The Story
We always knew that my great (great?) uncle was on the Titanic. My grandmother (and my mother) always told us about how he survived by dressing up as a woman and sneaking on a lifeboat. Not honorable but hey, he was third class, he wouldn't have survived anyway. And that sums up my grandmother's side of the family.
Anyway. Back when the Ellis Island website first became searchable and the manifest of the Titanic was not searchable, my mom spent a week searching for him. She found him on the Carpathia as one of the survivors. She couldn't find him at Ellis Island but when she finally figured out that someone dated all the papers three months ahead, she found him there.
But he was never on the official list of Titanic survivors. She searched and searched and looked and looked. She told me about how she started looking for him as a little girl but could never find him.
Well Titanic was on last night and I thought, hey, let's just try to look for him. And I went on Encyclopedia Titanica and looked at every page. No Philip Zennie on the lifeboats, no Philip Zennie in third, second or first class. I called my mom and told her that Titanic had inspired me to find him and we looked together. I got really excited because the site had biographies for every survivor. But we still couldn't find him. I sorted the survivors by age.
This is why we can't have nice things
GTA IV has gotten to that point of no return that all GTA games eventually reach: Rachel can't beat this goddamn mission and therefore will never get any farther in this game ever. Many controllers were slammed around and curses were shouted. Then I looked at gamefaqs and it just said shoot the guys. I CANNOT SHOOT THEM, I AM DEAD. BUT THANK YOU, STUPID WALKTHROUGH MAN.
So I am watching Titanic. I hate this movie. Ugh. Time to change the channel. Okay, I guess I will watch Love Sick: Secrets of a Sex Addict. Oh, Lifetime. Why do you make me watch these terrible, terrible movies?
Trapped in the Closet
Now I know this is OFN (and I'm behind by two years) but did you know that there are now TWENTY-TWO CHAPTERS of Trapped in the Closet?
And that you can watch all of them online at (for some crazy reason) ifc.com?
And did you know that if you get confused, there's a character map?
I didn't know. And my life was forever changed.
I was watching from chapter 11 on but decided to start all over again because it was just so good the first five times.
Sorry, guys. I was just happy this said I wasn't from Michigan. Eat that, stupid friends!
What American accent do you have?
Your Result: The Midland
"You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
So. Season finales for shows this season? Kind of very lame.
The season finale of Bones is stricken from my world. Like the last Harry Potter book, it never happened.
And House? Really? I didn't like her but...really?
The Office was better than the last couple episodes. But Jim and Pam were supposed to get engaged! I was upset. Until the very end.
Anyway, lame.
I am ill and hoping to recover tomorrow so I can go to work but I am feeling completely awful. I am going to have to go to work and just be useless I guess.
I want a milkshake.
Bleh.
I love you all.
P.S. IRL, life has been lame. Father of kid who used to work with us died. Father of blogger I like is really sick. Laura is gone and I really need her.
P.P.S Oh and I am a bridesmaid now. Which is not lame but awesome. Pumped, I am.
Totally jaded now though because those signs? Behind him? The handwritten ones like Women for Obama? Plants. The dude handed them out like an hour before Obama came out. And showed them how to cheer etc.
I am watching TiVo'd episodes of CSI. First episode I watched had Mini Brittney on it. Awesome. She actually got brought up too so it was like she was in the episode. Second episode? Adam and Jamie from the Mythbusters. No mention. No lines. Just thumbs up. It was weird.
so, i've lost faith in humanity. and men. and teachers.
adults are no more intelligent than kids. in fact, less so. and they think they know everything, which makes it worse.
it's always nice, too, when people lie to you. or when they use you. or when they cheat on their gfs.
oh, hospitals are also very fun places. spend time there. you'll love the smell of your clothes when you leave. also, keeping things from people because they're sick is a good way to handle things. now you know.
being behind in school is also a grade A way to handle things. just let it not happen all day, and it won't get done tmro either.
