"Shadow Of The Day"

And the sun will set for you

And it’s songs like this that make me wonder why my friend Conor doesn’t like Linkin Park, but loves the stuff I made him listen to that sound like this.  *sigh*

So….how many people remember when I got my 20gB iPod a couple of years back?  Anyone remember telling me that I should have gotten a mini or a nano because I would never fill a 20 gig iPod?  Well…guess what?  It’s full.  Like, I had to take things off of it so that I could put other music on it.  :D 

Take that, Arthur. 

I do acknowledge that it has taken me quite a while to fill my iPod, but I think you should also know that I still have things that are not yet on my iTunes or iPod. 

Now the only thing that I have to do is figure out what to take off next.  I think the things I did remove were things that I was willing to part with, at least on my iPod.  They’re still on my computer.

I know I haven’t posted much…and I know why…but I feel bad.  I don’t even know how to start with how to catch up everyone.

So, I haven’t had a lot of time…and for a fair amount of time I wasn’t getting a lot of sleep either.  I guess, as a documentation that is me at any point of time, there is a lot of things that I personally have been uncertain of, and so how do I talk about them?  So I opted not to.  Not that things have changed all that much…And I’m still not going to talk about most of them. 

But…The reason that I haven’t had a lot of time.  So…way back at the beginning of August, my staff returned.  :)  And soon afterwards, so did my residents.  I much prefer my residents here…not that the PSP students weren’t fabulous, but its a different community, and I know this one far better.  And a few days later, I took responsibility for Clara Dickson Hall.  For you non-Cornellians, Clara Dickson is the largest residence hall at Cornell.  It has the largest number of residents, the largest staffs, and has a portion that is the Multicultural Living Learning Unit (a themed house, as my HILC is) and a much larger portion that is a first-year student hall.  My friend who is the usual RHD in charge was on maternity leave.  I was glad that she came back for training to set the tone for the staff as she would like it, and spent my time between Dickson and HILC trying to maintain them appropriately.  It was exhausting…and I know that I don’t want to do something like that again.  I mean, I guess I already knew that I prefer themed housing to a (large) first-year hall, but in some ways, that confirmed it.  I guess its the difference in style.  It isn’t me.  But, on the other hand, I worked with some awesome students.

After that, I "took vacation."  This is in quotations because I think it should be considered lightly.  I didn’t sleep.  And at little fault of those who I was with.  My friend Angie got married to a man that I am confident will make her very happy.  :)  So I went a bit early to help out.  They were trying to do as much as they could on their own.  They made all of the invitations, centerpieces, souvenirs, and more than I can remember.  I I made bouquets, and a rose piece for the top of the cake.  I also helped out with decorating and such.  Angie also asked me to do a reading during the ceremony.  The wedding was beautiful, and Angie and Thad are in Europe on their honeymoon as I type.  :)  And I was really glad to have been there for everything..and wish I could have helped more earlier. 

I left there for Amy’s in New Jersey.  I got there, and she decided that she also needed to wear a cute dress (I promise, mine was super-cute) and did random things…like had lunch at Penang, went to Costco and bought Winnie the Pooh animal crackers, and went to Trader Joe’s.  mmmmmm…Trader Joe’s.  I bought a lot of food.  The next day I finally bought those cute Sketchers that I think I’ve wanted for well over a year…and ended up getting two pairs for what I would otherwise paid for one.  And then got a bunch of stuff at the Asian grocery store…including lots of lychee Calpico and these Japanese cookies that I’ve gotten my co-workers kinda addicted to (they swear that there’s some crack in them).  We went apple picking…and I guess my bag was the heaviest…and I need to figure out what else I want to do with all of the apples.  :)  On Monday, I took the train in to NYC (by myself) and wandered around.  I found a Jamba Juice for breakfast (yummy!) and found a map of where all of the Jambas are in Manhattan.  Score!  I hung around the M&M store for a while, and wandered to a few other stores, including the Disney NYC store…where I bought more pieces for my Mr. Potato Head (I had Optimash Prime, adn thought those pieces would be cool with Disney pieces.  On another note, I discovered that I have no ears for Mr. Potato Head…and all of the arms that I have are rather non-traditional, so they look kinda silly).  While I was in the Japanese book store looking at Spicy Brown shirts, my friend Scott called, and I was able to meet up with him for lunch.  It was really good to see him after so long and to try to catch up a lot.  I think being around here, I forget every once in a while what its like to talk to people who know theyre grown up without feeling like a little girl.  And in some ways, I miss Scott for that. 

