﻿<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><rss version="2.0"><channel><title>acrabappletree's Xanga</title><link>http://acrabappletree.xanga.com/</link><description>Latest Xanga weblog from acrabappletree</description><language>en-us</language><ttl>60</ttl><image><title>The Weblog Community</title><url>http://s.xanga.com/images/xangalogobutton.gif</url><link>http://acrabappletree.xanga.com/</link></image><item><title>Cupquake</title><link>http://acrabappletree.xanga.com/715018405/cupquake/</link><guid>http://acrabappletree.xanga.com/715018405/cupquake/</guid><pubDate>Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:36:21 GMT</pubDate><description>&lt;P&gt;&lt;A href="http://x80.xanga.com/396f7204c9632257175754/b204629209.jpg" target=_blank&gt;&lt;IMG style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px" alt=P0909221935238 src="http://x80.xanga.com/396f7204c9632257175754/z204629209.jpg" width=400&gt;&lt;/A&gt; &lt;SPAN style="WIDTH: 0px"&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;I'm transferring to Tumblr. I've already done a few posts on my new Tumblr that have been syndicated via Facebook, and I'm making a definite transition. I'll keep the link on this page very visibly so it'll be obvious where to go.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;A href="http://skunk-haired-shutterbutton.tumblr.com" rel="nofollow"&gt;http://skunk-haired-shutterbutton.tumblr.com&lt;/A&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;I find it a little bit nicer for multimedia, for format, and for making lots of sporadic little blurb-esque posts, which I'm coming to prefer to the lengthy, less-frequent spills I've been making on here. Fun as it's been--change is good. Tumblr's fun.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;</description><comments>http://acrabappletree.xanga.com/715018405/cupquake/#firstcomment</comments></item><item><title>Day of Silence ..?</title><link>http://acrabappletree.xanga.com/714901596/day-of-silence-/</link><guid>http://acrabappletree.xanga.com/714901596/day-of-silence-/</guid><pubDate>Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:26:56 GMT</pubDate><description>&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT size=6&gt;&lt;STRIKE&gt;&lt;A href="http://x0a.xanga.com/838f243521730257077213/b204545081.jpg" target=_blank&gt;&lt;IMG style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px" alt=P0910170005541 src="http://x0a.xanga.com/838f243521730257077213/z204545081.jpg" width=400&gt;&lt;/A&gt; &lt;SPAN style="WIDTH: 0px"&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;pro-life &lt;/STRIKE&gt;anti-choice&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;So, I have been informed that today is a "Day of Silence." Not &lt;STRONG&gt;the&lt;/STRONG&gt; Day of Silence. Today, apparently, anti-choice students take a day without speaking to represent the silence of the "victims" of their cause.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Let's talk about this. I'm a little embarrassed that a form of activism most associated with a group legitimately discriminated against is now being used to represent non-human entities. Oh, no, wait-- "Killed babies."&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Anti-choice, better known as the "Pro-life" group, can't even give themselves a scientifically accurate name. And we're supposed to give them credit? A LIFE is an organism that will grow and potentially reproduce, and it is within the boundaries of that definition that the organism must be able to sustain life ON ITS OWN. That doesn't mean feed itself and dress itself and drive itself to school; that means that within its own body, it should be able to sustain survival. An organism that cannot do this is defined as a &lt;STRONG&gt;parasite. NO&lt;/STRONG&gt; INFANT born before 22 weeks has survived, ever, in medical records. These organisms are parasites. &lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Better yet, they are not parasites that the mother had to fight off involuntarily; the mother is the&amp;nbsp;partial creator of that fetus, and therefore, she has the right to do with it as she pleases.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;"Pro-Life" is a&amp;nbsp;scientifically inaccurate term because these students, generally choosing their views because their church or their parents subscribe to them, are not defending the life of a &lt;U&gt;baby&lt;/U&gt;. They've been "taught," through the Bible (a technically anonymous, male-centric text) and through overemotionalized, radical literature&amp;nbsp;that this is some little smiling baby in someone's tummy that's being plowed out. &lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;These students are anti-choice; against the principles of individual decision and&amp;nbsp;social liberty. They are encouraging the church to interfere with the state, an entirely unethical movement (and if you think you disagree, anti-choicers, realize that the church having a hand in the state means the state must also be allowed a hand in the church, and we all know you don't want that) and skewing and coloring medical realities about FETUSES (not babies!) and a woman's inherent rights.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Do not give me your "Founding Fathers" or "Christian nation" bull. Very few of the Founding Fathers were practicing Christians; a few were Deists, but many claimed no official religion and committed acts that didn't really line up with the Christian religion. Read your history books, before you open your mouths; &lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;and the fact is that just because your religion seems like reality to you, that does NOT make it ethical for you to try to implement it in the laws that influence everyone, including a large sector of ethically intelligent people who know they should not have a hand in a woman's birth/abortion/adoption choice.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;If you have listening ears and the willingness to actually read a book or pay attention to science or, god forbid, simple ETHICS, you can pull yourself outside of your personal Christian bubble and see that nothing you're supporting is scientifically, medically or politically sound.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;If you are wearing a piece of tape today, you are committing an act of anti-feminism.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;EM&gt;&lt;/EM&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;</description><comments>http://acrabappletree.xanga.com/714901596/day-of-silence-/#firstcomment</comments></item><item><title>The Technicolor Phase</title><link>http://acrabappletree.xanga.com/707063725/the-technicolor-phase/</link><guid>http://acrabappletree.xanga.com/707063725/the-technicolor-phase/</guid><pubDate>Sun, 12 Jul 2009 19:38:58 GMT</pubDate><description>&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;A href="http://xc1.xanga.com/4c5f5467c1732249020883/b197537319.jpg" target=_blank&gt;&lt;IMG style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px" alt=P0907101903541 src="http://xc1.xanga.com/4c5f5467c1732249020883/z197537319.jpg" width=400&gt;&lt;/A&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;Ah, summer reading: &lt;FONT size=4&gt;my Facebook Visual Bookshelf runneth over.&lt;/FONT&gt; &lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;Unfortunately, I struggle to work through &lt;FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #f7c7df"&gt;Klosterman, Sedaris and Sofer&lt;/FONT&gt; when the SteinMart and Pizza Hut applications on the table next to me should really take priority on my reading list. Ugh, no mistake, I'm getting them done, and I've now visited over 30 locations this week in search of more work-- including Waffle House, who I am not afraid to megaphone-advertise as UNRELIABLE, since they sent in my background check and never returned my calls or found a manager to speak with me the several times I've driven over. "Always hiring?" Pshh.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;College matters are looking up, in ways. I won't indulge details, but it looks like I'm safe as far as my fees and such go. I'm going to e-mail my professors* in a few minutes and figure out which books I need for classes so that I can go find them on Half.com or something, and get them cheap (and thus not have to use loan money to cover them). I did FINALLY get to work one shift (because someone needed me to cover while they went on vacay), and I made a little more last pay period than I thought (hooray for paid meetings!), so I ordered some Manic Panic Flashlightning for my long-anticipated next hair-dye project. I need to get my bangs trimmed first, though. Hopefully I'll have enough pocket change when I get to college to pick up some microwaveable food (meal ticket? YEAHHH right.) and help spruce up the dorm a little bit, get an area rug, and maybe.. I don't know, those curtains? :D I'm so fxated on aesthetics, hah. It would seriously cheer me to be able to adorn my room, and especially to have those curtains.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;I did fill out the application and put together a portfolio disc for a grant last night, and I'll take it to the post office tomorrow. The&amp;nbsp;money would go to pay for a new camera. God, that'd be so nice.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;I already have my huge picture box full of &lt;STRONG&gt;&lt;FONT color=#1818a7&gt;photographs/Polaroids/magazine clippings&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/STRONG&gt;, etc. to coat the walls around my bed/desk area.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;And I just used &lt;IMG src="http://www.silk-highway.org/Images/links/Skype_73X34.gif"&gt;&amp;nbsp;with my roommate Grace. &lt;IMG src="http://s.xanga.com/images/heart2.gif" width=15 border=0&gt;&amp;nbsp;One or both of our connections are TERRIBLE, and it made this endeavor very challenging. But we're going to try again later tonight. &lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;____________&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;So, a class of students at North Meck (not the high school I graduated from-- another&amp;nbsp;larger one nearby)&amp;nbsp;apparently spent a large portion of the prior school year studying healthcare reform in relation to general politics, and completed an extensive group project comprised of drafting a hypothetical (but very thorough)&amp;nbsp;healthcare bill that they submitted to Kay Hagan and a few other rep's for appraisal. Obviously, the point of this endeavor was to teach kids about politics, writing bills, and the nitty-gritty of the healthcare system, along with raising awareness in their environment-- no one (logical) made the mistake of thinking that these high schools were planning to pen the Obama healthcare reform bill that would be instituted as one of this term's landmark progress points. &lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;The idea of such an exercise horrified the cranky old &lt;FONT face="Engravers MT"&gt;McCarthyists&lt;/FONT&gt; who seem to browse Charlotte.com, intent on spouting off their rehearsed The-Founding-Fathers-Would-Have-None-Of-This schpiel at everyone. SOCIALISTS! SOCIALISTS! They cry. I'm going to assume that none of these guys, who probably have been around long enough to truly recall what the Founding Fathers said (because they were in the parlor with them), were recipients of my OFA phone calls, because if they were, they'd understand that the Public Option that we're pushing is &lt;EM&gt;nothing&lt;/EM&gt; like socialism. Capitalism is easily provided for in this system, where you CAN choose your own healthcare provider, and by god, if you want the most hoity-toity, exclusive, gold-waiting-list doctor in your region, you can pick them. What none of these self-righteous (..I hesitate to say "pricks," but..) &lt;EM&gt;loudmouths&lt;/EM&gt; can shut their traps long enough to understand is what it's really like on the underside of the healthcare system, and how much reform ANYONE-- Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Green Party-- will acknowledge that the system needs when they're familiar with that side of it. &lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;(And the whole "Founding Fathers" rant is getting really old. Of course the men who drafted our Constitution and the Bill of Rights are meritous; they provided the solid, organized foundation for one of the strongest nations on Earth to prosper from. However, most of them were not "Christians" like everyone gets so excited about-- they were Deists, if even that, and many upheld some pretty&amp;nbsp; corrupt personal practices that could serve to invalidate that. And the fact is, no matter how much good you do, you are still equally capable of wrong. These men were not FLAWLESS, and they're not gods. Why do you think we've &lt;EM&gt;amended&lt;/EM&gt; our Bill of Rights so many damn times?)