(6) Wed Mar 01 2006 23:12 PST Whiney Whine: Mom seems to have a habit of going to the hospital during the end of the quarter. The nurse remembers me from last time, sitting there with my laptop. Somehow I think this whole thing would be a lot easier if *I* could sit there reading a Nora Roberts novel instead of freaking out about all the work I have to do.

Everyone keeps asking me if they can do anything for me but no one wants to write my research papers. Or take this dog off my hands. Poor Gretel has been sooo neglected and I just don't have the energy to give her the attention she needs. I am soo tired all I want to do is sleep sleep sleep but there is research to be done and I have to wake up in the morning and do it all over again.

(5) Fri Mar 03 2006 08:18 PST One good thing: I totally had a dream that I met Rupert Grint! It was totally awesome. He was sitting next to me on an airplane or something, and we had a long conversation and he signed one of my HP books! Then I thought to myself, Christina will KILL me if she finds out I met him and didn't get an autograph for her, so I got one for her too. Man, I wish that had really happened. Maybe I will pretend it did.

Fri Mar 03 2006 12:19 PST Lalala: It is almost my birthday. I am so excited, can't you tell? It has always has the misfortune of falling on tenth or finals week. Oh well. I'm sure you all are smart enough to figure out great presents for me if you intend to do so but just in case here are some things I would really like:

Amazon.com gift certificates for texts. Russo's gift certificates are always useful.
Course in Serbian on CD rom. Not the kind you just listen to, a full course. I have one on my Amazon wishlist but I am not sure if it the best kind. The one advertised in Newsweek also looks good.
Contact lenses
Nice black DMs with a buckle, like my brown ones only black, or even better like the ones mom has. Size UK 4.

(1) Fri Mar 03 2006 20:52 PST The problem with elitism: In some ways, there is nothing I love better than to feel smarter than other people. "Oh, you want to visit Czechoslovakia? Good luck with that. You might want to drop by the USSR while you are in the area. That is, the area of DOESN'T EXSIST ANYMORE!! HAHAHA!" Or at least that is what I think in my head.

But the problem with all moots you find in your brother's eye is the beam in your own. Or something like that. I know I do it too. In my mind it will always be Constantinople. Discussing Petrograd in class, I timidly asked PH, "That's St Petersburg, right?" It was changed at the beginning of the war to not sound so "German" ie Freedom Fri-burg, then again to Leningrad, and back to St Petersburg... no wonder I'm confused! So many names of places are forever stuck in my head in their 1918/1919 incarnation. My research paper is on the Salonika campaign, not the First World War campaign in what is now known as Thessaloniki. In fact, I'm sure the reason I call a lot of things by their right and proper name is that they reverted to what they were in WWI era after being something else. So maybe I shouldn't feel so smug when people talk about "Yugoslavia."

(1) Mon Mar 06 2006 16:11 PST War Life by timetable?: I made, as I always do about this time of the quarter, a little chart with all my hours and what I am supposed to be doing during those hours. People look at the chart and freak. They ask when I am supposed to do things like eat, and don't seem pacified when I point to the little blank spots in between blocks of "work on paper" and "practice lecture" and "read book." So maybe it is a bit Hermione-esque. But I decided, as motivation, each hour I do what I am supposed to be doing will be $1 towards a new pair of shoes!

The problem is... my schedule started today at noon. And I'm already 4 hours behind.

(2) Mon Mar 06 2006 16:29 PST Typo: Six countries initially agreed to pool their cola and steel resources

(3) Mon Mar 06 2006 18:08 PST Rainy Day: The house is so quiet. Don took Gretel away to a new home, where she has 2 1/2 acres to run on and kids to play with her. I am sooo sad. I just want to wallow in my sadness and maybe read a good book, but instead I have to prepare a lecture on Ireland in the EU and read about the Holocaust. blaaaaaaaaaaah

(3) Thu Mar 09 2006 09:27 PST How lame is this?: While I am stuck at home this weekend writing papers, my friends are running off to have fun at Mammoth. Traitors! Turncoats!

(2) Thu Mar 09 2006 13:41 PST Testament of Experience: I'm using Olive King and Isabel Emslie Hutton in my research paper. These were the first two books I read back when I started working for PK, and I'm noticing all kinds of good stuff I didn't know to notice back then. I think it will be a good research paper.

Speaking of good books, I am taking another class with PH next quarter. It is a 300 level 20th century Europe, so basically I am using it an excuse to write another paper that will help me along with my thesis. But the books he's assigned are very good, three of them by women! including Vera Brittain, who, amazingly enough, I have never read. This is probably surprising as she is most likely the only women in WWI book most people have read, if they have read any, but she is in France after all, and I don't "France." Anyway, it will be good to read her and see what all the hype is about. Aha, my prejudices are leaking out already. But once I have read the book, at least they will have backing. Or maybe I will be surprised. It's not that I am expecting it to be terrible, I'm sure its really quite good; I am just expecting it to be not as good as some of the really good ones I have read.

