I had a very productive day today, too. Yesterday Matt and I painted my banister, picked out a new sofa and love seat for his living room and saw Death to Smoochy (which is awesome), among other chores. Today I wrote a couple letters to family, did a little laundry and worked on Stephen's toilet, which is broken. The bolts holding the tank atop the bowl are completely rusted through, so tomorrow I have to replace them. By myself. I've never done anything like this and I imagine I'll feel rather proud when it's finished.

For some reason, my shoulders, neck and back have been painfully sore since yesterday evening and I'm not sure why. I need some tea and a backrub but I don't have either.

Every now and again I think about my official Georgia residency and get a little flutter of panic in my chest. My life is the same as it was before, of course; the difference is just in paperwork. But it means that I'm on my own now. This is what I thought I wanted my entire life, but am I ready for it? How much longer do I have before my parents don't give me any money? How much longer do I have before my parents are gone and can't even give me advice?... ... I think... I need to go lie down now...

The one for "Aaron" was lame. The one for one of my friends' middle name is much cooler! :D

I got a 95 on my latest Lit paper, which is a very pleasant surprise considering I didn't use nearly enough quotes and my organization was terrible. Matt and I went to the opening of the MFA show tonight at the Georgia Museum, which had some very cool stuff and some very lame stuff, as always. While I was there, though, I ran into a friend of mine from my Lit class last semester and we traded numbers and vowed to hang out. I'm so pysched! I've been thinking a lot these days about how there are some people I talk to often in class and around campus, and other people whose names I know, and a surprisingly large number of people who know my name, but when it comes down to it there are very few people who I really hang out with. I act confident and tough, but the truth is I'm incredibly shy. All of this makes me ever more grateful for the amazing friends I do have, regardless of the states they live in. ^_^

What a cool way to start the weekend. Tomorrow, Matt and I plan to buy sofas and new carpets for his living room and to repaint my staircase, which I've needed to do for quite a few months now. Should be fun!

The results of my Geography test from the website:

Exam2MC Out of 55	Exam2 Map Out of 10	Exam2 Short Answer Out of 24	Exam2 Essay Out of 11	Exam2 Total Out of 110.5
37.5	7.0	21.0	10.5	86.5

86.5/110.5 translates to about a 79. I'm glad he drops our lowest test grade. I won't fuck up next time!! >_<

I had a giant test in Art Hist today that I was by no means prepared for, because it seems to be growing more and more impossible for me to focus on any one thing quietly for more than ten minutes at a time without having to stop and do something else. I simply can't focus on anything, and I don't think it's a matter of laziness. I think some sort of massive learning disorder is finally manifesting itself in me.

In other news, I am a resident of Georgia now! I recieved a letter from the registrar today that all my paperwork was accepted. This means that I am officially living on my own. In my own house. In a different state than both my parents. Um. This freedom thing is kind of novel, but all those times I said I wanted to hurry and be grown up already I was only half serious...

A crappy, crappy, crap-filled day.

The drive home sucked, but at least I made it! Matt and I got to hang out for a while last night, and today I'm going to run all over town doing errands. ^_^/)

http://user.tninet.se/~prv247p/hatt/hatten.swf o_o;

Matt and I haven't been able to talk once since I've been here. We keep playing phone tag and sending a lot of emails but I really miss hearing his voice! I think that's part of the reason I'm feeling kinda mellow lately. Speaking of things off-kilter (you like my segue?), last night a fuse in my car blew, which made for an interesting drive home from Bec's. Almost everything in the car still functions normally, but the CD player, electronic odometer/gas mileage display, and the light in the ceiling which turns on when the doors open are all not working until Dad helps me get the fuse replaced. It makes me feel like I'm driving a zombie car.

Today I plan to get a lot of reading done for my Lit class and head to the mall to get my Ryuichi Incognito Hat (a blue cap with "BAD" on the front in gold) made at the little hat-customizing stand. Assuming it doesn't cost a whole lot of the money-which-I-don't-have.

