New Semester!

Celebrity of the week, as always, is Audrey Hepburn.



Who did you expect?

So it's the first weekend of the new semester. It's been really great so far; I like all my classes and teachers. Most of all, I find that I'm quickly adapting to and enjoying the change of pace. Of my four classes, one is a freshman course, one a junior course, and two senior, both of those containing several grad students. Each class has about 10-15 students. With the exception of my freshman class (Ancient World History), the grades consist of a two exams and a paper. (My Tolkien class has only a final and a paper).

So what do I do in the meantime? Go to class, take notes, and READ.

I've never been one to open books assigned to classes, which had lead me many times at HCC to question why I even purchased them in the first place. However, the classes I have now involve much more interesting reading, with much of the material overlapping. This weekend, I've assigned myself three chapters of Greek Society (just finished!), 'Poetic Diction' in the Barfield Reader, and the first two chapters of my Russian History text, reaching through Kievan society. I have a sub for the first two weeks in Ancient Philosophy, so no reading has been assigned yet, but I'm covering a lot of the material in my Greek Society book. It's awesome so far! I'm so glad I finally found classes that seem like they're meant for me. Hooray for picking the correct major! Yay!

And at the prompting of Google, who always reminds of stuff, happy birthday, Michael Jackson! Here's the songs on a mix tape I would make for MJ on his birthday:

Side A:

1. "3030" - Deltron 3030
2. "Sunglasses After Dark" - The Cramps
3. "$20 for Boban" - Balkan Beat Box
4. "Birdhouse In Your Soul" - They Might Be Giants
5. "Barbara Ann" - The Who
6. "Not Allowed" - The Suburban Lawns
7. "Miss Misery" - Elliot Smith

Side B:

1. "Brand New Cadillac" - The Clash
2. "Party" - Daniel Johnston*
3. "Falling from Grace" - The Gentle Waves
4. "Rock'n'Roll Suicide" - Seu Jorge
5. "Learn to Live with your Heartbreaks" - Saturday Looks Good to Me
6. "Boys" - The Beatles
7. "Thriller" - Michael Jackson (Favorite song!)

Not really. I would never make this mix for anybody, it's so, so horrible. Ha, ha.

Very truly yours,
Sarah

* The only song I would actually put on a mix tape for Michael Jackson, the King of Pop.

Good Things for Now

It feels great to be caught up at work and at school. Summer session and my time at Houston Community College will come to an end in a couple weeks and I will have a week vacation before starting at St. Thomas. In the meantime, I've been doing a lot of thrifting, and still have more to do. I plan to try a strategy where I try to thrift a whole outfit - it will be easier to search for plain, quality items this way, I think, rather than just grab things that look fancy and loud.

I'd like to throw this website out there that I found through Springwise, my favorite 'idea' blog. It is called the Jolkona Foundation, and it helps you locate and contribute monetarily to projects in impoverished areas around the world. I hope to be able to help, as it allows a very tangible experience. For example, one project for Indian mothers has a price tag of $235 and gives you updates for three and a half years about the mother and child. But not all are so expensive - there are plenty under $50, and lots of them are just $5 to plant a tree in various places. My personal favorite that I am going to make room for in my budget next month is this one: Providing Education to the Females of Afghanistan. It is only $40, and for six months to a year you get photos and report cards from the young lady's education as proof! There is only a 14% literacy rate for Afghani women, which is unacceptable. I can't wait to donate!



On a sad note, yesterday I resigned from the Crossroads volunteer program. I hated to do it, but I cannot seem to get my schedule straight and it isn't fair to the kids. I hope to resume volunteering with the kids when I graduate.

A question to you three readers out there: does anyone plan to participate in National Novel Writing Month this year? I hope to be the Houston Inner-loop Liaison again and am wondering if I can drum up some support, whether local or online! I'm really stoked about plans for my novel this fall, as it'll be a companion piece to my post-global-pandemic novel from last year. Hooray for writing!

Getting out of here as fast as possible after that dorky paragraph,
Sarah

Boiled Eggs are Delicious!

Hello everyone!

I just finished my English lit final, and am home eating a lunch of boiled eggs and pickles. Isn't that disgusting? It's delicious. I'm also listening to Cat Stevens... my record player hasn't been getting a lot of use lately, as I've been flitting around from school to work to Timothy's to Spring to wherever!

