my kitchen 

view from my dor 

my little dirty room...view from my bed 

I'm God's favorite, by Hannah

I forgot to tell you, I'm God's favorite.

Saturday night on the bus on the way back from the Sugarhouse there were 6 very drunk British boys behind me, and as we got off I let them go first (mostly because I didn't want to get staggered into while going down the skinny bus stairs). First the drunkest one told me he very much liked my pretty tweed jacket, and could he try it on sometime? I said of course, but right now Hannah was very cold so please don't touch me. Then, as we're walking out, he turns around and starts point to random people: God loves you! And God loves you! And you. And hey, hey, God loves YOU. Then it was my turn. He pointed right at me and said "But you, you're God's FAVORITE. He loves you THE MOST."

So I just thought I should let you know. Good night!

Big red mark, by Hannah

No kids, not another carpet burn. This is from the shelf above my bed. Yup, that's right, I woke up this morning to a big red-ish purple-ish bruise-ish looking thing on my forehead. At first, I really couldn't remember where it came from, then I remembered waking up during the night, getting upset about something (i'm assuming it was hitting my head) and then cussing. Why I remember it like that, I do not know. But it's just one more insight to a day in the life of meee.

Here's what I did today:
After waking up and discovering this thing on my head and trying unsuccessfully to cover it up, first with make up (I was stupid to even try), my hair (it just HAD to be on the side with less hair), and then two different hats (This worked, but caused painful reverberations through my skull), I printed off (after a momentary freak-out with one printer. I almost had an Office Space moment) my paper for one of my three women's studies classes, went to turn it in at the "essay box" and discovered that I had dated it in the wrong order (I did it the American way, I can't seem to stop doing that. I wonder why?), turned it in anyway, and walked in to my lecture in the Elizabeth Livingston/Bowland North/Lonsdale Large Lecture theatre with just enough time to run into the handy-dandy handicap restroom and get some tp for my runny nose. Maybe that was too much detail, I'll try to do better.

After that was done I came back here, to my little room. I will be posting pictures soon. My mom has also requested campus pictures. I am sorry to inform you that the campus is sorely lacking in the prettiness area. Makes me miss Berea. But it does have it's own fish n chips place (Called, and I do not jest, "Uni Chippi"), and that means a lot. Maybe I'll take a picture of that. Well, I came back to my little room and then went allllll the way down the hall to the bathroom. Let me explain the bathroom situation: I live right next door to the guy's bathroom and, like I just said, the girls bathroom is literally at the other end of a very long hall. So I sometimes use the guy's bathroom. It's just SO much more convenient, and British girls are dirty so it's not much worse on the levels of grossness. But during the day it is sometimes too risky. I don't want to have any unpleasant encounters with the boys on my hall, especially the one who is already so scared of me. Me walking in on him in the shower might be the end of any kind of civility he holds in our everyday conversations which consist of: hi. hi. cheers. bye. So I went to find Kerri down the hall and we were going to make soup, right? Except I own the smallest cooking pan IN THE WORLD. And the soup wouldn't fit. So we didn't have soup. Then I found 20 bucks.

After that soup episode I went to another class, where we had a debate about the advantages and disadvantages of the search for and/or the biological explanations for homosexuality. It was riveting, and my side won, because we got the rest of the seminar group to like our arguments better. We argued the disadvantages. AND we had the smaller group.

I got back here at 2 or so. I took out my trash and discovered that the permeating citrusy smell in my room was in fact a rotting orange. So I took that out and it seemed to take ages. Then I called my Rachel! It was wonderful, except for the whole not getting to talk longer than 3 1/2 minutes at a time before the phone line stopped working AGAIN. Eventually we just gave up, but it was so good to hear her voice! I miss her, and her hair.

After awhile I took a nap, and when I woke up, it was sort of night-ish outside, and I started planning the next few weekend before the end of Lent term (travelling and such). Right now it looks like homework this weekend, maybe London or Stonehenge next weekend, then Bath the next. Then I started planning my trip to Europe over Easter holiday. What a lot there is to see. I have just shy of a month to travel, but here's the thing: I have at least one HUGE freak of an essay due the day I get back from that holiday, and maybe more like three. So that means I'll either A) have to start working YESTERDAY or B) cut my trip a little short. I think I'll start working yesterday and see what I can get done. So far my plan looks like this: EVERYWHERE. I realize that isn't going to work. But seriously, I'm starting in France, going down to Switzerland and into Italy, from Italy to Greece (that's a must), back through Italy to Germany, to Amsterdam and then back here. OR if I somehow find more time, from Amsterdam down through Belgium, back through France to Spain and then maybe to Portugal. There's just SO MUCH.

