WHAT?!

It's 5:30. I've done my crim law.



whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?????????





Now I can go see the scottish play with a light heart and a free mind - the best way to see Shakespearean (-ian?) tragedy.

Packing heat...

...in the form of a hot Italian sausage for lunch. YUM.

Since coming to law school, in the interest of frugality, of done a good deal of lunch packing. I am especially fond of toting leftovers to school in my appropriately bright pink structured-yet-squishy lunch box. These sausages, though, take the cake, especially since they're just so easy and tasty with a hot dog bun, some vinegar roasted onions (adapted from a recipe by Orangette) and a squirt of mustard from the free condiments bin. Mmmmmmm free mustard.

Check it out!

It's tinybabysuperfrog to the rescue!

(Photo courtesy of cuteoverload.com)

The professor phenomenon

Def: when a professor (usually law, but of any sort) walks into a crowded and conversing classroom and all falls silent.

It should happen any time.

Any time now.

Come on, professor.

Snippets of conversation I can make out: "It's a compensation but you have 21 days to withraw it..."

He arrives!

phenomenon complete!

Lucky goes to law school

I am a loiterer

I am loitering. In case anyone in the entire law school wonders who the 1Ls are, we're the gigantic group clustered in the lounge, being loud and obnoxious and having a lot of fun before skittering off to civil procedure. It is a good time.

Other notes: Tom is a wonderful surpriser and he is here for the weekend! I am so happy and comfortable and content. Also, the doggies will be in good hands at the very least.

So far, law school = a really good time.

The perfect study music

Simone Dinnerstein's Goldberg Variations. Lively in places, soothing in others, lovely in all, it keeps me interested enough (I mean, maestro, hello) but doesn't pique my inner distractable self, two qualities inherently necessary to study music and also incredibly difficult to find. I consider this album one of my most valuable study investments, right next to highlighters in the pantheon of homework aids. Dinnerstein plays with such feeling, and a sort of mischievous energy during some of the more complicated runs. Plus, the CD is over an hour long, so when it cycles through and restarts it's like hearing things new again.

The hour in between

Posting between Criminal Law and Civil Procedure might become a regular thing for me. I have nice downtime, I'm usually done with any reading I might have to do, and it's too short a break to really get into any reading ahead (notice how I use lack of sufficient time as an excuse there? Pretty awesome).

I have just spent a wonderful weekend with Tom, whose visits are as precious as gold, and no less so for the fact that he takes most of the burden of doggie-ownership off of me for a few days. Except those guys usually choose to be their cutest when Tom's around, so it's really not fair.

In other news, law school has started to develop into a routine (albeit a new one). The reading is a lot, yes, but I think the understanding is what takes the longest time and in the long run will require the greatest investment. I really want to go back over my notes so far and collate them, or at least distill them into something that is more easily understood at first glance. Right now, they're sort of a mess of bullets and long, run on paragraphs. I have yet to break myself of the habit of writing narratively, or at least in narrative forms, since I can't seem to break my thoughts into bullet points (as useful as those might be as finals approach). This will take practice, I'm sure.

I haven't been called on yet, but I'm sure the day is approaching and will be on me before I know it. What if it's today?! Maybe I should take the next half hour to go over the reading for Civil procedure. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.

Questions

How long will it take before Bernie oversleeps in law school?

Answer: less than a week.

This explains why I look like a scrub today.

Torts humor

I de S et ux. v. W de S







Tee hee.

Tomorrow and tonight

Tomorrow is the first day of class for me, and I am proud to report that I have done all (!) the assignments for my classes. Today is the first day of being on top of things. I am hoping that this streak will last me through the entire semester, and that I will not fall back into bad undergrad habits of procrastinating and crunching massive amounts of work into barely manageable blocks of frantic activity. Or too many adjectives into one phrase.

Tonight my dishwasher is making so much noise it sounds like it is trying to outdo the industrial machines at ye local drycleaner. Which is saying something. From the sounds I can make it, it seems that a tidal wave swamps the inside of the machine every 3.5 seconds, culminating in a vicious, swirling whirlpool that makes a funny clicking noise as it subsides and then reforms into yet another tidal wave. I am a little nervous that it may flood. For some reason I don't remember it being this loud last time. Maybe that was because the last time I ran it it was during the day? When other things make noise too? I don't know. I just know that it's loud.

Honeycomb and Lucky have been pretty well behaved tonight, miracle of miracles. When they behave they're so snuggly and delicious that I feel I could forgive them anything. When they are bad I can feel the top of my head spinning off into another time and space. Extremes are, unfortunately, all I have.

Now it's late and I have an early class tomorrow. So for tonight, this is it. Wish me luck!

Orientation...

...has left me a little disoriented. I am completely and utterly exhaustified and am planning on sinking into a mindless stupor for the next few others. Blessedly, Honeycomb and Lucky are on vacation until tomorrow, giving me a little bit of a break.

I am tired as I have rarely been tired before.

Why is Lucky like a cat?

Inventing the wheel

...or, as we like to call it, how to bathe the dogs in a tub that has no extendable shower head.

1. Herd them upstairs. Get them in the bathroom. Put away everything that might get wet when they shake their thangs.
2. Decide to bathe Lucky first. Watch as he looks to Honeycomb to save him, while Honeycomb throws Lucky to the wolves and cowers in a corner.
3. Stick Lucky under the faucet, wet him down, shampoo, lather, rinse. Laugh because he looks like a drowned rat.
4. Dry him off and let him run in circles in the bathroom while forcing a suddenly-limp-legged Honeycomb into the tub. Resort to using a big Tupperware to rinse him off while he looks at me resentfully. Lucky retreats to snuffling at the door in an attempt to escape. THERE IS NO ESCAPE.
5. Dry Honeycomb off. Watch as both of them run freakishly around the bathroom, scraping against the walls.
6. Close lid of toilet and sit down holding the blow dryer, aiming at whichever dog crosses my path. Laugh because Lucky seems to like it, whereas Honeycomb will do anything to avoid it. Including crunching into a tiny ball and hiding behind his brother.
7. Let them out and listen to their joyful cries of freedom while scrubbing down the tub.
8. Collapse while damp dogs snuggle up to me.

From Zoo to Bend

Tomorrow I'll be moving to South Bend for good (I think), with only occasional visits back to the Zoo to check up on things.

This would be sad news except that tomorrow the cable guy is coming to install cable and internet in my apartment.

Hello, outside world! How I've missed you!

Frustration

...sadly, has been a recurring theme in my life.

I've been having problems sleeping (although I think this might be due to my total and utter lack of physical activity of any kind), and I really really have a lot more sympathy for insomniacs now. I can't believe how frustrating it is to toss and turn and kick around without being able to drift off, only to find out it's somehow 4 am and you have to be awake in 4 hours.

And then, yesterday, the DVD player in my apartment broke. Tried to fix it, in a number of ways, and it didn't work. So I tried TWO OTHER DVD players (don't ask why I happen to have 3 DVD players in my one-person apartment) and none of them worked right. I am a sad sack with electronics and the frustration was incredible.

Thank goodness I'm seeing Irene and Jody in two days, and Tom just a few days after that. I need a little break.

Overheard

While getting my daily sandwich -


Old guy: "I'd like a small subway, please."



Sure. You know, 'cause large systems of mass transportation are just so gauche.

Looking back, with mortification

I think maybe 3 people read this site, which is a step up from 1 (YES), but I've begun posting much more frequently for two reasons: I'm bored out of my skull, and I probably won't have time to blog much once school starts.

Taking into consideration the former, I went back and read some of my archives from two years ago, and it is amazing how different I was back then. The caps! The exclamation points! The focus on ducks!

(It should be made known that I still focus on ducks, but they are not nearly as forefront-y in my life as they were two years ago, due to things like 1) moving and 2) paying bills and 3) moving. These things, with the teensy little addition of possibly growing up a little, have led me to be less duck-centric, though no less duck-fond.)

(Aside: as asides go, that one I just wrote was really more of an a-front-and-center.)

But anyway, if anyone has a blog that they've kept for any amount of time, and I think two years is pretty long (as Jody pointed out), it's an interesting exercise to go back and look. I've tried for years to keep a diary, with little success, but I think that I can really see the changes in my personality by reading over what I wrote when I was 19 versus what I'm writing now at 22.

I think this is coming dangerously close to self-inspection. Which is disturbing, and thus will end now.

Taking the Subway

Living in between abodes is not always conducive to healthy eating, as I've discovered. The first few days I started eating stuff at home - bagged salad, eggs, instant noodles. Then I discovered that the problem with this is dishes, and when you don't have a sponge and your dish soap is in an apartment an hour away, you can't really wash them.

