Thursday, April 30, 2009

Yeah...old news

I apologize...I post pictures on Facebook, and then I post them on here (with a little more text usually), so my friends who see both get a repeat, and my readers who aren't on Facebook get a bunch of pictures and wonder why I never write anything anymore. Or don't care...depending on the reader.

So, Ron Paul spoke at Wake Forest University (or WFU....woof-oo...as it's known around here*) last Monday, and my friend Laura and I went to hear him. It was very good, I agreed with most of the things he said, so much so that it was rather a disappointment that we can't, you know...vote for him or anything! You can see video of the speech here.

*At least, that's how we say it! I assume since Dad works for the med school that he's saying it right. :)

I took all of two photos of people...one of Ron Paul and one of William Lawson (a congressional candidate) who introduced him. The rest of the pictures I took were of Wait Chapel, because it looks really neat. :)















































Young Americans for Liberty is the group that organized all this, and they were passing out stickers while people were waiting in line. Laura and I were upset that they didn't leave the backing on the stickers. The girl suggested that we could save the stickers, but you know...they've been stuck already! I mean, I understand not paying more for a roll of stickers with perforations, but the people passing out the stickers could have had a pair of scissors and cut them apart if people wanted them that way. Of course, then there's the possibility that people would then decide to peel the sticker off and drop the paper on the ground. I don't know...we thought it should have been handled differently anyway. :) What can I say? Laura and I were both homeschooled....there's almost always a better way to do things. :D

I wish I'd gotten a picture of all the people; a line of two-three people stretching all the way around the quad. We decided that for some reason it reminded us of the fair...I'm still not quite sure why. Just the huge mass of people outside, I guess. The guys behind us were discussing whether it would be more efficient to drink with two straws, or if that would slow it down instead...it was terribly fascinating...or not. lol

Anyway, that was fun to go to. And Laura and I went to Starbucks afterwards and talked, talked, talked because we hadn't seen each other for a while. :) And I didn't get lost trying to find a parking space at WFU! I've been there before, but I'm not really very familiar with the Reynolda campus.....heh, I say that like I know my way around the med school perfectly well. :p

Friday, April 24, 2009

Um...music okay with you?

Oh wow...I've been really bad about leaving comments, or even replying to comments on here recently! Sorry. :( I've left a few short comments, but anything that I wanted to think about I ended up never writing...not the best plan perhaps. So anyway, I replied to some of them just now. :)

Hmm...so, once again, not a real post here, but music's always good, right? :)

I was listening to Pandora radio and had it on my "Coldplay" station, and this is one of the songs that came up as being similar to their style. I like it for some reason, though I don't always like this sort of singing. It does sort of remind me of Billy Joel though...probably because he's playing the piano.

This Year's Love ~David Gray


And a Coldplay song I hadn't heard before...and look, Chris Martin can sit still! :

Til Kingdom Come ~Coldplay


Now My Feet Won't Touch the Ground ~Coldplay (this one's rather depressing actually if you pay attention to the lyrics. Hmm.)

Monday, April 13, 2009

What I did this past weekend

And doesn't that sound like the typical school paper subject?

And it gets the typical response...I'm not the sort of person who does exciting things that are worth writing papers about. Now that I think about it, I don't think I ever actually had an assignment like that in school, but it is the stereotypical subject. Or something along those lines.

At any rate, this weekend...I spring-cleaned!!! Wow! Sorry to overwhelm you with the excitement of it all, I know it's thrilling. ;) So I'll just let you sit for a moment and recover from your awe-struck state.

*smiles patiently*

*taps fingers on desk while contemplating clock*

*considers that I really need to get a clock that actually works*

*comes back to the present*

All better? Good. What was that? I heard you mumble...yeah, I'm sure, well, some people get excited about cleaning. So deal with it.

In all seriousness, I did clean my room this weekend, and believe me, it needed it. And while I don't think I'd say I actually like cleaning, I do like things to be clean, so in that it's a means to an end, I like it. Sorta. Dusting I strongly dislike, and I'm never terribly satisfied with the results either.

But I needed to clean my room for a variety of reasons, one of them being my cat who quite possibly has allergies. And there are many things she could be allergic to, but it wouldn't hurt to start with the stuff in my room since she spends most of her time in there. That meant dealing with all the dust hiding (or not) in various places, and also the *cough* mold lurking in the corner. Every stinking thing around here molds! We've got to have the moisture though, or it would be too dry, but the moisture tends to collect in the wrong areas...like in the corner behind my bed.

And yes, I know that it's because it's an outside wall and it doesn't get enough airflow, and I need to keep my bed further from the wall to avoid the mold growing. But I also have a tiny little room, so things are best pushed up against the walls, and I don't like things falling off my bed into the nasty mold-growing corner. Because guess what would get moldy then? Whatever fell back there. But anyway...

It's just a good thing that I'm not super-sensitive to dust and mold. I mean, I have normal allergies, but not the kind where the house has to be sanitized. That would be a pain.

