saw your face last night on tv

today's title comes from this song:

the hall-es and i went to see paranormal activity 2 last night. it was hilariously un-scary. however, having left my license at home, i had to do a number of questionable things in order to procure a ticket. apparently some movie theaters actually care about verifying if you're over 17 or not. and of course this would happen to me after i turn 18. i'd post more details, but...well, those of you getting letters from me will see why i'm leaving the story off here. also, if you haven't already, facebook message me your home address. i have charlie brown christmas cards and they are begging to be sent out.

my halloweekend has been pretty awesome so far. like s-la, there were some boy-related (mis?)adventures and a couple of parties. lola the hall-e has been absolutely hilarious as a result of her own adventures. there's been lots of text message analyzing and gesture-dissecting going on in our hall. tonight we're taking it easy, though. hopefully we're going trick-or-treating in a few minutes, too!

...yes, that's right. i'm a college freshman and i'm going trick-or-treating. i've never missed a year and i'm not about to start now. besides, if we go early there'll still be time to party after. i'm thinking this will be my theme song today:

oh, and in case you didn't already know (you should)...

LIVERPOOL WON. the manager remains insufferable and christian motherfucking poulsen played. and, no, that's not swearing. that (should be) is his actual name. seeing as that's what anyone with, you know, eyes, screams at their tv and/or computer screens while watching his decrepit 300 year old self run aimlessly around the pitch.


here, bask in the joy with these hilarious pictures:

clearly the highlight of this game was seeing stu stu and freckles on the same screen

no reports yet on why a game of red rover broke out during the game

ehehehehe

eh. it's halloween. have another song. this one's dance-y!

pumpkins scream in the dead of night

if you don't know the song today's title comes from, you're a failure of a person. end of story. just in case, i'll post it. 

i'm dead tired right now. it's been a busy few days of adventuring. i'll post a real update tomorrow. until then, me, my kitty cat costume, and the hall-es say hi. 

oh, and i got a 250-page pack of stationery today. be on the lookout for letters soon!

same small world at your heels

today's title comes from vanderlylle crybaby geek by the national. it's awesome and you're really dumb, fo' real if you don't listen to it:

i want a schnoodle.

and now i'm going to stop procrastinating and get back to my papers. plural. at least i have the rally to restore sanity to look forward to on saturday. anyone else going?

Bonjour, bonne nuit, au revoir, salut

today's title comes from this song by stereo total. yes, it's french and about death. listen anyway - all of their music is ridiculously catchy and fun to sing along to and the only reason i didn't epically fail every french speaking exam i've ever taken.

today i went downtown with michelle and some of the other hall-es. we stopped by a dance store to pick up leg warmers and a tutu for my kitty costume. no, this was not planned. but halloween is supposed to be cold and they just looked so cute. besides, as it stood, my costume was one very tiny leotard, a tail, and cat ears and i don't really feel like subscribing to the regina george school of halloween costumes this year. while i was there, we chatted with the girl who works at the store and somehow or the other i found myself signing up for dance classes, starting next semester. i'm learning how to salsa! also, i'm taking ballet again for the first time in five years - wish me luck. i'm not even sure why. but...i'm in college. if i don't try new things (or retry old things) now, when will i, right?

on the way back, the school's alert system sent about a thousand text messages (read as: three) warning about a possible warning and telling us to take cover. the word immediately was spelled wrong. it took away a lot of the message's credibility. naturally thinking the whole thing was a joke, we took our sweet time strolling back to campus. michelle and i stopped to get frozen mochas. stella found a dollar on the sidewalk.

so, of course we return to our dorm to hear sirens and the pa system telling everyone to get inside the building in case of high winds.

we finally start panicking and run into the basement (which was horribly hot since it's where all the washers and dryers are) and stay there for a good ten minutes before we find out that the whole thing was a precaution and nothing was happening after all. because this is my life and nothing ever goes right.

in happier news, i've finally listened to taytay's new album...fifteen times. okay, that's not as excessive as it sounds. i usually listen to new albums that often just to get a feel for them. some songs need time to grow. other songs, like this one, will never, ever be okay:

yes, for some unknown reason this song was playing during bingo today. i feel unclean just from listening to it. why does this even exist?

