A problem

Part 1

So I lost my id card last night. My id card gives me access to dining halls, and only five times during the year without penalty may I access the dh without it. As of breakfast, I would have only two left.

Part 2

I have had 3 sugar pumpkins and another small uncertain variety in my room for a couple weeks. The rector sent out an e-mail declaring pumpkin season over - all pumpkins must be gone from the dorm rooms by midnight... What to do?

Solution

Pumpkin chili!

I took all the pumpkins and made pumpkin puree, cooked the seeds, and then made the following pumpkin chili (certain ingredients are odd due to having to filch them from a dining hall during breakfast.)

PUMPKIN CHILI

Ingredients

a couple slices of thick-cut deli turkey

1 cup kidney beans

a couple tbs chopped bell pepper

1 tbs chickpeas

1/2 medium-large tomato

2/3 cup (fresh) pumpkin puree

1/4 cup sweet onion

chili powder

salt

pepper

red/cayenne pepper

crushed red pepper flakes

garlic

paprika

cinnamon

cumin

curry powder

sugar

heavy splash of cabernet savignon

water as needed (and it will be needed, at least a couple cups)

Sautee pumpkin, turkey and onion in pan. Add all the other ingredients and cook for 1+ hour(s) on medium (turn down to low 2nd half hour), stirring and adding water as necessary.

Top with crumbled bacon and your choice of cheese. (I used a cheddar/mozz/feta/parm mix...weird, I know, but I wasn't sure which flavor I'd want before I'd decided on seasonings.)

Birthday Cake Week, Episode 2

Deep Dark Chocolate Secrets Cake

This cake has 3 parts: the cake, the filling, and the topping...all made of magic.

Cake Ingredients

1 1/2 sticks butter

1 3/4 cups sugar (I used 1 white, 3/4 light brown)

2 eggs

2 1/3 cups all purpose flour

1 4-serving box of sugar-free cheesecake-flavored pudding mix

heaped 3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp Kahlua

1 cup sour cream

1 cup strong brewed coffee, cooled

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Grease and flour sides and bottoms (or grease and parchment line) 3 8-inch pans.

Beat together butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beat until thick and lemony.

(Your stand mixer is your friend - let it do the work for you here^!)

In a separate bowl, sift together all the dry ingredients.

In yet another bowl (or your two cup liquid measure), mix the vanilla, Kahlua, sour cream and coffee. (Watch out, if the coffee is not cooled, it will curdle/melt the sour cream.)

Alternately add the flour and sour cream mixtures into the sugar mixture, beating on medium all the while.

Mix together well, not forgetting to scrape down the sides.

Pour into pans - mixture is thick, so you'll have to spread it out.

Bake for ~30 minutes. (May be less/more depending on your oven.)

Remove from pans and cool.

Filling Ingredients

1 lb confectioner's sugar

1/2 cup cream cheese

2-4 tbs fruit preserves (I used sugar-free strawberry...I also recommend raspberry)

a couple tbs of butter/margarine

Blend together all ingredients, adjusting levels as necessary. Do this right after you put the cake in the oven and then pop the mixture in the fridge.

Ganache Topping

1 cup semi-/bitter-sweet chocolate chips/squares

2 tbs whole milk or cream

1 tbs butter

1 tbs cocoa powder

(these measurements are approximates, because I don't measure for this anymore...but it should be pourable/spreadable rather than a rollable-truffle-style...)

Melt all ingredients together in a double-boiler.

Assembly:

Trim two layers flat if necessary.

Spread the two flat layers each with half the filling and stack.

Top with the third, untrimmed layer. Pour the ganache over the top...

Enjoy!

(Warning, if you refrigerate the whole cake before serving, the ganache topping may get hard and make the cake too hard to cut...)

This was the cake I made for my birthday...and it was enjoyed by many. And now you can enjoy it too. :D

Birthday Cake Week

So this week is my birthday, and I will be spending it making up different delectable recipes. And then giving away the results so that I don't eat them all.

