boob tube

I'm back with more funness (or things to do at work... except I work at home while watching TV and drinking wine soooo...)!

The 30 Day TV Meme (what exactly is a meme anyway?):
Day 1: A show that should have never been cancelled
Easy. GILMORE GIRLS. I blame Amy Sherman-Palladino for the downfall of a fantastic show that ended entirely too soon.

Day 2: A show you wish more people were watching
Hmm... either Army Wives or Covert Affairs. I love both of these shows, but it seems like outside of a couple of friends and my family (at least as far as CA goes), not many other people watch them. Obviously there are people watching them... CA was renewed for a second season after like the 4th episode of the first season, but they're not people I know. So next summer when they both come back (fingers crossed on AW!), watch them!

Day 3: Your favorite new TV show (aired this season)
Well technically we're in between the end of the summer season and the beginning of the fall season, so I'll say Covert Affairs since that came out when I was on vacation, which by the way, it doesn't seem possible that that was almost 2 months ago, but it was.

Day 4: Your favorite show ever
NCIS. Hands. Down. This is another show that I just started watching a little over a year ago, but let me tell you, I've seen every episode at least twice, and most of them I've seen way more times than that, and if a show can keep my interest that strong in such a high concentrated amount. Let's face it, I get distracted easily, so the fact that NCIS has kept my attention so well is kind of a big deal.

Day 5: A show you hate
I realize I'm going to get flack for this, but I don't care. I really hate Grey's Anatomy. I think it went from a good hospital drama to a completely outrageous circus disguised as a hospital. Too many good actors have left the show for bullshit reasons, and it shows. Yes, having a season finale where numerous people randomly get shot gets a lot of attention, but if it was a good show, it would have gotten the same attention with something understated. No one gives a flying fig about the other episodes from the most recent season, and that's because they sucked.

Day 6: Favorite episode of your favorite TV show
This is mean! There isn't an episode I don't love. I guess if I had to pick one about the others, it would probably be Twisted Sister. I love how dedicated McGee is to his sister (and real-life step-sister... Don Bellasario keeps it in the family!) and of course, it's the big reveal of the book he's been working on in secret... probably because he "loosely" based all of the characters off of his co-workers. Whoops. Anyway, I like it because it's one of those turning-point episodes where we start to see that McGee isn't as green as he used to be.

Day 7: Least favorite episode of your favorite TV show
Another bad question! Probably Judgement Day Part 1&2. I know that Jenny was dying of something (rumors online speculated that it was muscular dystrophy) anyway, but I really hate how she was killed off of the show, and then they brought in Vance. I hate Vance a little less now than I did at the beginning of season 6, but I don't think it was fair what they did to Director Shepherd's character. She's actually an intelligent and competent woman in season 3 and most of season 4, but then in season 5 they turned into an obsessive maniac. Plus, I read online that Lauren Holly had no idea that she was being killed off of the show, and I think that's crappy. At least when Kate was killed off, Sasha Alexander wanted off of the show.

Day 8: A show everyone should watch
This may sound silly, but everyone needs to watch just one episode of 19 Kids and Counting. Even if you don't believe in the Duggar's policy regarding the number of their children, you can't deny that those kids are some of the most polite and well-behaved children out there. Go watch an old episode of Jon & Kate Plus 8 and follow it immediately with an episode of 19 Kids and you'll see what I mean.

Day 9: Best scene ever
The scene from Friends where Rachel finds out that she's pregnant. I love love LOVE that Phoebe tricks her into thinking that she's not pregnant so she'll have clarity on what her thoughts on having a baby would be!  The look on Rachel's face when Phoebe tells her the truth is priceless... my bet is that they did that in one take.

Day 10: A show you thought you wouldn't like but ended up loving
*shifty eyes*... NCIS. You can ask my sister, when she first started watching it in the early part of last summer, I absolutely hated it. I think I only watched bits and pieces of the show, but other than Law & Order: SVU, I had never found a one hour crime drama that I liked. Now I'm hooked.

Day 11: A show that disappointed you
White Collar. On paper, I thought I would really like it, but I got bored after the first couple of episodes. I watched a few episodes this summer because my parents watch it, and I liked them okay, but I still expected more from that show.

