Random Stuff

So I slept for 12 hours last night. 2:00-2:00. I ate a chocolate cookie and two-thirds of a wonka bar for breakfast. I am avoiding getting out of bed because I don't want to clean the wreakage that remains after the Christmas Banquet preparation. So I've been crocheting a teddy bear and reading people's blogs for about two hours now. I wish that I didn't have homework to do. As my roommate told me the other day "Michelle, I think that you would be really fun all the time if you didn't have any homework." to which I replied "You're probably right." Homework makes me disagreeable.
Our hall is well onto its way into being completely transformed into the Wood Between Worlds. If you don't know what that is, quickly go read the first bit of the Magician's Nephew and get back to me. If you don't know what the Magician's Nephew is, it is chronologically the first book in the Chronicles of Narnia. If you don't know what the Chronicles of Narnia is get off my blog, you are not my friend. So anyway, at our Christmas party we told the girls that we were going to have supplies for them to make trees to go on the walls and for them to make their doors into pools of water. Everyone's room is another world. Get it. YAY!! It makes me so happy.
WHERE WILL YOU BE DECEMBER 9, 2005?

To end I will share this beautiful quote from Tolkien's Essay of Fairy Stories that I found on wikiquote. It gives me the urge to swoon.

"I have claimed that Escape is one of the main functions of fairy-stories, and since I do not disapprove of them, it is plain that I do not accept the tone of scorn or pity with which 'Escape' is now so often used. Why should a man be scorned if, finding himself in prison, he tries to get out and go home? Or if he cannot do so, he thinks and talks about other topics than jailers and prison-walls?" ~J.R.R. Tolkien

I can't help but post this other one too.

"If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. ~ Mere Christianity

~C.S. Lewis

Ahh. I wish that the loves of my life weren't old, married, dead Englishmen.

This is Captain Jack in her cage. Isn't it the most amazing cage you've ever seen.
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Well-Deserved Nap

So...I just woke up from a five-hour nap. But don't be jelous, I also just had three tests in less than 24 hours. I did well on the Psychology and Pentateuch tests, but I did really bad on the Essential Cell Biology one. I think that from now on I will only take classes whose name begins with the letter P. I could get D.T. to change the name of Women's Self-Defense.
So after I did so bad on the ECB test I went to my room to get my blue paint. Painting yourself blue does wonders at relieving stress. So my blue paint was in my closet and when I got it I had this thought. "I really just want to throw everything out of the bottom of my closet and sit in there." So I did. I sat in there for an hour. I am not clausterphobic. I don't know why, but sitting in the dark amidst my clothes made me feel safe and warm. I think I'm going to go there more often.
Just when I was about ready to come out, my roommate walks in and proceeds to have a 20-minute-long conversation with Jessie, one of the girls on the hall. So I had to stay there. I knew that if I came out just then I would have to endure a lifetime of jokes about "coming out of the closet". So after they left I got out of the closet and went over to Jillian and Elisabeth's room for our FHBC meeting, otherwise known as Tuesday night dinner. So I told them that I had spent the last hour in a closet and then Ashley comes by to tell me and Elisabeth our psyc. scores, because she is the grader for that class, and then I told them all the story. I think it's hilarious. Do you think that it's good or bad that my depression amuses me so?
So then Jillian, Elisabeth and I painted ourselves blue and menaced random people around campus with pikes. Jillian has pictures, hopefully I'll get them too soon.

The Marginally Long-Awaited Update

So there's lots of exciting news in the growing realm of Michelle's pets. First of all, Rainbow lets me pet him now. How exciting is that? If I put my finger in the water, he circles around it and then I can pet him. Who says fish aren't fun.

Last week I got a new fishie for my tank. An Emerald Rainbowfish. She's pretty. Right now she is staying in the quarentine tank because I don't want Rainbow to get sick if Emerald is. Last time I got fish from the Fish Store they had Ick (see previous post from a long time ago). So she has to live in the little one gallon for about 2-3 more weeks.

I have a mousie. His name is Captain Jack. Elisabeth and I saved him from being snake food because he was so cute. He has a hole in one ear and he is very exploratory. He's a pirate mousie. Captain Jack. We made him a poop deck, a crow's nest, some rigging, an food barrel, an ale barrel, some Jolly Rodgers, a ship's wheel, and a little sign that goes on the outside of the tank and says The Black Pearl. It's quite fun. I'll put pictures up when I have them. He's a spoiled little mousie.

The other day Aaron found a bat outside his dorm. This is not normal for bats to be out in the day because they go into a sort of hibernation during the day and if they are too cold, they won't wake up. So Elisabeth and I met Aaron as he had this bat in a gladware container wondering what exactly he should do. Elisabeth, being the future vet, offered to take care of it. So we took the bat up to the Essential Cell lab and I sat with it in my lap while Elisabeth went to her room to go get a heating pad and box and towels and stuff. So she comes back a little later with all this stuff and Jillian who was in the room and now wants to see the bat (he was really cute and tiny). When we attemped to transfer the bat to the box however, it turned out that I did a very good job at warming him up, and was now warm enough to fly. And he did so. All over the room. So we all look at each other, and then we all yell "DOORS!" and ran and closed all the doors in the room. Then we watched the bat for awhile. Elisabeth got a pillow case and was trying to catch him. Jillian and I were busy ducking and laughing. Dr. Wood opened the door because he wanted to set up for his class and we all yelled "SHUT THE DOOR" at him. That was really funny too. They we sent Jillian to get some nets and let Dr. Wood in. He gave us more funny looks when we explained what was going on. So we eventually caught the bat and took him to Rudd and let him go there because we knew that bats live at the top of Rudd. And he flew off into the woods.

So that's what I did this week. Besides taking three tests.

Michelle needs *

After reading a couple of these I decided it was amusing enough that I might try it. So I did. These are the funniest of the first 20 that came up.

• Michelle needs Rene to nick the Fallen Madonna to sell it for much needed funds for the Resistance.

Sounds like a plan to me.

• Michelle needs Jesse to fix her jack-in-the-box toy.

It’s been broken so long I didn’t even know I had it.

• Michelle needs to learn to be more careful with her Voodoo.

I’ll practice more I promise.

• Michelle needs to go to some golf etiquette school and maybe her dad should too, or else get a new caddie.

I didn’t think that my golf etiquette was that bad, but I think Daddy should definitely go.

• Michelle needs to learn to perhaps be a bit more diplomatic in her interviews

Probably true.

• Michelle needs to stick to gospel her voice sounds better for gospel.

I did not know that.

• Michelle needs help

Apparently we all do.

• Michelle needs to move on with someone else since Tony's no longer around

NO! I’LL NEVER LET GO!!

• Michelle needs to talk to her Adviser and Accountant.