First up:

Fluffy Mocha Cupcakes

1 box chocolate cake mix (or how I did it: 1 yellow cake mix and 1/3 to 1/2 cup of cocoa powder)

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

2 ripe bananas, mashed

3/4 cup strong coffee

3 large eggs (or 6 egg whites)

2 Tbs Kahlua

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray/line muffin tins.

2) Mash bananas and mix with coffee, set aside.

3) Blend cake mix and other dry ingredients

4) Add the banana mixture to the dry mix, then add the eggs 1 at a time, beating on medium until well mixed.

5) Add the Kahlua and beat for 30 seconds on high.

6) Bake for 18 (15-20) minutes. Remove from tins and let cool.

7) Glaze (see below).

Mocha glaze:

1 cup Confectioner's sugar

1/4 cup Cocoa powder

1/2 tsp Kahlua

1 tbs 2% milk

Mix all ingredients. I'm not sure about the ratios because I don't really measure, but if it's too runny add more sugar or cocoa or both, and if it's too thick, add more milk. Should give you a pretty thick, shiny glaze that spreads well.

I know, I know. Most recipe blogs are exciting and cute and have pictures and snarkiness/sweetness. I'll work up to it. For now, I'm just posting my recipes.

Do you eat?

Oh, wait, you're alive? Then you DO eat...or at least you in some method ingest substantial nutrients...

In any event, take this survey!

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/QPZ7TV6

Then share it with everyone you know. Because it's for a research project and I need a lot of responses. Plus, you'll have my eternal gratitude.

Seriously.

(I apologize for its awkward construction - I don't have a paid subscription.)

7 thoughts

1) I completely pointlessly dislike a particular British model...for being my age and snogging my celebrity crush.

2) I don't use this blog for beans. I did however get my hair trimmed again. This stylist also did it wrong, but not too badly, and as I didn't pay for it even though it only cost $8, I don't really mind.

3) I never write.
I do not text you, much less call you.
I do not even attempt to e-mail, message, or in any other manner, contact, you at all.
But,
I miss you all, all the same.
Everyone I've truly known, and every friend I've ever (even not-so-truly) had, I have abandoned for no good reason.

I am very sorry.
Please consider this an apology.

Not that it matters.
4) Nobody reads this blog. Hell, I don't read this blog. And I write it.

5) Summer is dull. I have finished 0 projects, and have no job, no shower, and no means of personal conveyance other than feet.

6) I am weirdly glad of number 4, since 5 is depressing and sounds bad.

7) It is very early and I haven't decided whether I am going to sleep or go running.

today

today I read Walt Whitman.
and for the first time
or so I think
I it not only read but
FELT
it was an odd experience
and not unpleasant

rats

Life is alright, getting work done and whatnot. Getting schedule back on track tonight (finally). And I appear to be allergic to pineapple. Which would definitely explain some scattered, odd symptoms as of late (burnt tongue/mouth, sleep disruption, headache...after reviewing daily actions, eating pineapple was the logical link and its allergic symptoms fit my reactions). :( I love pineapple! I will have to get this tested...when I can afford to anyway, and until then (in the unforseeable future), I shall just avoid the lovely spiky yellow fruit.
In other news, I bought myself toy cars today (got to finish some HW concepts this week, so I just wanted to get properly in the mood...by playing.). Some advice - purchasing baby food is a good way to get checkout baggers to stop hitting on you. (baby food jars are great for storing mixed inks/dyes/paints...I'm working on a self portrait in ink at the moment and having to remix/waste the ink every work session is a total bummer.)
Ciao!
-Ren

spaghetti for breakfast...

That pretty much sums up my life right now. Yep.