&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;You can see the &lt;FONT size=5&gt;absurd scathing commentary&lt;/FONT&gt; doused upon this group of children (many of whom will likely be much smarter than the commentators, in a few years) here:&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;A href="http://www.charlotteobserver.com/breaking/story/834298.html"&gt;http://www.charlotteobserver.com/breaking/story/834298.html&lt;/A&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;A href="http://x48.xanga.com/b9df51e258533249298040/b197537340.jpg" target=_blank&gt;&lt;IMG style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px" height=400 alt=DSCF0752 src="http://x48.xanga.com/b9df51e258533249298040/z197537340.jpg"&gt;&lt;/A&gt; &lt;SPAN style="WIDTH: 0px"&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;Ah, check that out. &lt;U&gt;Left tragus pierced&lt;/U&gt;!&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;I've been waiting on this one for a long, long time. Shortly before I had it done, I took a minute to look at my traguses (tragii? &lt;STRONG&gt;Uhh&lt;/STRONG&gt;..) in the mirror, and took note that I actually have very, very tiny ones. And I wondered if that could cause any problems in the piercing. It did. Hah. The very sweet girl at T.L.C. in Mooresville began to stick the needle through (nope, no piercing gun!), and slipped, half-piercing it. This hurt immensely and bled. She quickly assured me no damage had been done, though, and that she'd just have to finish where she started. Compared to that first slip of the needle, the rest was just &lt;FONT color=#df2020 size=4&gt;pressure&lt;/FONT&gt;, relatively ouch-free. (I do sleep on my left side somewhat frequently, though, and this has become more difficult, as has wearing earbuds.)&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;Oh, I've penned a new creative essay. &lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;A href="http://averyalexandra.pbworks.com/Child-in-a-Cone"&gt;http://averyalexandra.pbworks.com/Child-in-a-Cone&lt;/A&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;Done last night, after dinner.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;Next post: shooting a comedy in South End for Manny Sadek that will hopefully be at &lt;FONT face="AR BONNIE" size=5&gt;Ballantyne Theatre&lt;/FONT&gt;. Stay tuned.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;SPAN style="WIDTH: 0px"&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;</description><comments>http://acrabappletree.xanga.com/707063725/the-technicolor-phase/#firstcomment</comments></item><item><title>Loveology</title><link>http://acrabappletree.xanga.com/706572561/loveology/</link><guid>http://acrabappletree.xanga.com/706572561/loveology/</guid><pubDate>Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:22:22 GMT</pubDate><description>&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;A href="http://xe1.xanga.com/84ef452339435248458193/b197042882.jpg" target=_blank&gt;&lt;IMG style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px" alt=P0907062023563 src="http://xe1.xanga.com/84ef452339435248458193/z197042882.jpg" width=400&gt;&lt;/A&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;STRONG&gt;4:26 PM.&lt;/STRONG&gt; It's storming nearby, &lt;FONT color=#589fe7&gt;showering&lt;/FONT&gt; here. I'm at home, on my back porch (more properly stated, at my home, which is the back porch, lately), enabled to do this by my laptop, one of the few extravagances I have left. Wearing what I woke up in; last night's lipstick still smudged on, dry.&amp;nbsp;Rifling through a pack of &lt;FONT color=#ff4040&gt;100&lt;/FONT&gt;s someone bought me, drinking cooled green tea. It's a green tea kind of day, and that means it's a thoughtful day; not an agonizingly thoughtful day, just a day to muse. And those days make the best blogging days, I find.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;On a communicatory note ("Communicatory" --&lt;U&gt;there's&lt;/U&gt; some descriptivism for you there), I have a new AIM. If you're my friend, my acquaintance, my future college classmate,&amp;nbsp;or just one of the many Footprints on my site that I never get to know, feel free to shoot me a message. I like talking to and getting to know new people, especially if it gives me new things to write about on my Xanga (And yes, I'm aware, AIM is kind of middle-school, but I still use it to talk to people, along with Skype, Facebook, e-mail and &lt;FONT size=4&gt;t&lt;STRONG&gt;e&lt;/STRONG&gt;xt&lt;/FONT&gt;).&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;SN = &lt;STRONG&gt;et al et cetera&lt;/STRONG&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;(The sun's out now. I wish it had stayed&lt;FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #e0e0e0"&gt; gray&lt;/FONT&gt;, or I hope the gray returns. Sunshine feels a little contrived at the moment.)&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;IMG src="http://isamaras.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/when-you-are-engulfed-in-flames.jpg"&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;(Who did this cover art? It's &lt;EM&gt;cool&lt;/EM&gt;. I'm&amp;nbsp;aware that I'm asking a rhetorical question that I'm too lazy to look up in another Tab right now. &lt;IMG src="http://s.xanga.com/images/blush.gif" width=15 border=0&gt;)&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;I'm sure it would be displeasing to the company &lt;FONT size=4&gt;A&lt;/FONT&gt;udible (..if there was any one individual at this company aware enough to be displeased about this) to hear a new "customer" publicly tout that they've used Audible's 14-day Free Trial in order to obtain an Audiobook, with full intention of canceling that trial after the Audiobook has been finished and enjoyed.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;But, eh. I'm poor (more accurately, broke). I did the same with Ancestry.com a month ago. If they offer it, I am free to indulge, and if they allow me to cancel with a claim of dissatisfaction, I may cancel (my dissatisfaction related to the fact that I will be asked to provide monetary compensation for books. Good books are art; art, in my opinion, is a metaphysical universal resource meant to be shared freely and not sold as a commodity. It can be argued that I am really just being cheap). And when the ad for Audible's trial appeared on my Facebook page, David Sedaris's new(ish) novel was depicted. I might&amp;nbsp;not have taken the time to click on the ad, otherwise. &lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;You see, I've read &lt;EM&gt;Naked&lt;/EM&gt;, I've listened to a ton of &lt;FONT face="AR JULIAN"&gt;Sedaris&lt;/FONT&gt; on audio in the car, and I've seen him live at the Blumenthal. I can't say he's as much of an intellectual turn-on as he has been for me; as my English teacher aptly described, Sedaris's crutch is irony and sarcasm. And though most humor today is based on these elements.. when you realize that this is essentially all you're laughing at, it feels a little... base. Uncreative. However, I had not completely dropped Sedaris, and I have been Limewiring his readings recently, with no luck. His new book looked interesting; so I got it on audio.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;I've listened to 3 chapters, about &lt;FONT color=#204060&gt;45 minutes&lt;/FONT&gt; of it thus far. And it's about what I expected, but a little &lt;FONT face=Consolas&gt;better&lt;/FONT&gt;, I'd say, actually. The humor is right on track with what one can expect from Sedaris; the dry voice that describes in tragic anti-humor a well-scripted exagguration of childhood stories. However, that sounds like a scathing/condescending description, and it's not meant to be. &lt;EM&gt;This is what Sedaris does well&lt;/EM&gt;. His new stories are funny; I enjoyed sitting out here and hearing them earlier today. His imitation of a horrific elderly nanny is actually pretty damn tickling. &lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;There's nothing like Sedaris live/recorded. He's one of the few authors I'd rather hear than read. &lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;A href="http://x46.xanga.com/b2df405406332248461546/b197045528.jpg" target=_blank&gt;&lt;IMG style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px" alt=DSCF0726 src="http://x46.xanga.com/b2df405406332248461546/z197045528.jpg" width=400&gt;&lt;/A&gt; &lt;SPAN style="WIDTH: 0px"&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;(I don't hate all pictures of myself. However, this is not a favorite. I spent a long time on my curly ponytail on this evening, and yet my bangs decided to smush to my head. So my head isn't really flat, I promise.) Me and my friend Kel at the Calvar wedding. If you didn't read last post, Mr. Calvar is the Chamber Choir and AP Music Theory teacher at my (former..) high school. I do hope he enjoyed the card I made; I also ended up burning him a mix, which I hope he doesn't find trite, seeing as he is a quality musician and instructor, haha. I mean, I hugely appreciate classical music. But my CD for him, titled "Less Common L&lt;IMG src="http://s.xanga.com/images/kiss.gif" width=15 border=0&gt;ve Songs," &lt;STRONG&gt;(&lt;/STRONG&gt;though I did footnote that some of the songs were, uh, &lt;EM&gt;kind of&lt;/EM&gt; common&lt;STRONG&gt;)&lt;/STRONG&gt;, was a contemporary romantic mix. Some cheerful songs, some slow dance songs, all kind of from my music taste (I mean, I couldn't go completely experimental. For most people, you don't put Animal Collective on a wedding album.)&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT color=#408000 size=4&gt;The Calvar Wedding Mix CD:&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT color=#60bf00 size=2&gt;My Love (Lykke Li)&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT color=#60bf00 size=2&gt;White Flag (Dido)&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT color=#60bf00 size=2&gt;Yellow [Coldplay Cover] (Jem)&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT color=#60bf00 size=2&gt;Samson (Regina Spektor)&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT color=#60bf00 size=2&gt;Michelle (The Beatles)&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT color=#60bf00 size=2&gt;The Show (Lenka)&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT color=#60bf00 size=2&gt;True Love Will Find You In The End (Wilco)&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT color=#60bf00 size=2&gt;Up and Away (Dave Matthews)&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT color=#60bf00 size=2&gt;Such Great Heights (Iron and Wine)&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT color=#60bf00 size=2&gt;Raw Sugar (Metric)&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT color=#60bf00 size=2&gt;Sea of Love (Cat Power)&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT color=#60bf00 size=2&gt;Lisdexamphetamine* (Zack Polozune: my boyfriend. This is not a love song; it's his latest composition. I'm&amp;nbsp;pretty sure Calvar's already heard it, but he may not have it on CD, and I figured it'd sort of be like a tribute-by-proxy from one of his composition students.)&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;A href="http://xd0.xanga.com/065f4537d1335248549347/b197122911.jpg" target=_blank&gt;&lt;IMG style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px" height=400 alt=DSCF0724 src="http://xd0.xanga.com/065f4537d1335248549347/z197122911.jpg"&gt;&lt;/A&gt; &lt;SPAN style="WIDTH: 0px"&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;The lovely couple, strolling onto the dance floor.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;..I've been assigned my dorm: Gramley. I didn't have a strong preference, but I'm glad I got this one, because the beds are loftable. I also have a lot of friends on my hall. &lt;IMG src="http://s.xanga.com/images/heart2.gif" width=15 border=0&gt;&amp;nbsp;A lot of my friends are in Babcock, though, so I'll definitely be crashing the other dorm a lot of the time. I'm hoping next year is the Honors Dorm, though. I don't know if it's any nicer, but I'll bet it's less crowded-- and we get to choose our own visitation hours.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;Getting organized for college, like planning for any big move, is tricky. I have a four-tab&amp;nbsp;&lt;IMG src="http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTWBIGOVANTCOR/Images/excel.gif"&gt; Spreadsheet (Bathroom, Bed, Desk, and Miscellaneous) for shopping/packing, and I feel like I've taken care to really think of most everything. But I'm SURE I'm missing things, big things. I really need more clothes; I didn't bring enough when I moved out. I need a digital camera, a nice digital SLR, desperately. And Waffle House &lt;FONT color=#ff0000&gt;still. hasn't. called.&lt;/FONT&gt; I don't know what to do. &lt;STRONG&gt;&lt;FONT color=#ff0000&gt;I have no money.&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/STRONG&gt; I have &lt;U&gt;just&lt;/U&gt; enough to cover this month's phone bill. That's it. And I need to be getting stuff for our room, my roommate Grace's and my dorm: an area rug, a lamp or two, ..I don't know, stuff for the walls? We need curtains. I feel like a terrible, cheap roommate. &lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;A id=zoomInImg title="zoom in" href="javascript:zoom('http://images.urbanoutfitters.com/is/image/UrbanOutfitters/16742595_30_b?$detailmain$');" cmImpressionSent="1"&gt;&lt;IMG id=imgl16742595 src="http://images.urbanoutfitters.com/is/image/UrbanOutfitters/16742595_30_b?$detailmain$" name=imgl16742595&gt;&lt;/A&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;The UO curtains I WISH I could buy .