Day 12: An episode you've watched more than 5 times
According to iTunes, I've watched Caged (from NCIS, of course) five times. It's the episode where McGee is held hostage in a woman's prison... I'm not surprised that I've watched it that much! Any McGee-centric episode is high on my list!

Day 13: Favorite childhood show
The first show that I remember being in love with was Full House. I actually cried when the last episode aired. I usually cry when the last episode of a show airs. But that was the first. I remember I got really irritated with Michelle and how she basically got to do her own thing when she was so young, but I loved DJ. Donna Jo was the shit. And of course, now I find Uncle Jesse foxy.

Day 14: Favorite male character
If it wasn't for the whole surprise daughter thing, I would have said Luke from Gilmore Girls, but he handled that whole situation so poorly and it destroyed his relationship with Lorelai, so scratch that. Probably Gibbs. He's a very complex person, and yet I feel like every time the writers bring in another dimension of his character, it makes sense. It's like, "Oh, why didn't I see that all along." I'm a big fan of consistency on TV shows, and NCIS does a really good job with that, especially with Gibbs.

Day 15: Favorite female character
Annie Walker on Covert Affairs. Even though the first season just wrapped, I feel like we know a lot about her character already, and she's one strong woman!

Day 16: Your guilty pleasure show
Keeping Up With the Kardashians/Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami. No judging, you all have guilty shows too!

Day 17: Favorite mini series
I honestly can't think of an entire mini-series that I've watched.

Day 18: Favorite title sequence
NCIS! I love to dance to the music, and up until recently, they always update the clips. Even when Gibbs left at the end of season 3, when they had the credits for Mark Harmon on screen, the videos behind his name were of him on the beach in Mexico. Now that's dedication to consistency!

Day 19: Best TV show cast
I'm starting to feel like a broken record, but NCIS totally wins this one too. For one thing, the actors are all actually friends in real life. Pauley Perrette and Sean Murray are BIFFLES4LYFE, and when Lauren Holly first joined the cast, she rented a condo with Cote de Pablo (who also had just joined the show), Michael Weatherly, and Pauley Perrette. They were friggin' roomsicles! And even though Mark Harmon is always the one who get interviewed by the bigwigs, he makes a point to emphasize that NCIS is an ENSEMBLE show and that while his names comes first, without the other actors and behind-the-scenes crew, he would be nothing. Now that's love.

Day 20: Favorite kiss
Ross and Rachel in Central Perk. YOU KNOW THE ONE.

Totally just noticed that Rachel's wearing a ring on her left ring finger... what?

Day 21: Favorite ship
McAbby! I know it happened a long long time ago, but there's so much chemistry between them. Plus, they really get each other. Until Vance came around, the only person who really appreciated McGee's tech skills was Abby. And Abby gets jealous every time McGee dates someone new (who usually turns out to be a wack job, so good job for her having that kind of insight) which would be understandable right after they broke up sometime in season 2, but when she's still getting jealous 5 years later... SHE'S DRIFTING INTO RACHEL GREEN TERRITORY!

Day 22: Favorite series finale
I already covered how the ends of shows make me cry. So if I had to pick, I'd say Gilmore Girls. No, it wasn't perfect because Luke and Lorelai didn't get married, but Rory graduated and miraculously got a real-person job (with Obama!) so I feel like it ended in a good spot. Plus Richard actually tells Lorelai how proud he is of her for what she's done with her life and how she's raised Rory.

Day 23: Most annoying character
Meredith Grey. Look in the dictionary for "whiny self-absorbed bitch" and there's a picture of Meredith, I guarantee it.