anyway, as for tay tay:

it's a little easier to talk about what i didn't like: the story of us and innocent. the story of us just seemed silly and throw back-ish. basically, a little too much like her last album. actually, both of them did, except innocent doesn't even have the saving grace of being catchy and poppy and fun. it's just...bland. everything else is pretty awesome, though. romeo, juliet, and the scarlet letter are all spared a second appearance - thank god. better than revenge, long live, sparks fly, and never grow up are my favorites right now. never grow up is probably the only one that's going to end up being played consistently over the next few months, though. much as i thought speak now was an improvement over last year's crop of taylor-swift-earworms-on-the-radio, i've got way too much (better) new music to listen to. like the glee rocky horror soundtrack, have you watched it yet?

and since i finally worked out exactly what classes i want to take next semester (and french is definitely on the list...as is spanish, strangely enough, so expect lots of pleas for help if you speak it), i thought i'd close this off with something french - a poem, actually, and one of the few french ones i know.

Et peut-être que tout était écrit dans le livre
mais le livre s’est perdu

ou quelqu’un l’a jeté dans les ronces
sans le lire

n’importe ce qui fut écrit
demeure, même

obscur, un autre qui n’a pas vécu
tout cela

et sans connaître la langue du livre, comprendra
chaque mot

et quand il aura lu, quelque chose
de nous se lèvera

un souffle, une sorte de sourire entre les pierres. 

claude esteban 

dear mtv,

go **** yourselves for creating this abomination:



this? this is not cool. at all. even tony's bedspread is lamer than the uk version. poor skins. thank god series five of the real thing is premiering soon.

it was hot and it was summer

today's title comes from better than revenge by taylor swift. underwhelmed as i was by her last album, i'm pretty in love with this one. it's pretty amazing - and she's actually doing all her own writing. i'd post it, but it isn't on youtube yet, so listen to this instead:

i forgot to mention this album in yesterday's music post, which is strange since it's all i've been listening to at night:

it's wonderful. like rock n' roll and radio and new york city's killing me are my favorites right now, but the whole thing is great. it's a little softer than gossip in the grain, but still good.

we read this in class today, and i really liked it. also, it's been a while since i posted any poetry:

Coming by evening through the wintry city

We said that art is out of love with life.

Here we approach a love that is not pity.

This antique discipline, tenderly severe,

Renews belief in love yet masters feeling,

Asking of us a grace in what we bear.

Form is the ultimate gift that love can offer -

The vital union of necessity

With all that we desire, all that we suffer.

A too-compassionate art is half an art.

Only such proud restraining purity

Restores the else-betrayed, too-human heart.

- Adrienne Rich 

i was too depressed to blog about it at the time, but on sunday i got one of the hall-es to give my bangs an emergency trim (since they were approaching IT LOOKS LIKE YOU DON'T HAVE EYES levels of growth) and michelle (the usual trimmer) was at home. sadly, the trim turned into a massacre. my poor hair has been maimed. it's a good two inches shorter than it's supposed to be. i've been assured that it'll grow back in two weeks or so, but until then...well, i wore a hat in 78 degree weather today. and i asked the momster to drop of all my scarves and her trench coat, so i've been swanning around wearing headscarves and sunglasses and her trench coat and doing my best imitation of a fifties film star, as outlined in the plan i proposed to s-la, meggo, and jeni on oovoo sunday night.

we're doing laundry now. or, we're waiting for our laundry to finish drying so we can get to the horrible task of folding it. one of the dryers broke, like, ten minutes into us using it - which is ridiculous since they're brand new bought-in-august-you-must-buy-the-super-expensive-high-efficiency-detergent-or-else machines. but while we were loading up the other dryers with our clothes we heard a bang and then a series of thumping noises coming from it. upon investigation, one of the curvy plastic things inside it broke off and was rattling around with our clothes, so we moved them into another dryer. i pulled the liverpool jersey out, though. i decided it was an omen against drying it. fernando torres in jersey form is now drying on a hanger in front of joanna's fan.

never mind, our clothes are apparently done. au revoir.

all round the fields of anfield road

i'm cheating with today's title - it's from the fields of anfield road. that's the lost liverpool mention you'll see in this post, though, i promise.