Jeez, it's already been a couple days! It's awful to think in a couple more, I'll already be heading home again. The past few days have all been about hanging out and playing DDR with Bec and Mone and a cool guy named J, as well as Tekken 4. I got my first S (or SS, I can't remember) in a 5-foot song today and am getting A's and B's on all 4-foots and 5-foots in general. I think I have mellowed out a little, but the problem's helped vastly by the fact I'm actually getting better. I would be even happier about all this, though, if it didn't require my funneling massive amounts of money into the machine. I have learned during this vacation that I will absolutely, undoubtedly have to get a job when I get back to Athens. I literally have almost no money and I can't keep sponging off my parents. It's not even that I'm making frivolous purchases, either-- almost all of my money goes to food, utilities/mortgage payments, or paint and art supplies. It feels like all I do is spend money, and most of the time it's not even for things I want. I'm tired of always worrying about my bank account, so I think I'm really going to like having a job again. At least that's what I'm trying to convince myself.

Armed with changes of clothes, thermoses of water and a whooooole lot of money Bec and I went to the mall when it opened promptly at 10 to play DDR, which we did until 1 before heading to her place and relaxing for a while. We went back around 3 with Monica and played until 6 or so, when I was finally so disgusted with myself that I had to come home by myself to chill out. Monica and Becca are a lot better than I am, which really doesn't bother me-- it's more the fact I did the same dances for hours and hours but never really felt like I improved. I know part of it is the fact that I naturally grew tired the more we played, but I'm always incredibly frustrated when I don't learn something quickly. It makes me feel stupid, and I got so caught up in trying to be a DDR master that it stopped being fun. We're going to go back tomorrow for more. Hopefully I can get myself to mellow out a little by then.

My stepmom's comments on Julia Roberts after Ocean's Eleven: "She can look sophisticated, but she sure does swagger like a hillbilly." My stepmom's so cool. X)

The art building was closed, so I ended coming back to Asheville around 3 instead of sunset. The trip really isn't that bad; I listened to Bonnie the whole way and it only took about 2:45. It's probably gonna be a pretty quiet weekend since Bec is out of town-- I guess I'll be playing a lot of Tekken 4 and DDR at the mall. Tonight I'm heading to see Ocean's Eleven again with the 'rents, though, and I can't wait! That movie's so discotastic. I love it.

Let me tell you about a little movie called Resident Evil.

Matt took me to see it even though I had no desire to whatsoever and I have to say it's one of the best movies I've seen in lately-- and far and away the best videogame movie ever. Not only is it scary as fuck, but it's fueled by such unheard-of aspects as plot and character development! Can you believe it? I sure couldn't. :D That movie 0wnz. And my CDs are great too! Dt. is a very cool band, kind of like a Japanese Beastie Boys with a chick, and Bonnie Pink is supreme as always.

Tomorrow I'm heading to campus to get some painting done and then I'm off for NC in the afternoon. Catch you on the flip side, d00d.

Oh yeah, Matt and I also watched Gen-X Cops tonight. Please tell me I'm not the only one who thinks Jack and Danny really, really needed to get it on.

The weather's awesome, my paper is finished and turned in, it's spring break, and my yesasia CDs and DDR disc came today! I AM SO HAPPY

Congratulations, you are a Natural Disaster! Lucky you, your murderous wrath takes on many spectacular and eerily beautiful forms. Tsunamis, forest fires, floods, tornadoes, avalanches, hurricanes, the list goes on and on. You kill countless thousands every year and leave millions more in homeless, penniless misery. When humans fight their bloody wars on your soil, you retaliate with all the fury Mother Nature has been storing up for milennia. Bravo, and keep up the good work.

Taking all these online quizzes is starting to make me feel kind of stupid.