(Also, I ran my modeling program out of memory...)

back to woooooooork. sketching. by hand. (good thing was only doing some quick 3-D digital sketches, killing ram on a real project would SUCK)
-ren

This story's missing a wishing well

So, it's taken me about 3 hours to listen to Guns N' Roses' Rocket Queen. I, earlier today, got to watch my entire immediate family get murdered in cold blood by post-apocalyptic crazies and consequently skipped all my classes (2/3 by accident), and I have all this work I need to be doing that I just do NOT feel up to right now. Was going to run to the store to buy paper I was supposed to have last week. Didn't do it. It was sunny and pretty today. Too pretty. Hurt my eyes. Want to leave. Can't. And by leave I mean wake up. Or feel. Or do/be/etc. Felt like this last Thursday. Can't keep fracking with my schedule. It's murdersome. Got a good room pick - 5. Will take one of the converted doubles on third floor I think. Hopefully get a good RA too. I feel like my writing, indeed my current sentiment as a whole, is a bad cross of Faulkner/Hemingway/Rorschach (and yes, I mean the Watchmen character...). Apologies. Said I wouldn't use this as a whining post. I lied. Hoping to get an entry going for Athens Bench Mark soon. Need to get it entered by Friday so that it has time to garner some votes. Placing in that (not gonna pretend I would win) would be utterly sick.

I remember as far back as my early childhood feeling a disconnect between mind and body and in recent years that feeling has grown, not between just aspects of self but between self and world. As if I were a spectator, and too often I am just that a person alone sitting watching waiting not a person but yet a being I DO NOT UNDERSTAND these people who go about doing all that is right and expected and interacting oh interactions especially... It is a cosmic chasm of blackest loneliness that when realized I cannot cross, like an illusory bridge painted into the wall of an opposing cliff face - you can only think you can cross until you look down, or try to cross and in all reality I am not sure I ever tried at all. No, I've tried, I've been there and back again so many many times such futile fruitless efforts and the pain is exquisite if you're a masochist and otherwise, excruciating. And if I call you friend, may I call you that, friend, then do not feel slighted or insulted when I do not treat you as all your others do, it's merely that I don't know how anymore without the garish sense that I am overacting very plainly. And if you never had a problem reading modern literature, especially stream of thought, and you didn't skip this paragraph, I apologize for the view you just received into insanity's lonely little mind. It's a dark and scary place, full of bunnies and creepy mice. (or was it mice and creepy bunnies?)

Latest musical favorite: The Birthday Massacre. Check them out. Sample song from their 2007 album: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzhLj8UMOkE Also, have to love the artists' names.
Also, gotta dig an old friend's band - Exit Mouse. They have a soundcloud and a livejournal. Check them out here: http://exit-mouse.livejournal.com/
(I use the word also far too often. Further apologies.)

Sunday before last was at the International Home & Housewares Show in Chicago. That was totally amazing. Though, by the time I reached the third auditorium, was a bit overloaded on the sensory intake end of things. I'll do a whole 'nother post about that when I have time/drive. Saw a lot of really cool stuff and also sparked some new ideas, did some sketching and whatnot. I think one of those I may actually develop for another contest (don't remember which one at the moment).

To sum up lately though, basically just swinging between workaholicism and being a grand disappointment to everyone, including, though not especially, myself. On days like today, I don't know what I want or need anymore, but I've a suspicion it feels like tears and tastes like blood and ends up just being sweat.

Out of the Deep

Really, a truly productive blog is one that has a driving force and draws a substantial readership. It should be relevant and interesting and outside of a personal spectrum.
Whatever.
Though I will try to not use it as my whining post to the world.

Anyway, please help out a friend of mine's sister. She's a high school senior who dreams of being a pediatric oncologist and could really use scholarship monies. Go to http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Help-Katie-Krog-win-20000-on-Zinch/327657689068?ref=ts and become a fan, then invite all your friends. Also, stop by http://www.zinch.com/Voting/Regionals.aspx?GroupId=63#Katherine-Krog and vote for her.