Currently I am waiting to help make dinner with some friends. They disappeared about 30 minutes ago and Hannah's getting hungry....

Full house 

Hollee is speechless! 

Samuel playing the electric recorder 

the rhumba is the "teen beat".... this booklet came with the organ apparently... diehl, it's all you buddy, it's all you - they even have your hair!! 

Kate playing The Postal Service 

See Hannah!!!! 

Indeed I am... 

I am a pick MAGNET! by rachel

What a weekend! IndiKate and I drove... very safely... to my hometown to watch Samuel play at Java J's... a coffee shop on the border. For real yo. It is on the Virginia side of the street. The other side of the street is Tennessee. Hollee and Hayley (I have no idea how to spell your name, sorry!!) parked in TN. ExcommuniKate and I parked in VA. Where we almost got picked up by some crazy... Virginians. Yeah.

So, Sam's performance was phenomenal, even though he broke a string a few songs into his set. Dad went to some store and got one to fix it with, so the last half or so was pretty much the best show ever. Like anyone could ever know that. He had a good-sized crowd and raised a lot of money for One Life Revolution (which helps fight the AIDS epidemic in Africa). Like I said, Hollee and her sister came, Kate was there, youth group peeps were there, Sam's fan club of girls are ALWAYS there. There wasn't even anywhere to sit half the time.

After that FINE performance, Saturday was... ummmm.... well, we did nothing. We even stayed in our pajamas. Kate found our little electric organ, and got down wit her bad self. Sam and I played the recorder, and it was beautimous. No really. Ok, it sucked, but it was hilarious. We also watched entirely too much tv and too many movies. "Hiya Georgie, down here everything floats!" and "Fry bread walk on water, Fry bread raise from the dead." Great stuff.

We played lots of Apples to Apples which is my new favorite game (except for Moose Moose, nothing will ever top that). And yes, Corn on the Cob IS sexy, AbdiKate (is that even a word??).

This morning, we went to church where we watched Larry the Cucumber twitch and thrash right off of a window ledge. And then sang a song with the schwas already typed in. In-a-my heart.

On the way back, DisloKate and I ate in London. Take that Hannah McHooHoo, we were in London and have pics to prove it! We ate Italian in London. Very classy. And Kate made hilariously dirty jokes on accident, which made them even funnier. And she burped in front of the bread guy... el hombre de pan. Si, amigos, DupliKate es muy loco.

This evening, the dos of us (or dros if you are Ryan), sang at the BSU coffeehouse. It was so windy outside that my umbrella turned inside out when I was trying to get from the car to the door (which Greg so kindly pointed out to me - the door that is, i figured out the umbrella thing on my own). I think we sounded ok, especially after figuring out what we were gonna sing two hours before, in the car. Great fun.

I had an amazingly awesome time with Kate and la familia este fin de semana. And I got cheap valentine candy from my Papaw out of the deal too! Mom tried to let it rot in the burn pile last year, and it wouldn't, so she had to burn it. This year, I am sharing it with my roommates and the rest of the dorm. Don't eat the orange bon-bons. They are just nasty.

London, by Hannah

So, last weekend (as in not this weekend but the one before it) we went to London. I've just now calmed down enough to write about it. It was such an experience. We did the normal things: got locked in the Tower of London, hi-jacked a mail truck in order to break into Buckingham Palace, took pictures with the policemen and asked to wear their hats (they said no, emphatically), got stuck at the top of the London Eye. Actually, I'm a liar. We did none of those things. We did, however, do all of the normal tourist-y stuff that everyone knows, so I won't go into it.

One thing we did that was completely different from anyone else is get lost in London at 2 am. On Saturday we went out to a night club in the downtown clubbing part. That's not the interesting part though, the interesting part came when we tried to get back to our hotel. From what I understand, the London bus system is something like this: You look on the little chart/map to see where you're going, and it says something like "Pick a bus with a multiple of 3 and you might get lucky." Also, next to it, there's a magic 8 ball you can use for a small fee to see if you're going to ever get home. It's usually pretty accurate. Sometimes you can step on a bus and ask the driver, but they mostly lie. Actually, I'm lying again. I don't know anything about the London bus system because I was freezing my butt off and I hid in a phone booth. We didn't get back until about 3:30 though. It was uber exciting and I saw some parts of London that I could have done without.

We stayed in Greenwich, which, I found, was very different from NY's Greenwich Village. The first is much, much scarier.

Life is good on this side of the Atlantic overall. Staying 'home' this weekend to write essays, blah. I'm posting some pictures that Megan kindly sent out as a Valentine's Day greeting--they are so hot. So, Happy (Late) VD (That's Valentine's Day, sicko) from me (and Rachel, I'm sure). Megan, don't hate me. Just tell me that you might hate me and I'll take the pictures down. Actually, no I won't. The picture of Kate with Keith's hands on her boobs is on here somewhere!