So I've started eating Subway nearly daily. I always get the daily special (I am such stuff as thrift is made of) and I always eat it while catching up on my Buffy dvds. And everytime I go there, I'm more and more sure that the high school kids behind the counter are using their job as a front for other things they might do more...recreationally.

Witness, a typical exchange.

Me: Can I please have a six inch turkey breast on honey oat bread?
Kid: A six inch turkey breast?
Me: Yes.
Kid: On honey oat?
Me: Yes.
Kid: Ok. Uh, did I ask you what cheese you wanted?
Me: No. But I don't want any cheese.
Kid: No cheese?
Me: No.
Kid: Ok, um, what else do you want?
Me: Everything but jalapenos, pickles, and spinach.
Kid: Oh, wait, did you, uh, want this toasted?
Me: No, that's ok.
Kid: Ok, not toasted. Um, did you want spinach?
Me: No, no spinach.
[kid piles veggies on the sandwich]
Kid: And no jalapenos?
Me: Right.
Kid: Anything else?
Me: Honey mustard, please.
Kid: Honey mustard. Honey mustard. Dave, where's... oh, here it is.
[squirt, wrap, bag]
Kid: Anything else?
Me: No.
Kid: Do you want a meal with that?
Me: No.
Kid: That's $2.96.
[I hand him three dollars]
Kid: Your change is a nickel. Have a nice day.

A nickel! Give him a round of applause, folks.

Hairspray

Did anyone else know Cyclops could sing?



Anyone?

Update, in brief

Before I update, has anyone else noticed how spookily Jessica Simpson-esque Fergie looks in the video for "Big Girls Don't Cry"? Not to mention the fact that it looks like she's wearing the same ugly hat in two different colors in the video. Seriously. Get new headwear.

Anyway. Away from my obscene preoccupation with pop culture and terrible but strangely fascinating music.

I'm in the zoo for most of this week and the next, but I'll be making trips back and forth to a) keep an eye on the apartment and b) haul all the junk that we've somehow managed to leave here to where it's supposed to be. Sheesh. I hve a lot of stuff. This has not, unfortunately, inspired me to do anything more feng shui than rearranging my books by height. And buying new ones, at that. I think I'm a lost cause as far as the book thing goes.

Honeycomb and Lucky have been really good company over the last couple of days, despite the slight annoyances of their costant wrassling. I can't imagine what it'd be like without those two fluffy guys to hang around with. They're lots of fun to play with outside but probably they're just good for the soul, and having them makes it feel like I'm still with family.

On another note, I'm gearing up for law school, and reading the few books from the reading list I could actually track down. It's an optional list, yes, but the paranoid in me insists that I at least make an effort to read several of the optional 31 (yes, 31!) books. Especially since I'm sure someone will have read them all and then I'll feel incredibly intimidated. At least this way I might be able to nod along with a vague understanding.

Some of the material has made me a little nervous about what I'm getting myself into but I'm still feeling pretty good, in a "challenge is good" sort of way. This attitude, I'm sure, will wear off the second I step foot into a classroom, but right now I'm willing to give it a good chance to buck up my spirits.

In other news, I get to see Tom in just a couple of weeks. Which is fantastic. We haven't been seperated for this long since...well, ever.

Harry Potter

I just finished. It was everything I wanted it to be.

Flux

The only regret I have about leaving Milwaukee is that I don't miss it more.

I do miss it a great deal, especially the 2/$4 bags of Red Hot Blues organic tortilla chips at the Metro Market, or the best tuna sandwich ever (!) at the Pfister hotel, or the view I had of the city from my 6th story gym. But I wish I missed it more. I didn't take nearly enough advantage of the city while I was there. Whether that was from sheer bashfulness, or paranoia, I'm not sure, but there is many a sidewalk that did not benefit from my feet. And leaving on the eve of Summerfest was certainly a cruel twist of fate that should have me sighing more often than I do.

Oh well. I guess I'll just have to go back. But in the short time I was there, I did love it, and that's something saying about a city you live in completely, utterly, on your own.

Meanwhile, the times (and the house, and the car, and the lives) they are a-changin'. We bid a fond and sad farewell to our big black car. My mom actually sat in it for half an hour before letting it go into the hands of its capable (and familiar, so we'll be able to visit it) new owners. I have trouble trolling for books to read during quiet afternoon lapses in packing because most, if not all, of my readable books are packed away in layers of cardboard and stacked in strange piles in our unnervingly empty garage. The cabinets are slowing yielding their contents and not getting replenished. We clean our house frantically for complete strangers to traipse through in fifteen minute intervals, breaking our necks to get the last specks of dirt off the ceiling fans before realtors unlock our doors, usher in prospective buyers, and proceed to judge our abode. It's sad.

China, you better be worth it.

Virginia!?

Last night I had the super craziest dream, in which I found out I couldn't go to Notre Dame (for some weird reason I can't remember) so I decided to go to UVA for law instead! WEIRD.

Maybe all the stress of moving and packing and cleaning and fridge defrosting is getting to me.

In other news: Milwaukee says bye-bye sometime later today.

Being of two minds

Scene:

[An empty stage, with a table in the center and a chair. Behind, the lake. A strong wind blows through. On the table-a plate, holding a single bratwurst and a pint of Miller Lite. A young woman enters, stage left. She sits on the chair, contemplating the table's contents. Radishes flutter in, then fall to the ground.]

Woman: A few short months, and all that remains are the silky ends of the time where I tried to grab it, catching my nails on its last gleaming threads.

[A tall woman walks across from stage left, throwing a sheaf of papers into the air, where they flutter to the floor. Exit stage right. Shrimp enter, dancing quickly, before dying off forever and disappearing, stage right.]

Woman: Nothing left behind but that scrape on the wall, that stain on the carpet, those tire tracks burned on the pavement of a still new city.

[A single grocery cart is rolled across the back of the stage, entering stage left, exiting stage right. A human sized block of cheese prances through the background. The lights dim further.]

Woman: Where's the mime?

[Mime enters, stage left, missing one shoe. Exit stage right. A man wearing lederhosen follows him, clapping loudly. Exit stage right.]

Woman: And all that remains.

[She picks up the bratwurst, eats it. She drinks the beer and leaves the empty plate and bowl on the table. She rises from the chair.]

Woman: A bow, and nothing more.

[She bows. Exit stage right. The lights fade to black.]

End Scene





*(forgive the lack of italics. HTML is hard.)
**(this is satire.)

Whip it

...into shape!

Or otherwise known as: Bernie's mission to look good in a bikini for the cruise that occurs in t-minus 41 days. Especially since I've hit that point where working a desk job and sitting all day is taking its toll on my figure, and has boosted me to a weight that is heavier (ACK!) than I was this time last year. Few sentences are more depressing (well, few sentences that have to do with trivial minutiae and not real tragedy or injustice).

Ergo, whipping it into shape, just like Devo said. Surprisingly, my absolute loathing of exercise of any kind has seemed to evaporate with the exciting discovery of miniature TVs mounted to the elliptical machines at my gym. Which means I can watch Food Network celebrities make buttery, chocolate covered desserts and cheese smothered pastas while I sweat off those calories. If there ever was a more beautiful juxtaposition, I don't know what it is.

In the interest of a healthier lifestyle (read: bathing suit friendly, since my preferred eating habits are anything but healthy and involve weekly doses of french fries) I have moved on to vegetables, insane amounts of fruit, and a fantastic black bean and corn salsa made from scratch (!) that tastes good on everything. Well, almost everything. Additionally, I've discovered that a little bit of cottage cheese is a great way to cream up a salad dressing without adding too many calories.

Back from DC

As you may read from the title - I'm back from DC. Everything was so great - I saw the Lincoln Memorial, the White House, the Vietnam War Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, Arlington National Cemetary, the National Archives, the dinosaurs at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History - whew! I feel so grown up, doing the whole drive to the airport, take a flight, take a metro thing all on my own.

Some strangeness has occurred in Milwaukee upon my return, but suffice it to say that I am handling the situation and I am being bold, smart, and safe.

Otherwise, I've got a month left in this fair city and I'm going to enjoy it!

Apartment discovered

Hooray!

I'll be living next year in a lovely apartment, complete with a little patio in back for the doggies. The complex also has a dog run, and seems really nice and quiet. HOORAY! Also, I get to take the plasma TV from my parents' house, and the baby grand. And my bedroom set. I'm also lobbying hard for all the VHS Disney Classics - great for watching when you're studying.

I have wiggly toes.

And I also make a mean spinach and lentil salad.