Fri Mar 10 2006 11:44 PST One less thing to stress about (or is it?): Well, my lecture on Ireland & The EU is over & done with. Why I ever picked the topic of the last day of class I have no idea, I guess I just wasn't thinking. I think it went ok. I have never given a lecture type thing so I was pretty nervous but once I started it was fine. I didn't even look at my notes. I really wish I'd had someone to do a practice run on, though, because it only took 40 minutes so I could have added a lot more stuff--the suez crisis, 'founding fathers' etc. But the remainder of the time was taken up debating the merits of the EU with Dr Murphy and the other grad students. Is the whole thing going to collapse, like the British Empire? or the Soviet Union? I hope not.

(2) Fri Mar 10 2006 17:11 PST But at least the dishwasher is fixed: The neighbor has been playing the same four songs for the last four hours: Skater boy, Because of you, Boulevard of broken dreams, and Wake me up when september ends. I appreciate, I really do. NOT.

I just devoured two Salonika accounts. I don't really feel like doing anything except maybe watching GOF but I have to leave my DVD unopened in case someone gets it for me for my birthday. Plus, you know, there are those two papers to write...

Sat Mar 11 2006 18:12 PST History unfolds: Milosevic! Dead! What does it mean? Where will it lead? Those smarter (or more daring) than I will speculate... the rest of us will wait and see.

Sat Mar 11 2006 21:36 PST Do I have "I like creepy guts" written on my forehead?: Because two of them tried to hit on me at work today. It was actually pretty funny. The first time, I was standing talking to Tora's brother while Tora was ringing some guy up. Right before he left he dropped his business card on the counter, saying, "I don't normally do this." Tora looked at it, and he said "It's for her," pointing at me. I may have managed not to laugh until he left the store. This guy's name is "Jewel."

Not half an hour later, Denise comes in and I told her about the incident. Some guy came up to be rung up and as I was doing it Tora left for lunch fifteen minutes late. "Thanks a lot," I told her teasingly. "I was trying to coordinate our lunch breaks so Michael and I could have a date, and you totally ruined it." As this guy left he said, "Michael is a lucky guy, by the way." We all laughed very hard. What makes it funny it Michael is married... I wanted to have lunch with him so we could exchange the gossip.

When I walked out on my lunch break to meet Michael there were actually a ton of my work friends waiting with presents for me. What a nice surprise! I felt loved all day.

(1) Sun Mar 12 2006 10:23 PST Suprise return: Someone knocked on the door... "Who could that be?" I wondered out loud. I opened the door and who should come tromping in but Gretel. Apparently this nice lady had found her out by Panama Lane, dodging traffic! Now mom wants to keep her again, but she won't come near me.

I need a vacation.

(1) Sun Mar 12 2006 19:31 PST I couldn't get a clear view: Gretel has been an absolute angel all day. Whatever it was she did to get "sent to Siberia," she is trying pretty hard not to do it again. Poor thing. Must have been quite the experience for her. A family of girls appeared after church wanting to meet her and going to take her for walks every few days. So maybe it will work out.

I promise myself that as soon as this week is over, I'm going to go the gym again. And stop living off of Trader Joe's frozen food (though there are worse things off of which to live!).

(3) Mon Mar 13 2006 11:53 PST "You're 23!!!! SO OLD!": Thanks sis.

It would be depressing to sit & think of all the things I'd have liked, and planned, to have done by this point in my life. But really, in spite of it all, I think I have done pretty well for myself so far. There's hope for the future, anyway.

(2) Mon Mar 13 2006 17:33 PST Tale as old as time: My room right now resembles the beast's lair from Beauty and the Beast.

(1) Tue Mar 14 2006 17:16 PST Birthday envy: Yesterday I was talking with my friend Kristi about how on her 23rd birthday we were on a plane to Paris. Then today I was reading Elsie Corbett and: on February 10 “I celebrated my 23rd birthday and became old enough to go as a VAD to a base hospital in France” (57-58). She was being held POW by Austrians in occupied Serbia.

It is not as though I want to be taken prisoner by the Austrians. I just rather wish I were doing something more exciting than writing about it. Such as on a plane to Paris...

Anyway my birthday really was far from boring or disasterous. My kind friends led me to believe they had forgotten (though I had my suspicions) then appeared on the doorstep with cheetos and diet coke and chocolate cake and kidnapped me to go on a shrimp adventure. Delicious and fun times all around. What wondeful friends I have. *pets*

Tue Mar 14 2006 20:55 PST Hey, it worked last time =): I really want this book: http://dogbert.abebooks.com/abe/BookDetailsPL?bi=385816170

Thu Mar 16 2006 20:24 PST Yikes: I've never ever had a finals week this stressful. Thank goodness tomorrow it will all be over. I cannot wait!

(3) Fri Mar 17 2006 01:49 PST *blinks*: Survival is in sight! Almost there!

The problem with this hour is it breeds pessimism and self-doubt and thoughts of *gasp* "B"s!