in rachel news...life has been routine. i'm getting used to things, i guess. i'm finally done with midterms (which crushed my soul and left me unable to look at either scantrons or thesis statements the same way again). i finally figured out the real reason that freshmen aren't supposed to take 300-level english classes - it isn't that the work is hard to understand (it's not) it's that there's so much of it. four papers in two weeks. same for the iranian film seminar.

but it's over! i was like this all weekend:

i had a bio lab from nine to noon today. i was going to be sad about it, but it turns out that the professor had to leave for some family emergency or the other at the last minute and left us these as a substitute for the lab we were supposed to be doing (more dna polymerization - yuck):

also, ahahahaha at caitlin in the background

that's right - i got to play with mr. potato head for three hours!

after that, the momster and husband number three showed up for what i thought was going to be a nice, casual lunch/giving-rachel-money/distribution of presents afternoon. wrong. so wrong.

they took me to A Bank. a bank. according to them, now that i'm 18 i have to know how to use them and deposit birthday checks and withdraw my own cash and things. it was horrifying. also, apparently husbands one and two and the momster had savings accounts for me and didn't bother telling me - so there was this whole to-do where they were calling the various Financial Advisers (doesn't that just sound hideously grown up?) and sorting out authorizations and secondary account holders and other adult things like that. i am apparently about to be trusted with my first debit and credit cards since the Great Spending Fiasco of 2008. wish me luck.

the point of this story is that i had to spend two and a half hours in a bank (on a very nice, sunny afternoon no less) being lectured on financial responsibility and how they are putting me on a budget and the dangers of impulse buying and basically being reminded in every way that i'm an adult and will one day have to take care of myself and know how to do things and...

no. just no. i'm freaking out a little. the momster and husbands one through three seemed to get that since there was a general consensus that i looked panicked and so the parental units who were at the bank in person took me to party city and we got my costume (i am going to be a cat since the pre-made disney costumes are either skanky or not very nice looking. we're making better ones over the summer for next year). i was slightly comforted by assembling the pieces of it. i now have a sparkly cat ear headband (and a fluffy version lent by michelle), a leotard, tights, a giant poofy tutu/tulle skirt, cat gloves (one of the hall-es is helping me sew on rubber pads to make them into paws), and a two foot long bendy tail (being sewn onto my costume by michelle). it's going to be great. also, to bring me back from the heights of Mt. I-can't-be-an-adult-I-just-learned-how-to-do-laundry-and-can't-even-drive-that-well-and-sometimes-I-forget-things-like-what-continent-Paraguay-is-in-and-also-my-own-name, the parents let me pick out costumes for them and the dogs, too. the human half of the family is now Minnie and Mickey Mouse. the lulus are going as a banana and a cat.

to conclude this little story: i still have a terminal fear of growing up and a slightly worrying addiction for costumes. also, when these two things are combined, i can manipulate some wonderfully embarrassing halloween photos out of my parents. i really can't wait for this year's batch.

other than that, i've been catching up on my reading and replying to letters. if you sent me anything last month, look for a reply in the next week or two.

walk on, walk on

i'm separating these posts since i don't want to make all of you who aren't interested in liverpool skim your way through pages and pages of music and football soccer blogging since i haven't had a lot of blogging time lately and i've got a lot of things i want to fit in. that said, you should totally read this anyway. oh, and stay tuned for a real post soon.

...especially since this particular post is basically reduced to pointless blubbering and pointing at the screen and gibbering things with too many exclamation points and capital letters because:

WE WON. WON. WON WON WON WON WON.

and as for you, roy hodgson:

even though you are a spineless, finger-pointing, player-blaming, torres-giving, tactically inept jackass, i'm...oh, who am i kidding, one win changes nothing for you. i hope the new owners fire you before i have to return to writing protest letters.

which, by the way, we have new owners. as in, we went from this to this. oh and wayne rooney signed a new contract with manchester united to earn twice as much money for scoring the same zero goals he's had for the next five years. and that means they'll have even more debt (and we have none! none!) and less money to buy players and we can win more and fire roy and....