Looking at cars as ours is dying/dead. I found one I really want. They say it runs fine, it just doesn't reverse. How much do you need reverse anyway? Just park where you don't have to back up.
So if you guys find/see/hear of any cheap cars... let me know.
When Hannah and I went to see Don Quixote, we thought during the entire ballet that this one woman was this other chick's mother. But then she suddenly marries/hooks up with this creepy guy. And she is apparently other chick's really old and ugly sister.
being told that i am too creative will never end, but i've realised that it's okay.
for one, the greatest artists in history have gone against the grain and were rejected for it.
examples:
Pablo Picasso
Jacques Louis David
Theodore Gericault
Alfred Jarry
Benjamin Franklin (though not a fine artist, a rejector nonetheless)
i don't pretend to be nearly as great as any of these people, and though there are failures among the greats, i will find something else to do if i fail.
For instance, my teacher does not have her name in lights, nor won an academy award. She is a teacher at columbia college. and she has to steal shows from seniors when she wants to do them, because she is no great human, even in chicago.
besides this, i refuse to misrepresent myself as an artist. i have been told to never lie and never to give the impression that i can do something i cannot. so why would my portfolio, as she says, present me in that way.
so for portfolio day, i will copy pictures of statues and old photographs. i will take tracing paper and trace them all, leaving the photocopied images in behind them. i will present them for my A, and not allow her to see my portfolio.
if she fails me, i will go to the dean and protest my failing the class based on too much creativity.
after all, i chose a school with the motto, "CREATE CHANGE".
Hey remember when I was all "no more writing papers at the last minute and no more staying up until 6 am"?
Well here I am writing a paper. I am trying to wrap it up as much as I can as I have a little time to work on it tomorrow and am pretty tired and sick of it already.
"I used to think the world was broken down by tribes. By black and white. By Indian and white. But I know that isn't true. The world is only broken into two tribes: The people who are assholes and the people who are not."
Anyone else know how angry I am at myself that I did not see this man speak when I had the chance? I am quite upset. He best not keel over before I see him.
Also, how upset am I that I did not go to U of Chicago? Look at this essay prompt: "Don't play what's there, play what's not there." -- Miles Davis (1926-91)
And this one: Chicago professor W. J. T. Mitchell entitled his 2005 book "What Do Pictures Want?" Describe a picture and explore what it wants.
And my favorite: Modern improvisational comedy had its start with The Compass Players, a group of University of Chicago students, who later formed the Second City comedy troupe. Here is a chance to play along. Improvise a story, essay, or script that meets all of the following requirements:
* It must include the line "And yes I said yes I will Yes" (Ulysses, by James Joyce).
* Its characters may not have superpowers.
* Your work has to mention the University of Chicago, but please, no accounts of a high school student applying to the University–this is fiction, not autobiography.
* Your work must include at least four of the following elements:
o a paper airplane
o a transformation
o a shoe
o the invisible hand
o two doors
o pointillism
o a fanciful explanation of the Pythagorean Theorem
o a ventriloquist or ventriloquism
o the Periodic Table of the Elements
o the concept of jeong
o number two pencils
STRESS CHECK
One paper due Tuesday. Exam for same class on Tuesday. Currently have a D+ in this class. Thank goodness I can write it in English.
One paper due on Friday. Tons of questions also due on Friday. Currently have a C in this class. Oh PS this is the one in French.
One paper was due last Friday. I stayed up all night writing it. Got maybe two hours of sleep. I do not want to do that again but here I am, not writing any papers.
Two exams next week.
Laura's birthday on Thursday. The What's Morally Wrong with Homosexuality guy is coming on Wednesday. I would like to get these things done ahead of time but I just wasted all my weekend.
"The college recognizes academic freedom certainly in the classroom," [Balog] said. "But even in the classroom, professors are not supposed to use their activities as a way to attack beliefs of the church."
"The programming board had been actively advertising since January and they canceled the morning of the event. It was very disrespectful to Corvino, and to the students that wanted to hear him speak," said junior Bev Pels, 21.