So I got Dad to help me carry the mattress and boxspring out and I got the moldy corner bleached and cleaned up, and wiped down the rest of the trim while I was at it. Then while that dried I dealt with the rest of the room...which meant decluttering before I could even get at the dust. But it needed to be done sometime, so it was now or later. I'm glad I got it done. And I hadn't messed with the decor for a while, so I did that some too.

I even color-coordinated my closet, even though I didn't get around to actually going through all the stuff in the closet. Nor did I get my shelves and bins of yarn organized, but I'm not sure that's really possible But here's my organized closet anyway (don't know how long it will stay that way!):












I also got my desk fairly cleared off:









Put up some new photos, all of them color photos even....my mom was surprised. :D



























Restuck the CDs that had fallen off:









I got some of the stuff cleared off my door...I'm not sure what to put on there instead:












I left my French coins up there though, I don't know where else to put them:












Cleared off and reorganized my memo board too:










Neat bookshelf!!! All the books fit!:












Took my winter scarves out of the pink bowl and put summer scarves in instead...they rather clash :/










Gracie helped supervised:





















But now it's all clean anyway, and maybe Petunia will be happier...she doesn't look very happy though:









My pile of library books to read...I have a feeling I'll have to check some of those out again later. :p












So, that was my exciting Easter weekend...I also made a cake on Saturday for the Easter lunch on Sunday. Chocolate with pale green icing and pastel peanut M&Ms on it. Evidently I forgot to take a picture.

Oh, on Thursday night I went over to my friend Lauren's house to hang out with her and her sisters, (that's two links) and their cousin Jessica! We had a lot of fun making and eating pizza, talking about anything and everything, and Lauren and I tried to teach them how to contra dance. It was hilariously fun. :D Ha....I went over there after I got home from work, and when I got there they were all spazzing around the kitchen because they'd had espresso. They informed that there was a little bit left over, at which point I assessed the situation and decided I had better have some or there was no way I'd keep up. :D

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Easter Sunday

Christ the Lord Is Risen Today- Tune

1. Christ the Lord is risen today, Alleluia!
Sons of men and angels say, Alleluia!
Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia!
Sing, ye heavens and earth, reply, Alleluia!

2. Vain the stone, the watch, the seal, Alleluia!
Christ hath burst the gates of hell, Alleluia!
Death in vain forbids His rise, Alleluia!
Christ hath opened paradise, Alleluia!

3. Lives again our glorious King, Alleluia!
Where, O death, is now thy sting? Alleluia!
Once He died, our souls to save, Alleluia!
Where thy victory, O grave? Alleluia!

4. Soar we now where Christ hath led, Alleluia!
Following our exalted Head, Alleluia!
Made like Him, like Him we rise, Alleluia!
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia!

5. Hail, the Lord of earth and Heaven, Alleluia!
Praise to Thee by both be given, Alleluia!
Thee we greet triumphant now, Alleluia!
Hail, the resurrection, thou, Alleluia!

6. King of glory, Soul of bliss, Alleluia!
Everlasting life is this, Alleluia!
Thee to know, Thy power to prove, Alleluia!
Thus to sing and thus to love, Alleluia!

7. Hymns of praise then let us sing, Alleluia!
Unto Christ, our heavenly King, Alleluia!
Who endured the cross and grave, Alleluia!
Sinners to redeem and save. Alleluia!

8. But the pains that He endured, Alleluia!
Our salvation have procured, Alleluia!
Now above the sky He’s King, Alleluia!
Where the angels ever sing. Alleluia!

9. Jesus Christ is risen today, Alleluia!
Our triumphant holy day, Alleluia!
Who did once upon the cross, Alleluia!
Suffer to redeem our loss. Alleluia!

I love that hymn. We sang it this morning, but our hymnal only has the first five verses...I suppose some of the others are a bit repetitive, but verse six is pretty good too.

And the sermon was great too...well, it usually is actually. :) The World's View of the Crucifixion

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Winston-Salem on a Tuesday

So, yesterday was a little busy. My dad went to a conference in Mebane with our pastor and another guy from church, so I had to drop him off at the other guy's house really early before work. I went to McDonald's and got a sausage, egg McMuffin and hashbrowns for breakfast...breakfast is about the only thing McDonald's is good for really. :p And then it's probably best to not think about what's in the sausage too much... It tasted really good anyway.

Then I headed to work and had a good day of work. The baby was really happy, and she kept hugging me and drooling on me....which, while it was good, made me feel rather like I was taking care of a little puppy. :)

Meanwhile, I was trying to make plans with my friends. We were planning on going out for supper and then going contra dancing. Well, we decided we were going to go to Skippy's, which is a hotdog place and apparently really good from what I've heard, but then we found out it closed at 7. Bother. And I don't eat out much, so I really don't know much about what's around to eat. As it was we ended up going to Chik-fil-a. lol And that was fine, I like their chicken, so it was a yummy supper.