Is that the same person?

• Michelle needs to choose [Answer: None of your business, obviously she is
  choosing RnB since she's coming out with an RnB album next year]

Really? That’s exciting. But what about the fact that my voice sounds better for gospel?

• Michelle needs to increase her income.

Amen!

• Michelle needs techie help!

I think I’m doing alright.

• Michelle needs to get the 2004 candidate names to Jeff so that the election may proceed.

Maybe Jeff should get off his fat behind and get the names himself.

• Michelle needs to finally leave him for good,

That’s good advice. Goodbye Jeff. I’m leaving you for good.

• Michelle needs to transfer to a different school

No, I’m thinkin’ I’m pretty good where I am.

• What Michelle needs to do is win

Good plan. But what am I winning?

This is the Sound of Music meets Braveheart. Brave of Music, or Sound of Heart, or The hills are alive with the sound of fighting...free-ee-ee-dom.
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So here we are. I don't know how much you can tell, but we really are all blue. Just like in King Arthur.
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I really wish I had a digital camera so I could show what I have looked like this past week. Waiting for film to develope stinks.
Friday was Homecoming and the theme was New York, so Elisabeth and I dressed up like models. Stephen was a cab driver. Aaron was a mob gangster and Jillian was his China doll. Aaron got some toy guns and we spent a decent portion of the night blowing each other apart. It was fun.
This week is Spirit week as well. Yesterday was Tacky Day. That was fun. Today was movie character day. Elisabeth and I took advantage of this fact and painted ourselves blue like the warrior women in King Arthur. We also went into the woods yesterday and got some big sticks and then borrowed Aarons hatchet and made pikes. I like pikes. Apparantly the creepy security guard does too. He drove by when we were making them last night and said that he "admires our pleasures". Weird.
So anyway. Yay for blue paint, pikes, and ancient celtic warrior women. I'll get pics up here as soon as I can.

Abundance of Surveyage

The first bit of this survey was a little bit more stupid than the rest. So I decided not to do it.

5 SNACKS I ENJOY:
1. chocolate
2. biscuits
3. cheese
4. nuts
5. anything with chocolate (but without coffee)

5 SONGS I KNOW ALL THE WORDS TO:
1. I Just Wanna Be a Sheep
2. Liars Go to Hell
3. The Hallelujah Chorus
4. Agnus Dei
5. Pretty much every other song that I like or have ever sung

WHAT I WOULD DO WITH 100 MILLION DOLLARS:
1. Go to Scotland
2. buy a castle
3. buy/make medieval clothing and accessories
4. buy lots of yarn and crochet hooks and pattern books to feed my growing obsession
5. buy a jet so I could travel back and forth from my castle in Scotland
6. buy presents for people I like

5 PLACES I WOULD RUN AWAY TO:
1. Scotland
2. Never land
3. Narnia
4. Ea (Middle Earth/Numenore/Varda)
5. Avalon
6. Tir-na-nog
7. Atlantis
8. Lyonesse
9. Albion
10. Who’s seeing the pattern?
11. Oh and Manitoumi too

5 THINGS I WOULD NEVER WEAR:
1. denim jumper
2. burka
3. http://www.promdressshop.com/images/Promdresses/P675lg.jpg
4. Intentionally matching outfits with my mother/sisters/any children I ever have
5. um…a…big…chicken…outfit. Yeah. I won’t wear one of those.

5 FAVORITE TOYS:
1. Bear bear
2. Tilion
3. yarn
4. fire
5. Molymods

5 FICTIONAL CHARACTERS I WOULD DATE:
1. Faramir (from the book not the movie)
2. young Horatio Hornblower
3. Beren
4. Robin of Locksley
5. Jonas Quinn

5 BAD HABITS:
1. Procrastination
2. avoiding doing homework
3. playing on Tilion when I should be studying
4. Ignoring my homework
5. filling our surveys

5 FAVORITE TV SHOWS:
1. Stargate Sg-1
2. House
3. CSI
4. Rough Science (how I mourn thy loss)
5. Arthur (it does rock Melanie)

5 PEOPLE I TAG TO DO THIS:
this is stupid too.

So sometime last week I wrote this really long post about lots of stuff that has happened since I've been at college and everything, and when I went to post it, blogger said that it was down and apparantly did not save my really long post, so...that was frustrating.
Probably for a little while I think that I will just write short posts so that they don't die. 'Cause now I don't feel like writing everything again.

Exciting new update

So something exciting happened in the little world of my fishtank this week (You know, it almost getting so my fishtank needs a name). Rainbow learned a trick. He will now accept food from my hand, or fingers as it were. I was studying in my red chair next to the fishtank and I look over and, even though I had already fed him that day, Rainbow was feigning starvation. He was swimming up and down and stareing at me and presented an overall image of a severly starved, lonely and pathetic fish. So I got up and dropped a bloodworm in the tank for him. He jumped up and gobbled up this relatively long bloodworm in absolutely no time at all. So I dropped a few more little ones in. He gobbled them up to. I was then that I had the idea to get a long bloodworm, and hold it between my fingers to see what Rainbow would do. He went straight up and ate right from my fingers. I was so excited I called Elisabeth right away. Then I ran down the hall to tell Ashley. Needless to say, Elisabeth was a bit more excited than Ashley was. So, since then, I've made Rainbow eat from my hand before I will feed him. He was a bit timid at first, but today he was pecking at my finger as if he was trying to eat it. It's quite and interesting sensation to have little fish lips nipping at your finger. I believe that I will choose to think that Rainbow is giving me affectionate little fishie kisses. It's quite sweet when you think of it like that. The plus side for Rainbow is that he is now getting fed more often because it amuses me to feed him now. I hope that I will be able to get Rainbow a tankmate(s) soon. He looks really lonely and bored to me.

Blah, blah, blah...andblah.