Things that are good

In no particular order:

1. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
2. Summer shoes
3. Food that cooks fast

On another note, my parents are moving to China. This is both good and bad news. The good? My parents will have this fantastic adventure, I'll be able to visit the, and I'll get to keep the doggies while they're abroad. The bad? They'll be far away, as will my sister, and also will take with them my one somewhat regular source of good home-cooked food that i don't have to make myself.

We've been house/apartment hunting in South Bend, with varied success, and will continue the endeavor this weekend. I think we've got a couple of places in mind. I'm really excited for my own place! Just think - The Magic Flute playing loudly as I cook dinner, the dogs cavorting around my ankles and somehow not tripping me. A closet, beautifully stocked with my clothes folded and organized as they have never been before, shoes lined up in gleaming rows on the floor. Fresh flowers, a fruit bowl, counter space! Ahhh, the things post-grads dare to dream of when it comes to living the good life.

I ahm dunnnnnn

So I'm walking in graduation this Saturday. Awesome. Bill Clinton. Awesome. Eating at Denny's afterward...even awesomer.
Oh yeah. Who's down with the pancakes?

Question: what should I wear? This question pertains to shoes, obvi.

On another note, I'm trying to teach myself how to wiggle my nose. Like Sam in "Bewitched." Not coming along so good.

What I sound like

Ig. Ug. Schnffffffffffugyarg.

I'm sick again.

And my Tom has just left me (even though he was so sweet and stocked my fridge with Gatorade (a vital fluid to those afflicted with spring colds) and my kitchen with napkins (a consolation prize for those who don't buy enough tissues)).

This does not change the fact that I still sound like a water pump gone wrong and am blowing my nose accordingly. It's also freaky cold out. I have many spring like dresses and skirts and shoes, which I can't wear because the wind is still nippy, the frost is still bitey, and the temperature is still frickin' cold.

I feel bad for the ducks who migrated back in hopes of the warm weather.

Plans

I have many plans. The most recent include: the post office, the library, Goodwill, Big Lots. And those are just errands!
The other plans include aged cheddar with baguette and French butter, wiggling my toes.

The rest of my plans include trying to figure out how to cut my budget down per moth. I think I might have to give up Netflix, but as I've discovered the media section of my public library, and let me tell you, it is fantastic.

Wiggling my toes again.

Other plans include black sheep, diaries, rocks. Etc. The purpose of this announcement will be later revealed in all of its glory.

Also I have a zexy new phone.

The best part about living by yourself...

Is that you can stare contentedly at your shoes strewn over the floor, while sitting in your bathrobe and sipping a hot cup of decaf beore you go to bed.

Not much new has happened, except I've heard some more news from law schools. So far I think Notre Dame is giong to take the cake. I have also begun to amass a collection of favorite movies, thanks to my cheap movie hunting skills and my wonderful boyfriend, whose habit of bringing me DVDs when he visits (Kill Bill! Both volumes! Casino Royale!) is quickly raising him to lofty stature...at least where my DVD rack is concerned.

Also, I have leftover ravioli for lunch tomorrow. Aside from the shin splints (walking too much, going for a run, unused to exercise) and a slight need to do laundry, life ist gute. Especially since a) I'm visiting Notre Dame this weekend and b) I get to see the parentals, the sister, the doogies...and my tom!!

Being sick sucks

i am sick and cranky and tired and exhaustified and frustrated and in a bad mood to boot. Being sick when you're alone SUCKS. I hate being sick. I also hate snow and the cafeteria in my office building and incessant phone calls and not having any medicine because I am too sick to go to the store.

Best week ever

Really. Totally and truly the awesomest week. First, my Tom came and spent a beautiful weekend, just relaxing and browsing around Milwaukee, including a truly fantastic dinner at Mader's German restuarant. Sauerkraut, sauerbraten, medieval weaponry adorning the walls....a few more "sauers" I can't really remember. Then two of the loveliest girls in the world (read: Jody and Irene) came for a few days, and we ate and talked and shopped our faces off. It was the best. And the food! I have not eaten so well before, and I certainly haven't eaten as well since - today I ate an egg, a leftover pork chop and macaroni and cheese. Ah, the life of a solitary gal in the city.

Late dinner

When do you know that you're a twenty-something girl living by herself in a strange city on an intern's salary?

When you eat dinner at 9 p.m., and dinner is a can of chicken noodle soup and an English muffin with peanut butter.

Also, when it's hard to fall asleep without the TV, and you've burned through your cell phone minutes before the month is halfway over.

A wealth of happy things

Oh man. I feel that I am jinxing myself with all the happiness that I am so suffused with. So many beautiful, wonderful things have happened to me in the last two days that I simply do not know how to describe them.

Yesterday, Valentine's Day, I received two amazing surprises - Twelve gorgeous multicolor roses from the fantastic ladies of 4QA and twelve beautiful two tone roses from my Tom - both of which were utterly unexpected and surprising, which made them all that much more sweet. They are bloming now and add such amazing color and brightness to my apartment. To wit:



The girls also sent me delicious box of chocolates. Yum.

And then, today, I went to Goodwill and bought the coolest cabinet-cupboard-whatever the heck it is ever. For $9.99!!! AMAZE!


And THEN...I came home and got an email that told me I got into Notre Dame. um...I don't even really have the words to express how happy this made me. So, at Jody's infinitely wise suggestion, i made my way to Metro Market and proceeded to buy myself a chocolate mousse cake and a mini-bottle of Korbel.



If you can't celebrate with the people you love, celebrate by yourself. I haven't been this happy in a long time.

Independent Woman, Part 1

So the reason I have been so completely MIA is that I had no cable (read: no TV, which is also no news, and also no TV shows to keep Bernie company) and no Internet (read: no access to email, blogs, anything...ack). But now that I'm connected again, news from the Milwaukee branch of 4QA, Tourneynbomb, Nguyens, and Disney Divas will once again commence. Saga=long, crazy, slightly dazed.

Left for Milwaukee on Saturday. Drove through white out conditions, 6 feet visibility, around Benton Harbor. Took an hour to get 20 miles. Sucked. Tom drove behind me. So it was okay. And we got here eventually.

Arrived in Milwaukee in the late afternoon. Unpacked everything. Carried a mattress out of my car. Took forever and it was really cold. Grocery shopped at a posh little urban grovery store called Metro Mart. Watched Groundhog Day on my computer because like the genius I am I forgot the connector cable for my DVD and television.

Next day, went shopping at Racine's (about 20 miles outside of Milwaukee) version of Meijer...Woodman's. Isn't that just too much?! Woodman's. Tom went home. I didn't watch the Superbowl because I didn't have any TV. Instead I watched Kinsey, which I purchased at Woodman's for 5 bucks, amd part of I Heart Huckabees, purchased for the same deal.

Next day, Monday. I started work, began training, did stuff. Came home after making a forty minute trek to Target and getting turned around on the freeways. Went to sleep watching episodes of Buffy season 7.

Next day Tuesday. I went to the only DMV open after 5, about forty minutes away, and finally something worked out. I got new plates and registered for a new license.

Today. Wednesday. Went to work. Drove home to wait for the cable guy, who was sick and had to wait for the company to connect me. He got put on hold! Seriously. After he left I went to the Police Department to get my parking permit and had a heart-stopping 15 minutes in which I thought I lost my keys. After I found them, in the single pocket of my bag in which I never put anything (of course it was there) I drove to Walgreen's to buy a screwdriver to put my plates in. Because I didn't have a screwdriver. But I bought one of those cute hammer-in-one things. And i finally screwe in my plates, and now I'm home.

Ah, the life of an ever-transient in-between-city independent woman.

At least my apartment is clean, cute, and nice to come home too.

A resolution

...being, that I will use this blog more frequently to keep updates on my life (moving to Milwaukee, etc., etc.) freely available. Today's episode: adventures of apartment hunting.

I am so pleasantly surprised by the ease of finding an affordable, non-12-month-lease-able apartment in Milwaukee. After making the drive in 3.3 (!) hours, the parents and I saw three different apartments and finally decided on the first one we saw without bothering to continue our search. The building my new apartment in is a charming, brick construction, 8 floors, with a sun-deck — perfect, according to Ramon, the building manager, for summer sandwich eating and firework watching. Ramon, an small character of a man who works as the manager in exchange for free rent, cable, and no doubt a small salary, spent his afternoon running up and down to get the keys he'd neglected to bring along (since we wished to see more than the one apartment he had been planning on).
The apartment itself is a small affair, lovingly called an efficiency, which term more aptly describes what needs to be done with one's furniture and knicky-knacky type things. It's very small, which in itself is more virtue than fault because it will keep me from accumulating...stuff...with a magnificently large closet to house all my clothes and shoes. After I finish shopping for career clothes, I have decided not to buy any more clothes unless absolutely necessary. I have a ridiculous amount, and I am growing slightly ashamed of the size of my shoe collection.
The only hitch in the apartment itself is the kitchen, which is literally smaller than the closet. However, as I am only one person, and not an excessively large one at that, I think this will be ok and will force me to keep the kitchen clean (because if I don't, dishes will undoubtedly spill out into my normal living space).
It is on the seventh floor, which provides a slight view, and is accessibly by the most absolutely charming elevator, which has double doors. The outer set is opened and closed by hand (very old fashioned, wherein lies its charm) and you see an intriguing little window at each floor you stop at.