"I think they're not bringing him because there's so much outside pressure. It's not that the administration is homophobic, but the policy appears to be that way and it's alienating to students."
She said organizers are hoping to find a new, off-campus venue that can seat up to 70 people. Corvino has offered to speak for free.
I used to be so proud of my school...
They canceled the speaker. Here is what they said:
"This morning, I met with members of the Programming Board, staff, members from Campus Life, and other students to discuss the establishment of a policy regarding events on campus that might conflict with Catholic Moral Teaching. We agreed that discussion of important issues is something we should encourage as a college and especially as part of our efforts to continue and extend the Catholic intellectual tradition. A committee representing the several constituencies of the campus will be assembled to develop a policy regarding these issues. This policy will be designed to provide guidelines for speakers and activities, including performances of various descriptions. Absent such a policy at the moment and given the amount of time it will take to develop one, I have decided that the appearance of Dr. Corvino, which had been tentatively rescheduled for later this month, will be canceled.
Last Thursday, an advocate for gay rights was going to speak at Aquinas. His lecture was called "What's Morally Wrong with Homosexuality?" So I thought, awesome, maybe this will start a discussion...I am so glad my Catholic school is not as Catholic as it seems. Well even though the event had been well-publicized and the club on campus that brought him in had emailed professors to tell/warn them about it, the speaker was canceled at the last minute.
Instead of the speaker, a bunch of students met in The Moose (the coffeehouse on campus) to discuss the reason for its cancellation. It was revealed that the speaker was canceled because it was necessary to present "the Catholic view" of whatever he was going to say. Needless to say, people were pissed.
So all of the people who had thoughts on the event and its subsequent cancellation were invited to the Student Senate meeting today. It was pretty exciting. Most people broke their issues down to the fact that it was canceled so suddenly that it was rude to the speaker and to us.
Then the president of the college showed up and told us that in the bylaws of the blah blah there is something that says all teachings at AQ need to be according to the Catholic belief system. So we all threw a fit. Since it's technically a student-led, student-planned, student-funded event and one of our school things is diversity, we thought it was okay.
Well anyway. It sounded like his hands were tied by donors and by the group that I have learned to hate this year: THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. I seriously am not liking this whole Catholic thing. First I had my theology class that taught me that sometimes you stay in a marriage because the other person needs you (and the whole no divorce thing) not because you love them. And now there's this whole if we weren't a Catholic institution it would be totally cool but since I'm seeing the pope when he's in the country and we have CATHOLIC written all over us, we can't be open to others.
So yeah.
I have decided that I am going to be on Senate next year. I'll probably try to be a rep for history club or something but the meeting was just so awesome today that I want to get involved somehow.
I have two papers due the week after next week. One in French (6-8 pages) and one that was going to be in French but thankfully is in English (6-? pages). I kind of want to get them started/done beforehand because I am going away next weekend but I don't know if that's going to happen.
Our French class is having dinner at our prof's house on Friday. That's going to be exciting. He was apparently pretty pumped about it today in class.
There was an incident on campus last week and I am going to the Student Senate meeting tomorrow to talk about it. I will tell you more about it later, Nick wants to hang out for a bit.
Last week's John Adams recap
I am a week behind in John Adams episodes so tonight I'll talk about last week's episode. I was going to talk about this week's episode too but Nick doesn't want to watch another one and I should take a shower anyway. (this is long so I cut it to be nice to you guys)
On the episode from two weeks ago, poor John went to France and screwed everything up because he didn't know how to deal with the French. Franklin was a playa and John sent J Quince off with some creepy guy to Russia. The episode ended with John being in the giant Rembrandt painting that was The Netherlands of the 18th century and being very ill. On the homefront, Abby infected everyone with smallpox (some might say...inoculated against smallpox) so they wouldn't die. Everyone got really sick. Will Abigail be pissed when John returns without a son? Will John ever go home? Why is Benny Franks so popular with the French? Was that creepy guy a child molester? We find out on last week's episode of JOHN ADAMS. Read more..