i've been rendered incoherent from joy. good work, liverpool. the next game is on sunday at 11 against bolton, which means all the usmnt fans can admire stu holden, too (as long as they lose - any admiration of Serious Opponents ends our friendship).

in closing:

a newly orphaned refugee

today's title should come from a very familiar source - four winds by bright eyes. it came up on shuffle late last night and once i heard it again, i couldn't stop listening. so you can listen to it again, too:

and here's the killers version, too:

this is basically a music post, since i've got another rachel post in the works. so here's what i've been listening to lately:

hands down, my favorite thing to listen to in october. it's kind of like my ultimate halloween song. well, besides this:

and here's some of the new stuff i've been listening to. it's been a while since i've posted, so a lot of this isn't new (and some of it was only ever new to me):

one of my favorites. stand out tracks? bang bang bang and the bicycle song. it's just a really fun, dance-y album.

in a word: disappointing. i don't care how much crap they spout off in interviews about "returning to [their] roots". um, this crap isn't their "roots"- it's them trying to capitalize on their sex on fire/use somebody success with a bad album that all their sheep new fans are going to buy without listening to. i'll stick to this, thank you very much:

my new workout album. it's so much fun to listen to. my favorites right now are: gordita, rabiosa, and her cover of islands by the xx. 

and just for kicks (and because i love it), here's the original:

and a couple of random songs:

we all know how i feel about covers. some of you might remember when odd blood by yeasayer came out earlier this year, and how crazy about this song and mondegreen and ambling alp and every other song by them ever i was. this is almost as good. 

i unashamedly love this cover. it's not that different from the original, but between the lack of useless synths and the changed lyrics it just feels better. 

excited as i am for the new taylor swift album (i'm listening to it right now, actually) in my head, kanye > taytay any day of the week. he can even redeem justin bieber. 

the clock is ticking forward

warning: the gifs contained in today's post make no sense. at all. proceed ogling soccer players at your own risk. consider this my little birthday present to myself.

today's title comes from bang bang bang by mark ronson. look for a music post tomorrow - i'm too tired right now. 

as you already know, i turned eighteen. it was great. i spent the weekend in a nice, drugged-up haze of sleepiness - the momster says i slept for 63 hours, i disagree - due to the doctor not bothering to look at my drug allergies and prescribing me the wrong thing. oh well. at least i'm well rested. 

the momster and husband number three repeated last year's (and the year before that and the year before that and god, i'm old now) ordeal of showing up at midnight with a cake and candles and horrifically bad singing. this time they included a pint of ben and jerry's cookie dough ice cream. that nine pounds i lost last week? yeah, don't worry, it's all going to come back. after that, i got some more sleep, woke up, and headed back to campus carrying about thirteen thousand pounds of freshly laundered fall/winter clothes. perhaps that's an exaggeration. it was really more like twelve thousand nine hundred and ninety nine pounds of clothes. these distinctions are important, you know. 

i dumped the laundry, my comforter, computer, and new prezzies - highlights include an iPad (dubbed hermione), new uggs (don't judge me, they're comfortable and my old ones never quite recovered from last year's blizzard), and the world's most wonderful coat from anthropoligie. it's red and has silk lining in the sleeves and even came with a hood. it's my favorite. i'll include pictures when i'm less sick and gross.

 

i kind of got an unexpected prezzie, too. when i checked my campus mail today, i found one expected package (a purse, courtesy of vogue/husband number three's magazine subscription contribution to the Give Rachel Free Things Fund) and one that was definitely not. specifically, an extra-small, 2010/2011 germany away jersey customized for thomas muller - which i didn't order. seeing as i've talked soccer with all of you readers, the family, and, like, a handful of people on campus, i figured that the pool of suspected senders would be easily narrowed down. however, it's been twelve hours and i still don't know who it's from. it even came with matching shorts! and the return address is from some business in china, which husband number two said meant that it probably came from ebay. not many people even know that i wanted a muller jersey. i'm very confused. do enlighten me. 

i've been highly unhealthy today. i had tomato soup and a slice of pizza - and then came cake after cake after cookie after chocolate after cake. i had to go to the gym with joanna the hall-e for a couple hours to make up for it. but it was still so worth it. michelle the hall-e made me a cake! it was chocolate with purple icing and tastes delicious. the rest of the circle k board gave me chocolate, too. sometimes predictability comes in handy - a birthday really isn't complete without heaps and heaps of junk food. i'd post pictures, but i'm too tired right now, so check facebook or tomorrow's post. 