This has been a long post, but hopefully one that provides sufficient introduction to my life in Milwaukee. More to come. And pictures.

A new leaf

A new year, a new life stage (ew, that sounds remarkably scary) and a new blog. Hopefully this new layout and attitude will refresh my musings in the same way I hope to get refreshed in life. College has been wonderful, but maybe it's time for bigger (and better?) things.

Peppermint mochas = death.
But a tasty death.

All that stands between me and being graduated is a take home final due Thursday. I'm keeping the faith alive. Diet Coke helps, as do apples, which I have learned can re-energize you more efficiently than a cup of coffee. And without the stains or the unfortunate tendency to spill (!) all over my clothes.

So I really have nothing to talk about, or any ideas about what I should talk about. However, I do have a new duck named Bartie, pronounced Bar-thee, much as someone named Bartholomew might nickname himself. I named him in honor of Arti, my roommate who introduced him to me. He seems to be getting off on the right foot with the rest of the gang, meaning Pudge detests him and Wade has already found a way to exploit him for labor. The wonders of the duck world never cease to amaze.

Seriously?

It's time to start working. I just spent a fabulous, wonderful, incredibly lazy weekend doing nothing but sleeping, eating, and watching various sports that were on television. How fab - and how bad for my gargantuan pile of homework. From now on, I'm buckling down.

Tomorrow night Tom and I are celebrating our 18-month anniversary (almost a month late, since I had LSAT when it actually happened) and going to the Tuesday Night Wine-tasting at Vinology, this new restaurant on Main Street. It should be very fun and I am looking forward to it.

This morning the window on my car broke. It refused to go up. What's up with that, and what's up with the $360 it's going to cost me to get it fixed? PLUS i missed class. How much does that suck.

But my new thermos makes me happy. It's silver and carries hot drinks and keeps them hot for a really long time. Very impressive.

LSAT = done

Get it? Got it? Good.

Now I am eating pizza and drinking champagne and letting my brain be a blob.

At least until tomorrow.

Woot.

Variety is the spice of life

Indeed. I am mixing it up this weekend and have hightailed it back to Kalamazoo/Port-age for some home time and my sister's confirmation. Food is good, doggies are good, everything is good. Yum.

Lucky got a haircut and he looks F-U-N-N-Y. He looks like a sausage dog. It's weird. But he is still really cute and smells good. Tom and I snuggle with him every chance we get, but he doesn't really seem to be fond of it. Maybe he doesn't like being squished? Dogs are weird.

Honeycomb's leg is still on the mend, but hopefully he's doing better. Right now I have been inforomed that there are 4 - count 'em, 4!) frogs in the pond out front. One on the top part and three on the bottom part. This morning Tom and I went and threw twigs at them and they jumped in the pond. Ridic!

To the tune of my darling Clementine!!

Crazy peeps! Crazy weekend! Crazy wonderful people who I love!

I am sick

I am sick and it is sucks and I have a cough and a cold and a runny nose and was feverish yesterday but not anymore and I hate it.

I have also given up on constructing proper grammatical sentences.

Being sick will do that to you.

El Apartment

Our new apartment is awesome. Seriously. Like, awesome. Jody, Arti, Ruth, Irene, I love you! We must do that champagne toast soon. In other news, class starts soon, LSAT class has already started, and Ann Arbor weather is disturbed. I can't tell if the sky thinks it's November, or if it's a weird weather effect of global warming. Hopefully it's not the latter, although I would be surprised.

Thus far, all goes well in the world of Bernie back in AA. I've discovered something that really sucks - parking in Ann Arbor. Hot damn, parking is a pain. I drive up and down twelve blocks and can't find a single space, so I end up parking in a structure overnight and paying out the nose for it. Never again, I tell you! Never again.

The ducks are getting used to their new environment. Being incredibly forgetful and absentminded, I definitely forgot to bring a pillow with me from home, so I'm sleeping on a sweater-weave throw pillow with a duck on it that leaves grid marks on my face when I wake up in the morning.

Last night, I ventured out in heels. I am SO not used to heels anymore - this entire summer I wore nothing but flat shoes. I need to get used to them again so I can wear my many pairs of sexy stilettos instead of leaving them to rot in the closet, looking beautiful, of course, but going painfully unworn.

If you're back in Ann Arbor and haven't seen me and are reading this, call! We shall most definitely need to get together. Preferably over a slice of pizza and a glass of beer. Or maybe a glass of champagne...since I'm 21! 21 21 21 21 yes awesome hooray!

Jerzayyyyyy

Jerzay...has been pretty awesome so far, gotta say. I am absolutely loving the return to civilization, including Asian food (so much Asian food!), being around the people I love and my doggy (in the singular sense, since Honeycomb is back in the hospital for the second time this summer), and, of course, the mall! I have been probably the most hare-brained person on the planet these last few days, though - I accidently left my wallet in Michigan and therefore am without my credit card, ID, and driver's license! Oh, the horror. At least I have supportive friends and family who allow me to bum off them while I am without proof of my social existence.

Ok, now I have to go. I'm going to New York! To see Hairspray! Broadway, here I come!

The last few days

So the wind-down has begun - more appropriately, I think I should say that the real wind-down has begun. Today is Tuesday, and I leave Mackinac on Friday. And it will be quite bittersweet.

I won't miss being away from my family, or the horse poop, or the sheer effort it takes just to get to Pizza Hut. But I will miss how beautiful it is here all the time.

And of course, I will miss the surprisingly fruitful shoe selection.

My new shoes

Ta-da!

I know, I know, but look at how cute!

Graped Out

I bought grapes at Wal-mart last week. That means I have to eat them all, which means I am all graped out. In fact, I think I might have turned into a grape. Allow me to check.

No, I am still a person.

In addition to this, I've realized that I have a problem that involves over-shooting when I use my camera. When I cover events I often take upwards of 40 pictures. This problem is, in fact, hereditary, as my father must take seven shots of the same family photo and keep all of them despite the fact that the only difference is who's blinking.

In another interesting turn of events, Honeycomb, doggie extraordinaire, was hospitalized for several days over the weekend due to a torn ligament in his back leg. This makes me very sad and even more sad that I'm not there to cuddle and pet and treat him back to health. But I did get to see Lucky this weekend, which made me very happy, as his sweet, slightly dumb face was just as cute as ever.

Also, I'm quickly eating my way through a bag of Baked Cheetos. This is alarming.

Things I have learned in the past six days

A list:

-Chop suey is not confined to China, or even Asia. It is also made by little Polish grandmothers and served with egg noodles, though suspiciously resembling beef stew.
-Tons of people won't recognize that you got your hair cut. But when (and if) they do, they will be surprised and (hopefully) complimentary.
-A cucumber, sliced and dipped in honey mustard dressing, is delicious. And when you forget and leave the cucumber in the fridge when it was supposed to be your afternoon snack, you'll be very sad. But only until you remember that you have a cinnamon raisin bagel.
-Gas is expensive. But the whole country knows this.

This list is woefully short. Apparently, I have not learned much in the past six days.

A wonderful weekend, welcome water, and weather that's totally wack

So this weekend, my Tom came to visit me, and then his parents came to visit me, and it was wonderful. Poor, pragmatic, prosaic Tom, whose greatest literary pleasure is reading historical non-fiction, got dragged to two poetry events, one a reading, that filled his ear with the exact kind of metaphoric, similistic, and generally fantastic phrases he usually tries to avoid. (Is similistic a word? It is now.) But he was a great sport and provided excellent company. Plus he gave me lots of hugs.

One of the best things about his visit, though, is the gigantic 24-pack of aquafina he brought me that is sitting in the back room of the ofice, waiting patiently to hydrate me and make me oh so happy. And the water is very much welcome, and very much needed, because...

The weather is totally wack. It is hot, and not like a potato. This is more like chile pepper, Sonora Desert, Kokopelli hot, the likes of which I haven't seen since my desert days. Plus it's humid, so that makes things a little worse. Plus, it keeps threatening to rain but WON'T! What the heck is that? Rain already, and give us all a break from this stifling humidity.