Day 24: Best quote
From Army Wives: The mind plays tricks on us at times like this. It has to. We need it to. It's how we're able to power on and do what needs to be done. Even something as mundane as doing the dishes that are piling up in the sink, or going out, getting up and doing what needs to be done for your loved ones. The future doesn't stop. We all search for strength on that first day or two. I did. But whether what I found was true strength or some part of our DNA that makes us want to reach out and help, I don't know. Times like this we question our own strength, our ability to hang on and not crumble. It's one of the things I admire most about the army wives I've met. Must be a military thing- this capacity to press on despite the obstacles, to see a mission through to its completion. No matter what happens that makes us question the world we live in, life goes on, as cliché as that sounds. One generation passes the baton to the next generation and the cycle of life continues. Regeneration- life renewed. What is it that the poets keep trying to hammer into our heads? Winter becomes spring, night becomes day, as one wave crashes onto the shore and disappears, another one appears behind it, and another and another. I guess we humans just plain want to stick around. The ride must be worth the price of admission. And it's not in us to give up hope, even when any reason for hope has dwindled to almost nothing. This communal spirit, this crazy insistence that we all are connected in each other's caretaker, it keeps us from sinking into despair, or sliding into the abyss. What is it about the human touch- holding a loved one close and feeling their warmth, their heartbeat. I mean this is the Army and frequently our loved ones are far away. But their warmth doesn't have to be. At times it feels totally random. It's roll of the dice on who lives and who dies. At some point words fail us and we're left with silence. Silence and time. I read something once, to live in hears you leave behind, is not to die. I don't know what each of you is going to do today, but now is the time to tell those you love, that you love them. Like we loved Amanda and she lives in our hearts still, and will never be forgotten. Me, I think I'm going to pick up my kids up and take that ride down to the ocean like they wanted. The water's beautiful this time of the year. Besides, they know where the gold starfish are.

Just rereading that made me teary-eyed. Good stuff.

Day 25: A show you plan on watching, old or new
I really want to watch Rissoli and Isles, even though the summer season ended. But I want to see what Sasha Alexander is like in a major role that isn't Kate. And she plays a medical examiner!

Day 26: OMG WTF? Season finale
NCIS always ends their seasons with a bang. Let's review:
Season 1: Kate was taken hostage by Ari, and Ari attempts to shoot down Marine One.
Season 2: Kate gets sniped by Ari, after taking a bullet to save Gibbs when the team is trying to prevent Ari from launching a guided missile at a Navy ship returning home.
Season 3: Gibbs gets blown up on a merchant ship, suffers memory loss and thinks he's still fighting in Desert Storm, and ultimately retires to Mexico to live with Mike Franks.
Season 4: Tony's car gets blown up while NCIS is watching in MTAC and thinks he was in it when they find his badge, gun, and cell phone in with the charred remains. Director Shepherd finds evidence that her father, who allegedly killed himself years earlier, is in fact still alive.
Season 5: Director Shepherd, Tony, and Ziva attend the funeral of another NCIS agent in LA, while Jenny discovers that her cover may have been blown on an undercover op years earlier, and now that person is killing off people involved in that mission; first the agent whose funeral they went to, then Jenny, and eventually Gibbs (but the last never happens, thankfully). Vance becomes the new director of NCIS, and he splits up Team Gibbs, sending Tony to be an Agent Afloat, Ziva back to Israel, and McGee to the Cybercrime unit.
Season 6: Tony kills Ziva's boyfriend (and Mossad partner), and Ziva's apartment gets blown up. Ziva permanently moves back to Israel, until her father sends her on a mission that ultimately ends with her being held prisoner in Somalia.
Season 7: The members of the drug cartel that Gibbs killed the leader of years earlier (because he killed Gibbs' wife and young daughter) are now after Gibbs, and go around trying to kill the people Gibbs holds nearest and dearest. The show ends with the cartel woman going into Gibbs' father's shop and flipping the sign on the door to closed. Creepy.

Day 27: Best pilot episode
Covert Affairs! I was completely hooked on the first episode, so much that I watched it 3 times in less than 48 hours, and part of that time I was traveling.

Day 28: First TV show obsession
In more recent years, Gilmore Girls. I don't know if I was really obsessed with Full House because I was so little, but that may have been the actual first.

Day 29: Current TV show obsession
I'm not even answering this. If you can't figure that out by reading this survey, you're dumber than I thought.