In other news, working on an external hard drive reskin design/model, drawing on predators (sharks, panthers, etc) and sports concept cars for inspiration. Spring break starts today, that's fantastic. Will be in Chicago this evening for a few hours, and be seeing Alice, in 3D. Would actually prefer the normal, "flat" version, but only the 3D was showing at the time I needed. When I first heard of this film project, I was terrified, because I happen to disdain most film adaptations of Carroll's works. However, since they've stated outright that it's not a book adaptation, I'm actually quite excited to see it. I do enjoy Alice extensional reimaginings, for example, the Frank Beddor series The Looking Glass Wars, which was a very fun (though unchallenging) read.

Could comment more on various subjects, but I need my hands to sketch and model, and I unfortunately don't have enough to work and type at once. Oh well, back to work then.

laters.
-Ren

PS - I also seem to be...running out of television shows. Any good science fiction/fantasy that I should know about? Could be old, new, foreign, discontinued, what have you... For now, catching up on Primeval and occasionally Beauty and the Beast. I watch while I work. Overloading my sensory perception helps me stay on task. (Yes, I realize that concept will elude most people, but just trust me here. Although I'll admit that if a task requires an exorbitant of specific concentration, I'll switch to just music, or, rarely, silence.)

Tintinabulation

of the bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells.

First non-lit concert (in awhile at least...not sure if they've done one before) is coming up for the choir. Such high hopes. Such expectations. Such glories as will have to be worked out minutely over the summer and saved for the year ahead. Would love to incorporate innovative ringing techniques and staging and lighting and Drama - to make bells come alive as never seen or heard before, but I simply haven't had the time what with being absent last semester. Currently, I just hope we get something together by the concert date.
But in all seriousness, I want this year to be a sort of trial run and to next year make it something truly spectacular...something...incredibell. For now though, I'd like to just help keep this year's from turning into some catastrophic jumble of near-showmanship and our (dare I say somewhat pathetic) lit concerts... I also need to save poster designs tonight. Simplicity will be our friend. for Real.There was an article I read on telling a client "No" and making them believe they picked it, but I can't remember where I read it.
Oh well, I need to get back to studying for that midterm anyway.

Later.
-Ren

Small items of note

Do not take too many loratadine pills. This can cause rapid, forceful heart palpitations and drowsiness. Not very pleasant. Or safe.
Do NOT mix garlic hummus chips and chocolate hazelnut coffee. Unless you really like wrinkling your face up for all the wrong reasons. And really foul aftertastes.

Yes, I did both these things in the last day. Unfortunately, my intelligence isn't faultless. Or anywhere close. Lesson one = missed class, which earlier lessons had indicated to be a bad decision. Apparently I should have also called poison control...though the labeling is a bit foggy on that. It reads "taking more than directed may cause drowsiness" and then later "in case of overdose contact physician or poison control immediately." So is "drowsiness" that serious? Well, since it apparently also causes heartbeat fluctuations amid other possibilities, I would say yes.

As for that flavor combination...I knew when I purchased the chips it wasn't a grand plan, but they're so tasty separately... Although, part of the problem was the coffee I used for the base - it was way bitter...either I made it too strong or it's just a bad brew to use. I remember the Kirkland's being a bit unpleasant in the past, so probably a combination. Coffee recommendation - Batangas brew. Good caffeine amount without being overly acidic in taste; in fact, it's the smoothest coffee I've ever had, practically silky.

Anyway, mouth still tastes terrible and I have yet more studying to do for (tomorrow's!) art history midterm. Where was I? Ah yes, Mr. & Mrs. Ralph Izard, by John Singleton Copley in 1775. A lovely dual portrait, somewhat innovative in portraying both figures in same picture, showing them against one of Copley's typical faked architectural backgrounds with aristocratic trappings as well as indicators of their European tours (such as the Coliseum in the background's countryside). The Izards met Copley in Italy where they visited Pompeii and Pasteum together.