Sorry I haven't posted in like a month, but I've been a little busy. I'm still busy, but now that I am back at school the original reason for creating this blog has been reinstated and so I'm going to post more. I'll divide this post up so that it will be easier to read. I have a feeling it's going to be rather long.
My Fishtank
So my Australian Rainbow fish is the only one left in my tank. The rest all died and I buried them in the garden and played the Rutter Requiem for them and it's all very sad. I think that Rainbow looks lonely and he probably is. Elisabeth informed me that it is mating season and that is why Rainbow looks so pretty right now. Jillian thinks that I should get him a girlfriend. I think he's too young and he would eat any babies that he would have anyway so I'm planning on getting some nice Neon and Cardinal Tetras to swim around and keep him company. Tetras are little fishies and they will school if I get enough. When I first got my tank it was my original plan to put them in there, but I got distracted by the Mollies I guess. Depending on what Elisabeth says I might be permitted to get one more relatively large fish to go in my tank, but I'm going to wait until the tetras are all settled in before thinking very hard about that.
School
Going pretty well. I don't know if I'll be able to stand Organic Chemistry at eight am all semester, but I made it one day without falling asleep. I even have a vague idea of what we talked about. I'm taking 16 hours this semester but I am also sitting in on a 4-hour calculus-based physics course which sorta makes it 20. There are only three other people in that class so Dr. Wells said he'd even grade my homework and tests if I wanted to do those too. I don't know if I will.
Ashley and I are having a lot of fun as roommates. We have a great hall of freshmen girls that we are playing mommy too. It's kinda fun. We got a phone call from one of the guy RAs last night at one saying that someone had left the oven on and Ashley had to go turn it off. The base floor of our dorm has guys. They ran out of room in the guy's dorm so they had to put them there. They have their very own entrance, and the stairways have been blocked off, so we hardly know they are there. Except when Matt decided to test out the bass on his stereo. Bethany did a fun little stomping dance.
I've talked to Eric a grand total of three times since I got here. I met his roommate Brandon who seems kinda quite, but then he was standing next to Eric so who knows... So I can't really tell you how many people Eric has met yet, I've been a little busy holding snakes and whatnot. Maybe I'll see him at the All-College picnic on saturday.
Other Stuffs
So Ashley is going to have a van and we are tentatively talking about her driving me, Jillian, and Elisabeth to St. Peters for fall break. And Eric can come to if he wants I suppose. I think that it would be really fun. Jillian wants to see Forest Park and all the other cool stuff that we have in St. Louis (as she lives in Florida, actual trees really excite her).
Having a new computer is amazing.
Crocheting is fun.
I am sleepy, so I'm going to bed. After I do my homework.

This is a top that I crocheted. It looks like it was hard to make, but it has a lot of holes so it wasn't really that bad. I like it. I had to change the original pattern a bit. The sleeves are actually a smaller size, and they are longer than what the pattern said. I also added the ruffle at the bottom so it would match the sleeves. It's pretty fun.
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This is Tilion, my computer. I love him very much. He's very fast and it's very nice. He downloads stuff really really fast.
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These are the dragons that I crocheted. The little green one is named Egan. The blue one is Ena, and the mommy is named Ciara.
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OUR AMAZING SURVEY

1. IF YOU COULD BUILD A SECOND HOUSE ANYWHERE, WHERE WOULD IT BE?

Michelle: Scotland

Kellie: here=St Louis

Melanie: I don't even have a first house!

2. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE ARTICLE OF CLOTHING?

Melanie: My converse

Michelle: You know my weird top with the really flowy sleeves and "it ties up here"

Kellie: Mrs Andrich clothing

3. THE LAST CD YOU BOUGHT?

Melanie: The Bravery

Michelle: ...I think the Newsboys

Kellie: Braveheart Soundtrack

Michelle: I wish I had Bo Bice's hair

4. WHAT TIME DO YOU WAKE UP IN THE MORNING?

Melanie: Whenever my little neighbor comes over and knocks on my back door a million times

Michelle: whats morning?

Kellie: 11-12

Melanie: You all stink! I hate you. I'm sending my neighbor to your house for the rest of the summer. I slept till 10 once. Today I woke up with Maddie licking my feet. Why did my mom have to go to Chicago?

5. WHAT WOULD BE YOUR DREAM VACATION DESTINATION?

Melanie: Narnia

Michelle: Scotland to find a hot guy with red curly hair and green eyes who knows JRR Tolkiens wife maiden name and his library card number

Kellie: Italy and Brazil

Michelle: That's not fair I want to go to Narnia

Melanie: Get your own stupid wardrobe!

Kellie: I have a sneeking suspision that one day I will come to visit you two and you will both be sitting in your wardrobes murmering to yourselves about hapy and a 2500 mummy

Melanie: I want to go to Never Never Land

Michelle: thats cool too

Melanie: Matt and I could become spies. Then I could travel the world.

Kellie: I sitll hate the fridge even if it is a freakin' spy...thing....

Melanie: Peter pan is cool. Black Beauty is not.

Michelle: Peter Pan is hot. Becca thinks so too

Michelle: Black Beauty is gay

6. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE KITCHEN APPLIANCE?

Melanie: Im going to blow up my kitchen (like Angelia Jolie did) someday

Michelle: microwave...I want my doggie at school because I have to pick up the food off the ground

Kellie: A dishwasher I am, I am, I am; a dishwasher I'll always be, I really hate this stupid job, somebody buy a real one for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

7. IF YOU COULD PLAY AN INSTRUMENT, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

Melanie: the electric guitar

Michelle: bagpipes...in scotland with my hot scottish man

Kellie: bass gutair, drums, electric guitar, harp, flute, spoons, fiddle, viola,...

Michelle: pan pipes

Kellie: ...fife, trombone, trumpet

Melanie: You're a homeschooler

Kellie: You're a freakin' genius, I'm glad you finally figured that one out =)

Michelle: These are good for 4 year old cookies

Melanie: I called you a "homeschooler" because homeschool families always play tons of instruments

8. FAVORITE COLOR?

Melanie: white

Michelle: white

Kellie: black

9. WHICH DO YOU PREFER, SPORTS CAR OR SUV?

Melanie: one that runs and has four wheels works for me

Michelle: blue sports car! convertable!!!!

Kellie:sports car!!! convertable!!!!!

10. DO YOU BELIEVE IN AFTERLIFE?

Melanie: no I believe we have aliens in our tummy and we have to pay the church of Scientology tons and tons of money to forgive us for our sins so the aliens come out

Michelle: whats the afterlife? does it have something to do with heaven?

Kellie: yeah

11. FAVORITE CHILDREN'S BOOK?

Melanie: Melanie Mouse's Moving Day

Michelle: The Happy Man and His Dump Truck

Kellie:If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

Melanie: lets start a mouse club
Kellie:the mickey mouse club? what?

Melanie: M-i-c-k-e-y- m-o-u-s-e

Michelle: I think there was a mouse in The Happy Man and His Dump Truck. He had a dump truck and took animals for rides in his dump truck.

12. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SEASON?

Melanie: KELLIE JUST TOLD ME TO SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Michelle: When I read that I thought it meant "season of a television show"

Kellie: that would be season five of stargate

Melanie: Sam is cool

Michelle:yeah!

Kellie: I say Daniel!

Michelle: Daniel's a geek though

Kellie: yea, Hot Geek!!!

Michelle: That's true

Melanie: I like Fullhouse and Power Rangers.

Michelle: Buff guys are stupid

Melanie: no one is buff in Full house are they? Danny Tanner looks totally gay!

Michelle and Kellie: Jessies pretty Buff! His hair!