I left NYC by mid-afternoon so that I could take the train back to Jersey and drive to (finally) meet Sunny from APAN.  She lives in Larchmont, which according to my Yahoo Maps directions should have taken me an hour and 15 minutes from New Brunswick.  Ummm…no.  I hit traffic that, I must say was a billion times worse than I have ever seen in California (north or south) and in part because the drivers were ridiculous.  But…it took me nearly three and a half hours to get there.  So it was far later than I had intended and expected.  *sigh*  But I got to meet her in person, after years of only sending emails and chatting on the phone.  We were co-coordinators for the same position in APAN for two years.

I left Amy’s the next day as she was leaving for school, and drove to see Kerrie in Schenectady.  It was her birthday.  :)  I was glad that I got to have lunch with her (even though she didn’t let me buy her lunch, as she was instructed).  I then went to pick up my friend Conor in Albany who was at a conference there.  He doesn’t have a car and I thought it would suck for him to have to take a bus back to Ithaca.  So…drove back to Ithaca from there. 

I have pictures, especially of the wedding, but they and pictures from my birthday, and everything in between, are still on my camera.  I’ll find time to take them off of there, eventually.  I want some of the pictures to print anyway.  I’ll do it.  I promise.  And they’ll be on Flickr too.  But I think between the uncomfortable mattresses at the hotel and whatever other odd hours I was keeping (and the random fact that I learned during the past two months that it takes two weeks for your body to recover from an all-nighter), I came back tired.  And with new and weird other things to think about.  But I slept a fair amount this weekend…10 hours one day and just under 8 (I think) the other.  Maybe I’ll get to the catching up on sleep, writing, and playing my cello more than I have, then get to the pictures.  Writing.  That’s something I haven’t done for myself in a while.  I was reading through some old stuff…and I can’t remember what it was about at the time, but it sounds like I could have written it today.  *sigh*  Isn’t it strange how things keep moving while all the while staying exactly the same?

Anyway…today was also a 3.75 CD purchase.  I’m listening to the third-ish of the CDs…I have very mixed reviews about everything so far, but two songs that are sticking out for me right now.  I may share them later.

Oh, and I started a playlist on iTunes that is just music that I borrow lyrics from for away messages on a regular basis.  I may expand that to be anything from here on out that I use just because I do.  And maybe one day I’ll even listen to said playlist.  :p

OK, I’ve been up late enough.  I’m going to bed.  Good night. 

Why was Switchfoot the soundtrack of my day?

1. Dare you to Move
2. Twenty-four
3. Redemption
4. On Fire

5. What a Good Boy (by the Barenaked Ladies)

*sigh*   Way to get a band stuck in your head!

…so much to blog about, but so tired!  I’ll post more later, I think.

My friend Andrew has been…encouraging me to laugh as much as I can right now, I think.  It’s kinda been a stress relief thing…so yesterday I got a YouTube video of a kid in Germany flipping out (like SERIOUSLY flipping out) while playing some video game…with Japanese sub-titles.  By the way…Andrew is in Japan relaxing.

So today.  Today I got this link: http://www.earthbounddog.com/.  For those nervous to see the site, here’s what it *really* says:

"The design is based on NASA research for the Pioneer 10
Space Mission that used a gold plaque attached to the
craft to inform any Extraterrestrials of it’s Earthly origin."

"should you ever be abducted by aliens while wearing Abduction Earth Dog Tags and not returned safely to Earth you will be entitled to a full refund of the purchase price."

And yes, folks, they take Paypal. :P  And you can order them in large quantities.

What will they think of next? 

Thanks for the laugh, Andrew. 

So, I realize that it is the beginning of September and I have written very little about the summer and the start of the academic year.  Honestly, it’s been crazy.  Seriously…nuts.  I’m trying to find time to get to Syracuse to buy a wedding gift.  And I’d like to do this before October.  I’d go this weekend, but I’m on call.  Angie will have her wedding gift…I swear.  :)  I have something cool in mind that Thad will love. 

But…there’s been something I’ve been meaning to mention.  So I had a little gathering for my birthday a couple of days before the actual age change…and a few people were nice enough to bring gifts.  Pete came by with a bottle of Asti in a inter-office campus envelope (which was the most awesome thing ever!).  But two friends happened to give me gifts with the same quote on them: "Shoot for the moon.  Even if you miss you will land among the stars."  I thought this was an interesting coincidence…and wondered if this is just a little vote of confidence in the ideas I have about where I’d like my life to go next, which is certainly appreciated.  But…one of my staff came back and put up a bulletin board in the stairwell that I walk through the most with the same quote.  The board is a good one on goal-setting.  I was just…well, stunned, I guess, to see the quote again so soon. 