the best prezzie by far, though was liverpool's Very Exciting News. the takeover of the club - ridding it of the disgusting parasites that more or less ran it into the ground relegation in three years and placing ownership in the hands of the same people who own the boston red sox - was approved by britain's high court yesterday. now you don't have an excuse not to watch (and i can finally order the new jersey, since i've been waiting for a new kit since fernando torres's first season). 

lauren the hall-e is even getting into the spirit. she's doing a skit for her theatre class. the script is predetermined, and somehow or other she ended up playing a man. while helping her practice her lines after bio this afternoon, we decided that she was a spanish soccer player. so now she's borrowing my fernando torres jersey and joanna's basketball shorts and calling herself antonio ban-torres. well, actually, the first name keeps changing. we've so far reject raul, sergio, and alejandro. my favorite is antonio ban-torres, though, so that's just what i'm going to call her.

after we figured that out, the mr. russell competition in our dorm started up. it was basically a bunch of guys stripping to different music for about an hour to an all-girl judging panel and audience. we actually forgot about it, but two of the hall-es were judges and rounded up the entire female half of the dorm (and kicked out all the non-competing guys) so we didn't really have a choice. it was still a hilarious way to spend the night.

random thought: did anyone catch under wraps playing on the disney channel a few days ago? i recorded it but i haven't actually seen it in years. it got me thinking (and googling) about other disney channel movies. why aren't they as good anymore? like, i watched wish upon a star a few weeks ago and it was still awesome. well, it was a little weird realizing that the older sister was played by katherine heigl sporting some serious 90s hair, but other than that i would totally watch it again.

in conclusion, landon and timmy thank you for your time:

dear all,

as you may know, my birthday is coming up very, very soon. you know what would be a great present? a new immune system. the current one sucks. pumpkin picking, which also turned into apple picking, yesterday was great. today started off great, too, until the immune system decided to die on me again. the momster tried to distract me with shopping in georgetown and cupcakes and tapas and freaking out about how old we're getting. it didn't work. i kind of want to crawl in a hole and die right now, but i'll settle for going to sleep - at nine. nine o'clock. i hate life. to everyone whose plans i've messed up - sorry. and send better my health my way.

p.s. in lieu of new white blood cells, kleenex and needle-repellent skin will do. i'm getting blood drawn tomorrow morning, and we all know how i deal with doctors.

What the fuck?

The Momster and Husband Number Three saw Lady Gaga? WTF? How is life fair. They thought it'd be better not to tell me at the time since I had class and couldn't go. I could have ditched! I hate life. At least they got me a t-shirt. -.-

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Accokeek Terrace,Leesburg,United States

rise as the buildings crumble

today's title comes from when the world ends by the dave matthews band. specifically, the oakenfold remix, which has been on a playlist a friend sent me ages ago, and which i rediscovered on the car ride home. here, take a listen - it's kind of dark and...layered. like an onion. i don't know, it sort of fit my mood.

you might have noticed my complete absence from all things bloggy last week. that actually wasn't me being lazy - i finally gave in and went to the doctor last week (i've been trying to stay relatively healthy while i'm at school. i'm - pun intended - sick of my immune system imploding) and found out that i let my cold go so long that it turned into, like, a viral infection that settled in the cartilage in my chest. that's the gist of it, anyway. i was busy sitting on the table and trying not to go "ow. my chest hurts. ow. i can't walk. ew, this is gross, i'm so mucusy and why does mucus have to even sound gross as a word?" while they briefed the momster via the phone since, despite resolutely checking the box that said not to inform my parents, the doctor informed my parents - apparently you don't get a say when you're under 18, even when it's only four days (oh. my. god. i turn eighteen in four days. four days! i'm going to be an adult!) under. bastards. anyway, i now have an arsenal of antibiotics and mucus thinners (seriously, doesn't that word just look gross?) and heavy duty painkillers and things. it's wonderful.

