senior seminar paper to Larry, I am done with College. Not graduated yet, but done will all of the work that college entails.  Since I have no plans for grad school or law school in my immediate future, or really ever, this means that after 17 years-- 19 if you count preschool-- of being a student, I'm done. No more papers, no more books, no more teachers'...effusive praise-- let's be real, I never got dirty looks.

It's a very strange feeling.  While I have taken little summer trips to the working world, I have always been very much a student.  And I was good at it too.  I'll have to wait to find out what my final GPA is, but I know it will be very very high. Real world work? Well, I hope I'll be as good at that as I have been at writing papers, taking tests, attending class, and just generally getting As.

The past few weeks have been a mostly happy but somewhat emotional blur.  As the next five days probably will be too.  There was King and Queens, which had two subplots: Katie Wears Hot Dress, and Boys Are Dumb. And the last YD party, where I got presents for being a great secretary, and following which we jumped the Governor's Palace wall.  That's the only part of the triathalon I'll be doing, I can guarantee you, but I'm still glad I did that part.  And I was wearing a jersey dress (which pretty much requires wearing a thong...). Not good for jumping off of somewhat high brick walls.  Possibly may have flashed one or two male friends some ass, oops.

And then there was blowout. No more classes. I drank in class for the first time-- sociology was the perfect occasion for that.  We had a party.  Some people actually started a game of beer pong on the table in the front of the classroom.  Yes that's right, there was beer pong in Morton on my senior blowout.  The day took a turn for the more unfortunate after that, however, when the Wren Bell broke. Fucking sorority girl pulled too hard and flipped it over.  So I did not get to ring the bell on my last day of classes, although I did get to go back and do it the following week.  Then I went back to Dupont with my freshmen year friends. That was...surreal. So surreal. I didn't get to see my room, Dupont 147, because the girls weren't home.  I can actually remember blowout my freshman year looking around at my room and thinking, wow, four years from now I'll be back here, trying to remember this room exactly as it is now.  My how time flies.

One of my friend's advice to me for the next few days was, sleep in and then drink. Repeat.
Hmm. Well there is packing to be done and a few other things, but more or less, yeah that sounds about right.
Goodnight.

In addition to boys, I also hate the real world. Hate hate hate hate.

Hate hate hate hate.

That is all.

I has it.

Things that are awesome:

1. My brand new 2009 Honda Fit with built in GPS. It's orange. Its name is The Dreamsicle. It is fantastic. Having the GPS will be so handy, and I can control my iPod using it! No more fumbling with the touch while driving-- now I can change iPod tracks from the steering wheel.

2. My new dress for King & Queens from the bcbg outlet. It's neon pink, strapless, form-fitting, and incredibly hot.

3. The song Great DJ by the Ting Tings for driving. That is my current favorite song for driving.

4. Adorable $1.50 headband from XXI (the giant Forever 21 at Fair Oaks)

John visited this week. It was...interesting. He went to a lot of classes, which he seemed to enjoy. Thursday night we went to my friend's Shakespeare play (Troilus and Cressida), and then ended up hanging out with his friends from high school Sarah and Mary (who also happens to be Anna's best friend). My roommate and I took them on an adventure, that included me climbing on the roof of the Matoaka Arst Center. I'm so badass I climb on roofs now.

( You know you want to see pictures of The Dreamsicle )

Ashi cannot come this weekend after all, due to group projects she has to work on.
:(
It's not that big of a deal (we might even get to see each other the weekend after that, because convention is at UVA this year), but I was looking forward to her coming to visit W&M-- I've been to UVA three times to visit, but she's never been able to come here.
On the bright side, other old high school friend should still be visiting. (Although I should check on that...)

I got back from UVA yesterday, and I got back to school this afternoon. My Last Spring Break is over now. I've started to think of so many things in terms of Lasts.

Being at another school reminds me about the things I like about W&M, and so made me think more about how I'm going to miss it. We went to clubs both nights, which was definitely fun, but at the same time actually made me kind of glad we don't have places like that in Williamsburg. It just wasn't really my scene. It was an ok scene to visit, but I don't think it's something I would want to do every weekend, the way they do. Too much sweat and heat and grinding. I like my low key Green Leafe. And I'm going to miss it...