Day 30: Saddest character death
When I watch the episodes after Kate's death on NCIS, I cry more than I do when Jenny died. Jenny's death was handled very differently. It was basically swept under the rug... and then her house was lit on fire. Kate's death was very public. We got to see each of the team's thoughts around her death, and how they all reacted. Like when Tony starts to pick on McGee (like usual) when McGee makes some stupid comment about how Kate probably doesn't look that bad from the front because of the type of bullet used to shoot her in the head, and then McGee asks Tony to stop because he just can't handle that kind of criticism that day, and Tony actually stops. It's one of the few times we get to see Tony respect McGee. And when "Kate" scolds Gibbs for being late to her funeral, even thought it's such a sad moment, it makes me smile a little bit because it's very ... Kate.

Okay, that's all! Snaps to you if you read it!

~ Christine

you can't remember what you don't know

Earlier this morning I was watching a video on YouTube set to An American Elegy by Frank Ticheli. The piece was written to commemorate the shootings at Columbine High School in 1999, but the creator of the video lives in Oklahoma City and decided to make a video in memory of the Oklahoma City bombing, the Columbine shooting, September 11, 2001, and the Challenger and Columbia shuttle disasters. The video was made in 2006, and I highly suspect that if it was made more recently, the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings would have been included too. One of the comments on the video said that they didn't know what the Columbine shootings were about, so they looked it up and read about it, and once they did, they were moved by the music and the video. This blew me away. For me, that day is permanently ingrained in my memory. I was in 6th grade, and Amber Petrosky was at my house because we were working on a school project together (it may have been the castle project) and later that afternoon when her dad came by to pick her up, he made some comment about shootings in Colorado. Obviously we had no idea what he was talking about, so we turned on the TV and there it was on the news that a gunman had entered Columbine High School and had gone on a shooting rampage in the school, and then killed himself. It hit me really hard. These were kids just a couple of years older than me who were killed by someone their own age - another kid! The idea that there are now people in the world who don't remember that day completely blows my mind. Believe me, I'm thrilled that people are taking the time to educate themselves about what they don't know.

As I was watching this video, it got me thinking about all of the things that have happened in my lifetime that have changed the world. The Challenger explosion happened a year before I was born, but thanks to volunteering at the Space exhibit at Cosi, it's affected me, especially after the Columbia explosion in 2003. We used to have an old fashioned TV set up with different clips of NASA missions, and the Challenger explosion was one of them. I watched it a few times, but after that, if I was in the "living room" area and it came on, I walked away. It was always creepy to me if I was there early in the morning and there weren't many guests around, because about every 20 minutes you would hear a thunderous booming noise coming from the living room, and you would know that the Challenger clip had just played.

When I was 2, the Berlin Wall fell. To be fair, I don't remember this happening, but according to my mom, I watched it happen on TV. This was way before we had cable, and I was such a pleasant child that I never  slept, so when my mom was up with me until all hours of the morning, trying to get me to go back to sleep, we were limited on TV choices. So I watched it happen.

The 1995 Oklahoma City bombings stand out slightly less in my mind, but I still remember when it happened. I didn't watch it on the news or anything, but we had those little educational magazines that we got in school, and one of them talked about what had happened. I do remember being very upset that children in the day care were killed. But I think that at the time, the adults in my life protected me from hearing too much about it.

