happy birthday bottom!

happy birthday coco!

992 viewers? Ooooh, I'm excited for our 1,000 viewer party. Party in my room, 62112. I'll supply the cake, you bring your own beer and dranks. It'll be fun.

So I went home for Thanksgiving and Black Friday. It was epic amounts of boring. My uncles and their wives came over for lunch on Thursday, we watched Up, then they left and I worked on my French homework. I had lunch at El Nopal with Callie and Shawna on Friday, went home to do more homework, then had Applebees for dinner with Rose. Lunch was disgusting compared to all the Mexican food I've had to eat in SLC. Dinner was actually really good and it felt nice to catch back up with Rose.

Now I'm home alone and still bored. Dan and I spent all day together yesterday after he picked me up from the airport. We went to Jiffy Lube, unpacked his bags, had dinner at the Olive Garden, then picked up Ryan and went to the Freelance Whales/Miniature Tigers concert. It was pretty freakin' incredible. I was just so tired from everything that'd happen already and my lack of sleep the night before, so I wasn't really into doing anything other than standing still and zoning out with the music. Haha.

The three of us came back after the concert and watched Moulin Rouge.. I passed out not far before the end and woke up during the end credits with "The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return" markered on my forehead.. Thanks guys. Maybe I should stop falling asleep when people are still in my room. Last week I woke up with a pumpkin next to me and 100 texts from Chase saying "you're cuddling with a pumpkin!" 

I (and possibly Dan) am going to go pick up Joe from the airport in about an hour. It's snowing again. :\ So I'm unhappy and don't want to go at all. But I need to put gas in my car and be a good friend. I've also got to pick up Corinne the Birthday Girl! later tonight. Her present probably won't come in the mail for another week or so, so I'm planning to take her out for a birthday dinner when she gets home and buy her some more Diet Mountain Dew. :) 

more french poetry

Autre Guitare

Comment, disaient-ils,

Avec nos nacelles,

Fuir les alguazils?

- Ramez, disaient-elles.

Comment, disaient-ils,

Oublier querelles,

Misère et périls?

- Dormez, disaient-elles.

Comment, disaient-ils,

Enchanter les belles

Sans philtres subtils?

- Aimez, disaient-elles.

Guitar Song

"How," he said,

"In a poor skiff at sea,

Can the coastguards be fled?"

"You must row," said she.

"How," he said,

"Can the memory be free

Of strife, sorrow, and dread?"

"You must sleep," said she.

"How," said he,

"Can one turn a fair head

Without strange sorcery?"

"You must love," she said.

---------

Jeune fille, l'amour, c'est d'abord un miroir...

Jeune fille, l'amour, c'est d'abord un miroir

Où la femme coquette et belle aime à se voir,

Et, gaie ou rêveuse, se penche;

Puis, comme la vertu, quand il a votre cœur,

Il en chasse le mal et le vice moqueur,

Et vous fait l'âme pure et blanche;

Puis on descend un peu, le pied vous glisse... - Alors

C'est un abîme! en vain la main s'attache aux bords,

On s'en va dans l'eau qui tournoie! -

L'amour est charmant, pur, et mortel. N'y crois pas!

Tel l'enfant, par un fleuve attiré pas à pas,

S'y mire, s'y lave et s'y noie.

Love, child, is first of all a mirror...

Love, child, is first of all a mirror where

Girls like to see themselves, flighty and fair;

There they like to pause, playful or demure;

Like virtue, next, it takes hold of the heart,

Drives away sin, makes sneering vice depart,

And leaves your spirit white and pure;

Then you go down a step, you start to slide - 

And it's a chasm! Vain to grip the side:

In the flood you go whirling down! - 

Pretty, pure, fatal - don't rely on it!

Children, drawn to a river bit by bit,

Admire themselves, and bathe, and drown.

Dan's story

Once upon a time there was a buffalo named Pinky. Pinky ran a Denny's in southwestern Nebraska.

One day there was an incredible blizzard and the electricity went out. For weeks Pinky struggled to keep the business open, but with little success.

Finally after days without sleep, Pinky was feeling defeated. He called all the employees to a meeting and told them that he was proud.

Proud of each and every one of them and their dedication to Denny's and its world-renowned customer satisfaction.

Pinky decided to reward them all with a couple days off (since the power wouldn't be on for at least another week).

Stunned by his generosity and defiance of Denny's "Open 24/7" policy, the employees went home with smiles on their faces.