It was a fun trip though. It involved, among other things, making brownies with a shot glass used for all measuring, eating at what is apparently the best place for breakfast in Charlottesville, going to a wine bar and ordering what amounted to an $11 glass of wine (it was a "gamay". And I liked it!), getting up every two hours in the morning and walking (in the snow!) to put more quarters in the parking meter, and reconnecting with an old friend from high school. Who just happens to be visiting another friend at W&M next weekend! And Ashi might be able to come too!

The week after that Anna is probably visiting again (NO shots this time. No no.) And then convention. And then banquet. And then mom and John coming to visit for him to look at W&M. And then all of a sudden it will practially be blowout, and away we go.

Remember MASH? You can play online!
Here is my future:

		I will marry logan.
		After a wild honeymoon, We will settle down in siberia in our fabulous Mansion.
		We will have 3 kid(s) together.
		Our family will zoom around in a purple pickup.
		I will spend my days as a farmer, and live happily ever after.

(I swear I did not rig the person I would marry part; of course I had to add the real men in my life, but I also narrowly escaped marrying Voldemort.)

I forgot my dad's birthday. I'm a terrible daughter.
It was Wednesday and I didn't even realize it until my mom called me today!
Ugh. I can't even make the excuse of "oh midterms, so so busy", because I had one on Monday, and that's it. There was YD stuff, if that counts. No, I've just been so absorbed in my own life, with YD stuff, friends' drama, boys.
Also facebook and being accustomed to being alerted about birthdays. I don't even have a calendar that I can write on this year-- usually I decorate the dates of friends' and family's birthdays with colored sharpies.
What should I do to remedy this? I am usually so good about birthdays. But I usually don't get my dad anything, because he's impossible to shop for and shipping things is difficult for me (although I guess it's not that difficult, because I've done it before...)

I got a 96 on my test in French...which I'm taking pass/fail.

I really did try to study less than usual, I promise!

Damn, apparently I'm just that good ;)

I remember Logan doing something like this before he graduated, and I think it was kind of an interesting meme/survey/thing.
Now that I have finalized my schedule for this semester, I know what every class I'll have taken in college will be. Scary. So here is my liberal arts education in review:

The Major: Government-- 37 Credits
Includes my freshman seminar and senior seminar.

The Minor: Economics-- 24 Credits
Far more than I needed for a minor. And to think that I came into college never wanting to take econ, and came out of freshman year never wanting to take it again...

History-- 9 credits
Before college I had thought about a history minor. Turned out I prefer economics.

French-- 8 credits

Anthropology-- 7 credits
Includes 4 credits cross-listed with English for Study of Language-- probably my favorite elective class.

Classics-- 6 credits
Roman Civ-- possibly the easiest class ever, with a highly amusing professor too!

Geology-- 4 credits

Religion-- 3 credits

Sociology-- 3 credits
Marxism! Or so it seems thus far.

Math-- 3 credits
For the GER, obviously.

Music-- 2 credits
There's a fair amount of musical talent on my mother's side. I got none of it.

*List does not include AP credits, which would have added psychology and English.

So there you have it. 4 years of my life. It's hard for me to compare to other people, but looking at it, it seems pretty heavily concentrated in my major and minor. There are quite a few other departments on there, but not as many as it seemed like when I was a freshman and felt like I couldn't get into any government classes. I also took the bare minimum number of credits-- I will have 121, just one more than necessary, when I graduate. And that includes my 15 AP credits coming in. Again, it's hard for me to compare to other people, but from anecdotal evidence it seems like I'm often taking fewer credits than my friends. I don't have any regrets over this-- I know myself, and I know it would not have been worth the stress to take more classes to try to get an Econ major instead of minor, or to take more electives. It would not have been good for my mental health.

I think the day can be divided into two distinct parts-- the swearing-in, and the ball. The latter was absolutely amazing; the former...less so.