September 11, 2001 is probably a day I will never forget. I was a freshman in high school, and to give you an idea of how much I remember, I still remember my class schedule for the day. First period was Geometry, second period was Religion/Theology with Mr. Danis (and his pink cell phone). My second period class was in the same room as my homeroom, and lucky for me, my locker was right outside the door (number 172! I bet those numbers have changed by now). Third period was French, in room 107. So I got my books for my third, fourth, and fifth period classes, and as I was walking down the hall to French, some upperclassmen were running down the hall shouting that America was under attack. I didn't pay much attention to it because I thought they were just being stupid older boys. But then I got into French class, and Carli Serif (who was a junior, as opposed to us lowly freshmen) came in and said that a plane had flown into the World Trade Center. Mr. Dury basically blew her off, and said that nothing had happened because something like that wasn't possible. Right. She argued with him, saying that it was true, and that they had watched it happen on the news in her previous class. Mr. Dury kept denying that anything had happened, and we went on with class. Then in fourth period (Integrated Science with Miss Kolp) everyone was talking about what had happened, but no one really had a clear idea of what had happened. So Miss Kolp turned on the TV in our classroom and we did an in-class assignment while we watched the news. Fifth period went on as normal, except Mrs. Purcell had us take a moment of silence instead of a prayer at the beginning of class. During lunch, all of the TVs in the cafeteria were turned onto the news. I remember that a lot of my friends were calling their parents to see if they and their families were okay, so to fit in, I called home. Looking back, this was probably kind of stupid of us since there were people whose lives were in danger who were trying to access cell satellites, but in the moment, we didn't know what else to do. My sixth period World History class was supposed to have our first test of the year that. It was also the first test of my high school career. But Mr. Clarke was out that day because his kid was sick (later it would come out that they were seriously sick, but I forget what it is) and our sub didn't have the authority to cancel the test. Our class protested because we wanted to watch the news. So his compromise was that we would have the news on while we took our test. Needless to say, I failed that test miserably. I think eventually Mr. Clarke dropped that test from our grades because having a test during a national disaster simply isn't fair. Then in our last class of the day, which was band, we had our usual prayer, but instead of having intentions, Mr. Renzi issued a blanket prayer for everyone who had lost their lives that day. Smart move, since intentions would have gone on forever. We didn't go outside to march, and after school practice was cancelled. We weren't too happy about that because our first competition was in a week and a half, and we didn't have all of our show on the field yet. But at that time, we didn't know if all of the attacks were over or not, and considering there was a plane that crash landed in Pennsylvania, the possibility of another plane coming into Ohio was still a threat, and having a large number of people outside in a group (like on a band field) was just another target. Then after school, my mom picked me up, and told me that at St. Michael's (at this point she was still a teacher's aide there) they hadn't told the younger grades what had happened so that they didn't cause a panic, but they had told the junior high students. We went home, and watched the news until after dinner when I was told to go do homework. Most of my classes didn't assign anything, but in my first period math class, we had been given homework since the attacks hadn't happened yet. I remember that I went up to my room and I just sat there, completely in shock that the day had happened. Never in my craziest thoughts could I have dreamed that that day would have happened. To me, that's the scariest part of days like 9/11 and attacks like Virginia Tech and Columbine (and Kent State). Even though I couldn't think up something so horrific and evil, there are people out there who do think up these things. And the rest of us don't know when they'll happen again, or if they'll happen again, or where man-made disasters will happen next.

It always startles me a little bit when I go baby-sit and the kids were born in 2003, or 2007, or any other year in the last 9 years. This an entirely new generation of kids who are growing up in a world that's shaped on events that happened before their lifetime. I'm sure that every generation thinks this about the generation below them. For example, my mom was 9 years old when the Kent State shootings happened, but because she grew up on the Ohio State campus, she remember when it happened vividly. To just get onto her street to go home, they had to stop at checkpoints and prove that they lived there because every single college and university across the country was shut down after the shootings. It happened before my time, but because I'm where I am now, it's affected my life. There are now professors here at Kent who were students when it happened, and we have a plethora of memorials around the campus to remind us what happened here 40 years ago. I can't even imagine what it's like at Virginia Tech right now. That's another day that I'm always going to remember. I had the article on CNN about what happened up on my computer and every 10 minutes or so, I kept hitting refresh and every time I did, the body count kept getting higher and higher. It was a very scary day. Classes after a certain time of day were cancelled, and I think they may have been cancelled the next day. Actually, I'm almost positive they were because even though all classes were cancelled, Dr. Reynolds still held SWE rehearsal... illegally. I remember that one of the first students who was killed was in the VT marching band, and I want to say that he was a PMA brother. Our SAI chapter sent a condolence card to their chapter, even though no sisters were killed. After that, UD set up an emergency alert system that would send out emails, phone calls, and text messages to all students, faculty, and staff in case anything like that happened at UD. It was a scary time to be a college student. If something could happen there, it could happen anywhere. How do you protect a university from one of it's own students? I'm hopeful that changes have happened to prevent something like that from happening again, but there's always going to be someone who thinks beyond what the rest of us have the abilities of doing. I mean, there was a depressed and mentally unstable student who shot his high school classmates in 1999; how is it possible that we let something like that happen again in 2007?