After we got done there Zoe wanted to stop at an ice cream place downtown and get some ice cream before we went to the dance. She mentioned it to me last week, that we should go there after a dance, but I didn't think that would work. So anyway, I said sure, I was fine with that. So we headed there...and couldn't find a parking space. *sigh* There was something going on at the Stevens Center downtown, so all the spaces were full. I finally ended up circling the block while Zoe and Lauren went in and got us milkshakes. Then when I came back around I stopped with my hazards on so they could get in...and someone came up behind and honked at me. Excuse me?! Can you not see that there are people getting into the car and I will then move and be out of your way? The light's red anyway, you're not going to be able to go anywhere! Hmph...

Anyway, then I had to figure out how to get to the dance from there. And I'm really rather proud of myself that I figured it out as well as I did....my internal sense of direction seems to be improving. Don't ask me what exact direction I'm going; north, east, etc., but I will know which way it is anyway. :D Basically I was able to get back on the highway and take the right exit from there. It wasn't until we were headed home that I saw the end of fourth street and exclaimed, "Aaah, I could have just gone down 4th the rest of the way!!!" :/

When I got home last night my dad asked why we didn't go to Skippy's and then said, "You could have gone to Foothills [Brewery], it's almost right next door." My mom expressed some doubt as to whether that was really suitable for teenagers. :D My dad said that, well, maybe not... I was just reading an issue of Winston-Salem Monthly though and it said that Foothills has half-priced kids' meals on Tuesdays, so perhaps it is fairly family-friendly. As it was, we still wouldn't have been able to find parking because it's on 4th too....in fact, there seemed to be lots of stuff on 4th that would be nice provided there was either nothing else going on downtown, or you were willing to walk a ways.

So, the dance last night was good. I mean, it was a contra dance, of course it was fun. But it wasn't spectacular. The last one I went to was awesome...lots of people and wonderful Celtic music. I love Celtic music....it brings out my well, Celtic roots. :D Heehee. That sounds funny...it sounds like a tree. A big Lord of the Rings-ish tree... Okay, now I'm rambling. Anyways, last night's band was good, not super-wonderful, but not bad. But I think for a dance to be really, really fun it depends on what people are there, what dances are called, who you dance a particular dance with, and then also the music. And I guess those things just didn't quite align properly last night; not for me anyway, but then I was a little tired, so maybe my perception was just skewed. It seems like everyone else was either kind of out of it too, or the other people were way more hyper than they should have been. It was probably just me though. :)

When I got home last night after dropping the girls off, my parents were actually still up for once, since Dad had gotten home late too. So I didn't have to worry about disturbing them anyway. I was talking to my mom though and realizing that I was feeling more and more tired. It wasn't until today that I figured out why I was so tired even. I only got up 15 minutes earlier than usual yesterday morning, I got an 1.5 nap in the morning, and it wasn't a late dance, so it wasn't like I was out really late. I drove a lot though. I like driving, but it wears me out. Or navigating does. If I can drive where I know exactly where I'm going it's not stressful and doesn't wear me out. So I think that's why I was so terribly tired!

But I got my shower, ate a piece of cheesecake, got to bed by midnight, and fell sound asleep almost immediately. So I had a pretty good night of sleep...I woke up at one point and realized I still had an hour or so to sleep, that's always nice! :)

So that was my Tuesday. And right now I'm at work again. I went to Panera this morning for breakfast, got my usual: cinnamon crunch bagel, sliced and toasted, w/cream cheese...plus a cup of coffee. Um, I think I'll pass on the coffee next time, it wasn't very good. I should have gotten tea, though last time I wasn't happy with that because it cooled off too fast. However I noticed that they have a microwave that you can use....so, tea next time! So I ate my breakfast, poked around online, and people watched.

Other highlights from Winston-Salem Monthly, from a "things to do on a dime" list:

1. Go skating. Sure, sounds like fun, I've been wanting to go roller-skating for some reason.

4. Do some treasure hunting at Cook's Flea Market...um, I dunno...I think not.

6. Play tennis. You know, that sounds like fun too. I have no idea how to really play tennis, but it sounds fun.

7. Stop by Krispy Kreme. Sure, if I still liked doughnuts. Unfortunately I don't really.

11. Take an enriching tour of Reynolda House Museum of American Art. Enriching huh? Mmm...

14. Go people-watching at Hanes Mall. Sure!

19. Test your skateboarding skills at Kernersville's Fourth of July Park. Uh-huh...re-write that as "kill or seriously injure yourself"....in my case anyway.

24. Keep your eye out for free-to-attend events at Bethabara Park, such as the Celtic Festival in the spring. Ooh, sounds like fun!

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

Bother....I don't know...

I'm torn...I want to blog still, but I can't seem to come up with anything to really blog about lately!

I'm not even sure why I can't come up with anything.

Having said that, is there anything anyone would be interested in reading about? :) That's pretty bad, I guess...I'm asking readers for ideas because I have none of my own. On the other hand, it'll definitely be something you wanted to read...hopefully. Unless it ends up being something I have no opinion about one way or the other...though there are very few things like that. :p

So, anything you've been wishing I'd write about?

Oh look, it's April already! Sheesh...