The swearing-in ceremony was ok for me personally. Not amazing-- we couldn't really see the front of the capitol at all, and getting out was a huge nightmare. We were trapped in a sea of metal fences that had far too few openings. And we also misinformed by the information being broadcast over the jumbotrons as to which streets we could exit at. Real smart, sending mobs of people to dead ends, because of the stupid parade.
On the other hand, we did find a good spot in clear view of a jumbotron, we were able to sit on our blanket for a while in the morning, so we didn't have to spend the entire time standing, and all of our cold weather gear appeared to work reasonably well (the only part of me that was horribly cold was my toes, despite wearing polar fleece socks and snow boots). Despite the difficulties getting out of the mall, we still made it back to my dad's office in plenty of time, and I was able to meet Ashi without much difficulty.
All in all, I'm glad that I went, but it's not something I want to do again. I will be watching Obama's second Inauguration (:knocks on wood:) from the warmth and comfort of my living room.
I would say unless I have tickets, however now that I've found out the details of the underreported Ticket Fiasco, I will be forever weary of accepting an Inaugural ticket. In case you haven't heard, at least 4-5K people with tickets who had been in line for hours were unable to get into the ceremony due to inadequate crowd control, planning, lack of information, and just general chaos. Hundreds (at least) of people were trapped in the 395 tunnel under the mall (deemed the Purple Tunnel of Doom) because these holders of tickets to the purple section were told to wait in line there. And the line just never moved. They were trapped in a tunnel during the ceremony. If anyone cares, more info here and here.
The whole thing just makes me so angry, even though it didn't actually happen to me. If it had, words can not describe how apoplectic I would be. And it upsets me that the whole Inauguration is being portrayed in the media as a success. No. More like a massive epic fail. Just in general, there seemed to be no authorities around-- cops, volunteers, anyone-- who had any information. If you wanted to know where to go, if you were confused, there was no one who had an answers, who knew anything. I guess the rationale behind portraying it as a success is that there were no major injuries, arrests, no terrorist attacks. But seriously. That's like the argument the Bush apologists have been making-- but he kept us safe, there were no major terrorist attacks! (except for that one time when there was). Is that really how we judge the success of everything now, based on whether or not people were killed by terrorists?

Ugh, anyway, this turned into a rant. Stuff like this makes me want to forget the strategy part of politics and go into advance, logistics, etc.

The ball really was amazing. He came to our ball second, really early in the night. And we had an amazing spot right up next to the stage (see facebook pics for evidence of the awesomeness). Obama and Michelle were so cute when they were dancing. He is adorably awkward. And she looked gorgeous-- I thought her dress was a bit fussy for my taste, with all the embellishments, but the cut and color were perfect.
Oh, speaking of clothes, mini rant: BLACK TIE MEANS BLACK TIE.
I saw far too many girls in cocktail dresses. It's an Inaugural Ball. It clearly says black tie on the ticket. Get yourself a floorlength gown. I mean really, when else are you ever going to get a chance to wear a ballgown anyway? Nothing though beats the girl in the above-the-knee black tutu dress with the argyle tights and chucks. CHUCKS. CONVERSE SNEAKERS. At an Inaugural ball. Enough said about this horror.

Also saw the Bidens, although we weren't quite as close for them; saw Jack Johnson up pretty close, which Ashi was super excited about, and saw Christopher Lloyd watching Jack Johnson. (At first we weren't sure who it was-- people were taking pictures of him so we figured he must be famous, but we couldn't figure out who. I said the only celebrity he looked like was Christopher Lloyd, but we doubted it was he. But no, Ashi took pictures and then looked him up and yep, Christopher Lloyd.)

Ok, need to get ready for dinner. The end. Balls are awesome.

I feel like have done but obsess over Inaugural planning for the past week. I dream in maps of the metro and bridge closures.
I have devised a plan that is detailed and, in my opinion, as good as humanly possible under the circumstances:

- Mom and I drive to Safeway. Park car there and walk to Vienna Metro.
- Meet Carlos, Liz, Ross, and flat hat girl whose name I don't remember at 6am inside the metro station.
- Take the Metro to Federal Triangle. Walk to Mall. Wait four hours. Watch Ceremony.
- Try to get out of the Mall area as quickly as possible. Walk to Dad's office in Dupont Circle, where today we have dropped off Ashi and I's dresses, make-up, etc.
- Use key and key card to get into dad's office. Thaw out. Attempt to get food, or eat the frozen dinner's we stowed in the office freezer this afternoon.
- Meanwhile, Ashi and her mother leave at noon. They walk to the Vienna Metro, take it to Farragut West, never having to change trains. They walk up Connecticut Avenue to dad's office, where I meet them outside.
- Ashi and I get ready for the ball.
- Ashi and I depart for the Dupont Circle Metro station. My mom and Ashi's mom depart for Farragut West.
- We take the red line to Metro Center. Walk to 10th Street where we can get into the convention center. Attempt to not get frostbite in our sandaled feet.
- Go to ball. Have fun.
- Get coats from coat check BEFORE Obama comes.
- The moment he stops dancing, leave. Get to Metro Center as quickly as possible. Get on Orange Line back to Vienna. Ashi's parents pick us up.
- Sleep.