I am about 70% done with my paper due tomorrow. I'm writing about how the characters' "emotional wastelands" are caused by their own self-isolation in some of Hemingway's short stories and T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land and how that ties in to the Lost Generation as a whole. It is incredibly boring and I wish I could go to bed but I cannot. Hope that my DDR disc and/or CDs from yesasia will arrive tomorrow is giving me a feeble little ray of joy. In addition to the joy offered by this Cadbury Creme Egg I'm eating, that is. :d For the curious, this is what my formal writing sounds like:
His refusal to utter a single phrase throughout the entire passage suggests his emotional resignation from their relationship and the prolonged schism in communication resulting from it, due to which they have no hope of reconciling. The woman’s cry of “Are you alive, or not?” (ln. 126) foretells the wastelands of uselessness and solitude already encroaching upon these figures, a fate sped into reality by the man’s intentional self-distancing.

Cardinal Sins and the Pope's Gay Card - Page 1 of 3 More wacky madcap hijinks of the Catholic church. That pope's a wily li'l stinker, ain't he? (I have to joke about this, you see, because otherwise I would be suffocating with fury.)

Things to do for the rest of the day: 1) get my RollingStone subscription cancelled for $$$$, 2) pay the phone bill, 3) get turpenoid, gel medium and another tube of titanium white at the art store, 4) start work on my English paper, 5) put more of my doujinshi up for auction, 6) turn in the rest of my GA residency forms to the registrar. I think that's it...

Today at the bus station downtown I watched a man in a wheelchair get his foot caught beneath the chair without even noticing. This is incredibly distrubing.

Last night I dreamt I went on a school camping trip and was chased by a crocodile. WTF?

I've realized that, as was demonstrated today, if I'm really and truly exhausted the muscles above my eyelids will twitch. And thinking back to my first semester here I remember it happened so constantly and for so long that I grew concerned it was some sort of muscular disorder. Ha ha, how times change...

Spring Break is next week but I have an English paper due this Friday and a big crit in Painting the Tuesday we come back, so I'm a little stressed. Hopefully, though, I'll have both the paper and the paintings done before break so I won't have to worry about it while I'm chizzillin with the fizzamily and the frizzends. In better news, my yesasia.com order was shipped today! I'm hoping it will get here by Friday, and if it doesn't I'm going to stay here until it does so I can listen to the CDs on the drive and share them with Becca. In even better news, there is a chance I am going to be commissioned to design a site for a non-profit organization helping GBLT youth in Pennsylvania. I'm thrilled about this, especially since it's for such a good cause. Cross your fingers!

Check it out! There's some biological explanation for my strange and frustrating brain! Study Shows Left-Handers Have More Flexible Brains

I had the Regent's Exam this morning. The fact I knew about it for weeks but never remembered to mention it here should be a pretty good indication of my view of it. The highlight was my somehow managing to stab my thumb with a #2 pencil and bleed on the exam sheet. I guess they'll figure I'm really passionate about writing?

Gay.com News: Artist sues the pope over anti-condom stance

Pope John Paul II is being sued over his stance against using condoms by a German conceptual artist.

Karl-Friedrich Lentze, 54, has filed a case at the International Court in The Hague claiming the pontiff's stance equals an incitement to cause grievous bodily harm by exposing people to diseases like AIDS. The artist argues that Pope John Paul II "should be made responsible for the deaths of countless people," and his anti-condom PROMOTION position shows "significant contempt and arrogance towards human life." Lentze told Germany's Express newspaper he does not want the pope to serve any sentence but is merely seeking a "symbolic" conviction.

Catholic Church spokesman Manfred Becker-Huberti underlined the pope's stance on condoms and his belief that they cannot get rid of AIDS. He said: "It needs a different pattern of sexual behavior that is determined by faithfulness to one's partner."

The world is being shot to hell because the people who are held as its role models are ignorant, biased and hateful.

Having been checking the order status numerous times a day for a week straight, I am happy to announce that my 2-CD order from yesasia.com is finally about to be shipped! I got Dt.'s "Commune" and Bonnie Pink's latest CD "Just A Girl," and I haven't heard either of them so I am very excited. The CDs are costing about $60 total, which takes a decent chunk out of my finances, but I worked hard and sold a lot of doujinshi for the sole purpose of raising the money to buy them. Interestingly enough, according to the order info I placed the order on 3/3 at 3:33:33 pm. No joke.