13. IF YOU COULD HAVE ONE SUPER POWER, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

Melanie: I would just buy a gun and blow apart my house like Angelina Jolie(she has weird lips. He so should have stayed with Jennifer. At least she has "good hair")

Michelle: I want like eyes that can zoom in and are x ray and a little bit of telekinesis so I can move cells around. that'd be awesome!

Kellie: I want to be a birdie.

Kellie: Melanie wrote that, she's mean; shut up again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I want to fly. FLY! With a cape, not feathers!

Michelle: I want to fly too...like a birdie

Melanie: fly like an eagle into the future. Fly like andeagle let my spirit carry me I want to fllllyy like an eagle. WHAT is that song from?????? I think space jam

Michelle: I want to have wings like appendeges with feathers

Kellie: what are appendeges

Melanie:go to college

Michelle: It's actually A-P-P-E-N-D-A-G-E-S

Kellie: HA! You go to college! Wait, no, preschool! Ha

Michelle: Your mom goes to college

Melanie: no she doesnt

14. IF YOU HAVE A TATTOO, WHAT IS IT?

Michelle: I have a butterfly over my heart

Kellie: I dont think I have a tatoo

Michelle: maybe we should check

Melanie: I dont think we should write that on here

Kellie: lets move on

15. CAN YOU JUGGLE?

Melanie: why are surveys so gay

Michelle: do I look like I have any athletic ability

Kellie: Matt (Wilhelm) is a court jester

16. NAME ONE PERSON FROM YOUR PAST YOU WISH YOU COULD GO BACK AND TALK TO?

Melanie: my cousin Jarrod

Michelle: Mrs McEwen my first grade teacher. She rocked she called me baby doll.

Kellie: there are no people in my past. I am a home schooler.

17. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE DAY?

Melanie: boo on surveys

Michelle: March 15 1952

Kellie:days are gay

Melanie: Michelle what is March 15 1952?

Michelle: *laughs* I dont know

18. YOUR DREAM JOB?

Melanie: can I have a lifeline?

Michelle: working for Mr Risch. I had a dream last night that I was driving along the highway and Mr. Risch pulled alongside me in his van a screamed at me and asked if I wanted to work right now.

Kellie: jobs are gay. An English teacher in a foreign country?

19. WHAT'S IN THE TRUNK OF YOUR CAR?

Melanie: jumper cables used to fix matts truck...and a hello kitty thing to put in my window when it is sunny and a banana

Michelle: I dont have a car but if I did I would call my trunk "the boot"

Kellie: you mean my granny mobile?

20. WHICH DO YOU PREFER, SUSHI OR HAMBURGER?

Melanie: Sushi rocks...I sound like Hannah Lance

Michelle: cookies

Kellie: Ive never had Sushi and hamburgers are boring
Melanie: GO Michelle! Welcome to the dark side!

Michelle: give me cookies!

Melanie: C is for cookie!

Michelle: B is for Bunny...

Kellie: I never watched Sesame Street!!

Melanie: thats not all from Seasame Street! J is for Jason he wants to kill me!

24. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FLOWER?

Melanie: daisies or the ones Matt picked for me

Michelle: the pretty purple smelly one in my backyard

Kellie: daises

25. WHAT WOULD YOUR FIRST 3 PURCHASES BE IF YOU WON THE LOTTERY?

Melanie: a lama.

Kellie: Mel? Thats all three purchases? You want three lamas?

Melanie: I want a ticket to Boston to give to Matt so he can visit his sisters...and meet the gay guy and his cat. Then again...maybe I dont want my boyfriend to meet a gay guy.

Michelle: Yeah! Hes a little "metro"

Melanie: and so is Eric

Michelle: and I want Scotland

Melanie: You want three Scotlands????

Michelle: and a bunch of swords and what else would I need to conquer England?

Melanie: a lama

Kellie: I want 2 new friends and a car that's not a stinkin' granny mobile...actually, I like Lama's so scratch the 2 new friends and get me a cow and a lama

Melanie: cows are gay

Melanie: and so is Eric

Kellie: Not all of them...cows I mean...

Michelle: Cows are lesbians

Melanie: cow-a-bung-a

Kellie: What?

Melanie: thats what the ninja turtles say!! duh.

Kellie: umm...true, cows are lesbiens, bulls are gay but NOT ALL OF THEM! I"M SO SERIOUS! I KNOW STRAIGHT COWS!!! IT's THE LAMA"S THAT ARE GAY! MELANIE"S LAMA"S ARE GAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Melanie: Kellie step away from the cocaine!!!! Stop it! I told you its bad for you.

Melanie: hold me like you did by the lake on Naboo

*Everyone dies laughing*

Kellie: I'm very,very creeped out and deffinitely not the only on in this room that's "on somethin'" I'm scared...

Michelle: Hapy is my friend

Melanie: Ill never let go Jack! Ill never let go!

Kellie: This is the song that never ends, yes it goes on and on my friends; some people started singing it, not knowing what it was, and they'll continue singing it forever just because it is the song that never ends....

Michelle: somebody get me a cigarette

Melanie: earlier werent we saying that we feel like we have "actually matured" since the last time we saw each other...

Michelle: Hapy will protect my lungs

All Girl

I was having a conversation with Melanie as we drove back to St. Peters after taking Kellie to meet her Dad. We were talking about how we aren't girly girls, but we can be girly. I wrote this essay last semester for Dr. Legg's class (I love Dr. Legg, and you will too Eric) and it pretty much sums up how I feel about myself and my femininity (or sometime apparant lack thereof). Dr. Legg has all the freshmen in his classes pretend to be a member of the opposite sex for a day and then write a paper about what they learned. He says it amuses him greatly. So this is my paper.