I have also meticulously planned my cold weather outfit:

- Two layers of long underwear borrowed from my grandmother.
- Jeans
- Windbreaker pants
- Long sleeve shirt
- Sweater
- Double layer (polar fleece and windbreaker) North Face coat
- Hat, gloves, scarf
- Winter boots with polar fleece socks

I could not be any more prepared for this.

It's official now! Yay!!! Soooo excited. And it's the Obama home state ball-- Illinois and Hawaii. :-D
I have actually known for a while that I would probably be able to go, but I didn't want to post anything and jinx it. But now it is official and it's all worked out.

: bounces up and down :

I have wanted to go to an inaugural ball since before 2004. That's actually longer than I had been dreaming of going to the convention, (although I will say that I was more passionate about that goal). This is the perfect cap to what has been the most amazing election. I feel so lucky that I will have gotten to be there for two of the most historic moments of it-- his speech at Ivesco, and his Inaugural address, and then the ball. I feel like the only moment that ranks as high is election night. But I'm ok with not being in Chicago for that-- I'm glad I got to spend that night with my friends.

I already have a dress, and flat sandals that look amazing with it (the one tip I have heard over and over: wear comfortable shoes), and earrings I want to wear. The only thing I'm not 100% happy about is the purse. I have one that will do, but I would like to find something better. I can't spend a lot of money though.

I am not the type to swoon over movie stars, but I am forced to this conclusion after watching The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Great movie. Very...haunting. I am not the type who cries a lot at movies (oddly enough), but I actually teared up-- or actually cried-- a lot in this movie. I'm not entirely sure why.  I feel like the entire point of the movie, that nothing really good can last (nothing gold can stay, all of that), is sadder than any individual scene. Although it did not help that it opened with a scene of a woman dying in childbirth, somewhat graphically.  That is something that really gets to me.

On a happier note, New York. Rachel and Anna and I went to NYC for a whirlwind one day excursion on Tuesday. We went to lunch at 'Wichcraft, the sandwich shop started by Tom Cholicchio (of Top Chef fame), which was perfectly good, though not exactly the kind of place that makes you go "gee, I wish they had one of these in Fairfax!". Went to the Strand (giant bookstore), and found a random store called Brooklyn Industries in which I got a funny t-shirt. Attempted to go to the bakery Crumbs but it was closed :( Instead we went back to Magnolia Bakery and waited in a long line, but it was totally worth it because I got the most awesome cupcake shirt. And by "got" I mean they were out of it in my size so I have to fax them my order from home, call to verify that they got it, and they will ship it to me.
We also went to the Museum of Sex, which was...ok. Not the greatest thing ever, and we were in a bit of a rush. But there was some interesting stuff. We learned about, among other things, German nationalist nudist colonies. Gift shop was cool/amusing.
Then on the way home on the bus Anna got sick. :-( Poor Anna. (She's better now though, in case you're wondering.)

Not sure if I would do the one day thing again. It started out as, "oh we have 7 hours, plenty of time!" but very soon turned into, "ok we only have 3 more hours, that really isn't enough time for all we want to do". The bus though, definitely the way to go. $50 roundtrip, holla!

(I don't know where that "holla" came from.)

Finally, on a random note, the other day I made garlic oven fries, and they turned out really delicious. ( Looky )

Christmas was very enjoyable. The family was (mostly) on good behavior, and many wonderful presents were received. I also thinks everyone liked the presents that I gave them, which is pretty much just as important.

Speaking of that, I really think that my aunt is the most easy to please person ever. She oooohs and ahhhhs over everything; it's all so amazing and neat. I swear you could give her anything and she would go on and on about how wonderful it is. "Here Auntie Janie, it's some lotion that smells like mud", "Oooo ooo!! Oh how hilarious! I love it I love it!!"