The following Monday, when the power came back on, the employees returned well-rested and excited for work because they knew their boss was a good guy.
But what they found was a restaurant in shambles. The cash register was missing, tables had been destroyed, and several windows were broken.
As the employees waded through the wreckage, one screamed and pointed to the back toward the kitchen. There hung the corpse of Pinky.
Later a police report would explain that due to the "Open 24/7" policy of the Denny's franchise, no Denny's restaurants have locks.
With the power out and all the employees at home, 4 homeless men had broken in and destroyed the restaurant that had so often refused them bathroom use.
Upon arriving at work on Monday to open the restaurant, Pinky discovered the wreckage. Unable to cope with the disaster that had once been his work, and the imminent loss of his job and subsequent inability to support his family, Pinky had hung himself.
And THAT is why buffalo are no longer allowed to work at Denny's within the continental US.

900+ celebration

The blog has officially hit 900 viewers. Love it. Let me just gift you with some pictures I found on my Desktop when I was cleaning it.

I'm leaving for Missouri on Wednesday after math class. I'm pretty excited to see Nick and scarf down my grandma's vegetable soup! It's not snowing in Missouri either, so that's good news. It started dumping last night and apparently Utah is supposed to get 36-58 inches more between now and Tuesday night. o_o I'll be back in the SLC Saturday afternoon and later that night Dirty and I are going to see Freelance Whales and Miniature Tigers at Kilby Court. :)

Freelance Whales - Hannah

Freelance Whales - Starring

Freelance Whales - Broken Horse

Miniature Tigers - Tell It To The Volcano

Miniature Tigers - Last Night's Fake Blood

Oh! N'insultez jamais une femme qui tombe!

I think I've figured out what poem I want to use for my oral presentation in French at the beginning of December. It's by Victor Hugo and is called "Oh! N'insultez jamais une femme qui tombe!" or "Never revile a woman for her fall!"

French version:

Oh! N’insultez jamais une femme qui tombe!

Qui sait sous quel fardeau la pauvre âme succombe!

Qui sait combien de jours sa faim a combattu!

Quand le vent du malheur ébranlait leur vertu,

Qui de nous n’a pas vu de ces femmes brisées

S’y cramponner longtemps de leurs mains épuisées!

Comme au bout d’une branche on voit étinceler

Une goutte de pluie où le ciel vient briller,           

Qu’on secoue avec l’arbre et qui tremble et qui lutte,

Perle avant de tomber et fange après sa chute!

La faute en est à nous. A toi, riche! a ton or!

Cette fange d’ailleurs contient l’eau pur encor.

Pour que la goutte d’eau sorte de la poussière,

Et redevienne perle en sa splendeur première,

Il suffit, c’est ainsi que tout remonte au jour,

D’un rayon de soleil ou d’un rayon d’amour!

English version:

Never revile a woman for her fall!

Who knows what burdens made the poor thing crawl?

Who knows how long her hunger had to fight?

When blasts of hardship shake her sense of right,

Many a girl - haven't you known her? - stands

Firm a long time - holds on with worn-out hands;

As we see on a branch-tip, sparkling bright,

A drop of rain gleaming with heaven's light,

Tossed about with the tree, trembling and hurt,

A pearl before its fall - and after, dirt!

The fault is ours - yours, rich man, with your pay!

And dirt contains pure water to this day.

How can that drop of water leave the slime,

Regain the luster of its former time?

All things can rise back to the light above;

They need only a ray of sun or love!

My family's probably going to get really annoyed with me over Thanksgiving break because I'm going to be reciting this poem, along with Victor Hugo's life story, at every free moment. Our presentations have to be entirely spoken in French and completely memorized. That's a lot of work and effort I'm not normally willing to put into a school project. Bah! 

moab!

I don't want to update but Werner won't gtfo my back. I hate you.

Bottom Joe, Coco, Dirty Dan and I on top of a rock.

So Corinne, Dirty, Bottom, Werner and I went to Moab for the weekend to see some of Coco's family. It was preeeeeetty fun. We went on a hike through Arches National Park on Saturday morning, then followed it up with some sand sledding and Subway lunches. We had dinner at a place called Pasta Jay's then saw Megamind for the second time, which I slept through.. (y) We went to church the next morning, then finished our trip by going on an offroading adventure through the mountains in a Hummer.

Dirty, Coco and I under the Surprise Arch.

Scott scored my team a point Friday night! Then Corinne and I decided to overrule Werner and count my two missing points from the Halloween party since his rules weren't made until after I had scored. And because they were made out of jealousy and anger, making them unfair. Just for records' sake, here are the current standings:

First place: Bottom Joe and John (24)

Second place: Sam and Scott (22)

Third place: Dirty Dan and Ryan (17)

Tied for fourth: Corinne and Werner/Chase and Keaton (16)

In other exciting news, the first part of the Deathly Hallows comes out this week. I ordered tickets for the midnight premiere this morning for Corinne, Dirty, Bottom, Ryan and myself. Corinne, Dirty, Zack and I are also going to go to a free showing on Saturday at 7:35pm that's being put on by HRE. I'm pretty pumped for both shows. Even if the movie sucks the first time around, you can't beat free tickets. Plus I'll probably be hellacious amounts of tired Thursday night and won't be as alert for the premiere as I should be, so seeing it on Saturday will make up for whatever I missed.

tuesday funday!