All Girl
I awake to the sound of my alarm going off. Wearily I open my bleary eyes and focus them on the numbers before me: 8:00. I hit the snooze button and close my eyes again. Today I am going to sleep in. When I get up thirty minutes later, I hop in the shower and attempt to cleanse myself as quickly as possible. “This isn’t working.” I think despairingly. “My hair is too long to take a five minute shower.” My day as a boy has begun.
I put on jeans, a t-shirt and my tennis shoes, quickly comb my hair, grab my backpack, and head off too botany class. When I see my friends, I don’t smile and wave as I normally do, I simply nod instead. But my girlish giggling spoils the effect. And so the day goes on, me attempting to do the things I know a boy would do and failing for the pure unchangeable fact that I am, in point of fact, a girl.
There were a few successes. I was able to convincingly pull off a classic guy greeting where the right hands of two parties are smacked together and then quickly pulled apart with the fingers curled. I fearlessly killed a wasp for one of my friends armed with nothing but a can of Lysol. And as time went by I found myself thinking more and more like a guy. I had the strange urge to do push-ups and eat massive amounts of food. My scientific mind began to wonder if my mental mindset was causing my body to produce more testosterone than normal. I felt like myself, but I also felt vaguely different. When I hurt my finger it didn’t seem to hurt as much as it ought to, and I ignored it. Somehow the trace amount of blood encrusted on my nail filled me with an odd sort of pride.
Despite the possible testosterone-induced anomalies, I am not in any doubt about my femininity. It seems that in this day and age stereotypes are what define masculinity and femininity. If you enjoy shopping, looking nice, talking about your feelings then you are feminine. If you enjoy getting dirty, building things and acting tough, then you are masculine. Girls should be concerned with their beauty and boys should be concerned with their brawn. But this isn’t right. This is not true masculinity and femininity. It is no wonder our society is full of people confused about what sex they are. There are men who enjoy “feminine” things and become convinced that they are women trapped in men’s bodies. They don’t know how else to resolve this seeming conflict.
But killing bugs and doing push-ups doesn’t make me masculine, just like giggling and playing with my hair does not make me feminine. It goes so much deeper than that. Being feminine has more to do with the way I think and perceive things than my actions. Yes, it is true that some actions are feminine in nature, but they are a result of the inner femininity. God created woman to be a helper for man. We are detail-oriented and pick up on things men miss. We are created to be companions and are therefore very attuned to the feelings and emotional state of others. We are mothers and caregivers and so feel the need to help others grow. All of these things are generalized statements about women and in individuals some aspects may be stronger than others according to the way that God made us but it still holds true. So though in stereotype I may seem to be more like a boy, in the central core of my personality and character, I am all girl.

Here is another picture of my skirt. It's reversed because I took the other one of myself in the mirror.
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This is a picture of the skirt that I crocheted. It took a long time, but it's finished.
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Requiem for a fish

Silver has passed on. She was having problems swimming and it turns out that she was having problems with her air bladder. She died yesterday in a one-gallon that I set up for her to spend her last hours in peace. I buried her in the garden and I am playing the Rutter Requiem for her as I did for her friend Black when he died. Rainbow, Cremecicle and Black Mollie and taking it alright. They are all extremely healthy and I don't think that we need to worry about their health, but they are all very upset and venting their pain by chasing each other around the tank.

Update on my fishtank, again

I thought that I would let all of you know how my fishtank is doing because I know that you are all dying to know anyway. I got a new fishie last night. It is a Cremecicle lyretail molly. I think she might possibly be pregnant too, but I don't know yet. She's really pretty and goldish on the top and silver on the bottom. She seems to be getting along with everyone Ok. She followed Rainbow around when she first met him just like Silver did, which is rather curious. Apparently Rainbow is a ladies man. I also got some more ghost shrimp since I only had one left. The guy at Petsmart said that he put in three but when I got home there were five so I owe Petsmart sixty cents. Silver seems to be thrilled with the new shirmp. She goes around nipping them and terrorizing them. As the smallest fish in the tank I think that she really likes having something to pick on. Black has become, as Mom puts it, 'Queen of the Tank'. When we first got back here Silver and Rainbow were ganging up pn her and trapping her behind rocks and stuff like that. I think she got fed up, 'cause now she goes and nips everyone. She's been nice to Cremecicle though from what I've seen. Cremecicle has some issues though 'cause she's afraid of my hand. When I go to feed them Cremecicle swims away and the other swim towards me 'cause they know I have food. So Cremecicle didn't get much to eat today, the others ate it all before she could. Hopefully once she gets hungry enough she'll get over her fear. Everyone should come see my happy little fishies and shrimpies. They are fun to watch. Just ask Mommy. She spends an awful lot of time watching them and then giving me behavioral updates.
Another thing I guess I ought to tell everyone from here is that I have official sucumbed. I now work for Mr. Risch. I'm really sorry April. I can no longer comfort you and tell you not all your friends work for your dad 'cause I'm pretty sure that they all do. I couldn't find a job that was related to biology, so I figured I might as well work where I knew people and the pay was pretty good. I think that I'm still going to look around for another part-time job or else I'll be really bored this summer. Ok, well that's all that I think you will read. My posts get really long sometimes.

One Day More

There is a song in the musical Les Miserables. This song is about the French Revolution and has no bearing on my life but I have fixated on it because there are a bunch of people singing "One day moooooooore" and that is a very nice thing to think of today because I only have one day more and I will be done with my freshman year of college. It might be a sad thought and cause me to thing of all that has happened since I came here and the people that I have met and sappy junk like that. But it the middle of finals week. I'm tired. And stressed. And I've been eating entirely too much chocolate because that is the only thing that keeps me happy. Well, Jillian gave me a kubaton and that made me really happy. It's a big metal stick that goes on a key chain and you carry it around and if someone grabs you, you stick it in their pressure points and cause them great pain and then take them down and shove your knee in their kidney. Or you could step on their head, or choke them, or lots of other painful things. So I have to study some names of some stuff. Animals and parasite and other evil things like that. I'll be home in less than two days, but I'll be done with school in less than twelve hours which is almost as good.

Epitome of a Bio Mojor

So I've been having fun lately. I have been studying like a mad woman. I'm going crazy. I'm not sure that I'm exagerating because today I was walking around in a shirt that has the cardivascular system of a fetal pig on it and carrying around a box of Giant Microbes (Yay). Elisabeth, Jillian, and i made shirts last night to help us study for our practical today that was all about the fetal pig. Jillian had a shirt with all the internal organs on it. It was fun and it freaked out quite a lot of people. It also got a lot of compliments from certain other people. Isn't that interesting. So I'm coming home on May 5 with all my stuff. I will be very tired and will probably spout random classification information but if anyone wants to do something, just let me know.