&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;I just tried to apply to Wal-Mart online. Their stupid online application is full of glitches. I'm going to have to drive to Mooresville and do it. I absolutely hate this.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT face="Berlin Sans FB Demi"&gt;On the flip side&lt;/FONT&gt;, my friend Tyler is enjoying a trip to Chicago as we speak. He's told me he loves the city, the people, etc. (I adore Chicago. If you scroll way back in my blog, I'll bet there's a post from when&amp;nbsp;I went last&amp;nbsp;August.)&amp;nbsp;I was AIMing his cellphone, and we had the exchange seen below:&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;SPAN style="FONT: 12px Arial; COLOR: #0f0595"&gt;&lt;B&gt;&lt;/B&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;SPAN style="FONT: 12px Arial; COLOR: #0f0595"&gt;&lt;B&gt;erwuxvcm&lt;/B&gt;&amp;nbsp;(5:10:17&amp;nbsp;PM):&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;FONT face=Arial&gt; It's really stuffy. Question: are places unique for anything other than the atmosphere's they create? As I walk through the city, I'm thinking about that&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;DIV id=306 style="PADDING-RIGHT: 5px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px 5px 4px -5px; PADDING-TOP: 0px"&gt;&lt;DIV style="PADDING-RIGHT: 5px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px 5px 4px -5px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent"&gt;&lt;SPAN style="FONT: 12px Arial; COLOR: #d73306"&gt;&lt;B&gt;et al et cetera&lt;/B&gt;&amp;nbsp;(5:10:48&amp;nbsp;PM):&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;FONT face=Arial&gt; Hm. I'm not sure, and so I'm going to copy that question into my blog and muse on it .&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/DIV&gt;&lt;/DIV&gt;&lt;DIV id=307 style="PADDING-RIGHT: 5px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px 5px 4px -5px; PADDING-TOP: 0px"&gt;&lt;DIV style="PADDING-RIGHT: 5px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px 5px 4px -5px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent"&gt;&lt;SPAN style="FONT: 12px Arial; COLOR: #0f0595"&gt;&lt;B&gt;erwuxvcm&lt;/B&gt;&amp;nbsp;(5:15:18&amp;nbsp;PM):&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;FONT face=Arial&gt; I' still deciding. If so, actual physical space means more than what it is in your head, and a empty lot can be the arc de triomphe, if you're head is right. &lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/DIV&gt;&lt;/DIV&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;..What makes a "place?" Isn't it a completely relative term? Who defines where the "place" ends? First, on a basic level, if I say, "I love living in this place," I could be referring to a house, street, neighborhood, town, city, county, country, or maybe something that falls between those divisions. And what defines a location? As I'm re-reading our conversation excerpt, I'm not sure I really understand what he means by his second line there. (I just texted him to ask for elaboration.) Oh, gross, I just ashed on my speaker. I hate that.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;I want to discuss this more, but I feel like I need him to further direct that discussion; it's kind of vague and I want to know what you mean, Tyler, by "atmosphere." My first thought was that the people in a location help determine what the location becomes, but I suppose that could be considered part of the.. atmosphere? What is atmosphere? This feels like it's going to become a chicken-egg dilemma (Is anything about&amp;nbsp;a place inherent, or is it completely dependent on artificial factors?). &lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;He's currently busy, and he says he wrote these thoughts down, and will get back to me tonight. Until then, the question remains open for thought.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;A href="http://xeb.xanga.com/eb9f773123034248555785/b197128630.jpg" target=_blank&gt;&lt;IMG style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px" height=400 alt=DSCF0692 src="http://xeb.xanga.com/eb9f773123034248555785/z197128630.jpg"&gt;&lt;/A&gt; &lt;SPAN style="WIDTH: 0px"&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT color=#9f58e7&gt;This summarizes the nature of the Zack/Avery relationship.&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;I did get out for a sleepover with some of my girlfriends. We went to California Pizza Kitchen and Chick-fil-A for dessert, and we&amp;nbsp;did &lt;IMG src="http://www.silk-highway.org/Images/links/Skype_73X34.gif"&gt;&amp;nbsp;with Zack (he's still at&amp;nbsp;&lt;IMG src="http://www.tennisoncampus.com/Assets/Team+Profile+Images/East+Carolina+University+Club+Tennis+Team+Logo.jpg"&gt; for Orientation/Registration. My friend Karen, whose house we stayed at, left today at 11 for hers, also at &lt;STRONG&gt;&lt;FONT color=#a718a7&gt;E&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;FONT color=#dfdf20&gt;C&lt;/FONT&gt;U&lt;/STRONG&gt;), went for a 1 AM walk, then watched &lt;EM&gt;The Lion King&lt;/EM&gt; online until we fell asleep on the guest bed. Heh. It was a nice break from routine.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;SPAN style="WIDTH: 0px"&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;</description><comments>http://acrabappletree.xanga.com/706572561/loveology/#firstcomment</comments></item><item><title>Melt My Heart To Stone</title><link>http://acrabappletree.xanga.com/706327120/melt-my-heart-to-stone/</link><guid>http://acrabappletree.xanga.com/706327120/melt-my-heart-to-stone/</guid><pubDate>Fri, 03 Jul 2009 18:41:20 GMT</pubDate><description>&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;A href="http://xa1.xanga.com/a83f2460c3433248125204/b196748853.jpg" target=_blank&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;&lt;IMG style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px" alt=P0907031658458 src="http://xa1.xanga.com/a83f2460c3433248125204/z196748853.jpg" width=400&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/A&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;SPAN style="WIDTH: 0px"&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;Eh, I&amp;#8217;m glad to see that this is at least &lt;EM&gt;marginally&lt;/EM&gt; legible onscreen. This is a card I threw together last night at 10:30, haphazardly, using copy paper, a scrap of &lt;STRONG&gt;&lt;FONT color=#20df80&gt;green&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/STRONG&gt; construction paper, a highlighter, a blow pen, a glass pen, and a brown puff-ink pen. Bahaha. Inn&lt;U&gt;o&lt;/U&gt;vation. &lt;STRONG&gt;(Zack&amp;#8217;s Chamber Choir / AP Theory teacher, whom he&amp;#8217;s known for four years, is getting married tomorrow. I haven&amp;#8217;t been to a wedding in a long time, and this&amp;#8217;ll be the first one that I&amp;#8217;ve been to that I haven&amp;#8217;t been &lt;I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"&gt;in.&lt;/I&gt;)&lt;/STRONG&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;I still haven&amp;#8217;t written the inside yet, though I&amp;#8217;m sure it&amp;#8217;ll include a Hallmark-y play-on-cover-graphics followed by as personal a message as can be written to a couple I only know in passing. Hah. I&amp;#8217;ve seen the future Mrs. Calvar (she&amp;#8217;s a cutie &lt;IMG src="http://s.xanga.com/images/heart.gif" width=15 border=0&gt;), at a student wedding shower in the school Black Box this spring, but I don&amp;#8217;t think she even knows who I am, haha. I&amp;#8217;ve hugged and shook hands with Mister a handful of times when he was with Zack, and it seemed like a gesture from &amp;#8220;Zack&amp;#8217;s girlfriend&amp;#8221; was called for at the conclusion of the conversation. Haha. Still, I know my boyfriend admires him deeply (and got him a stellar wedding present, though I may not be at liberty to announce it, since word travels fast).&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt 1in; TEXT-INDENT: -1in; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;I have this season&amp;#8217;s Victoria&amp;#8217;s Secret playlist on, and this is simultaneously enjoyable and agonizing, because I never actually get to hear this music while standing behind the pink counter or waltzing about in the dressing room. Maybe I do too much waltzing in the dressing rooms, and this is why I am in absentia from Lingerie Land. Still, I provided my presence at the (optional) store meeting last weekend, and I fully intend to do the assignment given at the meeting (test the new Very Sexy Goes Pink bras and report with written results to supervisor). I am positively saccharine while on the clock. Can I have some hours this week? Please? I don&amp;#8217;t understand why you&amp;#8217;d reject 2 out of 3 of my Time-Off Requests for the month (and I never ask for full days off, just a couple hours here and there, generally for volunteer work) ..if you&amp;#8217;re not planning on working me at all this week. I seriously open my online schedule now to a blank calendar. &lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt 1in; TEXT-INDENT: -1in; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;&lt;IMG src="http://blogs.chron.com/blog9/stranger.jpg"&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt 1in; TEXT-INDENT: -1in; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;Maggie Gyllenhaal in &lt;EM&gt;Stranger than Fiction.&lt;/EM&gt; My favorite (stranger than) fictional working-girl. This is how I feel when I see my blank work schedule.&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt 1in; TEXT-INDENT: -1in; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;Waffle House in Cornelius was supposed to call this morning, and I ended up calling them; my background check&amp;#8217;s not back. I want to tell them how much I NEED this job right now. I&amp;#8217;m offering them most of my sleeping hours and some of my waking ones. And I have to pay for insurance, books, dorm gear, and college clothes, not to mention the graduation present I was going to get Zack, and film, and so much else. I&amp;#8217;m sick of this. I&amp;#8217;m an able body who&amp;#8217;s decently intelligent and willing to work all summer. &lt;FONT color=#30608f&gt;AM I THIS UNDESIRABLE TO THE WORK WORLD&lt;/FONT&gt;? Pause, I need to go have the last cigarette of this pack.&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt 1in; TEXT-INDENT: -1in; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;--Oh, and look at this, the mailman has brought me my &lt;FONT size=5&gt;roommate&lt;/FONT&gt;.&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt 1in; TEXT-INDENT: -1in; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;Ironically, I had put &amp;#8220;Roommate&amp;#8221; in this post&amp;#8217;s Tags already because I thought I found someone whom I wanted to room with. She appears to be on vacation, and it appears that I&amp;#8217;ve had my mind made up for me before her return. I&amp;#8217;m picturing whoever&amp;#8217;s in charge of this reading over my preferences form and, unable to find anyone to coordinate with my eccentric-ass self, assigning me someone completely random.&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt 1in; TEXT-INDENT: -1in; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;That&amp;#8217;s not to say that I&amp;#8217;m not excited to meet future roomie. It&amp;#8217;s just that I&amp;#8217;m already high-strung from the meds at this time of day, and so all kinds of horrid hypothetical scenarios are roaming my brain. But my higher mind is sure that things will be fine and&amp;nbsp;&lt;U&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;FONT face="Segoe Script"&gt;Grace&lt;/FONT&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/U&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;and I will be just chummy. (I hope.)&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt 1in; TEXT-INDENT: -1in; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;I&amp;#8217;m going to shoot her an e-mail later, see if we're going to get along.&amp;nbsp;(I don&amp;#8217;t see her on Facebook, but I have her e-mail address. Does this mean she's .. not aware of Facebook? Too anti-establishment for Facebook? The latter, I hope.)&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt 1in; TEXT-INDENT: -1in; TEXT-ALIGN: right" align=right&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;It&amp;#8217;s hot out, like it is&amp;nbsp;every day now, though there&amp;#8217;s a nice breeze. I took the laptop out earlier for a first smoke, and even though I&amp;#8217;d eaten a big brekkie, I was ridiculously off-balance, and almost fell a couple of times. And now I will mention that today is &lt;STRONG&gt;Day 5&lt;/STRONG&gt; &lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt 1in; TEXT-INDENT: -1in; TEXT-ALIGN: right" align=right&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;(or &lt;STRONG&gt;6&lt;/STRONG&gt;? I&amp;#8217;m not sure, but I skipped a day in the middle there) of being back on Vyvanse. &lt;IMG src="http://orangipharminc.com/images/sa_clip_image001_0001.jpg"&gt;&amp;nbsp;It&amp;#8217;s a mixed bag, results-wise.