This is why history classes are so important. If we continue to teach the future generations about what happened in the past, then maybe one of them will come up with a way to prevent the next disaster from happening. Last December when I toured Kent with my mom, the number of students (and parents!!) on our tour who had never heard of the KSU shootings was appalling. Why are these things not being taught in schools? I realize that as time goes on, there are more historical events that need to be taught, but the events that are so recent in history are what shapes us in the present. I can remember these things, but the kids who I babysit for don't, and they need to know what happened just before they were born.

Happy birthday, Nana. I miss you so much, and I love you.

~ Christine

princess power!

Hi!

I've been bored a lot recently. Somehow my grad school work isn't as time consuming as my undergrad school work was. I bet it'll catch up to me in the future, but for the time being, I have a sizable amount of free time. So I started following more blogs on Tumblr. Currently I follow 127, but I'm probably going to pare that list down because I followed blogs that I thought were different from what they actually are. Anyway, one of the more awesome blogs is called The Disney Princess and a couple of months ago they posted the 30 Day Disney Princess Challenge. Now, the idea is that every day for a month you answer the next question in the series, but I have lots of time now, so I'm just going to answer all of them.

Day 1: Favorite movie
Beauty and the Beast!

Day 2: Favorite princess
Belle

Day 3: Favorite prince
Prince Naveen

Day 4: Favorite song
"A Whole New World"

Day 5: Favorite kiss
The kiss between John Smith and Pocahontas that gets interrupted by Kocoum in a jealous rage. It's a super intense moment, made more intense by Kocoum being shot by Thomas.

Day 6: Prettiest princess
Belle, duh!

Day 7: Favorite castle
I feel like a lot of my answers are from Beauty and the Beast, but you can't go wrong with a castle filled with enchanted objects. Plus the West Wing is the ultimate Man Cave.

Day 8: Saddest moment
Again, from B&tB... when the Beast is laying there dying after battling Gaston and Belle is trying to encourage him to not die. It makes me cry every time!

Day 9: Favorite couple
Mulan and Shang! (side note: Shang was voiced by B.D. Wong, who plays Dr. Huang on Law and Order: SVU)

Day 10: Best hair
Even though I hate ginger bitches, Ariel wins this one. I love how her hair moves in the water. When I was little, I would lay down in the bathtub and swoosh my hair around to be more like Ariel.

Day 11: Favorite animal sidekick
Ray (the firefly) from The Princess and the Frog

Day 12: Favorite non-animal sidekick
This is hard... there aren't many of them! Probably Charlotte from The Princess and the Frog because she's so blonde and the stereotypical rich American.

Day 13: Favorite outfit
The dress that Tiana wears right after she's transformed back into a human.

Day 14: Favorite villain
Ursula. She's why I'm not a big fan of cephalopods.

Day 15: Favorite romantic moment
When the Beast gives Belle his library... I can dream, right?

Day 16: Favorite singing voice
Tiana/Anika Noni Rose

Day 17: Best eyes
Since it doesn't specify that the eyes have to be princess eyes, I'm going to say John Smith.

Day 18: Favorite name
Cogsworth. It sounds like a drink an old man would have in a dark bar.

Day 19: Favorite soundtrack
Pocahontas! I can even sing the Native American parts.

Day 20: Funniest moment
Anything Prince Naveen says is hilarious!

Day 21: Favorite quote
A single grain of rice can tip the scale. One man may be the difference between victory and defeat.

Day 22: Bravest princess
Mulan

Day 23: Favorite dance scene
The "How Do You Know" dance from Enchanted

Day 24: Favorite parent
The Sultan

Day 25: Favorite lyrics
“I want adventure in the great wide somewhere / I want it more than I can tell / And for once it might be grand / To have someone understand / I want so much more than they’ve got planned…” – Belle

Day 26: Most magical moment
The Beast's transformation

Day 27: Best wardrobe
Belle! I really wanted my senior prom dress to look like this:

Day 28: Favorite sequel
Beauty and the Beast and the Enchanted Christmas... I like parts of Pocahontas 2, but in my mind I want Pocahontas to still be with John Smith, even though it's historically inaccurate. Since when did Disney care about being historically correct?

Day 29: Favorite overall moment
I love the moment when Mulan decides to take her father's place in the army because he's too frail to fight. Now that's love!