Update on my fishtank

So right before Easter Break when I was packing Elisabeth discovered that Rainbow had Ick. Ick is a bacterial infection that causes little white spots to appear on fishies. So I left my key and asked Jillian to take care of my fishies while I was gone and give them medicine. She did and when I got back Rainbow's Ick was gone, but now Silver had it. But Silver's wasn't as bad and we managed to get rid of that pretty quickly. So my fishies were happy and healthy. Jillian's fishies weren't so lucky. Her fishies got Ick too (apparently the store we bought fishies at had the Ick and since all the fishies there share water...). So both Jillian's fishies died and then her lone surviving shrimp died and she was left with nothing. We had to boil all the stuff that was in her tank because it was so bad. So yesterday we went to Chatty to get more fishies. While we were there I decided to get my Cardinal Tetras that I had wanted since that store was the only one we had found them at. I also got a Black Mollie to replace Black, except that she was pregnant (yay for baby fishies). So when we were acclemating my fishies we found that Rainbow had Ick again. I was really disappointed because I didn't want to put my Ick-free fishies in there, and I especially didn't want the baby Mollies to get Ick when they were born. Jillian had ended up ordering a fish because she wanted a dwarf puffer and they didn't have them there, so I begged a home for my fishies. So this morning I was awakend by a call from Jillian. She told me that Black Mollie had popped. I ran over to Jillian's dorm to see. There were only two babies. We suspect that Black Mollie gave birth in the night and ate the rest, 'cause fishies do that. So I took the babies out and waited to see if she'd have any more. She didn't. So I put the babies back in, took Black Mollie out and brought her over to my dorm. I didn't really want to put Black Mollie in an Ick-infested tank, but we didn't have another bubbler to put her in her own tank, and if we left her with the babies she would eat them. The Cardinals are so small that they can't eat the babies even if they wanted to. So Rainbow and Silver have accepted their new tank mate pretty well. But then she is a large, formally pregnant, black fish. She's kinda... pushy. So I put in this really, as Elisabeth puts it, bad butt medicine. This medicine has formaline in it, what they use instead of formaldehyde nowadays. This medicine will kill any bacteria in the tank, the good and the bad. If I put to much in I can burn my fishies' gills and then they won't be able to breath. So this medicine is serious stuff. Hopefully all the Ick will die, all the fish will live, everyone will get to go in the right tank and it will all be good. I'll keep you updated on the exciting world of my fishtank.

P.S. We also got some Ghost Shrimp that are in Jillian's tank right now too. We got some with eggs so we can have Ghost Shrimp babies too and they will be fruitfull and multiply and fill the fishtank, and we'll have Ghost Shrimp forever and ever and never have to buy them from the store again.

Random stuff

Where are you guys? I posted all kinds of fun stuff for you to comment on and like 3 people did. I give of my time and effort to amuse you and this is what I get. I'm putting off Biblical foundations homework for you right now. *sigh*
So Ashley is going to be my roommate next year. Isn't that exciting? Her mom is paying me a lot of money.
My fishies are doing well. They had Ick, a bacterial infection, but they are almost over it now. Poor Jillian lost two fish to the Ick. But she took really good care of my babies while I was gone over Easter Break. Her poor fishie fought for about a week before finally succumbing. It's quite sad.
In other news, scientists discovered soft tissue in the thigh bone of a T. rex on Thursday. They were trying to transport it in a helicopter, but it didn't fit so they cut it, and found soft tissue. It was still squishy and everything. There were red blood cells too so they can do DNA sequencing on it. It's really amazing. The one scientist is now encouraging museums to break open their dinosaur bones to see if there is any soft tissue in them. This makes me really excited because soft tissue couldn't possibly survive for millions of years. It proves that the earth is young. Yay. Ok, I'm gonna do homework now. Possibly.

Easter Break

I forgot to tell you. I am coming home for Easter Break. Ann is going to visit her new boyfriend in Chicago so mom is coming to pick me up in Mt. Vernon thurs. morning. I'll stay until sunday morning and then we have to drive back. If I feel especially motivated I'll come to the sunrise service on sunday.

Yay for side ponytails. This is my RA Kami, Me, Ashley, and my roommate Ann.
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This is Silver. Rainbow is hiding under the rock.
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This is my fish tank. Isn't it AWESOME!!
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I learned how to post pictures. Isn't this fun? 

Me 

My fish tank

I decided that I needed to tell people about the thing I am most excited about right now. My fish tank. I think I mentioned before that Eric brought me my fish tank when he came. That fish tank was a one-gallon. When I put it all together with the gravel and plant that I had gotten it seemed really claustrophobic. Probably 'cause I'm now used to Elisabeth's 20 gallon. So I went to Wal-mart and got a 10-gallon. Why not. It was only about $10 and I had a pump, gravel, plant and pretty much everything else I needed (I also have a friend that has extra fish everything that she lets me borrow). So I set up my new tank but this was the week before spring break so even though I really wanted fish, I couldn't get them and then leave them unattended for a week. Not to mention the fact that you really aren't supposed to put fish into a brand new tank for about a month because the nitrifying bacteria haven't had a chance to grow and your fish will poison itself with it's own poo. So the Wednesday before spring break we had Zoology lab. There are certain people in Zo lab that think of it as the pet-procuring lab. These people happen to be Jillian, Elisabeth, and me. This week we were studying Crustaceans. So I ended up going back to my dorm with 5 crayfish. The plan was to keep them until the lab after spring break so the class could look at them then too. They would also help my bacteria grow and since they're so hardy they wouldn't kill themselves. Good plan right? Well, they didn't kill themselves, but they killed each other. Crayfish are rather murderous little beasts. One that I dubbed Permanent Time Out Girl killed another the morning after I got them. Then she started eating it. I fed them shrimp that night and they seemed fine. When I left Friday afternoon they all seemed pretty happy and were co-existing quite well. When I got back from Spring Break one was in moldy little chunks all over the tank, one was laying upside down with Permanent Time Out Girl standing over it, and one was cowered behind a rock. I removed the dead ones, but by Tuesday night the one behind the rock had died too. I'm not sure why that one died because I made a rock barrier between the two remaining so they each had half of the tank. So I took Permanent Time Out Girl to lab on wed and told Dr. Hartzell that she was a killer. Dr. Hartzell said that he would release her into the creek and she would probably do quite well there. I found out yesterday that she died during the night and he never got a chance to release her. Quite sad actually. But I don't care anymore because I got to go to the fish store yesterday. YAY!!! I have fish.
I like fish much better than crayfish. And so does everyone else (some girls can be pretty silly in their fears sometimes). I got an Australian Rainbow fish, a Black Mollie, and a Silver Mollie. They're so fun. They are very active and swim a lot. Silver likes to follow around Rainbow. I don't know why. Rainbow is going to grow quite a bit so it will be interesting to see what happens then. Black Mollie likes to hide out in the little cave I made with the rocks. That makes me happy that he likes it. Silver is being kinda strange today. She keeps making these sideways figure eights along the front of the glass. I guess it's more interesting than going circles. Rainbow is looking for more food. I fed them last night and Rainbow just went after all the food so I had to give them some more so that Black and Silver could get some. I'm thinking I might feed them again. Rainbow is still growing after all and he eats most of it. Elisabeth would get on me though. You're only supposed to feed fish every other day or they get fat. Oh well. I fed them anyway

Uhhh...make up your own title

Well I haven't posted in a whole month so I guess I need to. Part of the reason I didn't post was because I had spring break and that took an awful lot of work to get to. Professors here at Bryan can be awfully sadistic.
So anyway most of you know I was at home on spring break 'cause you saw me. That was fun. Kinda exhausting though. I had a birthday but I think once you get past 15 birthdays kinda loose something. I don't really get so overwhelmingly excited. Maybe because I don't get toys quite so much. I'm really tired right now because I haven't gotten all that much sleep this weekend. I think I'll take a nap. This was a pretty pathetic post so I'll try to post again soon. But sleep is important to Michelle.