On another, more random note, I have recently invested in the Mackinac Island Book Store, having purchased several tomes of edifying literature, among which are both Shopaholic Takes Manhatten and Shopaholic Ties the Knot. BUT! I DID buy To Kill A Mockingbird, so you can't laugh at me.

Much love, many hugs, mucho kisses,

Bernie.

Socks, and other contemplative thoughts

I have a philosophy of socks. Well, one that I just thought of. Socks are like relationships. They are soft and snuggly and cushion your feet and make it a lot easier to bear your burdens, especially the ones with the special weave that are supposed to help your arch or whatever. Sometimes you lose a sock in the dryer, and that's sort of how some relationships are, like elementary school friends. Sometimes socks get holes in them, and then you have to mend them or just take them off. Putting on holey socks over and over again is just bad for your feet.

Wow I am SO philosophical this morning. Really, this just stems from me thinking about the socks I am wearing and how the socks I wore on Friday developed a hole in the toe which really annoyed me.

Many hugs to everyone I haven't seen in a while. I miss you! I hope the summer is going well for everyone. May your socks always be warm, whole, and dry.

The Big Melt

It's hot. We are experiencing the Big Melt.

Not really. It's just going to storm soon, and so the air is humid, heavy, and feels like a damp hug from a wool sweater. Gross.

The other day, while putting my contacts in, I dropped one and searched for it for probably close to ten minutes before finding it stuck to my foot. And since it was my last pair of contacts, it's probably not a good thing. So I ordered new contacts. Hooray mail! Poo $$$.

I have a scab on my hand now. Scabs are nature's bandaids. I like bandaids. I have some at home that have Garfield on them.


More frivolity later.

Wow...long time no blog

Yes, indeed, long time no blog. I have interesting news to report - my camera is on the fritz. Yes, indeed, my camera! Pretty much my lifeblood! Unlike some people I know, who don't use their cameras very often, mine is almost always in my bag, ready to snap a picture - or nine.

The LSAT is also coming up - a scary and unthrilling prospect looming large on my horizon. Ew. Gross. Because my favorite thing in the world to do is bubble in little circles with a number two pencil that doesn't erase well early in the morning on a Saturday. Fabuloso!

On another note, Sideways = best movie ever. I seriously, honestly, absolutely love that film. Could it get any more fantastic? No, I really don't think so. Also, Twizzlers are the bomb, peaches are delicious, and Bernie is getting to the point where she actually is too busy to blog. So au revior, until next time. Hopefully, it'll be soon.

Ow

I became unbalanced while on my bike because of a stupid guy who was going really fast around a croner and almost hit me and knocked me off balance and i fell and skinned my hand. It hurts! I want my mom. And also a Tom.
And I put alcohol on it and it really stings!

This sucks.

Miss Clavel, orange gum, and the occasional grapefruit

Hi everyone!

I got an awesome doll from the Fourth of July kids table. Behold!



She is Miss Clavel from Madeline. Remember her? I loved her. I always wanted to live in an old house in Paris that was covered with vines, and be one of those twelve little girl in two straight lines, and she would rush up and down stairs putting on her wimple while I was having an attack of appendicitis.

Also, orange gum is amazing.



I know the Orbit commercials are kind of annoying and don't make any sense, but the gum is really delicious. And it manages to leave a good taste in your mough instead of the weird gross one you get from Juicyfruit or other such falsified fruit flavored chewing gums.

And I'm a big fan of the occasional grapefruit.



And in case you're suspicious, yes, that is indeed a grapefruit, not an orange. Trust me on this.

My Tom is coming to visit me!

My Tom is coming to visit me! Isn't that the AWESOMEST? Yeah, I know.

While indulging my slightly-childish-but-eminently-lovable penchant for soft snuggly things that are good for cuddling, Tom has bestowed upon me his favorite childhood stuffed animal.



Nicefur is a puppet dog whose nice fur has been mostly loved off. His eyes are chipped from numerous throwing matches and his ears are tattered from the tug-of-war tournaments held in Tom's youth. He has a vicious looking scar running up his back from where he was sewn up after a valiant battle wound, and a hole behind his ear that yields the soft pressure of his cotton filled head when pressed. He doesn't have a mouth, so he is silent.

Best of all, he's loved. And now, he's mine (well, sort of. I share him.)

Yeah, I know.

Back, and not really loving it

So I'm back from my wonderfully spontaneous Alpena weekend, and just to say, being away from a place where you have a comfy bed, plenty of food, and a readily available Tom isn't all that fun. Anyway.

I'm studying for LSAT as much as I can now, especially considering the fact that one of the most important things for me when it comes to law school is being able to go wherever I want. Ergo, high LSAT score. Which also sucks because it means I have to study a lot, but no pain, no gain, right?

Yesterday, I received a text message from the surprisingly technically cell-phone savvy Tater. Unfortunately, as I am neither technically savvy nor text-message experienced, I will have to resort to sending her a shoutout here on my blog.

SHOUTOUT TO TATER!!

An unexpected off-island jaunt

Wooooooooooooot!!!

I am being spontaneous and implusive and taking a quick off-island trip to see my Tom for the weekend, which means I will be away from my computer and cell phone for a few days. Say it with me now, people: Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

To keep you occupied, at the request of my darling Amanda, here are some pictures.

This is Pudge, me and Tom in front of Fort Mackinac, and the cool fudge birthday cake Leslie got for me!

At last, an update

Sorry for the weeklong delay, although I'm not even sure if anyone reads this. oh well. It's good for me, at least, to get my thoughts out of my head where they seem to be rattling around on super-high speed.
Hmmm. I'm hungry. After I write this post I'm definitely going to eat something.
I have a bueaitful unch of flowers on my desk and they are so pretty, and made even prettier by the fact that I arranged them! Yes, I did indeed. They are pretty and pink and they make me happy.
Hopefully today I shall get a letter in the mail from a Tom. I think I will also send one today. Won't that be so exciting!? Also, i bought these really awesome markers at Wal-Mart the last time I was there and they are so cool. I'm afraid that they'll run out soon because I've been using them so often.
I still have a few stories to work on for this week. If I can get everything done today all that will be left for tomorrow is the Weather Channel and I can finish it and then relax because another stressful deadline is over.
Phew.

Posts, sporadically

Unfortunately, blogger has updated its browser requirements, meaning my shady computer at the office which is still running Mac OS 9.2 is unable to deal with the cookie system. Therefore, I can only post on my blog when I have the energy to haul my laptop down to the office, which is going to become more often since I plan on signing up for an online LSAT course. Woohoo. fun fun fun.
The LSAT is pretty much taking over the part of my life tha'ts not already taken over by work. I want to get a really good score, really good, and the only way I'm going to do that is if I study because this test is a bitch. A bitch! And I need (and want) a very very very good score. Like, breaking 170. So I'm going to study. I've already blown a vast amount of money on LSAT books, and I hate spending money on things I don't like very much. I think it''s poopy. Which, come to think of it, it certainly is.
I miss everyone. On Sunday i went to Alpena and got off of this rock for 18 hours, which was fun and fabulous because it was for his mom's surprise birthday party and I had a really good time. I ate lots of food.
Also I went to Walmart, that mecca of consumerism and a veritable nirvana for those convenience-shopping deprived loonies living on the Island. I bought lots of stuff and lots of food, including containers that are compartmentalized which I was SUPER excited about but then my yogurt leaked into my sandwich. Lovely. So now I'm mad at the containers.
Nothing else to report except that it's Lilac Festival here, meaning busy busy busy. I am busy busy busy. Send me love! Send me emails! Send me anything and I shall send you fudge.
Love, an Island-bound Bernie.

Ohhh I have such a headache

As you can tell from the title of this post, I've got a headache. And it's not pretty, either.

Also, I have just found out that one of my friends who lives in AZ has gotten engaged. ENGAGED, people. This is weird. People all around me are getting married and to be honest, it's kind of freaking me out. I mean, I am not freaked out about the potential or certainty that I may indeed one day be married. The freak-out factor stems from, I'm sure, the fact that these people are in the same life bracket as me and I am still studying for exams, worrying about papers, applyign for internships and law school and in this funky transitional period of my life that doesn't really jive with the whole settling down thing.

Perhaps I am simply fickle. My roommate and I are going to get icecream and it will be SO delicious. What flavor shall I get? I simply do not know.

Things are looking a little better lately. I have noticed a trend - I always get down in the dumps in the beginning of the week. It usually dissapates by Thursday morning. Coincidence? I think not.

The first month is ova!!!

