Hey Jose!

Yes, that was a shout out to Jose. Why? He came home teaching AND complemented my blog all in one evening.

I register for spring quarter in 6 hours. Why is it that all the classes I want to take are at 1130 or 130 and nowhere before, after, or in between? You'd think at a ginormous (did you know that's actually a word?) school with thousands of classes I would be able to find 3 courses that interest me and aren't all at the same time. I suppose I should look harder...and go to bed so I don't sleep through my registration time (again).

Eternal Flame

Tonight I nearly laughed myself to tears. FHE was awesome. Great job U3. Let us hope there is a 2nd annual triward film festival. click

Breaking Habits

I have a bad habit. That's right, just one. I bite my nails. A lot. I've been doing it for my entire life. I don't even notice when I'm biting them half the time, it's just what I do. I've gone 3 days without chewing my nails, and it's been difficult. There have been slip ups and a few internal battles- me sitting there staring at my hands thinking "don't. don't do it." "but what's the big deal? they're just nails! and I want to!" "no. stop. don't!" - you get the idea.

But it is kind of a big deal. I can't tell you how many times my mom, sisters, and Sarah Hammond have told me stop biting my nails to no avail- and how much it annoyed me every time they did. So, congrats to all those who I've annoyed over the years with my bad-nail-biting-habit. I'm trying.

Hot Town Summer in the City

I stayed up ridiculously late last night. It was even late for me- I woke up not long ago. Here's what I learned: I become even more uncoordinated after 3am. I fell twice.

BUT- our summer party was great! Hot dogs, s'mores, friends, competitive card games, and people I didn't even know. We had quite the mix of people show up.

College

Dirty Danny was a handsome boy...from far away.

This is how the folk tale begins that my group and I are writing for our Scandinavian Children's Lit class. The other main character is Cleanly Lenny- Dirty Danny's only friend. After Danny's stench kills all the flowers at Lenny's house (Lenny's parents are florists) Danny is exiled, but his dear friend Lenny goes with him. They take a journey and meet 3 trolls along the way who each point out a different aspect of Dirty Danny's unhygienic-ness and by the end of the journey Danny is no longer dirty! He then returns to the village and Danny is un-shunned. At least, that's how I think it all happens- we haven't actually written it yet.

I love college.

Yo Quiero Taco Bell

I got on the bus and what did I see?

A dog named Diva staring back at me!

(no joke- this dog was on my bus and its name is Diva...at least that's what I gathered)

Day Off

I got a pedicure! And as always it was an adventure. First, I asked Sarah to pick out my nail color- she chose purple- I actually like it. And then there was a misunderstanding. Quite literally. English was not the first language of the lady giving me the pedicure. I have this fear that I won't be able to understand people with accents and today it was justified. The woman asked me a question and I had no idea what she said. "What?" I asked. She repeated her question. After seeing my look of confusion she inquired again. Still no response. She asked again. At this point I was making noises such as uh..wh...umm...nn..y...uh.....sorry. And Sarah just sat there determined not to look my way or help out at all. I felt like a fool. And I still feel terrible that I couldn't understand.

Sleep

I am not a fan of 9am church. I'm not a morning person. But what I really dislike is that I end up taking an afternoon "nap" because I'm so stinkin' tired by 2pm. I fell asleep today for 3 whole hours. It will be hard to fall asleep tonight. But I did have awesome dreams about people disliking me and hunting cows. Very weird.

Two weeks in Seven pictures

FHE 1:

Cool group's fort

inside!

FHE 2: Yes, the FHE of the projector drama.

Stephen can calculate any equation but doesn't know what a car looks like

Rachel and me - grateful our activity went well!

some lovely ladies of U2 building their magic carpet

Sweet Meet:

I bet you didn't you know I dance...I think this is some interpretive dance during a slow song...yeah.