Ciao
-Ren

Design Crush

Hmm...well, I was thinking of doing a weekly feature write up on an industrial design & its designer, just a small bit on some smexy design. However, there can be nasty legal complications involving copyright, so I would probably have to contact the designers first. And really, is there any point to doing something like that before there's anyone reading? Or is that what you do to gain readership in the first place? I would think that there's got to be a better way... More later when I figure something out.
In the meantime, back to work on bell posters and art history studying.

Lovely

Well, today started horrendously, but makeup, a Guinness and a near two hours of The Tossers live has fixed that. Surprisingly (and somewhat embarrassingly), I do believe that was my first guinness...huh. Anyway, no need to comment on what mucked up the earlier part of the day, but let's say that it was sufficiently heinous. And non-scholastic, so no school worries there. Which reminds me: have I mentioned I'm dropping my minor and its requisite course(s)? That puts me at a whopping 12 hours for the semester. I now have time to get everything done, and possibly extra things (like sleep) too!
In other news, I made some of the most killer brownies ever.

Heavy Brownies
1 19 oz (the boxed kind) brownie mix
2 eggs
1/4 cup oil
1/2? cup water (oil & water on the box)
2 tsps vanilla extract
1 tbs cinnamon sugar (or 1 to 2 tsp plain ol' cinnamon)
1.5 cups semisweet chocolate chips
caramel sauce
hot fudge sauce (yes, these'd be the bottled syrupy kinds...)

Preheat oven to 350. Grease bottom of 9x13 pan.
1. Stir together the mix, eggs, oil, water, extract and cinnamon until most of the lumps are broken up. Then stir in the chocolate chips.
2. Cover the bottom of 9x13 pan with <1/2 batter. Bake ~10 minutes.
3. Remove from oven. Squirt/pour/spoon caramel & fudge sauces over the set mixture. Cover with rest of batter. (Recommendation: add the batter on top from the sides & work to the center. There will be some mixing, but this method keeps most of the sauces from sticking & burning on the sides later.)
4. Bake for...30 minutes (I forgot to actually watch the time, so I don't actually know how long I baked 'em.)
5. Eat them (but not by yourself). You'll want some milk...and possibly some water also. (My opinion: homemade vanilla ice cream with these brownies would potentially kill someone. Maybe not the best plan...)

My batch came out with that dense slightly overdone consistency I love, with the bonus of a creamy, fudgy center. Ridiculously delish. Score.

Is there other news? Nothing of note really. Got to design posters/flyers/table tents tomorrow and also finish up a hard drive reskin. Plus some uber heavy studying for art history and a small type up for advprod. The usual, sorta boring stuff really.

And thanks to sleep deprivation combined with guinness, it is time for bed.

Night, all.
-Renni

Sea Monsters Need Nibbles Too

So I finally did a quickie photoshop painting/rendering of this sketch I've had for a while. And it's a sea monster. Or an alien. Or something. I'm not really sure what it is quite yet.
Hopefully it's something that will sell at least moderately well.
Over the next several months I intend to expand my ventures quite widely and rapidly. I'd really like to up my income from this to like 1000% of its current profits. We'll see how that goes.
So, here's the link. I'm not putting the straight image, because I don't appreciate thieves. (And I know you're out there somewhere.)
Blargh!
Out for a Midnight Snack Posters from Zazzle.com

In more general specs, this whole parents visiting weekend = acute loneliness...more acute than usual, so I guess that makes it ridiculously sharp or something. Anyway, getting things done helps. I unfortunately did not make it to the store, which is not so good because I still need some supplies for a studio class, and the kitchen is out of dish soap. But, I'm about to crack down like mad on some art history. And it's American art, which is a whole lot cooler than all you naysayers think. :P

Peace out, peeps.