Don't get me wrong. I'm having a great time here on the Mack. I am also not having a great time being homesick, Tomsick, and Chinesefoodsick. So I think things balance themselves out. I look upon this summer as a challenge. If I can make it through this and still have a good time, I can make it through anything.

The other day Leslie and I were singing Rent and there's a line that goes "New York City/The center of the universe/times are shitty/but I'm pretty sure they can't get worse/It's a comfort to know/when they're singing the hit the road blues/that anywhere else you could possible go after New York would be/A pleasure cruise." We think that it applies very well to Mackinac Island.
Nothing else is really happening in the life of the Bern.
What should I eat for lunch?

OOOH I remember what's new. In two weeks Tom is going to come and visit me again! How exciting is that!? I can't wait. I miss that kid so much.

Everyone else should come and visit me too. Ahem.

I...

bought shoes.

Me and my problems

...which are really little, but big in the tiny magnified world of Mackinac Island.

1. It's raining today and I wore flipflop sandals.
2. It's raining today and my umbrella has weird metal thingies sticking out of it.
3. It's raining today and I miss my Tom very much.
4. It's raining today.

Hopefully, my mood will be boosted by one of several things:

1. Getting a package in the mail.
2. Getting a letter in the mail.
3. Winning the lottery (not going to happen).
4. Indulging in some retail therapy...i.e., buying another pair of shoes. Because I'm wearing flipflops and it's raining and I need shoes.

Otherwise everything is peachy keen. I have decided that I am going to be sulky today. But only a little. This much --> .

There are also menacing little elementary schoolers tooling around on bikes. DANGEROUS. That's all I have to say.

A bracelet, a bicycle, and a Blue Monday

You know, I love having people visit me. The anticipation, the waiting, the planning - it's so much fun. And then when they actually arrive - good NIGHT! I can't get enough. Snuggling with my boyfriend, who I see far too little of, and hugging my family and my doggies, who are also much too seldom seen, makes me happier than pretty much anything else in the world.
Except.
Except that when they leave, everythign seems twice as sucky as it did before they came.
Hence, a Blue Monday. Loneliness is amplified when you've got something fabulous and wonderful compared to. I think this is why Hell must be so awful. If you went to Hell and that was all you knew you would lament your life but it would never be the actual psychological torment you undergo knowing and remembering all the wonderful things that came before.

Ok, enough of this depressed crap. Isolation is turning me into a regular Freud. Or Jung. Or something.

For my birthday, my handsome and wonderful boyfriend brought me a very pretty pink bracelet. It is sparkly and sterling silver and everything a girl could want. I especially like the messenger. :)

Also, my parents brought my bike, and having a bike is great! I like whizzing down the street. Also, I registered it at the police station and now it has a shiny new sticker on it that says to potential bike stealers "Hey! Back off!"

Also, today is a holiday and everyone in America is not working except for me. Ok, maybe that is a teensy exaggeration, but not by much. Seriously.

I miss Chinese food. Also I miss Pizza Hut and Meijer. And everyone that's not here with me, which is everyone.

Oh, ya.

Since I've been here in Mackinac, I've heard more yooper accents than I would if I watched Fargo nine times. I think it's really - that lilt in the voice at the end, that turns any statement into a pseudo-question, and of course, that "oh, ya?" That gets me every time.

I've also discovered a slight addiction to buying postcards. I think I've spend close to 5 dollars on postcards. Which is a lot, considering that each of them are like 20 - 25 cents, and that's not even including postage.

I am super de dooper excited for my birthday, which is tomorrow. Hooray! I'm turning the big 2-1! I will finally be completely and utterly legal to purchase anything in any store! Hahahaha I am wicked awesome and no one can touch me. I am particularly looking forward to buying wine for cooking, rum for baking, and champagne to continue that alliterative Tom-and-Bernie brainchild, champagne and Chinese food. Mmmmmmm Chinese food, something that I haven't eaten in over a month. It's really sad how much I miss things like that.

Yesterday I ate so many Sour Patch Kids my tongue shriveled up. I don't recommend it. I also ate Mentos - the freshmaker! Tom says I am a marketer's dream because I can remember all the commercials. I think he is right, except I don't usually buy all the products, like Viagra and Goodyear and stuff like that. So am I a marketer's dream or just a teasing example of what they wish their actual demographic could be like?

Whatever. These musings are the end product of me having nothing to do in the office on a Thursday when Leslie, the other intern and my partner in crime, is over on St. Ignace and I can't reach any of my contacts for stories. And also my birthday is tomorow, so I am a little bit distracted. Perhaps this is a tiny bit understandable?

Things that are cool, and the best grilled cheese sandwich ever

Things that are cool:
-Faxes (we just got a new fax machine in the office and it's awesome)
-Good weather (not today, interestingly enough)
-listening to my iPod and writing blogposts during slow periods at the office (hey, I can't help it if the new owner of the Irish Pub isn't in today)
-Sour Patch Kids (they make me pucker but I love them.)

And...the best grilled cheese sandwich ever. Sorry, I ate it before I could take a picture, but if you're interested, you can get it at the Astor Street Cafe on Mackinac Island for $4.77, with chips and a pickle. I have eaten two of them in the last four days. Mmmmmmm. I think they must use extra fatty butter or something because it just tastes so good.

Booo I have to work and I have a deadline on Wednesday. But tonight the series finale of Alias is on, and even though I don't really watch that show and I never really udnerstand what's going on, it can't hurt to gain a little more pop-culture knowledge while simultaneously burning brain cells and drinking hot cocoa.
Question: hot cocoa or hot chocolate? What's the difference? Is one snottier than the other? Am I becoming the type of person who says "double entend" instead of "double entendrUH"?

Also, since I am slowly disintegrating due to my utter isolation from general civilization, I've decided that I should take advantage of my empty hours and get in shape. So let's see how long this plan lasts. Although with all the walking I have been losing weight, and my calves are getting suspiciously firmer. So much for sloth.

This excessively long post is a symptom of what happens when you put Bernie into an office for nine hours on a Monday with nothing even remotely close to delivery within a ten mile radius.

Money = no money

As evident from the title, this is a philosophical post.

I think that money = no money.

Actually, this only comes from the fact that whenever I have money, I get this simultaneous urge to spend it. Usually on shoes. Sometimes on t-shirts and excessive internet shopping. Hey, when you live on an Island, sometimes you just gotta do it. But in the short span of time I've been here I've spent about a zillion dollars at Wal-Mart, done a little online boutique browsing, and...AND...bought two pairs of shoes.

Will someone please explain to me how in the 2.5 weeks I've been here I've managed to buy two pairs of shoes? From the same store, no less?

They're cute though. Really cute. And also really necessary, considering the zillion billion miles I walk every day. Because they're flat, comfortable, appropriate for work shoes. And as long as I keep telling myself that, I will continue to prove that, indeed, money = no money.

Hi Arti!

Yes, by request, I am now naming my posts after friends who feel unloved after I dedicated a post to Ruth (see below.)

Well. Mackinac Island. What can I say?

This weekend I watched an insane amount of intense TV. Grey's Anatomy season finale (oh I cried so much) and Desperate Housewives. It's fun living with someone who appreciates the joy of titillating television as much as you do.

On Sunday, I went to Wal-Mart in Cheboygan. This was seriously one of the best things to happen to me in a long time. I realize that saying that makes me utterly sad and pathetic, but at least I'm honest. We ate lunch at Pizza Hut and OH MY GOD IT WAS SO GOOD IT BROUGHT TEARS TO MY EYES. I miss pizza. I miss delivery. I miss shopping in a store where peanut butter doesn't cost $5. Wal-mart was awesome. I bought socks, salad, celery, crackers, oreos, candy, yogurt, chocolate, lotion, shampoo, and I won't bore you with the rest. BUT I DID BUY MEAN GIRLS! The DVD! And it is awesome.

In other news, the weather here has been crazy, but today it is beautiful. Also I am dressed all in black because our washing machine doesn't work and I have few choices. According to a certain someone, I surely look like a black mamba.

Today walking to work was a hoot. There were disgusting fat worms all over the place.

I miss everyone! Send me emails! Send me blogposts! Do anything to help me stay occupied before I go nuts!

Love, Bernie.

HI RUTH!

Hi Ruth. How you doin'?

Hooray! I am finally done with finals. Boo...I am going home and straight to my internship, which, though I am very much looking forward to it, does start at a rather cramped pace. Such is life.
And now, a list.

Things I will miss about this year:
-my beautiful, wonderful, amazingly funny roommates.
-cooking for myself.
-being 15 minutes away from a Tom.
-having friends all around me
-Tom's HBO

Things I will NOT miss about this year:
-paying rent
-the internet at my apartment shorting out
-cooking for myself (when it involves only ramen noodles and water)
-walking everywhere in the freezing, raining, freezing freeze rain
-class. duh.