Yet another Random Post

Well, I decided that I needed to post something else to stop you people from bashing the Notebook. *sigh* you lot are horrible friends to make fun of me when I was crying.
So, I don't really have anything to talk about. I'm waiting in my room to see if Eric will call me. He supposed to get on campus sometime today, but I don't know when. So I'm waiting. Elisabeth is on my bed making a baby bonnet. I'm not sure why, but she is enjoying herself so that's a good thing. She says she's making it to use up her yarn. Now she's stopped talking 'cause I told her I was going to post whatever she said.
I guess I'll just tell you about her because I haven't done that yet. Elisabeth is Irish. Very Irish. She has curly hair and a temper. I just think she's kinda funny when she get upset. She gets upset when we do math. I'm not sure why that is. She's my lab partner. She was my lab partner for Botany and Chemistry last year and for Zoology and Chemistry this year. She really likes thing that live in water. She worked at the Tennessee Aquarium for the past three years. She got them to put her fish tank in the Botany lab. She's got some rock that was put in a coral reef in there. Now all the sponges, corals and stuff are growing on it. She's also got an Oyster Toad Fish. I call him Ugly. She used to have a really cool eel, but Dr. Barnett killed it. It's an aquarist superstition that if you name a fish it will die. Guess who named the fish and guess what happened. We call Dr. Barnett Fish-namer now.
She's also got a tank in her room. It has some of the same thing in it, but she's got a crab in it that we call Crabzilla. She's also got an upsidedown jellyfish named Squishy (it's ok to name invertebrates by the way). I think that she should get a black sea urchin and name it Shadow Urchin. Then we could write a comic book about Crabzilla vs. Shadow Urchin. We'd make millions. But she's not going for it.
I guess that's a long enough post now. I think I'll work on my scarf that I am knitting.

Bawling I tell you

Alright guys, it's 2 am here and I am still awake. Why you ask? It's because I'm bawling my freakin' eyes out that's why. I just finished watching The Notebook. Most of you know how I generally do not like chick flicks and think that they are stupid and have no basis in reality, but this one... I like.
If you do not cry after watching this movie, you have no heart and should be cast out of society.
Girls: watch this movie and dream 'cause it's never gonna happen.
Guys: watch this movie and take notes 'cause this is what the girls are dreaming of. This is what every girl dreams of. I guarantee it.
The Notebook is about this old woman who has lost most of her memory, and every day her husband comes and reads to her from this notebook. He tells her the story of their lives and their love and tries to get her to remember. There were two scenes we fast forwarded through but it's pretty obvious where those are. They also do not have very great morals all the time... but oh my goodness it's sad. You just have to watch it. You have to. Kami, my new RA, and I bawled for like the last 15 min straight. Ashley was there too but she had read the book and knew what was going to happen.
This movie might not be terribly realistic, but it has some basis in reality. This is the kind of love we are shooting for people. True love. Better than Princess Bride even because this love lasts. They're like 80 yrs. old and he won't leave her and he calls her his sweetheart even though she doesn't remember him at all. It's so sad and beautiful and heartbreaking and sweet. Ok. enough of the movie review. I'm going to cry myself to sleep now.

No Longer Desiring, But Still Intending

I don't know why, but for some reason God has laid it on my heart to post this essay I wrote. I wrote it for English last semester after we read C.S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters. If anyone has never read that book, read it. If you have read it, read it again. I had already read it before, but when I read it last year there were things that stuck me differently, or things that I had missed. So anyway, I hope this helps some of you.

No Longer Desiring, But Still Intending
The Screwtape Letters is a book written by C.S. Lewis nearly half a century ago, but the subjects are just as relevant, if not more so today. It is a series of chapters written as letters from a senior demon, Screwtape, to his young nephew, Wormwood. These letters give advice about how Wormwood should tempt a human whom Screwtape calls “the patient”. Through this process we are given a glimpse of the spirit world and the battle that is going on every moment for our souls. By using demons as his characters Lewis confronts his readers with startling insights into the various techniques and efforts put forth by demons into separating us from God, Who the demons call “The Enemy”. Many of the ways the demons in the book distract and misdirect the patient bring to mind things that I struggle with myself.
One of the letters I found most valuable dealt with what Screwtape calls the “law of Undulation”(Lewis 36). The law of Undulation is the law that says humans are continually subject to change in all things. Our feelings, our moods and our spiritual life are in a constant state of fluctuation. Like a wave, our lives are a continuous series of peaks and troughs.
The application of the law of Undulation that Screwtape particularly addresses is the relationship between God and man. There are times when I feel so close to God, when I seem to understand so clearly His will. Feelings of elation and intimacy with God fill my soul and I spend my days trying to please Him and learn more about Him. This is a peak. Then there are times like the one I am going through now. I feel as though I am in a thick fog. I know God is there and I catch glimpses of Him and sometimes faintly hear His voice, but try as I may, I cannot find Him. I cry out to Him to sweep me up into His arms again, but He doesn’t. I can’t understand, and I don’t know what I should do. This is a trough.
As I read the eighth letter of The Screwtape Letters I began to see what it is that God is after. Screwtape says, “Now it may surprise you to learn that in His [God’s] efforts to get permanent possession of the soul, He relies on troughs even more than on the peaks…” (Lewis 37). Screwtape goes on to explain how because God loves and values the freedom that He has given us, He sometimes removes His presence from us. God wants us to become like Him and follow Him of our own volition, not because He forces us, but because we truly want to.
“He leaves the creature to stand up on its own legs—to carry out from the will alone duties which have lost all relish. It is during such periods, much more than during the peak periods, that it is growing into the sort of creature He wants it to be. Hence the prayers offered in the state of dryness are those which please Him best.” (Lewis 39)
Reading these words I felt elation once again. My feeling of distance from God was not outside of His plan, but was a natural occurrence in the process of growing closer to Him. This time is an opportunity to show true devotion and love. I can accomplish more in this time than in any other and I am now resolved to do so. This resolution is reinforced by one of the final statements in the letter, “Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy’s will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.” (Lewis 39)

Works Cited
Lewis, C.S. The Screwtape Letters. Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc. New York, 1976

This post is not terribly exciting.