&lt;SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/SPAN&gt;Interruption for a recent treasure-uncovery :&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 3pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"&gt;&lt;FONT face="Times New Roman"&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;&lt;SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #d73306; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"&gt;radioactiveAVERY&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #d73306; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"&gt;&amp;nbsp;(2:06:23&amp;nbsp;PM):&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"&gt; &lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 7.5pt; COLOR: maroon; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"&gt;Ooh, a Lenka cover of Gravity Rides Everything by Modest Mouse&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 3pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"&gt;&lt;FONT face="Times New Roman"&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;&lt;SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #d73306; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"&gt;radioactiveAVERY&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: #d73306; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"&gt;&amp;nbsp;(2:06:26&amp;nbsp;PM):&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"&gt; &lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 7.5pt; COLOR: maroon; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"&gt;I'm liking.&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 3pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;&lt;SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 7.5pt; COLOR: maroon; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt 1in; TEXT-INDENT: -1in; TEXT-ALIGN: right" align=right&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;End of digression. &lt;STRONG&gt;Days 1-3&lt;/STRONG&gt; of Vyvanse were.. manic. More manageably manic than in the past, though. I did a 2-hour makeover of the refrigerator, cleaned, organized, labeled everything. Applied to jobs, did campaign calls, registered for two volunteer events, handled all kinds of responsibilities. Worked out and made muffins and read. However, I did not sleep much over those three days, and not taking care to sleep adequately on my meds resulted in &lt;STRONG&gt;Day 4&lt;/STRONG&gt;, which culminated around 4:30 PM in a violent panic attack, which my boyfriend and his dad helped me quell with some blush wine and Hydroxycine. I was slurring myself to sleep within minutes, and was unfortunately still a bit.. eh, rosy-cheeked during dinner (I made some amusing commentary and waved at the cats). I skipped my meds the next day, which ushered me into full recovery around 1 PM the next day. It was absolutely miserable. However, when I stop taking my ADHD medication, I end up hating myself for not sticking the first few &amp;#8220;adjustment days&amp;#8221; out, so yesterday (&lt;STRONG&gt;Day 5&lt;/STRONG&gt;) I took it again. It was shaky, but not bad, and today is similar. Productive, a bit weak, high-strung and jumpy but doing alright. Just re-stocked my week-to-week pill cabinet*.&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt 1in; TEXT-INDENT: -1in; TEXT-ALIGN: right" align=right&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;*&lt;FONT face="Tw Cen MT Condensed Extra Bold"&gt;Current Pill Inventory&lt;/FONT&gt;: This is partially for my own organization, but hey, for those reading with an anthopologic lens, it might be interesting. I&amp;#8217;m going to need to track what needs to be re-purchased and/or added for l&amp;#8217;universitie.&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt 1in; TEXT-INDENT: -1in; TEXT-ALIGN: right" align=right&gt;Vyvanse (ADHD)&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt 1in; TEXT-INDENT: -1in; TEXT-ALIGN: right" align=right&gt;Iron (Anemia)&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt 1in; TEXT-INDENT: -1in; TEXT-ALIGN: right" align=right&gt;Flaxseed Oil (Circulation)&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt 1in; TEXT-INDENT: -1in; TEXT-ALIGN: right" align=right&gt;Ibuprofen (Chronic Headaches. Partially because I can&amp;#8217;t drink coffee anymore with my Vyvanse. I need to stock up on decaf. Not that that&amp;#8217;ll help headaches, but I miss waking up to brew.)&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt 1in; TEXT-INDENT: -1in; TEXT-ALIGN: right" align=right&gt;Clarinex (Allergies)&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt 1in; TEXT-INDENT: -1in; TEXT-ALIGN: right" align=right&gt;Singulair (Allergies)&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt 1in; TEXT-INDENT: -1in; TEXT-ALIGN: right" align=right&gt;5-HTP&lt;FONT color=#ff0000&gt; (OUT)&lt;/FONT&gt; (Anxiety)&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt 1in; TEXT-INDENT: -1in; TEXT-ALIGN: right" align=right&gt;Hydroxine (Anxiety)&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt 1in; TEXT-INDENT: -1in; TEXT-ALIGN: right" align=right&gt;Zantac (Acid Reflux. Lovely, I know.)&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt 1in; TEXT-INDENT: -1in; TEXT-ALIGN: right" align=right&gt;Beta-Carotene (Skin, general antioxidant superpowers)&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt 1in; TEXT-INDENT: -1in; TEXT-ALIGN: right" align=right&gt;Magnesium (Bones and Muscles)&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt 1in; TEXT-INDENT: -1in; TEXT-ALIGN: right" align=right&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;Er, I think that&amp;#8217;s it. I need more 5-HTP, Some HairSkinNail pills. I have Folic Acid in my college box (no, I&amp;#8217;m not pregnant. It&amp;#8217;s good for everyone). And I&amp;#8217;d like some supplements like Cinnamon, COQ-10, more green tea extract. Melatonin and/or Kava, which I take for sleep every few nights. And of course, Silk Milk, for, ah.. soy purposes. Haha.&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt 1in; TEXT-INDENT: -1in; TEXT-ALIGN: right" align=right&gt;&lt;FONT size=5&gt;I swear, I actually conduct myself with relative n0rmalcy on a day-to-day basis.&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt 1in; TEXT-INDENT: -1in; TEXT-ALIGN: right" align=right&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;ON A RELATED NOTE : I&amp;#8217;m becoming increasingly active with the OFA (Obama for America) Healthcare Action Center. I stick with this issue because it&amp;#8217;s close to my heart, so to speak. I&amp;#8217;d been planning to write the President a letter about healthcare, but when I got a mass e-mail from Biden about submitting your healthcare stories, I was quick to jot mine down. Here, have a read :&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt 1in; TEXT-INDENT: -1in; TEXT-ALIGN: right" align=right&gt;&lt;A href="http://stories.barackobama.com/healthcare/stories/189254"&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;http://stories.barackobama.com/healthcare/stories/189254&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/A&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt 2in; TEXT-INDENT: -2in; TEXT-ALIGN: right" align=right&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;I&amp;#8217;m making 5 phone calls a day in the campaign to &amp;#8220;neighbors&amp;#8221; &lt;FONT color=#a718a7&gt;(although I never end up calling my actual neighbors, more like my figurative neighbors all over the state. And in one case, a woman who put her cellphone on the call list&amp;#8212;why would you do this?&amp;#8212;and answered in Switzerland, where it was apparently 2 AM at time of dialing. This woman was on vacation, and assumedly had been sleeping, because she was PISSED like nothing I&amp;#8217;d ever heard. I mean, I was extremely apologetic. How the hell was I supposed to know she wasn&amp;#8217;t at home in Charlotte? I wouldn&amp;#8217;t have been this angry in her situation, but she was like, &amp;#8220;JUST-JUST-SHUT UP. STOP TALKING.&amp;#8221; And she had a few choice words before she hung up in disgust. So I checked the box titled &amp;#8220;Did not wish to speak with me at this time,&amp;#8221; though maybe I should have checked &amp;#8220;I am not comfortable talking with this neighbor,&amp;#8221; followed by the text-box explanation, &amp;#8220;This neighbor is a sour bitch.&amp;#8221; However, this felt undemocractic, and for the sake of continuing my calling career, I followed procedure and finished up calls for the day)&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;FONT color=#000000&gt;. &lt;SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt 2in; TEXT-INDENT: -2in; TEXT-ALIGN: right" align=right&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;In these calls I explain the President&amp;#8217;s three key points for the Public Option. Nervously, I might add. I&amp;#8217;m not nervous with people at all, but something about the phone freaks me out. I&amp;#8217;m not even collecting donations, but I feel like a telemarketer in this position, and I often feel like these people are angry from the moment I begin my scripted dialogue (and this is not always inaccurate, even when the recipient is not in Switzerland).&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt 2in; TEXT-INDENT: -2in; TEXT-ALIGN: right" align=right&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;Anyway, check out my story, scroll my profile to find out why a libertarian is working for a Democrat for free. Heh.&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt 2in; TEXT-INDENT: -2in; TEXT-ALIGN: right" align=right&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;&lt;IMG src="http://www.bookcoverarchive.com/images/books/sex_drugs_and_cocoa_puffs.large.jpg"&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt 2in; TEXT-INDENT: -2in; TEXT-ALIGN: right" align=right&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;This book is going marvelously. The premise of writing&amp;nbsp;a hyper-intelligent book about the least intelligent topics possible appeals to me completely;&amp;nbsp;if you've by chance seen my&amp;nbsp;short essay&amp;nbsp;"Salon Se Swa" or even just talked to me,&amp;nbsp;you know that I relish this kind of thing. It's almost like defeating the stupidity in a "stupid" topic through deconstruction. And Klosterman is painfully funny about it. Comparing a scene in the Pam/Tommy Lee sex tape to the butchering of the&amp;nbsp;cow at the end of &lt;EM&gt;Apocalypse Now&lt;/EM&gt; had&amp;nbsp;me doing a very unattractive, bowled-over laugh on the back porch last night.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt 2in; TEXT-INDENT: -2in; TEXT-ALIGN: right" align=right&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt 2in; TEXT-INDENT: -2in; TEXT-ALIGN: right" align=right&gt;&lt;STRONG&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;("Salon Se Swa," averyalexandra.pbwiki.com)&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/STRONG&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt 2in; TEXT-INDENT: -2in; TEXT-ALIGN: right" align=right&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt 2in; TEXT-INDENT: -2in; TEXT-ALIGN: right" align=right&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;&lt;EM&gt;Today&amp;#8217;s Objectives &lt;/EM&gt;: Finish that card, now that the paint&amp;#8217;s dry (I love &lt;STRONG&gt;D&lt;FONT size=3&gt;I&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;FONT size=5&gt;Y&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/STRONG&gt;. So much more satisfying than store-bought). E-mail roomie. Do nails. Keep my friend entertained via text as she rides in the car to Rhode Island with nothing but her iPod for fun. Check on the essential oil I&amp;#8217;m making. Maybe go to the gym. Hopefully just get &lt;STRIKE&gt;out&lt;/STRIKE&gt; for a while.&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;/P&gt;</description><comments>http://acrabappletree.xanga.com/706327120/melt-my-heart-to-stone/#firstcomment</comments></item><item><title>Quiet Times</title><link>http://acrabappletree.xanga.com/705474743/quiet-times/</link><guid>http://acrabappletree.xanga.com/705474743/quiet-times/</guid><pubDate>Wed, 24 Jun 2009 02:28:16 GMT</pubDate><description>&lt;P&gt;&lt;A href="http://xf4.xanga.com/af3f406663535247100499/b195916917.jpg" target=_blank&gt;&lt;IMG style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px" alt=P0906232230070 src="http://xf4.xanga.com/af3f406663535247100499/z195916917.jpg" width=400&gt;&lt;/A&gt; &lt;SPAN style="WIDTH: 0px"&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;On an &lt;FONT color=#9f70cf&gt;introspective/personal&lt;/FONT&gt; note,&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;STRONG&gt;Loneliness is tough business.