Things I have learned this year:
-Arti sleeps on her tummy
-Irene sleeps all the time (actually, I knew that)
-Ruth never sleeps (I knew that too)
-various stuff from my classes...probably retained about 30%. Not bad.
-how to make chicken noodle soup

I forget the rest.

Leaving tomorrow. Must pack. Many ducks. Gas pricey.

Ah...I don't want to go home! I don't want to be old! I don't want to have responsibility!

Stress and desire, or How I learned to live on 2 hours of sleep

Stress: Paper paper paper paper paper paper paper paper project exam exam exam paper paper exam.
Desire: Beautiful weather, awesome friends, handsome boyfriend (both of which are also studying)

Courtesy of N.
"Sleep is one of those paradoxical things. You want it the most when you can't have it."

Fully agreed on all sides.

Quick recap:
-Tater's visit = awesome
-Easter weekend = awesome-homesickness = aweshomesickness?
-Papers = making Bernie feel like a failure, part ten

On an embarassing note, today I somehow absentmindedly stumbled into a classroom full of people ten minutes before my own class was about to start. It seems that this has to happen every year, like a rite of passage or something. Some people do this as freshmen - Bernie does this on an annual (and sometimes biannual) basis.

Lovely.

Holding my breath for the plunge - if I survive, I'll be back later.

The bug is back

So, funny story...

Here I am, sitting at my computer, listening to various music, dancing and doing laundry in intermittent intervals, and - ooh! - i feel it!

The writing bug is back.

I have a lovely one line. I wonder if it will spawn a paragraph, a page, even - dare I say it? - a whole story.

"And so, Amy, the leaves are gone now, and so are the tourists. And so are you. I wonder when you'll be back?"

So do I, as-yet-non-existent Michael. So do I.

The bug is back, baby. The bug is back.

An update of the bloggingest kind

So, what's going on in my life right now?

School + Daily + Social Life = CRAZZZZZZY!

Like super crazy.

On a bright note, this summer I am living on Mackinac Island and writing for the Mackinac Town Crier, the weekly newspaper up there. it is going to be a hoot!! I am so excited and I really hope I get lots of visits from lots of people, all of whom I miss dearly and would love to see.

I have lots of papers and lots of tests and lots of assignments. This weekend is also Daily elections, that grueling all night ordeal that makes everyone wonder why they're sitting in a stuffy room with 60 other people, all of whom are also thinking the same thing. I am baking a cake.

Sofa is coming to visit this weekend, however! And Tater is too, and it is also MJ's birthday! Oh how exciting.

Haha I love taking stupid online quizzes

What Makes You.. by SheBangs12
Your name?
Your gender?	MaleFemaleOther
What makes you sexy?	Your legs
What makes you pretty?	Your figure
What makes you loveable?	How dorky you are
What makes you fun?	Your positive attitude
What makes you irresistable?	Your laugh
What makes you cute?	How you laugh
Quiz created with MemeGen!

YES.

Sprint to the finish line

So...from now on, it's just a sprint to the finish line. Spring break is in my sights, I've got a few more hurdles to go over, and then it's home free!!! Well, not really, since I have two exams the week I come back, but still! At least I will experience a week of big, comfy beds, yummy yummy food, good company, and doggies!! I am planning on playing with my doggies a LOT. A LOT. I miss those guys.
Tom and I have also been hanging out a lot this week, which is wonderful...it makes me feel so happy hanging out with him. Gretch's visit was awesome, as well, but too short - and now she is in Argentina!! I hope you're doing well, Gretch.
Also, it's sunny outside. WEIRD but nice.
More later.

Update

HAHAHAHA BEST VALENTINE'S DAY EVER!!!

So for Valentine's day, I wasn't even expecting to see my Valentine. But then somehow there was a miraculous convergence of mystical forces (or just me trying to work things out) and we got to go to dinner together!!! And then...and then! I went home (well actually I made him drive me home) and there was a gigantic duck waiting for me with a box of chocolates!!! A GIGANTIC DUCK!!! He is so awesome. So awesome. His name is Scooter because he is so fat that he has to scoot around on his tummy. He eats a lot. Isn't that so cool? I love it.

Pictures to follow. Also, Gretch is here and visiting and I couldn't be happier!!

Blue days, begone!

Feeling down

I feel like this.

I am currently experiencing shades of rainy day blues (though it's not raining) with a chance for tears. I've just been feeling down today - it was supposed to be a good day. I just got done with a hellish week. I was looking forward to simply relaxing and turning into a vegetable with the help of my two good pals, sleep and television. But I've only managed to be quietly leak from the corners of my eyes and I have that terrible, tight feeling in my chest all the time - you know, the feeling you get when you're about to cry? Yeah. That feeling. It sucks.
Not even chocolate is making me feel better. I am not in a happy place right now. I want to be back in a happy place. This depressed stuff sucks ass.

AH so busy

OH my gosh it seems like this week all my teachers decided to dumpa load of crap ALL OVER ME. Actually it's not just me, it seems like everyone else has a zillion million billion things to do too. And it's HECK OF HECK OF HECKS cold outside, but I have these really fabulous, squishy warm blue boots that are SO SO NICE and snuggly. I can't wait for spring break, too, because it will be a welcome relaxation period. Also I miss my Tom. He is at school. I HAVE SO MUCH WORK TO DO so this post is ending right about now. Hehe, the funk soul rubber right about now (is that how it goes?)

Back to the blog

It's been a little while, but I've been busy. Really busy. Lots of things have been going on and I can tell that everyone around me feels it - Arti, Ruth, and Irene already have begun their cycle of going to the library late at night, and we talk about tests and homework as if it isn't only the second week of the semester. I've been so busy lately that I've sort of let a few things slide - time I usually keep for myself at night before I go to bed has disappeared, because I'm so tired I fall asleep as soon as I hit the sheets. The candles are keeping me sane, I'm telling you. They're nice and flickery and perfect for making the study atmosphere a little more serene and less hectic. I miss all my divas, too, and the fam. We went to state last weekend to visit MJ and that was a really good time; I got to hang out with some of my favorite people. Plus the long weekend was really nice because I got to spend some extra time with my Tom. I'm duckless, though- how sad.
Stay cool.

Toweled up

Right now, I feel nice and warm and toasty, all wrapped up in PJs and a towel for my wet hair. I miss my Tom. Christmas was wonderful this year, as always, and even more special because we had some seldom-seen Aussie relatives visiting us. I got Cinderella shoes for Christmas from Nganny-the-bungy! They are so awesome. I miss her - but she is a lucky stiff because Rutgers doesn't go back to school until the 17th! Booooooooo.
Lots of books to read - my classes for this semester seem like they'll be harder than ever. This means a lot of work. I also picked up another job and am on call twice as often at the Daily. This means Bernie = often absent.
Much love to all who I haven't seen in a while - I miss you all. Send me love! Send me letters! Send me both!
The ducks say hi.

so relaxed

I am so relaxed right now. I am wearing sweatpants and cuddled in my brand new gray fleece blanket that is SO SO soft. Thanks again, Ruth! I think I am going to be a vegetable today. That sounds like a good plan. Hooray, vegetable!

AUGH FINALS AUGH

Wow. Finals time! i have a lot of work to do and not really that much time to do it in. Every semester I always forget how absolutely terrible finals time is, and then it hits me with the full force of BlueBook-takehome-termpaper power combined. (And no, that doesn't produce Captain Planet, and, even more unfortunately, that doesn't produce Captain A+ either). Send hugs! Send love! Send support! I send all those things to you too.

Bernie's Christmas List

- Anything shoes

- Anything Victoria's Secret

- Anything sweet

- Anything Duckish

Not much

I am at work, which means I'm waiting for the page to come through so that I can actually DO some work. Missing my Tom, my DDs and anything else that would make my time here more fun. I miss everyone! These next few weeks are going to be hell. On a brighter note, i get to live with Jody next year! On another brighter note, I get to see my Tom tomorrow! hmmmm....
Tom
or
Row?

I shall pick Tom, tomorrow!!!!

Owowow

ow I just squished my finger and it hurts. Ow.

Not much else to report but it looks like I really get to go Vietnam after all this summer! Hooray!!! THat is awesome.

Endless food...

Equals endless bliss.

Not really, but sort of.

This week is going to be as hectic and stress-filled as all get out. I have so much work to do! I have TWO GIGANTIC papers due next week - one of which is a RESEARCH paper and I haven't started either...oy polloi. But I get to go to two Christmas parties this weekend - a formal one at Tom's school, and an awesome and fun one at home where I will play with the doggies all day. It will be a fun and wonderful treat.