you probably wouldn't have seen much of me on the internet, anyway, though, since most of my midterms were last week and i banned myself from the internet (except for liverpool news, but those don't count because i have both the app and device updates texted directly to my phone and anyway it was special freaking circumstances, okay?). the hall-es and i did the math while trying to figure out how to fit all of our stuff in one elevator yesterday, and it turns out that i've written 32 pages of midterm papers in the last week and a half. i hated life a little after hearing that. especially since one of my midterms was to write two essays, due thursday, for my chaucer class (more medieval dream theory and compare/contrasting of chaucer and langland and dante). i, staying at the library with the hall-es until it closed, finished them ahead of time. but when i get to class, i found out that the teacher extended the deadline until wednesday (my birthday!) because she got so many "sob stories". excuse me? i have a chest infection and i got my work done! ugh, i hate lazy people.

however, there was a silver lining to the week. the momster turned up on campus - again - wednesday to lecture me for not going to the doctor sooner and take me to a "real" (read: not school-employed) one for a second opinion. it was fun anyway, though, because she brought the lulus and two of the hall-es and i got to walk them around campus for a little less than an hour. cookie was his typical adorable self. lulu...well, at least she didn't bark at anyone. she mostly kept walking away from me and michelle to sit in the middle of the path and look cute and pettable, effectively stopping traffic on the campus walk. i guess i'm okay with that, though, since it turns out that dogs are just as good cute-boy-who-like-puppies bait as they are girl-bait. it was a new (and fun) discovery.

we had another nail party during glee, too. lauren the hall-e helped with my nails. they're black with a coat of each different kind of silver sparkle we could find (the sheer one, the dark greyish silver that kind of blends into the black, and the giant chunky ones are my favorites) so it looks like the night sky. lauren the hall-e is quickly becoming a problem. all her spanish music is getting to me (she had a test to study for last week). i've had enrique iglesias in spanish stuck in my head all week. i actually like it. um...can it be less pathetic if it's in spanish? actually, judge me if you will, i'm in love with these two songs:

now that the boring stuff is mostly out of the way, here's an overview of the good news:

LIVERPOOL GOT BOUGHT. it's wonderful. and apparently the new owners also own the boston red sox, which is supposed to be promising. i don't care. as long as it means we get decent transfer funds and a new coach, oh, rafa, i miss you and can actually start winning things, i'll be happy. also, that means i can finally by the new kit. i've been holding off since i didn't want to support the crappy old owners (who are still trying to sue so they don't lose the club) but...well, i really want it. really, really, really want it.

also, i'm home.

let me just say that again. I'M. HOME. it's wonderful. i stayed up until six this morning just running on my wonderful, personal treadmill and watching tv on all the flat screens at once (there's a pleasing echoing effect throughout the house) and emptying my dvr and chewing on ice chips and playing with my dogs and blowing my nose/coughing as loud as i want to and wearing my ugliest, kiddiest pajamas and not wearing any makeup at all and showering without shoes on and...i could go on for a while. i'm just that happy. best of all, the momster's been pampering me. there's nothing like being sick at home (well, besides being well, but we all know that never happens for me). one of the hall-es has gotten into the habit of brushing our hair for us after we shower - it's wonderful, you should all go talk someone into doing it for you, too - and it made me remember when i was little enough to let the momster brush my hair, and...well, i've been bugging her to detangle a lot. yes, i know i'm only four days away from being an adult. i don't care - i like being pampered, okay?

anyway, i'm going to wrap this post up now. we're going to a pumpkin patch and then i have to call husband number two back since i was still asleep when he called earlier. au revoir.

come around sundown

today's title comes from the cutie and the followills album of the same name. it leaked! i'm listening to it now - reviews will be forthcoming...eventually. i have four papers due this week (on top of the four papers i had due last week). i'm beginning to hate school.

you know what i don't hate? justin timberlake. he and britney spears are basically the last relics of my musically-challenged childhood which i can look on without feeling endless shame. actually, watching this makes me and the hall-es all sorts of giddy. you should watch it, too:

to get the tedious recapping out of the way, here's my week in pictures:

rainy days leads to umbrella fencing in the halls. 

why do i always get the mean fortune cookies? the last one told me to eat more carrots to avoid cancer. this can't be normal.