&lt;/STRONG&gt; I went through quite the manic period today. &lt;FONT face="AR CARTER" size=4&gt;Aggression&lt;/FONT&gt;'s not really characteristic of me; argumentativeness, yes, but pure adrenaline-fueled aggression, no; at least, not until I get into one of these phases, and I'd say it happens a couple times a year or so. I was just on fire today, and not in the best of ways, and I've been irritable and antsy for some time. It hasn't helped that I've been dealing with a lot of people on the phone: the bank, my gym, my work, an insurance company. I hate being &lt;STRONG&gt;on the phone&lt;/STRONG&gt; as it is, and talking to a bored operator or an outsourced robotic assistant in Dubai is rarely reassuring and generally quite frustrating. &lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;So I went to the gym tonight and ran it out, which felt good. I'm not tired, now, somehow. I miss my dog, and I miss my grandfather. I don't know how long either will be around, and what's worse is that I will probably never see either again after my abrupt leave from home. I miss them so much; I love them. My grandfather and I had some violent disputes in the past couple of years, but he's my only biological relative that I could talk to, and he always made me feel special when he came around. My d&lt;STRONG&gt;a&lt;/STRONG&gt;ch&lt;STRONG&gt;s&lt;/STRONG&gt;h&lt;U&gt;u&lt;/U&gt;nd was my very best friend, and that's not embarrasing, not meant to be some silly sentimental joke; I cried on her little shoulders reliably, and we watched movies together. &lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT size=6&gt;L&lt;/FONT&gt;ooking at adoptable dogs online this morning, I had tears in my eyes, thinking of her being in my lap again. It re-inspires one of my lifelong goals, and that's to rescue a lot of dogs when I am able to own my own house/property. Few things are more fulfilling than improving the life of an animal and having him as a companion.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;A id=myphotolink href="http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1925153&amp;amp;id=831650513"&gt;&lt;IMG id=myphoto height=452 src="http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v160/228/20/831650513/n831650513_1902525_9619.jpg" width=335&gt;&lt;/A&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;EM&gt;Old picture.&lt;/EM&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;So, in the interest of lapsing into a nicer mood... &lt;FONT face="Agency FB" size=5&gt;onwards ho.&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;My assigned reading for Salem came in the mail today:&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;IMG src="http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n49/n246727.jpg"&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;..though I don't have this pretty purple copy. I'm going to start reading and notating (heavily; I'd notate anyway, but they advised a close reading. The best kind of reading.) tomorrow, I think. I'm going to read more &lt;EM&gt;Catch-22&lt;/EM&gt; tonight. I read the back cover, and it looks interesting; called "readable" in reviews, which I hope doesn't translate to "an easy read." I like recommendations, though, it expands my reading repertoire. I also received a form today to pick a freshman seminar. I'm bummed that I'm going to have to wait to qualify for the Honors Program, because&amp;nbsp;if I qualified now, I'd be taking a racial violence seminar called "Strange Fruit" (get the reference? Billie Holiday? I cited this in a paper once, heh). Not the most original topic, but probably a really interesting seminar. My top three choices were seminars on fear in modern america (postmodernism! Hell yes!), the creative mind, and analyzing romantic l&lt;IMG src="http://s.xanga.com/images/heart.gif" width=15 border=0&gt;ve. I'll be okay with any of them.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;</description><comments>http://acrabappletree.xanga.com/705474743/quiet-times/#firstcomment</comments></item><item><title>April 29, 1992</title><link>http://acrabappletree.xanga.com/705346273/april-29-1992/</link><guid>http://acrabappletree.xanga.com/705346273/april-29-1992/</guid><pubDate>Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:28:06 GMT</pubDate><description>&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;A href="http://x81.xanga.com/10af511669732246944622/b195791810.jpg" target=_blank&gt;&lt;IMG style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px" alt=P0906210313588 src="http://x81.xanga.com/10af511669732246944622/z195791810.jpg" width=400&gt;&lt;/A&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT face="Century Schoolbook"&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;I figured out quite a while ago that the&lt;/FONT&gt; &lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;FONT size=5&gt;titles&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;FONT face="Century Schoolbook"&gt; &lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;of Xanga entries have much to do with whether or not they are featured. I name my entries with song titles, knowing this makes them almost ineligible. The topic of the post is preferably explicit in the first line, and the whole (generally brief) post surrounds that topic: science, immigration, asians, relationships, depression, the new presidency, Jon and&amp;nbsp;Kate (if&amp;nbsp;reality television is your primary topic of interest, you are a bluthering idiot.)&amp;nbsp;religion (A Christian Facebook? ..C'mon, why do you need one? Is it so empowering to isolate yourselves?), -- common topics.&amp;nbsp;And I'm not really sure why I refuse to budge from the formula I'm using, other than it's unique and a bit more interesting than spelling things out plainly; gives a bit of atmosphere to my writing, here's what I'm hearing while I'm writing this. And I'm hoping I'll start nabbing some features anyway. I really do enjoy my Xanga and have kept it up for quite a while now.&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;SPAN style="WIDTH: 0px"&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;THIS is a Monday morning the way Monday mornings should be-- the way they only are in summer. Making oatmeal from scratch, playing Keno (on Pogo, my longtime favorite rainy-day hangout. My uncle, who works in Biloxi casinos,&amp;nbsp;introduced me to it when I was a little kid, and now that I'm a broke young'un, I relish the opportunity to play free for cash while doing other things online... if you're on Pogo, find Averyalexandrah and we can play together: I like to head up Scrabble tables), and reading NY Times Magazine at the kitchen table. &lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;I mostly polished this issue off, taking the most time on an article on Jodi Picoult (whom I have not read) and the success of her novels alongside other novels about "child peril"-- essentially, all the bad things that can happen to your 5-to-17 year old, including but not limited to clerical molestation, rare cancers, and abandonment. Essentially highlighting the fact that the more we dote on children, the more we worry that we aren't doing enough. And this is true in large part, I believe, seeing as there were days when the gen-X'ers' parents trick-or-treated sans parental supervision (never mind the fact that in some neighborhoods, there were needles in the candy) and the ideas of national missing child alerts and signs in the yards of sex predators seemed paranoid, were essentially unheard of. Is it good that we're becoming more watchful? Have we crossed a line? I'd say yes to both, with the asteriked addendums that A) I can find more important issues to concern myself with, and B) This is why I will not conceive: I have too little time in my life to spend it fawning over the minutia of child-rearing, simply because it's convention to have (a) child(ren) and do so. Choice childlessness is highly underrated as a lifestyle choice.&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;There were no good interior design articles in this issue, a slight disappointment. NYTM always features the best postmodern architecture and furnishings. Just mindboggling stuff.&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;A href="http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/02/20/residence-sliding-house-drmm/"&gt;&lt;FONT face="Century Schoolbook"&gt;&lt;IMG alt="sliding house by drMM, sliding house, house that slides, a movable house, transforming house, sustainable timber home, movable barn, movable roof and walls, movable skin house" src="http://www.inhabitat.com/wp-content/uploads/slidinghousehooray.jpg"&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/A&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;^ The Sliding House. My boyfriend showed me this, and I got so excited. Contracting an innovative builder to create me a masterpiece to live in is one of the few reasons I would really care to have some money later on (primary reason would be to fund photo equipment and to cover living expenses so I might travel, and&amp;nbsp;then&amp;nbsp;stay home to.. I don't know, write? &lt;IMG src="http://s.xanga.com/images/winky.gif" width=15 border=0&gt;) You can see it in action here:&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;A href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxmvRDTELy8"&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxmvRDTELy8&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/A&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;(I also adore his accent.)&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;Busily searching for a second job, since Victoria's Secret isn't giving great hours.. at all. I understand that you accumulate hours in your schedule by selling credit cards. However, the faulty logic is that I will be able to sell these credit cards if I am not getting any hours to begin with. I cannot go door-to-door on my own time (uh.. at least, I don't think I can.. maybe I can borrow a few forms and try recruiting friends?). Let me WORK, if you want me to work for you; after all, I am just now getting readjusted into retail sales after being a food cashier for a long time, and if I haven't been quite the most social salesperson, it's because I have had bronchitis and the flu for half a month. Seriously, cut a break. I love to do a great job at my job when given the chance. Especially during Semi-Annual Sale at VS-- I mean, come on, that's fun. &lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;&lt;IMG src="http://www.beautynewsnyc.com/newsletterapril2006/beauty_rush_gloss_high_res.jpg"&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;(I'll plug it: It's the best lip gloss ever.)&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;But meanwhile, both Zack and I are employed, and neither of us is making money, so we're on an epic second-job hunt, complete with a two-color hand-drawn map that covers three exits' worth of cafes, theatres, shops. We both applied at three yesterday, and when we get the car this afternoon, we're venturing out for a handful more, and doing the same tomorrow. Wish us luck!&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;And as I sit here, drinking the last of watered-down iced coffee, Salem College looms closer and closer. I'm nervous, we can say that. Though I've mapped out a potential, flexible schedule from the course catalogue that should allow me to cover just about everything I want to do (yes, I'm Type-A: no, I'm not ridiculous, and I am willing to move some things around. But I think this is feasible enough). My proposal for semester one, freshman year...&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT face="Century Schoolbook"&gt;&lt;FONT size=5&gt;&lt;STRONG&gt;Southern Lit&lt;/STRONG&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt; &lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;Hell yes! I get to skip Basic Composition with my AP score. And after Faulkner'ing and Flannery O'Connor'ing it up with Mr. Whiteside, I can't wait to see what college can augment to my genre knowledge. (And to think, I don't even like the South...)&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT face="Century Schoolbook"&gt;&lt;FONT size=5&gt;&lt;STRONG&gt;College 100 + 101&lt;/STRONG&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt; &lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;Two little half-courses, the basic introductory fare fed to freshman at every college. It had to go in the schedule, so I can deal with it.&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT face="Century Schoolbook"&gt;&lt;FONT size=5&gt;&lt;STRONG&gt;Yoga&lt;/STRONG&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt; &lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;Nothing&amp;nbsp;better to ease my first-semester jitters while getting a P.E credit.&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT face="Century Schoolbook"&gt;&lt;FONT size=5&gt;&lt;STRONG&gt;Arts 20 (Intro to 2-D Design)&lt;/STRONG&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt; &lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;+&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT face="Century Schoolbook" size=5&gt;&lt;STRONG&gt;Arts 111 (Drawing)&lt;/STRONG&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;Both essential for a photographer. I'm still very nervous that some of these classes are going to seem elementary and sort of dabbler-oriented for someone coming from an art school. I'm fully hoping they prove me wrong.&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;&lt;IMG src="http://www.ncmuseums.org/image/Old%20Salem%20Street%20Shot.jpg"&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;I will live here, and that is boss.&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;Is a cold front coming through? The breeze is cool. Time to find Catch-22, cancel my Peak membership, maybe play a game of Bingo.