Finally found a place on Graustark, about five blocks away from St. Thomas. I'll be living by myself, unless I find someone to live in my living room. Ha. But really. It's not too bad for the price, and it's only a six-month lease, so I'll reassess at the end of the semester. But that means I'll be moving in a month, and in that time I'll also be out of town for a week in Colorado and three days in Nashville! When am I going to pack? If anyone in town wants to help organize, pack, move, or just has boxes, I ACCEPT. And I love you. I will pay you in hugs and possibly Pink's Pizza.

I also found out that I may have the opportunity to take on a second minor in English literature. I'm really stoked about this, and plan to ditch the Catholic Teachings class this fall for a class on Tolkien instead. (I can have a Summer of Religion next year and take both required theology classes back to back. Maybe.) Goody daisies!

For the rest of the day, I have a piano jury and then a history final, and two more finals on Wednesday. Whew... I thought this semester would never end. That's OK... and it seems like this summer is going to be educationally easy enough. As always, we'll see.

Hope you guys are having a great Monday!

Very truly yours,
Sarah

Congratulations to me!

My work just gave me a surprise mini-party with a chocolate cake and ice cream in congratulations to my being accepted to St. Thomas. They're all so nice. It's hard to find a really nice group of ladies to work with, as I'm sure some of you know.

In other news, my schedule is set up for this summer and this fall! I'm taking the following classes at HCC this summer:

Session I:
Public Speaking
Government II
Piano

Session II:
Art History I
Local and World Geography
Piano

And these are the classes I'm taking this fall at St. Thomas:

Teachings of the Catholic Church
Ancient World History
Ancient Philosophy
Medieval and Imperial Russia

Hooray! I'm majoring in History, and minoring in Russian Studies. I need a whole lot more electives than I thought, so I will most likely be there five semesters, plus maybe a summer. This is OK, as long as I'm allowed to learn about History I will be happy.

As far as apartments go, I'm moving away from the idea of a roommate... I have been looking at one bedrooms again, and have another scheduled to look at tomorrow. I'd really like to be able to walk to school! Is this so much to ask for? To help finance this extravagance, I'm considering giving myself a loan. What do I mean by this? I'M SO GLAD YOU ASKED.

I started considering taking out an additional private loan to help with living expenses this fall, and then I slapped myself in the face and was like, "Hey, remember how you have thousands of dollars in savings? What is wrong with you?" (OK, I didn't really slap myself in the face, and I only have a few thousand.) So I am taking into consideration the concept of giving myself a grant from my savings and only using that set amount over the course of the school year. It sounds logical; can anyone think of any drawbacks besides touching savings money that doesn't want me to touch it like that? Ha ha ha. Hm.

I have a sushi dinner planned tonight with my knitting buddy, Jill. We're celebrating her finished-in-thirty-days, one-hundred page script for Script Frenzy! It's a pretty big accomplishment. I will then possibly see this play for free, entitled "Gold", at Miller Outdoor Theatre. I think it's going to be hilarious. Take care of yourselves!


Yours very truly,
Sarah

Roommate Needed!

Dear darlings,

I'm looking for 1-2 roommates to live in the Houston Montrose with me. I'm thinking $400/mo./person is reasonable. Need someone clean, friendly, un-retarded. If you know someone looking to move this summer, whether student or professional, let me know!

In other news, I got into St. Thomas, and am 95% sure I'm going there this fall. The only other school I applied to is UNT, and it's functioning as a back-up plan in my head right now, just in case I don't happen to like going to a small, expensive Catholic school.

Nahhh, that's crazy talk! Who doesn't like Catholic schools?

Yours very truly,
Sarah

Hair Curls!

I just don't understand it. Why is Johanna Ost so gorgeous?

Anyway, I'm wondering what I can do with my hair after I'm done hating it for the season. I recently cut some bangs in a fit of mistake-making, but fully intend to grow the rest of it out longer. But then I see pin curls like these and think, "Man I just HAD bangs that could have done that less than a week ago!"

Oh well.

I've made the decision to do Script Frenzy! This will be my first year. I don't think nearly as many people are involved with it as National Novel Writing Month, but that's OK... I wasn't very productive at write-ins anyhow!

This week, I applied to the University of St. Thomas, and am now considering other options besides Texas schools. One of the schools I am going to apply to for Spring '10 is Vanderbilt, in Nashville, TN. The tuition is about $40,000/yr, but they appear to have a very sweet financial aid program--they claim to pay 100% of the demonstrated financial aid in GRANTS and SCHOLARSHIPS, not loans. I'm fairly impressed. Of course, I'd have to get in. Eh.

Very truly yours,
Sarah