And now I have to do homework.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is almost here. I have been overwhelmed by a sudden, irrepressible desire to do absolutely nothing with all of my time. All I want to do is relax and hang out and not read for classes that hey, I really do need to read for. Whatever.
Yes! I get to go to NJ. And check this out, I think Arti and I are on the same flight to Newark. That's pretty much fabulous. There are only two things that are going to suck about this Thanksgiving. 1) I don't get to see my doggies. 2) I don't get to see my Tom because he is going to a hunting camp in Alpena for Thanksgiving.

GUESS WHAT I HEARD OF THE CRAZIEST THING LAST NIGHT!

A Turducken!

It's a duck inside a chicken inside a turkey! Or a chicken inside a duck inside a turkey, or something like that. Isn't that crazy?! I saw it on MNF. It was nuts.

Ok, enough from me.

Check me out

After a Meijer run, this is what I have purchased:
-Waffle Crisp Cereal
-Peach Honey Bunches of Oats Cereal
-Wheatables, Seven Grain and Honey Wheat
-1 gallon Rocky Road ice cream
-Edy's whole fruit popsicles
-2 boxes of Fruit snacks
-2 blocks of cheese
-Mountain Dew
-a box of Bisquick mix
-Eggs
-Milk
-Brown sugar
-2 bags of Lays potato chips (they were buy one get one free!)
-Chocolate
-More chocolate
-gummies

I am going to be very very fat after eating all of this. Therefore I shall spread it out over many weeks and shall be less fat more gradually. Which means no one will hopefully be able to tell.

Reading List

In my spare time [what spare time?!]...

The Guns of August
Brothers Karamazov
Orlando
Ghost Stories by Edith Wharton
Make Wsy for Ducklings

Stress

I have a takehome midterm due tomorrow worth 40% of my grade. I have to squeeze information that scholars have written thousands of volumes on (judicial authority in the US) into 4 doublespaced pages.

Let's just write this thing.

Housebound

There are only a few things I want to say in this post.

First of all. Drugs = bad. Drugs = headache, tummyache, dizziness and irrational desire to do something fun.
Second of all. Socks are underrated.
Third of all. Ducks rock.

This. Is. Not. A. Fun. Night.

wow, way to overpunctuate.

Now I'm going on a food binge to console myself with calories.

If I had chocolate I would eat it. Since I do not I am going to make a grilled cheese sandwich.

I want to cut off my leg

I have an abscess (sp?) on my leg. It hurts like hell. I have to take many medicines many times a day. It sucks. I am also missing class which sucks because now I will be behind. I am going to sleep now.

OWWWWWWW I AM SICK LIKE A BIC!

Nothing much

WOW WOW WOW!

I am super duper busy!

I also miss my doggies a lot. I've tried petting dogs on the Diag but their owners usually get annoyed or I don't have time to stop.

On another note, fall is here! This means several wonderful things: colorful trees, hot drinks (yum yummy), blankets to snuggle in, and sweaters! I also now have an excuse to pull out my coats, which I adore. On another, less wonderful note, it also means exams. Blehhhhhhhhh.

Bernie = worried about grades. Why am I only getting checks in my creative writing class and not check pluses?! It's really frustrating. I'm working realyl hard and I'm not getting any check pluses! Augh!

Yesterday, Tom and I cooked a venison dinner and I tasted venison for the first time. It was yummy. We ate it with mushrooms, onions, and green beans. This weekend we watched a LOT of football, and I learned a ton of new things about sports. I am getting so sporty. It's pretty sweet. We also slept a lot this weekend. I like sleep. I think it is one of my great loves, especially during this kind of weather because your bed is so soft and warm and blanket-y and outside it's nippy and frosty.

Grocery list:
-Hot chocolate/chai
-Peanut butter
-AAA batteries
-another notebook
-Apples
-Butter (enough to make cookies)
-Pam cooking spray

I miss my Disney Divas. I really wish I had a teleport machine that would allow me to travel to any part of the world in an instant.

Busy busy

Busy busy is the name of the game. I'm trying to stay on my toes, what with homework, and Daily and my social/romantic life. There's little pockets of time in every day that I just sit and do nothing, too, which is bizarre because I could use that time to my advantage and instead I just...don't.
Things have fallen into a sort of groove. I wake up and I either study or relax and then I'm off to class, and then Daily, and then (if I'm lucky and it's the right day of the week) my favorite part of any day - my Tom! Apartment life is nice and convenient, with pieces of growing up built right into the foundation - cooking for myself, cleaning for myself, paying bills and washing dishes and doing laundry. I've found that I like it. There's a neat rhythm to it that keeps me calm if I can just manage to stay busy. It's only when I'm idle that thoughts come into my head about my future, about any problems I'm having, about weird stuff like what's happening in the world.
It seems, sadly enough, that I have to schedule time to think now.

I miss the butts

Lazy, yet satisfying.

Today I am being lazy and productive! Oh yes, beat that, other productive people who went to the library (read: Ruth). It is only 4 and I somehow feel like it's 6:30. This is a good arrangement, because now I have more time than I think I do! Oh joy!

This weekend was super duper awesome. I did nothing but laze around like a sleeping koala bear and I had a ton of fun doing it. Sometimes it's good to let your brain gelatinize. All that work it usually goes through tuckers it out.

I miss Tom. And Pudge the duck, who is at Tom's place so that he will be good company. But mostly I miss Tom. And it's only been...5 hours since I last saw him. Still. I always miss him the instant I don't see him any more.

Bernie has decided (that's me) to work hard. Really really hard. Therefore, I am going to BURN through my homework with all deliberate speed - Shakespeare! Critique! Stupidly dense and difficult to understand courts and judicial reading! Weird psych stuff that gives me a headache when I think about it too hard! YESSSSSSSSSS!

I have decided that logic does not go in circles. Instead it goes in curlicues. This is a good explanation for the fact that I can't always explain why I think what I think. It's complicated. See?

Look for my first column on Wednesday. I have decided that my column title will be "Take a quack at it" in honor of ducks everywhere. Again, my duck bathroom is pretty effin' sweet. Come take a look at it! It rocks. It is super cool. It fits the bill (hahahahahahahahahaha).

Should I do Honors English? Should I apply?

Oh Lordie. This is a dilemma.

Buckling down

Yes, I am, indeed, buckling down. I have lots of work to do and all of today to do it. And so, for the next 8 hours, I will be listening to music, snacking (but hopefully not too much as the pounds, I'm sure, are starting to pack on), and doing lots of homework while gossiping with my roomies. YAY I GOT DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES DVDS from the DAILY! Way to get free stuff.

Hmmm. I can make really good pasta dishes.

Tomorrow is my 6 month anniversary with my Tom. We are going out to dinner. I will be dressed up. OH IT IS SO EXSKITING.

Hmmm, let's see. What homework do I have today?

Reading for 317 and 330 (mucho mucho reading)
3 critiques for 223 and an assignment.
Reading for Shakespeare (who, in my notes, is affectionately known as Shake)
Some other shtuff.

Buckle down, Bernie, buckle down.

Cracking up

I fear that I am...cracking up. My brain doesn't seem to function at normal levels anymore. I have to read stuff twice and sometimes three times just to get it, and it's only the second week of school. Oy.

Let's see, new things in my life. I miss Tom a lot whenever I'm not with him, and both of us are busy busy bees so that isn't really helping matters much. The apartment is still in a strange state of transition - we really have to do something about it because there just isn't really a comfortable place to sit. The kitchen situation is working well, though. We've kind of all just assumed familiarity with each others' habits and so far it's going well, except all of us are so busy that we're just in and out and hardly see each other. Arti's in the B-school, which apparently sucks out life force, Ruth has Pizza House and class, Irene has research work and class, and I have Daily and class. We run around all day and come home and collapse at night into our tiny little beds and wake up the next day to the stupid alarms that never seem to shut up.

Other than that, life at school is great. The weather's nice, if a little warm for my taste, my classes are interesting, I've seen lots of people from last year and done some catching up, and I've started cooking for myself. I even have my own set of keys, which is exciting because it makes me feel like I really have a place to call my own - though I do share it with three other girls. But they are three fabulous girls.

My bathroom is all ducks. It's pretty cool.

Not much else to report on the front, except that I seem to have this perpetual headache humming underneath my eyes, just below the surface. The only time it goes away is when I'm with Tom, when I'm cooking something especially yummy, or when I'm hanging out with the girls, which doesn't happen enough since we're all just scurrying around like ants. I wonder how to make it go away.