&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;</description><comments>http://acrabappletree.xanga.com/705346273/april-29-1992/#firstcomment</comments></item><item><title>Sonofa' Preacher Man</title><link>http://acrabappletree.xanga.com/704837274/sonofa-preacher-man/</link><guid>http://acrabappletree.xanga.com/704837274/sonofa-preacher-man/</guid><pubDate>Fri, 19 Jun 2009 19:27:41 GMT</pubDate><description>&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;A href="http://xed.xanga.com/9f3f703240334246317769/b195287811.jpg" target=_blank&gt;&lt;IMG style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px" alt="June 15" src="http://xed.xanga.com/9f3f703240334246317769/z195287811.jpg" width=400&gt;&lt;/A&gt; &lt;SPAN style="WIDTH: 0px"&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT size=5&gt;Coming to you LIVE from a brand-new Lenovo IdeaPad* !&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;*on the edge of the back porch of the house, with a mug of vanilla chai, &lt;EM&gt;Catch-22, &lt;/EM&gt;a lighter and a cigarette which I'm holding off on smoking so the brand-new-sparkling-white keys don't catch smoke-smell. &lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;And a 101 fever, STILL. I feel like I've been juggling bronchitis, allergies and the flu forever. It's probably good that I didn't work tonight, much as I actually wanted to; would've been hard to stand in heels, or to hear the headset, what with my ears being full of swamp water, drowning my auditory and vestibular senses. Still, it's hard to be too bitter. I GRADUATED! And it's about time. Still, it doesn't feel quite right; I feel like a drifter now, like I was previously part of a conglomerate that has now dissolved, and I don't identify with any group anymore (I was talking with my friend Tyler about this and he agreed). And so it's a new feeling, an odd feeling, but not a bad feeling, necessarily, at all. Will take some getting used to. But I'm so stoked for college. My boyfriend thinks it's ridiculous how I geek out and go message-boarding with my future classmates pretty much every day. But really, there's so much waiting for me at college.&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT size=6&gt;TOP 10 REASONS I'M STOKED&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT face="AR ESSENCE" color=#2080df size=4&gt;10. Tanglewood Park. For real. I grew up in this park, and I miss it, I miss paddleboating and horseback-riding and renting the cabins in the woods. And the Festival of Lights, I mean, it's the meaning of Christmas.&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;&lt;FONT face="AR ESSENCE"&gt;&lt;FONT color=#bf4080&gt;9. Old Salem itself (the area encompassing Salem College). So beautiful. It's like a time capsule.&lt;/FONT&gt; &lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;&lt;FONT face="AR ESSENCE"&gt;&lt;FONT color=#608f30&gt;8. Dorm life! I think I find out my roomie in July. And the dorms are&amp;nbsp; two rooms with a connecting living room (I think this is what is called suite-style, but that might be something else?), I mean, they're awesome, I stayed in one. Can't wait to decorate, have my friends at other schools come crash, get some music goin'...&lt;/FONT&gt; &lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT face="AR ESSENCE" color=#ff8000 size=4&gt;7. Fall Fest-- Salem's big annual autumn festival. I'll be dragging all my friends at other schools out to come party. And fall itself-- while not as quickly as I'd like to be, I am&amp;nbsp;gradually progressing northwards, and while&amp;nbsp;this&amp;nbsp;fall won't&amp;nbsp;quite entail infamous New England foliage, I'm looking forward to the (slightly colder than Charlotte) autumn chill.&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT face="AR ESSENCE" color=#808000 size=4&gt;6. Winston-Salem restaurants: returning to the spots I used to drop in on when I was a lil'un. T.J.'s for deli stuff, Mayberry for bubblegum ice cream, Gloria Jean's Coffee in Hanes Mall (yes, the coffeehouse I went to &lt;EM&gt;before&lt;/EM&gt; Starbucks monopolized. And this was back when the only thing that interested me at a coffee bar was the rock candy on the counter, far out of my reach.) And this one bakery-cum-eatery that I can't for the life of me remember the name of-- I stopped by after UNCG Fall Fest last year-- but I love it, and I know I went there when I was little. I feel like it's near Salem Kitchen (I have a vague and somewhat distorted mental map of Winston-Salem at this point...) but I don't know. Also near Boston Market,which was called Boston Chicken when we used to stand out in line there in the cold to wait for dinner, years and years ago.&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT face="AR ESSENCE" color=#704010 size=4&gt;5. Medical: and here's where I get a touch political. I haven't had my own real doctor since I've been out on my own. I'm uninsured, prescriptions are outrageous-- and some controlled substances (my ADD meds) are &lt;EM&gt;not&lt;/EM&gt; distributed via the free clinic. I call B.S. on this one, since it seems to imply that the poor/uninsured (and I fall into this category as a young independent) are more likely to abuse these substances. I really need mine. Pass some effective healthcare bills, Barack! Until then, it'll be nice to be covered by some less-expensive (mandatory) college insurance to take care of that, check-ups, vaccinations, B.C., etc.&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;STRONG&gt;&lt;FONT face="AR ESSENCE" size=4&gt;(wow, it's getting cold out here... in mid-June? I mean, I guess I am sick, so I'm oversensitive. But it's windy!)&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/STRONG&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT face="AR ESSENCE" color=#4040bf size=4&gt;4. Urbex-- because Winston-Salem is preferable for exploration. It's older than Charlotte, more nooks and crannies to look for, more old buildings. I've already determined from discussion boards that at least one fellow Salemite will accompany me on adventures. :]&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT face="AR ESSENCE" color=#18a7a7 size=4&gt;3. Classes. Just the &lt;EM&gt;school&lt;/EM&gt; aspect of college is probably the most exciting part. I'm hoping to cross-register and take some more advanced photo courses at WFU and see if I can get in with the photo prof(s) at UNCSA. That, and courses like Twentieth-Century Poetry, Modern Art History, Major Issues of Philosophy, an entire course on Milton (!), and phys. ed. (ah, horseback riding, scuba diving, yoga, anyone?) have me pumped. I mean, even science gets to be fun-- I can take Women's Issues in Biology for my credit. I will really get to enjoy school, and that makes me happy.&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT face="AR ESSENCE" color=#8f308f size=4&gt;2. &lt;STRONG&gt;&lt;FONT color=#000000&gt;W&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;FONT color=#bfbf00&gt;F&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;FONT color=#000000&gt;U&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/STRONG&gt;! Wake Forest is quite close, which means I can get my party fix (though I plan to get this fix &lt;EM&gt;minimally&lt;/EM&gt; during the first few semesters... I promise.), go see football games (yeah, I know, I'm an art school kid, I know nothing of football. But I dig the game-watching experience, especially when it means stadium blankets and giant cups of Coke.), and walk around another absolutely beautiful campus. (I'm big on scenery.)&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;&lt;FONT face="AR ESSENCE"&gt;&lt;FONT color=#7a7a7a&gt;1. SLEEP. Yes. (Probably almost) Never having to wake up at 4:30 again. Never riding the rickety, jerky, loud school bus in the dark again. NeverevereverevereverevereverEVER. I mean, at worst, I may have to be up at 8 or something. And that is so okay with me. Not to mention that I'll be waking up in a beautifully historic room and walking down to a latte machine. I will be happy as a clam.&lt;/FONT&gt; &lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;IMG src="http://www.peymanmeli.org/Images/IranCrowd2.jpg"&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;A href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2009/06/iran-leadership-more-divided-than-ever-analyst-says.html"&gt;http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2009/06/iran-leadership-more-divided-than-ever-analyst-says.html&lt;/A&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;Iran is about to be a big, big mess. I mean, &lt;EM&gt;big.&lt;/EM&gt; Keeping an eye on this. &lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;God, I hate being sick. My lips are&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;FONT size=5&gt; so&lt;/FONT&gt; &lt;FONT size=4&gt;chapped.&lt;/FONT&gt; &lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P align=center&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;DIV class=KonaBody dhxKF="true"&gt;&lt;SPAN class=huge qP9Q_="0" WuIn2="0"&gt;&lt;FONT face=Verdana size=5&gt;&lt;STRONG&gt;The books th&lt;/STRONG&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;FONT face=Verdana size=5&gt;&lt;STRONG&gt;at the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own sh&lt;FONT color=#df2020&gt;a&lt;/FONT&gt;me.&lt;/STRONG&gt;&amp;nbsp; Oscar Wilde&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/DIV&gt;&lt;DIV class=KonaBody dhxKF="true"&gt;&lt;SPAN class=huge qP9Q_="0" WuIn2="0"&gt;&lt;FONT face=Verdana size=5&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/DIV&gt;&lt;DIV class=KonaBody dhxKF="true"&gt;&lt;SPAN class=huge qP9Q_="0" WuIn2="0"&gt;&lt;IMG src="http://wegotusafamilyhere.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/imageloader.jpeg"&gt;&lt;IMG src="http://www.levantinecenter.org/files/images/septembers_of_shiraz.jpg"&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/DIV&gt;&lt;DIV class=KonaBody dhxKF="true"&gt;&lt;SPAN class=huge qP9Q_="0" WuIn2="0"&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/DIV&gt;&lt;DIV class=KonaBody dhxKF="true"&gt;&lt;SPAN class=huge qP9Q_="0" WuIn2="0"&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;I ordered these, and they will be in the mailbox &lt;U&gt;soon&lt;/U&gt;. I love Amazon-- when books are 15, 20 bucks at the bookstore (and I only read most books once-- I think it was Oscar Wilde who said that a book was no good if you didn't want to read it over and over again-- and I personally think one good, attentive read with underlining, notes and plenty of discussion leaves time for other good books, in an age when we only have so much time in the day. Not to say that I wouldn't like to re-assess Harper Lee.), and I'm pretty broke, Amazon lets me pick up just about anything for three dollars plus S&amp;amp;H. The second one is my assigned summer reading for college (and JUST when I opened my mouth to say "No more assigned summer reading.." DAMN.) &lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/DIV&gt;&lt;DIV class=KonaBody dhxKF="true"&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/DIV&gt;&lt;DIV class=KonaBody dhxKF="true"&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;I also noticed &lt;FONT color=#30608f&gt;Philip Roth&lt;/FONT&gt; at the Bull's Head Bookshop (one of my favorites) in Chapel Hill. I've heard his name dropped a hundred times and I have no idea about his books. So I think I'll check him out soon-- I flipped through one, which was in play format (?) and it looked really interesting.&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/DIV&gt;&lt;DIV class=KonaBody dhxKF="true"&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/DIV&gt;&lt;DIV class=KonaBody dhxKF="true"&gt;&lt;A href="http://x11.xanga.com/73ef5470c3032246629019/b195536332.jpg" target=_blank&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;&lt;IMG style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px" alt=Breadmens src="http://x11.xanga.com/73ef5470c3032246629019/z195536332.jpg" width=400&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/A&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt; &lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;SPAN style="WIDTH: 0px"&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/DIV&gt;&lt;DIV class=KonaBody dhxKF="true"&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/DIV&gt;&lt;DIV class=KonaBody dhxKF="true"&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;Speaking of, &lt;STRONG&gt;&lt;FONT face="AR CHRISTY" color=#0060bf&gt;Chapel Hill&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/STRONG&gt; was excellent! Above, L to R, are Kevin, the design editor; Kyra, a staff writer; Meagan, a former copy editor (and now my replacement as editor-- yay!) and me, editor emeritus. I was pretty ready to not do newspaper again after this, make a beeline for college magazine, but we kicked ass at awards (I'll post the list when I get it from our adviser) and I kind of began to romanticize paper again. Haha. Depending on how intensive work at the Salemite is, I'll consider it. I placed first in photo and editorial, which made me smile, seeing as those are kind of the two things I really like to do. Sigh. Above, you can also see that I am really in need of a hair dye. And some sunscreen and makeup. Ick. And yes, I was missing an earring.