Chores for today include cleaning my Mac with my new Mac cleaning products, looking through my French cookbook to see if there's anything worth actually attempting to cook (Anna really just bought it for me because it's pretty; we are like that), finishing reading The Tales of Beedle the Bard, and choosing pictures to put in the frame my dad gave me (would anyone like to vie for this honor of being in the pictures?). Oh and cleaning up this house which became a disaster yesterday.

I got an A in French. Did not see that one coming. :does happy dance:
Still definitely taking it pass/fail next semester though. It is just not worth all the work it took to get that A, especially not second semester senior year.

Today one of my political blogs linked to a listing of some of the more different and interesting Bibles out there. (I like the bloggers who occasionally post things that aren't explicitly political. It's how I discover things like this.) I think by now most people have seen the lolcats Bible. Even cooler though might be the lego Bible. (You can't quite appreciate it until you click through it a bit. There are different scenes for each verse.)
Very different but also cool is this one. (Although I have a sneaking suspicion that some of this is art of the sort of, "let's put any interesting contemporary photography with a Bible verse and people will thing it is artsy and profound!" But you know, that doesn't mean that some of it isn't interesting.)

In cleaning out some of the bookmarks I had for my classes this past semester, I was reminded of this snippet from an article we had to read for polling. It was about how interviews violate the norms of conversation, and ways we can correct for that; it had a bunch of examples of interviews, well, violating the norms of conversation. My favorite:

INTERVIEWER: Generally speaking, do you usually think of yourself as a Republican, Democrat, Independent, or what.

RESPONDENTt: As a person.

INTERVIEWER: As a Republican...

RESPONDENT: No.

INTERVIEWER: Democrat...

RESPONDENT: No.

INTERVIEWER: Independent, or what.

RESPONDENT: Uhm...I think of myself as a..[pause]..Christian.

INTERVIEWER: Okay, but politically, would you say you have any particular...

RESPONDENT: I am one of Jehovah's Witnesses, so, you know, when it comes to...

INTERVIEWER: I see...

RESPONDENT: So I'm, I am acclimated toward government, but it is that of Jehovah God's kingdom.

INTERVIEWER: Yes.

My exam schedule really does not feel light enough for only having 11 credits worth of exams (my other two credits this semester are from the Lee Rawls seminar, which has no final, and the independent study that was my Monroe project).
This is because French is actually three exams (written, oral, and listening comprehension, which in fairness, I already took last Friday,) and polling pas a final paper and an in-class exam. So that's sort of like five finals for two classes!
And then there's econ, which has only one final-- an appropriate amount-- but which will still be hard and involve a lot of studying.
Lastly there is piano, which thankfully won't be that hard to prepare for. There's only so many times I can play that little Minuet in F Major (and still not sound all that great.)

Last night my roommate and I weren't being at all productive, so we decided to give up and go shopping. We went to the Gap outlet, because she had a $100 Gap gift card that she found on the ground (!). I did feel bad getting a free $40 sweater when some poor person was out a really expensive gift. But my roommate had already had the gift card for a while and spent part of it. I probably would have made more of an effort to find the person, but it was too late now.

The experience had me reflecting on the fact that I really do think my roommate and I are getting along very well this year. I feel like my roommate luck has gotten better over the years, finally culminating this year with Michelle. Freshman year Rachael and I got along very well with the nuts and bolts of living together, but I felt constantly overshadowed by Little Miss Perfect. Sophomore year, well, I had three roommates, which in itself was bad. Oh so many problems. That year I discovered that rooming with a friend was probably not the best idea. Then last year Cat was a big improvement, but there were still things about her that annoyed the hell out of me. With Michelle I feel I finally have the right balance of being friends but not in the same circle, hanging out all the time, etc., living habits, and just generally not being really annoying. It's true she is definitely not as clean as I would like, but she confines it to her side of the room.

I am loathe to go back to flash cards.
( So here, have a recipe. )

Clearly I did no work after getting back to the dorm tonight.

This is kinda fun though.

The Rules:
1. Answer each of the questions below using the Flickr Search engine.
2. Choose a photo from the first three pages.
3. Copy the URL of your favorite photo into this site
4. Then share with the world!

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And now I have been talked into going to mug night.
Not more than an hour!