Just warning you all (oh drat I almost said y'all. There's no place like the north, there's no place like the north...) that nothing stupendously exciting has happened to me recently. I pretty much just decided that it had been too long since I posted and I had better write something if I want to maintain contact with those that don't live on this hill with me. Well, i take that back. Something exciting did happen to me, but it's no the sort of thing to share in mixed company (unless they were all bio majors perhaps) let alone the internet. But anyway...
So I feel like I've been back here forever but we haven't even had a full week of classes yet. How sad is that? This sadness is due in part to my schedule (which I've probably aready complained about to you). On MWF I go from 8-1:20 straight with only a half hour break for lunch. On M I then have Women's Self Defense, which is totally worth it, from 8:30-9:45. On W I have Zoology lab from 2:30-5:20 and AWANA from 6:30-8:30 (so early to leave AWANA, freaks me out). My one friend tried to convince me to take Chem lab on M 2:30-5:20, but I refused. So anyway MWF is packed full, but I only have Christian Life formation on T and Chem lab on Thurs. This is not working out for me. Dr. Hill said that when he was in college he fixed his schedule so that it would turn out like that. I hate it. I have to get up at 7 every other day. I see the freakin' sunrise on my way to classes. I've never seen this many sunrises in my life. I'm the girl who on her break stayed up till 3:30 am every single day and didn't get up till at least 11. Ask my mother. It's true. So I'm a wee bit stressed, I'm missing meals, and I've got a cold. I'm really not as grumpy as I sound. It's just the thought of 7 am that drives me crazy. I am not a morning person.


So anyway, on sat. I went to America's Thrift Store (which is right next to McKay's). It's this really big thrift store, and I got two sweaters, one is all orange, and a formal dress. I am so excited about this dress. I got is for 4.88 and it reminds me of Judy Garland's dress in Meet Me in St. Louis. I almost didn't get it 'cause I didn't think that it would fit, and you can't try it on 'cause it's a thrift store, but Ashley convinced me to get it and it fit perfectly. I was really excited. Then we went to go see Shall We Dance. I didn't really think I would like it because I thought that it was a chick flick and I'd rather see something where there are explosions (I am a girl, I promise) but it was a really good movie. Some of the outfits made me want to scream a sermon about modesty... But it was still a good movie. I would sign up for dance lessons and then go see the movie right before your first one, 'cause that would work out really well.

So, I guess this post is long enough now. If you don't think so tell me and I'll scrounge up something else to ramble on about.

Happy Birthday Tollers

For those of you who do not know, today is the day on which my beloved John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born. Do not feel bad if you forgot. This is in fact the first year I have ever remembered his birthday on his birthday. If I can't remember it, I can hardly expect you to.
In honor of our remembrance of J.R.R. Tolkien, I will tell you the story of how I ransomed Frodo.
While I had hoped to receive DVD Extended Edition The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, I knew that most of my family had no idea what that even was, and my chances were pretty slim. So when the envelopes were handed out at the end of unwrapping presents, I decided that all my Christmas money this year would go to buying it myself. I had doubts. I am in college, and since I never eat breakfast in the cafeteria I spend quite bit of money on food. But on Christmas morning when I was opening presents with my immediate family, Karen gave me an envelope that said inside "For your Frodo Fund". That is when I decided for certain that I would do everything I could to ransom Frodo.
I got the last of my Christmas money on Saturday, so I couldn't go ransom Frodo until Monday. I looked up where I could get Frodo though and tried to find the best deal. On Monday morning I woke up bright and early at 9:00. I was putting on my shoes when Mom informed me that there was a race for the van this morning and that I was in the lead. Apparently Dad wanted the van to take Karen's bookshelves that he had built her to her apartment. I informed Dad that I had reserved the car three days prior. I had submitted my proposal and it had been approved. He asked me if I had a receipt. I took the car. Normally I would have let him have the car but I had been planning this for days. I had to rescue Frodo. I could have taken his car I guess, but I've never driven it (it scares me) and I was driving to Chesterfield to see if they had the shiney blue shirt I wanted in the right size.
So I drove out to Chesterfield. I went to the Wal-mart on the way, but I couldn't find Frodo. I searched and searched and finally found the place he was supposed to be, but he wasn't there anymore. So I went next door to Best Buy. I searched and searched and searched. I couldn't find the Extended Edition. So I finally gave up. I drove to the mall. I had a bit of trouble doing this because the other people on the road wouldn't let me change lanes, but I finally made it. Then I searched and searched for the shiney blue shirt, but I couldn't find it. So I left. I was a bit frustrated at this point. I decided to try to get to the O'Fallon Wal-mart. So I took O'Fallon Road off of 94. It seemed promising. O'Fallon Road turned out to be this small winding road that they were doing a bunch of construction on, but it did eventually lead to Highway K. Eventually. I made it to the O'Fallon Wal-mart. And I began the search for Frodo. After my experience at the other Wal-mart I had more of an idea of where to look, so it didn't take as long. I found Frodo. There he was, all alone, tied up. I grabbed him and we practically ran to the checkout. I got a little worried because the cashier couldn't find the thing to take the bonds off of Frodo, but she borrowed one and it was all good. Frodo's ransom was a little more than I had expected, but I paid it anyway.
Frodo and I made it out to my car. I locked all the doors and set Frodo in my lap. Then I began to talk to him. I told him all about how I had been trying to rescue him all day, and how much fun we would have. Then I told Frodo how I got a picture frame that said best friends on it for Christmas, and how we could take our picture with Bear Bear and my boots and put it in there. I told him all about Bear Bear and Boots and how much he would like them. Then I spent a while explaining to him that I was not materialistic. I'm not sure he believed me.
When we got home Karen and I spent a little time admiring him and then we watched the Fellowship of the Ring. This was around 1:00 or so. Karen had to leave and go back to her apartment so I watched the next two movies by myself. This was probably just as well because I stayed up until 3:30 that night and I don't think anyone else in my family would have lasted that long. I took breaks between DVDs to eat and stretch and stuff like that, but it was still pretty intense. I didn't mind though. I think my favorite part was in the Return of the King at about 2:00 when I saw that they had put in some deleted scenes in the Houses of Healing. I was literally squealing with delight and bouncing up and down in my chair. I was happy. Frodo was happy too. He made good friends with my new squishy gumdrop pillow named Chewy. He's bright orange. Frodo's been sleeping on him a lot, in fact I think he's sleeping on him right now up in my room. So anyway, that's the story of how I ransomed Frodo. I could have bought a formal dress at full price for what it took to ransom him, but it's ok. I've watched him all the way through twice already. Once the first day, and then I watched all the cast commentary. I also watched The Two Towers and half of Return of the King with Karen. And I've just started on the appendix on the Fellowship of the Ring. I'll probably watch some more of that tonight. But I also have to watch the first season of Stargate Sg-1 and the first two seasons of Quantum Leap, which is what Mom got for Christmas. Mom wants me to help her take down the Christmas tree now so I have to go.
Happy Birthday Tollers.