Matt and I saw The Time Machine last night. It's not great, but not bad. It starts out pretty promising, but once the lead guy Alexander starts time-hopping it quickly fizzles into typical action movie fodder. But there were some unintentionally hilarious moments that we were laughing about for the rest of the night, which made it all worth it. It made me remember that I still need to see Queen of the Damned before they finally get smart and yank it from theatres!

The new layout's up as you can see. ^_^ After a couple scares with Blogger, the archives and such seem to be working fine. Matt's birthday was yesterday and we went out for dinner, which is always nice. I gave him Fight Club on DVD and rented A.I. for us since he hadn't seen it yet. I'm looking forward to discussing all the reasons I don't like it! Today I recieved a student loan check for $1100, which normally wouldn't be odd except that I don't remember applying for a student loan and neither of my parents has any idea where it came from. I figure if they want to give me $1100 it'd be rude of me say no, but unfortunately my parents disagree and are making me wait to deposit the check until we find out what's going on.

I called my aunt a little while ago to say hello and tell her I'm thinking about her. They fused the second and third vertebra in her neck with a bone graft and metal plate. She told me that instead of cutting through the muscle at the back of the neck, they go in through the front and have to push the vocal cords, etc. to the side. It makes me queasy just to type it, but then ever since I broke my own back (in 1998) I've been extra squeamish about spinal injuries. ^_^; I'm just really glad she's okay. She says she plans to go home from the hospital tomorrow.

I feel much better today than I have the last few days, probably because I've stayed busy. My aunt was operated on yesterday and is doing well, which feels good to know. I found out we're having a test next class in Human Geography so tonight I gotta get the mad studyin on, and I'm almost finished with that piece of crap book, but they're showing the new Vampire Hunter D movie tonight at UGA's semesterly anime-fest so I have to be there! The new layout for the crotchblog is done and will probably be up by Wednesday night. I always feel so great when I get a layout done.

Get used to this layout while you can, because today I was struck by inspiration for a new layout and it'll be up soon!

I realized last night that since Bec and Monica started dating I've been feeling scared that Becca wouldn't want to be my friend anymore, and after talking to her about it today I feel a lot better. I skipped class today and did absolutely nothing except attempt to read more The Sound and the Fury, one of the most tiresome books I've ever had to touch, and draw myself a new avitar for BobOki's forums:

My aunt was in a car accident Friday night. She damaged some vertebra in her neck and is going to be operated on this week. This really /is/ turning out to be a shitty week.

I have no idea where the hell the day went, only that I have 150 pages of The Sound and the Fury to read by tomorrow and so far only 1/3 of that's done. I spent the evening with Matt. There are some big things going on right now with both of us (not involving the relationship), and it's going to be a very hellish week because of it, so I'm not looking forward to tomorrow. And there are some other things going on, and... yeah.

I went to campus for brunch and saw someone I knew fairly well last year. He didn't even recognize me. Have I really changed that much?

Before I finally go to bed, I have a new CD recommendation: Kylie Minogue's Fever. Phat techno shit! Check out "Can't Get You Out of my Head" and "Come Into My World."

The weather was miserable but Matt and I drove to Commerce and had a blast! I bought a pair of awwwwwwesome boots and a pair of coooooooool shoes for $70. I talked to my mom and she said she'd put $50 towards it which makes it even sweeter. I can use the boots for my Ryuichi costume, and I also bought some leather cord for his necklace. I'm so glad my costume is coming together. Now Bec and Monica will have to believe that I'm working on it! I got the boots, the Kumagurou, the necklace, the belt, my stepmom is working on the shirt-- all I need are the pants and hat and I'll be done, and if I don't find it anywhere else I know I can get the hat at the MOG. Damn I rule.
I started getting sleepy in the afternoon and came home to take a nap. I ended up passing out at 5-something and waking up at 9:30, which is why I'm still wide awake and chatty at 2am. I think I'll go wax the bathroom floors or something...