At this point, I’m trying to decide if I should say, ok, I get it…I’ll get my butt in gear. Thanks spirit of subtle hints and coincidence…put your thoughts in everyone’s heads.  :P  or if I should just giggle at the coincidence.  I’d think about it but my head is too tired to figure it out…and I figure that my energy is best used elsewhere.  But…I do need to get my butt in gear, at least a little

I suppose I’m open to other interpretations that don’t make the gift-givers self-conscious.  I’m sure they didn’t communicate their gifts to the other and that they hadn’t thought quite as hard about it as I am now…but you know my belief in weird coincidences and signs.  I mean, I read tarot for goodness sakes.  *sigh*

It’s a good quote, if nothing else.  That’s sign enough, if it has to be. 
Anyway, I hope that all of you out there are doing well and getting more sleep than I am.  Say hi some time. 

So…bad news.  My iPod broke.  It had the sad iPod icon and none of the troubleshooting would work.  I plugged it in and it would have the sad iPod icon, restart itself, have a low battery symbol, restart itself, adn repeat…over and over again until I unplugged it.  This eventually led to me sending my iPod to Apple.  I had paid for the extended care thingy, and so it is supposed to be free.  They sent me the box and everything to ship it off to them.  ANd frome there, here’s pretty much how it went:

8:45am: received by the repair center
9:15am: problem identified. 
1:45pm: Replacement considered
9:30pm: Replacement iPod shipped.

I got the new iPod today.  It’s charging and all…sadly it is empty.  Once it charges up. I’ll be loading it up. :) 

It was so sad to be without a working iPod for a week.  But…it only took a week to get a working iPod using Apple’s system.  I’m impressed. 

Let’s hope this one lasts as long as the last one.  :)  I like iPod.

Indeed. 

Almost Lover

your fingertips across my skin,
the palm trees swaying in the wind,
images
you sang me spanish lullabies,
the sweetest sadness in your eyes
clever trick,
images

well, I’d never want to see you unhappy
I thought you’d want the same for me

goodbye my almost lover
goodbye my hopeless dream
I’m trying not to think about you
can’t you just let me be
so long my luckless romance
my back is turned on you
should have known you’d bring me heartache
almost lovers always do

we walked along a crowded street,
you took my hand and danced with me,
images
and when you left you kissed my lips,
you said you’d never, never forget these images

well, I’d never want to see you unhappy
I thought you’d want the same for me

goodbye my almost lover
goodbye my hopeless dream
I’m trying not to think about you
can’t you just let me be
so long my luckless romance
my back is turned on you
should have known you’d bring me heartache
almost lovers always do

I cannot go to the ocean
cannot drive the streets at night
cannot wake up in the morning
without you on my mind
so you’re gone and I’m haunted
I’ll bet you are just fine
did I make it that easy to walk
right in and out of my life?

goodbye my almost lover
goodbye my hopeless dream
I’m trying not to think about you
can’t you just let me be
so long my luckless romance
my back is turned on you
should have known you’d bring me heartache
almost lovers always do

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070806/ap_on_fe_st/odd_hello_kitty_cops

Make sure this doesn’t backfire, Thai Police.  Some people *love* wearing Hello Kitty. 

I was having dinner with my friends Brian, Jody and baby Ian when Brian told me that he found out about this new music series on the Sundance Channel called "Live from Abbey Road" while he was up in the middle of the night with Ian.  Apparently they had a few episodes on Sundance Channel On Demand for another night or so.  We didn’t have a chance to watch them together, but my keen internet research uncovered that they are on the Sundance Channel on Thursdays at 10pm.  Instead of doing what was smart and programming my DVR immediately to record them for me, I  decided to just try to remember to watch them on Thursday nights.  I realized last week that wasn’t going to work (three weeks later), and recorded last week’s episode.  I watched it last night.  It was James Morrison, Craig David, and Dave Matthews.  IT WAS AWESOME…and I programmed the DVR to record the rest of them, seeing that my RAs will be here by the time that the next one airs.  Anyhow, it’s this combination of interviews and performances (I mean, it is a recording studio).  So there was a little bit of learning more about the artist and the songs that they wrote.  And…well, I certainly have more respect for Dave Matthews as a lyricist.  The next episode has Damien Rice and the Goo Goo Dolls…so I gotta find time to watch (and using the DVR means I can fastforward through commercials).  I can’t wait.  :)  And with any luck, past wpisodes will re-air, or I can buy the set on DVD at some point.  :D  The first episode had John Mayer and Nora Jones, I think, so I really want to see it.  But check it out!  Enjoy!