Day 30: Favorite happy ending
The Princess and the Frog... it's actually happy (I'm looking at you, Pocahontas!) and it's explained well (most other Disney movies) and we get a sense of closure (Tiana and Naveen get married as frogs, get married as people for their families, we finally see Naveen's parents, they open up Tiana's dream restaurant, where Naveen really does mince!).

Ta-da!

That took me entirely too long. I really tried to not focus all of my answers on Beauty and the Beast, but really, I could have answered every single question with something from that movie. I have another 30 day challenge I got from another Tumblr, so be on the lookout for that next!

~ Christine

grad school!

Hello from the thriving metropolis of Kent, Ohio!

I'm finally all settled in to my new apartment... basically. I still have a collection of empty picture frames scattered around that need pictures placed in them, but other than that, I'm set for the year. I even cooked a meal on Saturday! That's right, using a STOVE! This is a big deal for me. I actually haven't eaten at a restaurant since my parents took me to Applebee's right before they left last Sunday, except I did cave in and get Chipotle for dinner tonight. It's a short walk from my apartment and I was so sick of my food in my kitchen. Psh, at least I walked.

So far my classes are good. I had to take a test in my online class (which is, coincidentally, a class about how to use a computer) about the basics of a computer. Except that the "basics" were really the first 6 chapters of our book, and even though I consider myself to be fairly computer-literate, I still only got a 69% on the test. Thankfully it was just a practice for our midterm, but if I got a 90% or higher, I wouldn't have had to do the labs for the first 3 classes. Oh well. There was more than one question where I actually had to think back to some of McGee's dialog on NCIS (it was mostly things about hacking) in order to answer. My two classes that are actually in-person are going well so far. I've had a crapton of reading to do so far, especially in my Tuesday class. Our professor had assigned reading for the first week of class but didn't tell us about it ahead of time, so naturally no one was prepared. We also had an assignment on using the search features in various library catalogs online, which sounds simple, but it took me over three hours to do tonight! I really want to do well, and I kept second guessing myself, so I did the work for each question probably 3 or 4 times. I haven't even started on my reading for my Thursday class yet, but I have a much easier time reading shorter articles than I do chapters in a text book. I also have to buy a book for that class that's only available at regular bookstores and not on campus. Which brings me to my next point...

There is literally nothing in Kent. There's not a single bookstore. The closest Border's is 20 minutes away, and the closest Barnes and Noble is 30 minutes away. I'm just grateful that we have a Starbucks and a Chipotle here because the town of Kent is pretty lame. There's a large shopping area two towns to the north that kind of reminds me of the Sawmill Road area in Columbus, but it's still 15 minutes away on a bumpy country road that I guarantee you I will not be driving on once snow falls. When my Mom and I came up here last December to tour the campus, it was snowing and driving the freeways was bad enough, let alone the backroads. But I've found a Target now, and a smattering of grocery stores in the area. I completely understand now why Freshmen are allowed to have cars... there's no other way to get to anything interesting. For that period of time when I wasn't sure if the engine on Gertie would hold out, and I was going to be car-less for grad school, I don't know what I was thinking. You basically have to have a car around here, especially when your closest friends are 40 minutes away.

I haven't really made any friends yet. When I was moving in, another MLIS student who lives in my building offered to help me, but we were almost done, and there are just some offers that you don't take people up on, so I declined. But I haven't seen him since. I've seen people here and there around my building, but the people in 4 person apartments are generally upperclassmen undergrads who are all friends with each other, and I just feel like I don't fit in. Kent's very different from UD in that way. I never had a problem casually chatting to people who lived around me at UD. One day when I was leaving my building, I held the door open for a girl and she looked genuinely shocked! And several times, I assumed that the person either in front of me or coming towards me would hold the door for me and they didn't. My first impression is that people here just aren't as friendly. Tomorrow there's a meeting for one of the MLIS student groups, and I'm hoping that I'll find some people hang out with through that because this is going to be a really long year with no one I can talk to on campus.

Hopefully now that I'm settled and starting to get adjusted to being in classes again, I'll be able to blog more often, but if I disappear again, don't be surprised.

~ Christine