Babysitting: How I spent Valentine's Day (well, part of it)

Addy! One of the 4. (sorry for the low quality of the camera phone)

Accepted

Good news everyone! I received an email from the UCLA Program in Indo-European Studies and I've been accepted! I can start the grad program next school year! AND they're going to fly me down to LA for free to experience the college atmosphere before making my decision!


wait....what? I didn't apply to this! I won't even be done with my undergrad by the beginning of next school year! Do I even want to go to grad school? Maybe it was sent to the wrong email address...

The Furnace

I'm in MGH and it is always toasty in here...at least at the Mac end. But today it has the added bonus of smelling like Lipton chicken noodle soup. Seriously. It's taking me back to my childhood- back in the days when all I worried about was whether to ride my bike through the neighborhood or take a hike in the forest, I was guaranteed a lift to and from school (even if I missed the bus), I was fed real meals, the greatest dog in the world -Shadow- was still alive, and I slept for 10 hours a night. Would I rather be there or here? (thinking...thinking...thinking...) I'd rather be here. Surprised? Me too.

P.S. I've been listening to Pomplamoose while writing this post. I love them! (thank you Sarah for introducing me to them)

It's official!

It's actually going to happen people!  I just turned in my contract...I'm really going to Paris!!!

In other news- I subscribed to a new podcast last night "The best of youtube".  Here's the first video I watched...I almost want care about fantasy football.

My favorite is when he rings the church bells a minute too early.

COME ON!

Really people? Really? Did no one notice that I had "occurrances" spelled wrong on my blog title for the entire time it's existed? Or did you notice and just not tell me? It should be "occurEnces". With an E. You were all just laughing behind my back weren't you? Oh man! Charity Johnson is SUCH an idiot. You'd think she would double check her spelling before putting it on the internet for people to see? Yeah, well...you would think that.


Enough of that. Needless to say, I am a bit of an idiot sometimes...I mean it only took me a few months to realize my mistake and I'm guessing I look at this blog more than anyone.

Breathing

I forgot how allergic I am to cats. After less than one hour within the confines of a feline-infested dwelling my airways started closing off. I went outside and waited to go home. I LOVE fresh air. But I was still wheezing. Then I got home and remembered the magic that is an inhaler. Magic I tell you. A couple puffs and I could feel it working right away. The only medicine I've used that has nearly instant results. And now 2 hours later I'm completely back to normal. Alleluia!

Tagged

So I've been tagged a few times on Facebook to write 25 random facts about myself, but I don't feel like forcing anyone else to do the same by tagging them (because obviously being tagged in a "25 random facts" note is a binding contract requiring said tag-ee to write one himself). So here's my list:

1. I never set my alarm clock to a time that ends in 5 or 0
2. I like Sci-Fi
3. I eat an apple a day



4. I did gymnastics for 9 years
5. I named a stuffed animal Octavian
6. I like to read
7. I have a homework schedule



8. I play Scrabble online
9. I love ice cream- rocky road is my favorite
10. I sleep with one of those curvy, foam pillows (and I no longer wake up with headaches)
11. My favorite college classes thus far have been European Witch Trials and Holocaust History


12. I'm not looking forward to graduation- I have no idea what to do after college!
13. I was scared of the IMA until this year.
14. The only famous person I've met is Kerri Strug (1996 Olympic Gold Medalist in gymnastics)
15. I played racquetball for the first time last week and loved it (thank you Chris!)
16. The best part of high school was volleyball


17. I've fallen in public more times than I can count
18. I've seen orca whales while kayaking
19. I was called Charity-Ann-Kid as a child (and another name that still angers me)
20. I've given someone a bloody nose
21. My family calls me Chew



22. I taught myself how to play the guitar
23. I enjoy community and non-community(?) theater (thanks to my mom's budding career as an actress)
24. I bite my nails...
25. I'm SUPER excited to be an aunt!!!!

P.S. Heroes starts up again tomorrow (Monday Feb 2). Watch it. 9pm on nbc...and go to FHE