&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/DIV&gt;&lt;DIV class=KonaBody dhxKF="true"&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/DIV&gt;&lt;DIV class=KonaBody dhxKF="true"&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;About to go play Infamous again. I swear, Zack, I will beat it before you do. Just watch me catch up. &lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/DIV&gt;&lt;DIV class=KonaBody dhxKF="true"&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/DIV&gt;&lt;DIV class=KonaBody dhxKF="true"&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;And I &lt;EM&gt;need &lt;/EM&gt;to find a gym nearby. I ordered a free trial pass for a women's gym in Huntersville, so I'm going to see if I can go tomorrow. &lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/DIV&gt;&lt;DIV class=KonaBody dhxKF="true"&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/DIV&gt;&lt;DIV class=KonaBody dhxKF="true"&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/DIV&gt;&lt;DIV class=KonaBody dhxKF="true"&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/DIV&gt;&lt;DIV class=KonaBody dhxKF="true"&gt;&lt;FONT size=4&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/DIV&gt;</description><comments>http://acrabappletree.xanga.com/704837274/sonofa-preacher-man/#firstcomment</comments></item><item><title>Come On! Feel the Illinoise!</title><link>http://acrabappletree.xanga.com/704094504/come-on-feel-the-illinoise/</link><guid>http://acrabappletree.xanga.com/704094504/come-on-feel-the-illinoise/</guid><pubDate>Mon, 08 Jun 2009 11:31:50 GMT</pubDate><description>&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT face="Arial Narrow" color=#8f308f size=4&gt;So, after a couple strenuous months of endless academia and evening shifts making orange juice and mopping for pay&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT face="Arial Narrow" color=#8f308f size=4&gt;..I &lt;EM&gt;finally&lt;/EM&gt; have time for this again. &lt;IMG src="http://s.xanga.com/images/heart.gif" width=15 border=0&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT face="Arial Narrow" color=#8f308f size=4&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT face="Arial Narrow" color=#8f308f size=4&gt;It's Monday. School's in, but I'm not. Haha. (Neither is Zack. He's sound asleep a few feet away from me. He sleeps with his face like, pressed against the whole, his whole self smushed into the wall about to fall through the crack of the bed. Always. It never looks comfortable.) I'm home to tie up some personal loose ends, phone calls to be made during business hours (he just sat up and stretched with his eyes closed and then fell back flat, still asleep), and catch up on some reading =&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT color=#8f308f size=4&gt;&lt;IMG style="WIDTH: 197px; HEIGHT: 261px" height=281 src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HF4qJLHgPMU/ScMYYaxkXLI/AAAAAAAAASU/k9GNx8HpxO4/s400/2899562971_2cfae2e22a_o%5B1%5D.jpg" width=221&gt;&lt;IMG style="WIDTH: 246px; HEIGHT: 303px" height=303 src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2c/Catch22_cover.jpg" width=296&gt;&lt;IMG height=318 src="http://www.marieclaire.com/cm/marieclaire/images/victorias%20secret.jpg" width=234&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT face="Arial Narrow" color=#8f308f size=4&gt;..no, &lt;EM&gt;not&lt;/EM&gt; the Victoria's Secret catalogue. (Yes, I do wish it was Christmas.) The training book for the store at which I now work (at Birkdale Village, which Facebook seems to only recognize as Birkdale, Australia). I love working there, actually, since I get to dress attractively (black-anything: dresses, pants, blouses, skirts, hose if I want, and heels, flats, jewelry. No more orange-juice splattered starchy uniform.), I get a discount on pretty things,..and I'm going to cave and open a credit card with them, with the valid excuse that I need some credit (I've only used debit). Low limit, I promise. Seriously, though. And we get free products sometimes. I dig.&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT face="Arial Narrow" color=#8f308f size=4&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT face="Arial Narrow" color=#8f308f size=4&gt;(Oh, he isn't going to be happy when he wakes up. Looks like a cat vomited on his bed... and his favorite shorts. Ugh.)&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;A id=myphotolink href="http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=7243065&amp;amp;id=831650513"&gt;&lt;FONT color=#8f308f size=4&gt;&lt;IMG id=myphoto src="http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs099.snc1/4745_183470525513_831650513_7243064_3469879_n.jpg"&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/A&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT face="Arial Narrow" color=#8f308f size=4&gt;I posted my summer reading list the other day, and though I'm a pretty avid reader, I'm realizing that I'm not going to be done with this list at the end of summer. Catch-22 is lengthy, as are some of the other books, and I need to add in a playwriting book that Zack recommended. I mean, it's fine, I can take these to college with me, and I'll &lt;STRONG&gt;certainly&lt;/STRONG&gt; read a lot on the way to NYC. Here, however, is my book proposal:&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT color=#107010 size=5&gt;JUNE&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;BR&gt;&lt;BR&gt;&lt;B&gt;&lt;FONT color=#e79f58&gt;Catch-22&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/B&gt; by Joseph Heller&lt;BR&gt;&lt;BR&gt;A classic that I've missed. Recommended to me by Zack, Chris Logan, and essentially the rest of the world.&lt;BR&gt;&lt;BR&gt;&lt;B&gt;&lt;FONT color=#9f6080&gt;Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/B&gt; by Chuck Klosterman&lt;BR&gt;&lt;BR&gt;I've been aching for something kind of modern (besides Vonnegut, Palahniuk) to offset all the classic reading. Classics are great. But I need something I can pick up at Urban Outfitters, haha (I'm not as much of a hipster as that makes me sound like I might be). And his books just always look so interesting.&lt;BR&gt;&lt;BR&gt;&lt;B&gt;&lt;FONT color=#7a7a7a&gt;The Audacity of Hope&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/B&gt; by Barack Obama&lt;BR&gt;&lt;BR&gt;I'm not a Democrat (don't worry, I'm not a Republican), and I was satisfied but not ecstatic in the midst of everyone else's fanatacism at election-time. However, I've become increasingly impressed with the man, and after finishing another Time interview with him, I realized I hadn't stopped to read any of his books. I'd like to dig into the Prezzie's perspective a little bit.&lt;BR&gt;&lt;BR&gt;&lt;B&gt;&lt;FONT color=#20dfdf&gt;Dubliners&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/B&gt; by James Joyce&lt;BR&gt;&lt;BR&gt;I definitely can't hit this up straight away after &lt;I&gt;&lt;FONT face="Lucida Sans"&gt;Portrait&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/I&gt;, good as it was. But I liked Joyce from the get-go. I want to take in some more Ireland.&lt;BR&gt;&lt;BR&gt;&lt;FONT size=3&gt;&lt;BIG&gt;&lt;FONT color=#107010 size=5&gt;JULY&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/BIG&gt;&lt;BR&gt;&lt;BR&gt;&lt;BR&gt;&lt;BR&gt;&lt;B&gt;&lt;FONT color=#80bf40&gt;The God Delusion&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/B&gt; by Richard Dawkins&lt;BR&gt;&lt;BR&gt;Because I'm ready to read an &lt;I&gt;&lt;FONT face="Lucida Sans"&gt;intelligent&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/I&gt; piece on this topic.&lt;BR&gt;&lt;BR&gt;&lt;B&gt;&lt;FONT color=#e75858&gt;The Adventures of Augie March&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/B&gt; by Saul Bellow&lt;BR&gt;&lt;BR&gt;A less-read classic. Bellow was on the list that we could choose from for Independent Reading. I like Chicago and wanted to try out something that touched on the Depression era.&lt;BR&gt;&lt;BR&gt;&lt;B&gt;&lt;FONT color=#5858e7&gt;The Feminine Mystique&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/B&gt; by Betty Friedan&lt;BR&gt;&lt;BR&gt;I feel strange for not having read this. It's kind of a cornerstone of feminism. And even though I'm not going to be a Women's Studies minor (I wanted to previously. I want to have four minors, and this is obviously not feasible, so I had to split the max two between English and Philosophy), I am still going to a womens' college. Time to read up.&lt;BR&gt;&lt;BR&gt;&lt;B&gt;&lt;FONT color=#ff9f40&gt;Dylan's Visions of Sin&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/B&gt; by Christopher Ricks&lt;BR&gt;&lt;BR&gt;I straight-up stole this from Whiteside's reading list. I love Bob Dylan. That is all.&lt;BR&gt;&lt;BR&gt;&lt;BR&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;FONT color=#107010 size=5&gt;AUGUST&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;FONT size=3&gt;&lt;BR&gt;&lt;BR&gt;&lt;BR&gt;&lt;B&gt;&lt;FONT color=#9f40ff&gt;The Handmaid's Tale&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/B&gt; by Margaret Atwood&lt;BR&gt;&lt;BR&gt;Recommended to me by Jo Dulan, English teacher at Salem and feminist/cultural literary critic. I had already read &lt;I&gt;&lt;FONT face="Lucida Sans"&gt;The Edible Woman&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/I&gt; by Atwood when Ms. Dulan sent me a list of good books to tackle over the summer. I lost the list and felt really stupid, but I remembered that this was the first one, and I enjoyed Atwood's style.&lt;BR&gt;&lt;BR&gt;&lt;B&gt;&lt;FONT color=#ff00ff&gt;Child of God&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/B&gt; by Cormac McCarthy&lt;BR&gt;&lt;BR&gt;So James and I can have a coffee date with purpose, hahaha. Whiteside debriefed us on the works of McCarthy when we were reading &lt;I&gt;&lt;FONT face="Lucida Sans"&gt;All The Pretty Horses&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/I&gt; junior year, and this one sounded wildly interesting. And apparently Mr. Kennedy has had this on his list, as well. An exciting one.&lt;BR&gt;&lt;BR&gt;&lt;B&gt;&lt;FONT color=#505030&gt;Deconstruction in a Nutshell: A Conversation with Jacques Derrida (Perspectives in Continental Philosophy)&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/B&gt; by John Caputo&lt;BR&gt;&lt;BR&gt;&lt;SPAN&gt;Because I am not at all confident that I understand deconstruction/deconstruct&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;WBR&gt;&lt;/WBR&gt;&lt;SPAN class=word_break&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;ionism (?) and I hear that Derrida is a hard read. So this seemed like a good place to start.&lt;BR&gt;&lt;BR&gt;&lt;B&gt;&lt;FONT color=#18a7a7&gt;Pygmy&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/B&gt; by Chuck Palahniuk&lt;BR&gt;&lt;BR&gt;New release!! So excited!! I hope it's better than &lt;I&gt;&lt;FONT face="Lucida Sans"&gt;Snuff&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/I&gt;.&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT size=3&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT face="Arial Narrow" color=#8f308f size=3&gt;I also have a new issue of &lt;EM&gt;Source: The Photographic Review&lt;/EM&gt; that Zack bought me. I will be a literary busy bee.&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT face="Arial Narrow" color=#8f308f size=3&gt;&lt;IMG src="http://www.source.ie/covers/source/larger/is58cover.jpg"&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT face="Arial Narrow" color=#8f308f size=3&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT face="Arial Narrow" color=#8f308f size=3&gt;Hm, what else? I got my college linens, an event which would have been menial to anyone else, but was thrilling for me, as I was able to retrieve various pieces from the large box to inspect their softness, especially the aqua-hued throw blanket. I'll be getting my college laptop soon.&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;A id=myphotolink href="http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=7276557&amp;amp;id=831650513"&gt;&lt;FONT face="Arial Narrow" color=#8f308f&gt;&lt;IMG id=myphoto src="http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v4505/228/20/831650513/n831650513_7276556_6473038.jpg"&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/A&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT face="Arial Narrow" color=#8f308f&gt;Darkroom play .&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT face="Arial Narrow" color=#8f308f size=3&gt;I've re-accessed JPG for photographic exposure, and I'm amazed by the volume of stellar work on the site (which feeds into JPG magazine, comprised mostly of freelancers). I was looking at this one guy who does lithium prints and a bunch of other alternate process work that was just incredible, and I assumed he was at least in his thirties. After messaging him to find out about his methods and equipment, I realized he was in college. AHH. I'm amazed. Scared, because I'm poor as anything and I have no studio and I need a new camera (or three) and film money, and models and etc. BUT, it will be okay. I think. We'll see. Summer's providing me with at least two new ideas to shoot. Hopefully much more as exploring resumes.