(1) Fri Mar 17 2006 16:03 PST Liberated from communism: Papers turned in, finals completed for better or for worse. Now that I am free, I hardly know what to do with myself, except all those little things that pile up when you are so deperatley busy you can get away with not doing them. But shouldn't a girl be allowed to celebrate? I thought of a bit of pleasure reading but then remembered susie has the book i really want to read.

(1) Fri Mar 17 2006 23:19 PST Hazard: Xochitl is curled up on my bed. A new development! I am scared to get in it because I might lose a limb.

(1) Mon Mar 20 2006 22:13 PST Confidence (or lack thereof): I'm so paranoid about my Irish suffrage paper. I'm too scared to look back at it to see if it really is awful, and I'm half tempted to email Dr Murphy and ask to redo it but its getting a little late for that.

(3) Mon Mar 20 2006 22:15 PST Is it just me or is there something wrong with this sentence?: "She was a product of her country and her time, part Czech, part Slavic, with a drop of Russian and a whiff of German in the blood."

(3) Thu Mar 23 2006 12:42 PST European History jokes are funny!:

Me: blabbering on about a delicious sounding Basque dish I want to share with John. "But I doubt they allow splitting..."
Leonard: "They must! They're sepratists!"

Sat Mar 25 2006 16:41 PST Some advice: The fact that I am an employee in a store you are patronizing (or not) does not mean I am a worthless human being for you to shit upon. You do not have the right to use our private bathroom. Do not make one-worded demands, and do not allow your children to do so. "No," is not a proper answer to "May I speak to so & so." If I am calling on the phone, it is because *you* chose to order a book from us, so there's no need to be rude to me. Don't demand to know who's calling, say ok, and expect me to know I'm talking to the person I've asked for. Don't force me to ask you to take a message. I'm going to the trouble to call you & remind you about a book you ordered; if you're not going to pick it up, the least you can do is let us know so we don't keep calling you. Not being trained to work the post office does not make me stupid. And the fact that I engage customers in conversation and help them with multiple problems does not make a bad employee. Thanks.

Sun Mar 26 2006 17:10 PST But why is free voice mail risky?: Would you like to receive a $500 FREE Shopping Spree and risk free voice mail for 30 days?

(1) Tue Mar 28 2006 17:43 PST Nothing falls like...: I love the weather we are having. Perfect mix of sun & gloom and just the right temperature with wind & rain thrown in for good measure. It reminds me of an English summer.

I've been running errands all day so I feel super productive dispite the fact that I have not done very much work. After photo-copying some books for myself at Office Depot (so as not to live in fear of the notorious UCLA library recall) I bought some treats: bright and bold colored pens, post-it flags, tabs, and pads. This excites me to no end. I'm such a nerd. Also went to Target and practicsed self-control with my gift cards. I did buy a shirt, but everything else was stuff I needed and on sale. I also, as I have been meaning to do for some time, stopped by the Indian grocer near target to see if they have henna. I picked up a box for $4 and if the picture on the cover is to be believed, its body-art quality which is the best kind for hair. Still, I plan on doing some internet research and a strand test lest I turn all my hair green. Then I went to Youngs to load up on diet coke only to find at checkout that the sale doesn't start until tomorrow. Lame.

Tue Mar 28 2006 22:06 PST I'd rather play than get things done: Spent way too long looking at henna info online instead of doing things I should be doing. God bless the beginning of the quarter. Apparently Mumtaz al-aroosa is safe. I think I'll do a strand test now.

(3) Wed Mar 29 2006 10:07 PST A funny joke: President Bush, First Lady Laura and Dick Cheney were flying on Air Force One. George looked at Laura, chuckled and said, "You know, I could throw a $1,000 bill out of the window right now and make somebody very happy."
Laura shrugged her shoulders and replied, "I could throw ten $100 bills out of the window and make ten people very happy."
Cheney added, "That being the case, I could throw one hundred $10 bills out of the window and make a hundred people very happy."
Hearing their exchange, the pilot rolled his eyes and said to his co-pilot, "Such big-shots back there. Hell, I could throw all of them out of the window and make 56 million people very happy."

(1) Wed Mar 29 2006 22:48 PST Appropriate enough for a history girl:

http://www.youthink.com/quiz.asp?action=take&quiz_id=768>Which Famous Revolutionary Are You? Nelson Mandela “I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities." http://www.youthink.com/quiz.asp?action=take&quiz_id=768>http://www.youthink.com/quiz_images/quiz768outcome4.JPG">

http://www.youthink.com/quiz.asp?action=take&quiz_id=768>Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by http://www.youthink.com/quiz.asp>YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

(I hate how these things never look like they're supposed to)

Thu Mar 30 2006 17:19 PST Random misc: The font on those word verification things is so hard for me to read I often get the letters wrong.

ME: I'm going to Walgreens in my pjs.
MOM: At least your pjs are nicer than most people's clothes.

I wish I could just be a student and not have to worry about money as well. I wish being a student could be my job. That would be so awesome. I would be really good at that.