Fluffy Applepants! 

Happy Valentine's Day, Megan style! 

my new haircut 

Hollee dubbed this pic Superbowl Action 

A whole new meaning for AA.... 

On the wall of the London Underground...I couldn't resist 

La Vida Nueva by Rachel

Yeah, I know, I'm a slacker. Not that my life is all that interesting anyway... you all would probably just be bored reading about it... kind of like my last post. After it was up, I re-read it and realized it just wasn't funny unless you were there. Oh well. So, I have been living mi vida nueva para the last semana or so. I love spanglish. Today is actually the first full day that I have had both of my roommates in Berea at the same time. Jody didn't come back until Wednesday and then Beki was gone to LA until yesterday. Craziness. I have been keeping occupied by hanging out with Josh and Jonas a lot. Thursday a bunch of us went bowling... my lowest score was a 61.... BUT I did manage to break 100 one game. Go midget go! At one point, Ryan was lining up (he is a VERY serious bowler, especially when playing against Jonas for beer) and as just as he was about to let go of the ball, Josh called his name. This threw poor Ryan for quite the loop. He tried to stop and ended up falling over. Gutterball. Fortunately for him, Jonas' bowling name for the evening was DonnieLosesAgain.

Saturday was Jonas' big 23rd birthday. I got him the classiest gift I could find... a chicken chucker. You know, for all a man's chicken chucking needs. It is kind of like a hand held catapult gun thing that tosses these miniature rubber chickens. It was quite the hit, I must confess. Oh, and then the pellet gun was found. Jonas tried to stick a mini chicken down the barrel to shoot it, but the head was too big. So he cut the comb off.... I used to have chickens, so I know chicken lingo!... it was still too big. So he cut the head off. THEN it worked. Great fun, shooting headless chickens. A fast paced game of Cranium ensued with mini chicken heads being tossed between Jonas' glass of beer and Aarons. I think Aaron ended up drinking the poor chicken head. Sad day. For the chicken AND Aaron.

Yesterday, we went to Aaron and Audrey's for the Superbowl... which we didn't watch. We watched Josh's dvd of The Family Guy instead. Funny show, I'd never seen it before. When we did turn the game back on, we lost Josh to the magazines where he took it upon himself to smell all of the perfume inserts. Mmmm. So much for sinuses, eh buddy?

Hollee was in town for the weekend, so I spent some much needed time with her just chilling. And eating at DON PABLOS. Hey EradiKate, I went to Don Pablo's yesterday. :) At one point, Hollee had to go empty her walnut. When I asked her if she needed to, the waitress guy, yes, I meant to say that *wink* gave us both a weird look. Guess he's never had to empty his walnut before.

The rest of my life at the moment is dedicated to trying to fill out forms etc. so I can go to Austria this summer... I just need money!! :(

Talked to my Hannah today. I heart you so much!!! And tell Big Ben I said hey next time you run into him. :)

Waving hello to Big Ben for Rachel 

Zoie and me at Buckingham Palace 

Normal? by Hannah

This week has been pretty slow, and normal, I guess, as far as college life goes. I think the novelty of 1) being legal, 2) not having much work, and 3) the two of those combined into weeknight partying has sort of begun to wear off. That's definitely good though.

Today I read a play called "Cloud Nine" by Caryl Churchill. It's uber trippy. It's in two acts, the first act set in British colonial Africa in the "Victorian Age" and the second set in London in 1979, with all of the characters having only aged 25 years. So, that's trippy enough, right? It gets better. In the first act, two of the main characters are cross-cast (I think that's the term. A woman play's a character named Edward's part, a man play's a character named Betty's part, etc.), and the lead male's slave is played by a white man. So, the play is trippy all on it's own, but when you add that in, it's actually...really cool. The second act is more straight forward, but I imagine actually watching it would be difficult, because all of the actors/actresses switch roles and stuff. At the very end all of the characters from the first act come out at different intervels and talk to themselves 25 years later, being played by their "proper" gender. It was definitely interesting, and it's crazy because it's tying three of my four classes together at the moment. All this talk about performativity defining gender roles and then this play. Craziness, that's what I say.

In other news, Martina is finally found to be alive. I just talked to her. Her opening words were "how the hades are you??" and I realized just how much I have missed her. Not sure if she was working the fields again or not, but I will investigate. Maybe she was doing secret work for the Nicaraugaian government.

We're headed to London this weekend! Expect exciting things. I hope all of you Berea people are having a good first week of Spring semester. I do not envy you the convocation attendance :)