&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT face="Arial Narrow" color=#8f308f size=3&gt;&lt;IMG alt="" src="http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs099.snc1/4745_183470515513_831650513_7243063_6125640_a.jpg"&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT face="Arial Narrow" color=#8f308f size=3&gt;(He woke up when I sneezed, and is now back to sleep. I wish I could do that, but I'm so programmed to wake up at X time now that it's impossible for me to sleep past 7 AM. And then I just get sleepy later, at the wrong time. )&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT size=3&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;A id=myphotolink href="http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=6850245&amp;amp;id=831650513"&gt;&lt;IMG id=myphoto src="http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs010.snc1/4188_167496840513_831650513_6850244_4103093_n.jpg"&gt;&lt;/A&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;EM&gt;June 9th: Senior Awards&lt;/EM&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;EM&gt;June 10: Senior Day, Graduation rehearsal&lt;/EM&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;EM&gt;June 15: Graduation&lt;/EM&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;EM&gt;June 17-18: NCSMI&lt;/EM&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;EM&gt;Late June: NYC&lt;/EM&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &amp;nbsp;&lt;STRONG&gt;&lt;FONT face="Arial Black"&gt;vv&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/STRONG&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;IMG title="map of New York City Metropolitan Area Highways" style="WIDTH: 299px; HEIGHT: 274px" height=701 alt="map of New York City Metropolitan Area Highways" src="http://www.aaccessmaps.com/images/maps/us/ny/nyc_area_hwy/nyc_area_hwy.gif" width=768 useMap=#mapmap border=0&gt;&lt;BR&gt;&lt;BR&gt;&lt;BR&gt;&lt;STRONG&gt;Better load up those c &lt;FONT color=#ff4040&gt;a &lt;/FONT&gt;m e r as.&lt;/STRONG&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;</description><comments>http://acrabappletree.xanga.com/704094504/come-on-feel-the-illinoise/#firstcomment</comments></item><item><title>Where Bluebirds Fly</title><link>http://acrabappletree.xanga.com/695483612/where-bluebirds-fly/</link><guid>http://acrabappletree.xanga.com/695483612/where-bluebirds-fly/</guid><pubDate>Thu, 12 Mar 2009 23:02:09 GMT</pubDate><description>&lt;P&gt;&lt;STRONG&gt;&lt;FONT color=#a7a718&gt;Argh&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/STRONG&gt;! It's been &lt;U&gt;far&lt;/U&gt; too long. &lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;A href="http://x96.xanga.com/4e9f075348630236223381/b186622778.jpg" target=_blank&gt;&lt;IMG style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px" height=400 alt=hpqscan0001 src="http://x96.xanga.com/4e9f075348630236223381/z186622778.jpg"&gt;&lt;/A&gt;&lt;A id=myphotolink href="http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=6267698&amp;amp;id=831650513"&gt; &lt;SPAN style="WIDTH: 0px"&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/A&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;I'm sitting here slaving over a piece of&lt;FONT color=#ff4040 size=4&gt; infra-red &lt;/FONT&gt;hued posterboard, chopped to a manageable size, deconstructing the grammar, syntax, punctuation, line breaks, vocabulary, spelling&amp;nbsp;and arrangement of three versions of Hamlet's Act I Scene II soliloquy. Honestly, an interesting assignment; I wake up in the morning to attend to these kind of rhetorical &lt;U&gt;dissections&lt;/U&gt; (well, on the mornings that I don't wake up&amp;nbsp;solely&amp;nbsp;for Dunkin' Donuts). The prescriptivist inside me is purring like a tabby, really, but... I've done enough, this board is full of tiny, intricate sentences like a maze, and I've beaten this horse for quite a while. So now I'm here, doing this.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Oh, so I actually planned to post today because I had new thoughts on an old(ish) song driving home from school, and wanted to scribble it down somewhere. I mean, the "meaning" in a Radiohead song is... layered, undefined, open to interpretation and re-interpretation. But here goes; &lt;FONT face="Edwardian Script ITC" color=#008040 size=5&gt;"Morning Bell"&lt;/FONT&gt; came on shuffle, and I think (again, infinite possible meanings, but..) if we're pinning a literal reading on the words, the song is about divorce; &lt;EM&gt;Release me. Where'd you park the car? Clothes are all over the furniture&lt;/EM&gt; (infidelity). &lt;EM&gt;Cut the kids in half&lt;/EM&gt;, dividing up&amp;nbsp;a household.&amp;nbsp;&lt;EM&gt;Round and round and round&lt;/EM&gt;, a cycle of fighting. Pair that "cycle" idea with &lt;EM&gt;cut the kids in half&lt;/EM&gt;, and it can read as abuse. And then it hit me why the song might be called "Morning Bell." Morning bell, maybe, as a "wake-up call," yes, or the opening of a new day, that was my previous idea, and then I thought of &lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Morning Bell =&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;"Morning, &lt;FONT color=#ff409f&gt;Bell&lt;/FONT&gt;."&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Bell = Belle, a woman, ..a wife? &lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Waking up next to your wife and telling her good morning on the last sorrow-filled morning;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;A href="http://xf0.xanga.com/235c8b4b48c31236223413/b186622804.jpg" target=_blank&gt;&lt;IMG style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px" height=400 alt=hpqscan0005 src="http://xf0.xanga.com/235c8b4b48c31236223413/z186622804.jpg"&gt;&lt;/A&gt; &lt;SPAN style="WIDTH: 0px"&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;or the irony of a loving sentiment, "Morning, belle," titling a song about a &lt;STRONG&gt;vicious&lt;/STRONG&gt; divorce. Says Thom about "Morning Bell," &lt;EM&gt;"It's very, very violent. Extremely violent. The really weird thing about that was I wrote the song with all the words pretty much straight away, which is basically the only one I did that with. I recorded it onto MiniDisc and then there was a lightning storm, and it wiped the MiniDisc and I lost the song. I completely forgot it. Then five months later, I was on a plane, knackered for 24 hours, I was just falling asleep, and I remembered it. It was really weird, I never had that before. It's gone in and took a long time to come out again. The lyrics are really... they're not as dramatic as they sound, you know? Except "Cut the kids in half", which is dramatic no matter which way you read it".&lt;/EM&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;And then there could be a Biblical reading on "&lt;FONT face="MS Mincho"&gt;Cut the kids in half&lt;/FONT&gt;..." &lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Someday people will interpret R&lt;FONT color=#ff4040&gt;a&lt;/FONT&gt;di&lt;FONT color=#1860a7&gt;o&lt;/FONT&gt;hea&lt;FONT color=#bf00bf&gt;d&lt;/FONT&gt; like a language.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;It's endless fun. &lt;BR&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;In other news:&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;A href="http://x31.xanga.com/03bf224168532236223519/b186622887.jpg" target=_blank&gt;&lt;IMG style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px" height=400 alt=hpqscan0002 src="http://x31.xanga.com/03bf224168532236223519/z186622887.jpg"&gt;&lt;/A&gt; &lt;SPAN style="WIDTH: 0px"&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;The images you're looking at are today's&amp;nbsp;f i n a l s (I need six total, though I will probably have more this time) for my current project, which involved depicting six words (I won't even take you through the exhaustive process of how we chose the words. Yikes.), "the word project," it has been nicknamed. I'm quite fond of the results thus far, though I have more shooting to do. And today I reached in my bag to find hand sanitizer, and pulled out a random unused 36-exposure roll that I never bought. Odd.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;I guess this m&lt;STRONG&gt;e&lt;/STRONG&gt;ans: keep shooting.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;And then the &lt;FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #400000" color=#ffffff&gt;&lt;STRONG&gt;c&lt;FONT size=4&gt;o&lt;/FONT&gt;lor &lt;/STRONG&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;one at the bottom was shot on the same day by one of my two subjects, Chloe. She's a lovely .&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;I have recently seen &lt;EM&gt;The Science of Sleep&lt;/EM&gt; . I found it to be fantastic in most ways. I almost cried at the end. But we were in Psychology and I did not. Haha. (I rarely cry at films. I mean &lt;EM&gt;rarely&lt;/EM&gt;, rarely. But this gave me lumpy-throat.) It did strike a relevant chord in my mind regarding ideas of pseudo-modernism, or post-postmodernism. I was eating dinner tonight and mentioned the movie to my sister (she was familiar with it; her film taste is respectable, almost always), and I realized I wasn't quite sure when it was produced; I speculated 2002-2003 (I was a few years early; 2006.) because while it could have been set probably anytime past 1990&amp;nbsp;sans anachronism, the film seems to be sewn together with the ideas of what comes &lt;EM&gt;after&lt;/EM&gt; postmodernism, manifested in a relationship and in the numbing lack of ground that Stephane has to stand on. (It got so annoying after a while that they were&lt;EM&gt; Stephane&lt;/EM&gt; and &lt;EM&gt;Stephanie&lt;/EM&gt;, pardon my lack of &lt;EM&gt;accent aigu&lt;/EM&gt;s. Couldn't they avoid such cheesy coincidence?) Just seeing the flashing time-travel, the dizzying back-and-forth in a sort of emotional vertigo, with Stephane landing alone in Stephanie's bed, clinging like a child to the comfortable feeling. Numb in the face of loss, loss of companion, loss of stability, a frighteningly unnameable loss, he sends himself off to a reverie of cellophane water and gilded horses with Stephanie, and his movie ends there, he finds his only comfort in his sleep-- subsisting on the same desperate daydream that is the post-9/11 age, the age of burying oneself in "living" so as to avoid the frightening state of dying. &lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;(more, and not by me. &lt;A title=http://www.philosophynow.org/issue58/58kirby.htm contentEditable=false href="http://www.philosophynow.org/issue58/58kirby.htm" unselectable="on"&gt;&lt;FONT face="Lucida Sans Typewriter" size=2&gt;http://www.philosophynow.org/issue58/58kirby.htm&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/A&gt;&amp;nbsp;)&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;A href="http://x70.xanga.com/fe1f234115332236225097/b186624189.jpg" target=_blank&gt;&lt;IMG style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px" height=400 alt=hpqscan0003 src="http://x70.xanga.com/fe1f234115332236225097/z186624189.jpg"&gt;&lt;/A&gt; &lt;SPAN style="WIDTH: 0px"&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;My play did not win at Dionysia. No matter. I am searching out other places to submit it.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;A href="http://averyalexandra.pbwiki.com/Deficit"&gt;http://averyalexandra.pbwiki.com/Deficit&lt;/A&gt;#&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;I have a new math tutor so I will not fail. So far, it seems to be helping.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;I am working on an extended writing project which I may expand my description on at a later date.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;Currently I am reading &lt;EM&gt;The Edible Woman&lt;/EM&gt; by Margaret Atwood and the most recent issue of &lt;EM&gt;Bust&lt;/EM&gt;. Also, we are about to begin &lt;EM&gt;Heart of Darkness&lt;/EM&gt; in English. I SparkNoted the synopsis, and I wasn't enthralled, but I hope I &lt;FONT color=#4080bf&gt;change my mind&lt;/FONT&gt;. I've heard &lt;U&gt;good&lt;/U&gt; things from previous seniors.&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;A href="http://xc3.xanga.com/97af034443c30236228702/b186627143.jpg" target=_blank&gt;&lt;IMG style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px" height=400 alt=hpqscan0004 src="http://xc3.xanga.com/97af034443c30236228702/z186627143.jpg"&gt;&lt;/A&gt; &lt;SPAN style="WIDTH: 0px"&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;EM&gt;favorite thus far.&lt;/EM&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;EM&gt;&lt;/EM&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT face="Browallia New"&gt;&lt;FONT color=#1860a7&gt;&lt;FONT size=6&gt;&lt;STRONG&gt;&lt;FONT size=7&gt;UPDATE:&lt;/FONT&gt; &lt;/STRONG&gt;I'm now transferring all my productions to my wiki. It's a new site, so there's not much on there yet, but my ten-minute play "Deficit" and a short piece called "Salon Se Swa" that I wrote last night are on there. I'm working on uploading everything else I've done. So, have yourself a look.&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT face="Browallia New" color=#1860a7 size=6&gt;averyalexandra.pbwiki.com&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;EM&gt;&lt;/EM&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;EM&gt;&lt;/EM&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;&lt;P&gt;&lt;EM&gt;&lt;A href="http://xa0.xanga.com/4e8f574055035236228866/b186627259.jpg" target=_blank&gt;&lt;IMG style="BORDER-TOP-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-LEFT-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM-WIDTH: 0px; BORDER-RIGHT-WIDTH: 0px" alt=Chloe5 src="http://xa0.xanga.com/4e8f574055035236228866/z186627259.jpg" width=400&gt;&lt;/A&gt; &lt;SPAN style="WIDTH: 0px"&gt;&lt;/SPAN&gt;&lt;/EM&gt;&lt;/P&gt;</description><comments>http://acrabappletree.xanga.com/695483612/where-bluebirds-fly/#firstcomment</comments></item></channel></rss>