got an hour to read this one?
yeah i know, its been a really long time, so i'm making up for it with a really long entry
the past few weeks have been a whirlwind of crazyness and busyness
marching band is winding down now, but it was crazy before. a few weekends ago we got to play for the nysfb champoinships at the dome and that was amazing. i was really excited to see all my v-town bandies and watch your show. more than anything, watching you guys made me realize how much i miss that whole part of marching band; going to shows. i guess its nice that with sumb there's no pressure, but at the same time, that means little motivation or feedback. i'm not saying that i have no pride when i step out on the field at halftime to do the show, but there's something about that thrill of competition. it would also be nice to get some sort of evaluation from an outside source, just to see what they'd say. plus when you go to shows you get to see a lot of other bands.
i think i may have ruined my one and only chance of ever having rj (one of the drumline secion leaders) like me at all. he ticked me off when i emailed him with a question over the summer and got no response, but i told myself that he just probably either never got it or got too busy, but then when i actually got here i figured out that the deal with rj is really that he's just in love with himself and has zero interest in talking to you if you're a freshman. fine. i guess sumb (and maybe syracuse?) just isn't like vestal in that here it actually matters what year you are. nobody cared in vestal, everybody was friends. i was talking to somebody about this a bit ago and they said something like "well you weren't friends with the freshmen when you were a senior right?" um, yeah i was. when i think of like the 10 people i'm closest to, only 3 of them are actually in my grade. anyway, back to the thing with rj. over the course of two or three practices he spoke to me about five times, but each time it was something like "hey doll." i tried to smile and be nice but inside i was screaming. i hate that kind of patronizing comment. finally he said "hey girl" and i lost it. i gave him the spark notes, three line summary of my "girl is a derrogatory term" lecture and that was the end of it. i'll try again next year.
the same weekend that we played for the nysfb show my family came to visit. my mom and charlotte came on friday night and stayed until sunday morning, my dad came for the game on saturday afternoon, and my dad and julia came to the nysfb show on sunday. mike was also here that weekend, so it was a busy one. highlights included dinner with mom, char, megan and mike on friday night, waving to my family in the nosebleed section from the sideline, and sitting cross-legged on my bed at 3 in the morning eating leftover pizza and talking about christmas and football with mike. (i must say, i didn't know boys had girly slumber party potential.) also, megan and mike have decided to have a mountain dew drinking contest when we're home for turkey day. the two of them were racing to finish their little bottles and when megan won mike challenged her to a 4 liter contest. i have a feeling that even though megan has the speed, mike's gonna have the endurance for this one. we'll just have to wait and see.
last week on both monday and wednesday when i went to my csd class (which is at 8am by the way) the professor didn't show. that really ticked me off. i get up early and haul my ass all the way down here in the freezing cold to have you not be here? i don't think so. i'm paying you to be here. this morning he told us that his son was sick and he had to take care of him. ok fine, the kid was ill, but seriously, you work for me and it is not acceptable to just not show up. if i didn't show up to work i'd be in deep yogurt, so why is it ok for him to not show up? i'm paying quite a lot of money, and i want to get as much as i can out of it. my mother has told me for a while now that education is the only field in which the consumer is genuinely happy to be ripped off. a professor cancells class and they're happy. don't they realize that a cancelled class doesn't get you any money back? you're paying for nothing. it bothers me. i want my money back.
other than that fiasco, school is going pretty well. i'm doing well in my classes and for the most part i don't find myself wanting to burn my homework very often. spanish is still a struggle, and i'm having a hard time convincing myself that its ok if i don't get an A on everything. i'm discovering ways to outsmart quia (the online spanish homework) so that helps with the spanish-related stress. statistics is actually becoming interesting recently because we've started talking about some things i've never heard about before. maybe i really do need this class.
megan and i went home last weekend and it was wonderful. i got home thursday night and we had steak and carrot cake, two things i'd been craving forever. lorelai of course peed all over when i opened the door and followed me around the house the whole night. dogs are amazing, they love you so unconditionally and it doesn't matter how long you've been gone, they're always just soooo excited to see you. friday morning she forgot i was there and went upstairs to the kitchen with my mom without even looking in my room. when i was coming up the steps she was sitting by the kitchen door and when she saw me she tore across the kitchen floor, her paws slipping and clicking on the tile, and jumped on me. what a sweetie.