O HOHOHOHOHO

Just wanted to start things off right by showing you my face. ;) Today was a good day. I'm not sick anymore, I didn't fail my written French midterm, and Corinne and I saw Reel Big Fish!

Corinne bought us some crazy expensive tickets to see Reel Big Fish so I couldn't not go! It was just going to be the two of us and her friend Jordan escorting us cause In the Venue is near the ghetto part of town, but we ended up taking quite the party. Dirty, Jobey-Wan Kenobi, White Chase, Corinne and I went in one car and we got Matt and Rosie to come too. Emily and the Keep were there too, but no one likes them so it doesn't matter. Koo Koo Kanga Roo played first and were actually really funny to watch.  You can download all of their songs for free on their website. Definitely listen to Cody the Coyote, What's That You Say?, and Rollin' in the Minivan. Hahaha.


Cody the Coyote


Rollin' in the Minivan


What's That You Say?

Suburban Legends played next. They were good and dancey and started the skank pits. Next up were The Aquabats. They also put on a really good show. I was so happy that they played Pool Party before bouncing. I loved that song back in middle school or so and its still the only song I know by them. But I'll probably be downloading their albums. They just came out with a new EP that has three whole songs on it if anyone is interested. ;) Then came the night's main attraction: Reel Big Fish! They were really brilliant. I only know 3, maybe 4 of their songs, but it was exciting nonetheless. White and Dirty accused me of being a party pooper cause I didn't dance for the majority of the night. I just don't feel comfortable when I dance to songs I don't know. I danced to Pool Party and the RBF songs I know! Jerks. Anyway, it was fun. Third time seeing RBF but definitely topped the other times. Warped shows never compare to actual tour shows.

Corinne's birthday is coming up soon (November 28). So we were talking about it and what I should get her for a present. It got me thinking about what I want to do for my birthday, even though it isn't until the middle of March. We're going to try to get a group of people together to see the Jazz vs. Nuggets game on March 3rd. It would be a total success if we weren't going for the classy $150+ seats in the lower levels. So far Corinne, Bottom Joe, and I are the only ones willing to put down so much money. Oh and Emily Muhoberac, my lovely friend from Branson, said she'd fly out to see the game with us! I'm willing to buy her game ticket if she gets the plane ticket. :) I'm exciiiited! I have to spend the next 5 months learning everything about basketball that I can so that I'm not dropping mega cash for nothing.

Also, note that two teams have increased by one point. Corinne got a point this morning and Keaton apparently got one while we were at the concert. I'm proud. If only Werner and White Chase had game like their teammates.

spring 2011 schedule

I'm trying to figure out what classes I want to take next semester. So far my schedule is looking like this:

• 8:35-9:25 History 1700 - American Civilization (3 credits) MWF
• 9:40-10:30 French 102 - Beginning French II (4 credits) MTWH
• 10:45-12:05 Biology 1006 - World of Dinosaurs (3 credits) TH
• 10:45-11:35 CLCV 1550 - Classical Mythology (3 credits) MWF
• 6:00-10:00pm Film 3120 - History of Film II (4 credits) T

17 credit hours? I may be killing myself.. but it sounds fun to me. And it won't interfere with my work schedule except for the film class. But hopefully it won't matter if I'm a few minutes late to class each week.

standings

I added a new heading on the right side of the page called "Standings" 

Basically, it's so that everyone can keep up with the competition that's going down in the dorms to see who can make out with the most people before the end of the school year. Rules were instated on Sunday because Werner is a sore loser and didn't like my methods of getting to the top.

1. The make-out session must be longer than 10 seconds.
2. Each person is limited to 3 make-outs per night.

The first was created because I made out with two people for less than 10 seconds and Werner's doesn't think they should count. The second was also made for me, because I made out with 5 people Saturday night and Werner's jealous that he didn't get any. If you noticed that there are two numbers beside my name, it's because everyone thinks I should only get 2 points from Saturday (bringing my score to 18) while my actual count is at 20. I'm going to go by the bigger number because it makes me sound like a winner (or a slut, I'm fine with either title). 

Upcoming events:

• 11/3 - Doctor's appointment after work, Inception or Toy Story 3 at 7 in Sugarhouse
• 11/4 - French quiz at 10:45, Advisor meeting at 1:30
• 11/5 - Megamind premier.. Corinne and I totally want to go.
• 11/9 - Reel Big Fish concert with Corinne