no, you can't stay here tomorrow.
This will be a massive post.
In a shocking role reversal, I drove Joe around today! I am slowly but steadily overcoming my extreme distaste for driving. I just got off to a bad start with it (damn that Okay, let me preface this anecdote with a revealing fact (revealing in that it demonstrates just how dorkily law-abiding my family and I are). I had never driven a car before my first "behind-the-wheel" session, administered by a deeply embittered employee of a price-gouging driver's ed company. This woman was insane. Straitjacket-and-tranquilizers insane. Seemingly oblivious to the fact that I was completely unfamiliar with driving and could have used a little guidance (beyond "just drive, honey!"), she spoke on her cell phone for much of the beginning of our session. Despite her aversion to offering any semblance of instruction, after each phone conversation, she did speak at great length about her boyfriend's cheatin' heart, her unforgiving boss, her family's inability to communicate ("they ignorant!"). As she monologued, vague directional waves indicated where I was to go, and, at the mercy of her offhanded gestures, I eventually found myself in the mildly trafficky area around a local mall. Here, she ceased relaying her life story. I thought maybe, as I was grossly underprepared to be in the presence of a large number of other cars, that she might advise me as to how to reach a less populated area quickly.
However, she was hardly interested in something as secondary as my driving. At a stoplight, I pulled up next to a car proffering transportation to a somewhat attractive teenage guy listening to atrocious PuNk RaWk. Suffice to say, not my type. Besides, I generally don't rely on emotionally stunted driver's ed teachers for matchmaking. But, much to my chagrin:
"He's cute, ain't he?"
"Sure," I mumble.
"HEY! HEY!" Suddenly, she is leaning out the window of the car, her bulbous head practically resting on his steering wheel. The poor boy, jolted out of his Good-Charlotte-induced stupor, looked on helplessly as she started rambling like a deranged Yenta: "You think she's cute? She's cute, huh? She ain't a bad driver, neither! You interested? You're interested. Whatchu doing Saturday night? Your number, boy! Let me get your number."
I cower behind the steering wheel, blushing furiously. The illumination of the green light seems heaven sent.
The ordeal got worse. I need not say more than her zeal for street-racing was only comparable to her passion for mid-traffic-matchmaking.). We enjoyed a lovely sojourn to my house, where we watched the Cosby Show and the opening scenes of Amelie.
Last night, I attempted to watch Amelie with the subtitles in Spanish. Biggest limitations: my vocabulary is very small and I read very slowly. Hm. Comprehension difficulties, no? Speaking of my favorite language, is the world at large privy to information about my upcoming (hopefully)
This summer, I will be going to Peru with three friends (fellow bleeding hearts, but of course!). This is coordinated through a program called Global Volunteers. We will be staying in Lima and volunteering at a children's home, which houses over 600 kids - orphaned, abused, neglected. Primarily, we'll be doing childcare and helping teach English. I am ridiculously excited about going, although it will be Very Expensive (alas). I have no doubts that it will be exhausting and difficult (here, after a few hours with the kids at EHC, a local shelter, I'm completely ready to pass out), but only in a good way. My parents are helping out a great deal, as are a multitude of others, so hopefully all will work out. I'm hoping for a meaningful closure to my High School Experience (HSE!), mostly as a means of balancing out the meaningless nature of past years. Ah, high school. What a wasteland.?
I have submitted all my college applications. The process is definitely tempered because I applied early to USF, mostly because early applicants are eligible for merit scholarships, which I desperately need. I was accepted (hurrah!) and I got a $16,000/year merit scholarship (hurrah!). It's like having a fuzzy Jesuit security blanket that makes waiting for the rest of the decision letters much easier. We shall see.
I'm sleepy.
In a shocking role reversal, I drove Joe around today! I am slowly but steadily overcoming my extreme distaste for driving. I just got off to a bad start with it (damn that Okay, let me preface this anecdote with a revealing fact (revealing in that it demonstrates just how dorkily law-abiding my family and I are). I had never driven a car before my first "behind-the-wheel" session, administered by a deeply embittered employee of a price-gouging driver's ed company. This woman was insane. Straitjacket-and-tranquilizers insane. Seemingly oblivious to the fact that I was completely unfamiliar with driving and could have used a little guidance (beyond "just drive, honey!"), she spoke on her cell phone for much of the beginning of our session. Despite her aversion to offering any semblance of instruction, after each phone conversation, she did speak at great length about her boyfriend's cheatin' heart, her unforgiving boss, her family's inability to communicate ("they ignorant!"). As she monologued, vague directional waves indicated where I was to go, and, at the mercy of her offhanded gestures, I eventually found myself in the mildly trafficky area around a local mall. Here, she ceased relaying her life story. I thought maybe, as I was grossly underprepared to be in the presence of a large number of other cars, that she might advise me as to how to reach a less populated area quickly.
However, she was hardly interested in something as secondary as my driving. At a stoplight, I pulled up next to a car proffering transportation to a somewhat attractive teenage guy listening to atrocious PuNk RaWk. Suffice to say, not my type. Besides, I generally don't rely on emotionally stunted driver's ed teachers for matchmaking. But, much to my chagrin:
"He's cute, ain't he?"
"Sure," I mumble.
"HEY! HEY!" Suddenly, she is leaning out the window of the car, her bulbous head practically resting on his steering wheel. The poor boy, jolted out of his Good-Charlotte-induced stupor, looked on helplessly as she started rambling like a deranged Yenta: "You think she's cute? She's cute, huh? She ain't a bad driver, neither! You interested? You're interested. Whatchu doing Saturday night? Your number, boy! Let me get your number."
I cower behind the steering wheel, blushing furiously. The illumination of the green light seems heaven sent.
The ordeal got worse. I need not say more than her zeal for street-racing was only comparable to her passion for mid-traffic-matchmaking.). We enjoyed a lovely sojourn to my house, where we watched the Cosby Show and the opening scenes of Amelie.
Last night, I attempted to watch Amelie with the subtitles in Spanish. Biggest limitations: my vocabulary is very small and I read very slowly. Hm. Comprehension difficulties, no? Speaking of my favorite language, is the world at large privy to information about my upcoming (hopefully)
This summer, I will be going to Peru with three friends (fellow bleeding hearts, but of course!). This is coordinated through a program called Global Volunteers. We will be staying in Lima and volunteering at a children's home, which houses over 600 kids - orphaned, abused, neglected. Primarily, we'll be doing childcare and helping teach English. I am ridiculously excited about going, although it will be Very Expensive (alas). I have no doubts that it will be exhausting and difficult (here, after a few hours with the kids at EHC, a local shelter, I'm completely ready to pass out), but only in a good way. My parents are helping out a great deal, as are a multitude of others, so hopefully all will work out. I'm hoping for a meaningful closure to my High School Experience (HSE!), mostly as a means of balancing out the meaningless nature of past years. Ah, high school. What a wasteland.?
I have submitted all my college applications. The process is definitely tempered because I applied early to USF, mostly because early applicants are eligible for merit scholarships, which I desperately need. I was accepted (hurrah!) and I got a $16,000/year merit scholarship (hurrah!). It's like having a fuzzy Jesuit security blanket that makes waiting for the rest of the decision letters much easier. We shall see.
I'm sleepy.