megan and i went to vhs friday morning and our first stop was 136. we came in and threw our jackets and purses on the band room floor and mrs ellis just laughed. "you guys go off to college and STILL come back and throw your stuff everywhere." um, yeah, so? we stayed for concert band and then went to talk to mrs bossong for a while. i miss ib spanish!!! on our way back to the band room to collect our things and head out, i saw the light on in 132 and nearly screamed with delight. denny was there oober early! i went in and i was so happy to see her. SHE HAS A COMPUTER! she doesn't really know how to use it, but its a start. i talked to her forever and then finally i had to go because she had a lesson to teach. megan and i went to the oakdale "mall" for lunch at villa pizza and to browse about. we went back to vhs in the afternoon and megan stayed in 136 while i worked in the oel sorting and throwing out piles of papers. maybe by the time i'm 30 that place will be clean... i sat with anish in orchestra 9th period and it made me very sad. i really miss it, and so does moses.
friday night i went to ithaca to see becca cole. we went to this new restaurant called "blue stone" and i had the best chili. after, we went over to cornell to get tea and black and white cookies and sit outside and chat. we talked about men, (what else), and i told her about the guy i've found her in syracuse. she'll have to come soon to meet him and see if i did my scouting well. it was so relaxing to sit out there and just chat, and it was great to see bec again.
saturday i went shopping with my mom for a coat. i've had this coat that i hate for a long time, but i just couldn't let myself replace it because there wasn't anything really wrong with it. then a few weeks back i ripped it and i was soooo happy. it would have been an easy fix, but really, i have no desire to fix it. in the evening clarie and frank came over and that was precious.
saturday evening i went to the tea house with david, megan, anish, will, macia, and carolyn. anish scared the living daylights out of me not once, but twice. first he like forced me into a chair when i got there and then he like grabbed me while i was trying to move a table. life wouldn't be so exciting if it weren't for anish's strange and spastic nature.
on the way home from the tea house i was pulled over for the very first time in my entire existance. i forgot to turn on my lights. hey, its the parkway, there are a million street lamps! i would have figured it out as soon as i got through four corners. before he came to my car i think will was worried i was going to flip because he reached over and squeezed my wrist and said in a very stern tone of voice, "don't cry!" i didn't. when the guy took my license he asked "so did you feel daring driving down vestal parkway without headlights?" "um, no, i just forgot."
i got home and decided to attempt to relive the thrill of staying up to watch the saturday night solution on court tv. i fell asleep probably around 2 and woke up at 530 in the morning on the couch with the tv blasing. oh well.
sunday we all piled in the van and mom drove me, megan, jess and mr bowerman back to su. megan and i tried to study for the biology test the next day and mr bowerman tried to grade papers, but in the end we all just ended up eating halloween candy, listening to crazy music and generally laughing at mr bowerman. we learned that his friday pants (jess calls them the "boy band jeans") were destroyed in a tragic chemistry accident. mr bowerman added that his boxers were also burned through in said accident. tmi mr bowerman, tmi.
monday was the bio test. 97. yay.
work is still crazy and time-consuming, but its getting better and easier to cope with. mary (the lab manager) wants me to pick up more hours and possibly work weekends. um, i don't think so. i'm already there like 11-13 hours a week, and i think thats more than enough.
this past weekend was the last football game. we lost (duh) but it was really sad because it was my last game holding cymbals for mark. i'm holding for hans next year most def. dad came to watch the game and took pictures, only later we figured out that there was never any film in the camera, which made me sad. oh well. we went to the mall in the evening for dinner and window shopping for a new camera. i also ventured into the apple store and played with an ipod nano for a while. i want one like woah. bet you anything that i just obsess over it for a few weeks and then decide its too much money and become depressed over it all over again.
well that pretty much takes care of everything. i've been randomly working on this entry all day so it is waaaaaay too long. i'm guessing nobody will get this far...
spanish and stat tests tomorrow, as well as work at 730 am, so i'm off to bed.
one more week till i come home again!
love you all muchly,
miss you all oodles,
em
ps - 2031 words = almost 7 pages double spaced