L decided to hang out in my step stool today. she also may have decided to get stuck in it. oh, hall-es.

i was up bright and early at 7:45 this morning to volunteer at the food bank with circle k, but i didn't bring my camera or my phone, so i couldn't take pictures. it was fun, though. we did a lot of sorting and boxing, mostly. people (and businesses) like to donate some weird stuff. we had pallets full of dietary supplements called flush the fat, a bunch of ankle and knee braces, and around fifty boxes of shampoo and conditioner. that was the worst. a lot of the bottles burst in the boxes, which was disgusting to feel when you were reaching in to sort and box them - we went through a ton of paper towels cleaning off the bottles, and my hands still feel kind of slimy. the club and the hall-es and i went out to brunch afterwards, where i introduced everyone to my favorite, most unhealthy brunch food of all time: southwestern tater tot bowls. it's basically what it sounds like: a bowl full of tater tots covered in cheese, bacon bits, tomatoes, green onions, salsa, and sour cream.

...needless to say, i have since been convinced to join in on a healthy eating month. after all, i do have to get into jasmine shape. so for the next 31 days, i'm not drinking coffee or soda (i will probably cheat on the coffee - however, the hall-es seem convinced that my caffeine intake isn't healthy, so i'll have to sneak some on the side) or snacking after nine in the afternoon evening. it's going to be horrible. hopefully it'll pay off. at least it gave me an excuse to stock up on tea and hot chocolate and marshmallows at giant today.

i'm going to have a busy day of homeworking and soccer watching tomorrow (note: real madrid is being shown on espn 2 at 3 p.m. and liverpool plays at 10). i should actually probably just save this post and go to sleep, since i only had a little nap today before watching mean girls in joanna's room (also, apparently i curl up when i sleep? i had no idea that wasn't normal. i don't know, i just like to sleep with the covers over my head and apparently all the hall-es were debating on whether i was actually under the blankets or if it was just a pillow. oh, and apparently i like to hit people who try to wake me up? who knew. ) but i just feel like blogging tonight. it's been a very, very long time.

it's funny, but i've been feeling like a sponge, lately. i don't know...i guess i'm just trying a lot of things i never thought i would be interested. like aikido. it's weird and kind of hard and i fall down a lot but it's still really fun. oh, and pilates...actually, that's just hard, but we're going again this week anyway. oh, and letter writing. there's something i never thought i'd pick up - but then i realized the joys of a full mailbox and changed my mind. i wonder if my sponginess is going to stick around. i kind of hope it does, but then...well, i quite liked being a hermit. me and my room or basement or kitchen on a winter afternoon with lulu on my feet as slippers and a book or new music...well, it was nice. better than nice, actually. i'm actually ridiculously excited to get back to that during my breaks.

i guess you could call this my poem of the day, but i've been obsessing over it for, like, the last week, so i don't know if that label really applies any more:

You who never arrived 
in my arms, Beloved, who were lost 
from the start, 
I don't even know what songs 
would please you. I have given up trying 
to recognize you in the surging wave of 
the next moment. All the immense 
images in me -- the far-off, deeply-felt 
landscape, cities, towers, and bridges, and 
unsuspected turns in the path, 
and those powerful lands that were once 
pulsing with the life of the gods-- 
all rise within me to mean 
you, who forever elude me. 

You, Beloved, who are all 
the gardens I have ever gazed at, 
longing. An open window 
in a country house-- , and you almost 
stepped out, pensive, to meet me.
Streets that I chanced upon,-- 
you had just walked down them and vanished. 
And sometimes, in a shop, the mirrors 
were still dizzy with your presence and, 
startled, gave back my too-sudden image.
Who knows? Perhaps the same 
bird echoed through both of us 
yesterday, separate, in the evening... 

- rainer maria rilke 

no post would be complete without music. in no particular order, here's what i've been listening to lately. being deprived of my usual rachel-time (and therefore, music-finding time), i need recommendations. what have you all been listening to lately?

okay, so i lied. clearly there is an order to this and clearly florence and the machine covering girls aloud deserves to be first. i've actually probably blogged this song before, just because my love of cover songs and florence has been well-documented here. you can listen to it again anyway.