-Renni

Wishing I lived in Britain

Because then I'd be able to watch the BBC broadcast Doctor Who this year starring the eleventh Doctor, played by the incredibly fine Matt Smith. True, I will miss Ten's antics and the remarkable acting of David Tennant (The End of Time = teary eyes...so sad to see him go), but I am extremely excited by Eleven's prospects...and that's just after a whopping whole minute and four seconds onscreen (yes...so sad to see 10 go immediately replaced by an eek yay!!! "Fingers...lots of fingers." "I'm a girl! No! No...I'm not a girl, no. And, and still not ginger!"). And honestly, since the start of the revival with Nine, the show has been getting better and better. Different than the old version's long story arcs and a bit higher F/X budget these days, but completely incredible. Messr Russel T Davies (and to some extent Messr Steven Moffat) is either some sort of god, or on some very potent drug (if the latter, may I have some, please?). In other words, he is a bloody brilliant (and completely wacky) Genius.
But yes, I am particularly jealous of everyone who will get to watch this coming season before me. Which will be everyone in Britain with access to a tv. Or the internet (legally that is).
Rawr.
*contemplates moving for the sake of a television show...checks plane ticket prices...rental rates for flats...checks bank balance...*
Well, I decidedly CANNOT move to Britain, so hopefully Scifi (oh, excuse me; that would be the girlified or whathaveyou "Syfy" channel now), will carry it. It's certainly better than anything they've put out. Ever.

Oh well, time to stop pipedreaming and return to illustrating sea monsters and photo stalking...I mean researching.

Laters, gators.

-Renni

reuhr?

Well, went on choir tour this past weekend. That was pretty good. I did manage to knock a bell off the tree during the opening piece of our final concert, but nobody cared, since it didn't break. We went to city museum in St. Louis - very fun. I had to waltz in a speedway dining stop with three other people. I then failed at rickrolling this unamusing event. Oh well. By the time I got back, I was sore, bruised, dead tired and sad.

Hmm...other news: I'm dropping my minor. Tomorrow. (Today...) I haven't the time to devote to it anymore, and I just can't keep up the pace of the current class. So that's that. :/
Oh yes, Olympics. I'm sort of watching reruns on the internet. But not really. And I think it's sad that the year I don't really care about them at all is a year when I am very close to them - I could have actually gone! But obviously, I didn't.

I very much miss driving. Having the ability to take yourself places to get things done whenever the need arises is very liberating. Being unable to get things when you need them is extremely frustrating and I do not approve. But I don't have a working car right now, much less one that would stand up to all this snow.

Speaking of which - always winter never Christmas...or at least, all this snow and never playtime. I am surrounded by a childhood fantasy and in three years have never been able to act on my inclinations. :(

(Hmm...I seem to be rather emoticonic today.)

Taught a chocolate class last night. Was supposed to do it a week ago so it was before that stupid commercial holiday whose date was Sunday, but I forgot about it so we rescheduled. It went pretty well, though my ratios were a little off. Not that they knew/cared. That lesson reminded me of why I liked theater, and why I should not be a teacher.

Anyway, still supertired. I've decided that's my new mode of living, but hopefully my schedule will kick in tomorrow night (okay, tonight) and things will go back to being totally kickass. Unlike last week where I missed probably half my classes because I couldn't stay awake. Otherwise...I have no idea what will happen. It seems like every time I get things going completely properly, I inadvertently blow them into smithereens, as if I possess some paralyzing subconscious fear of success. Which is a ridiculous idea. (Also, I do not have mono, so that's not what's making me so tired. I'm not really sure what is. Could be any one of a dozen things I suppose. Bets on stupid bioclock and perpetual sleep deprivation of the university atmosphere.)

Anything else important or cool? No not really.

Have a good Ash Wednesday, everyone. (I almost said Happy Lent, but that somehow doesn't sound right...)

-Ren

So obviously I don't ever go back and update with recipes. Or anything remotely interesting for that matter. And strangely enough, that doesn't really bother me.
Life is interesting. Pretty sure there's an air-borne mold living in my dorm room. That's tasty. Found a white mold with a red stain in my humidifier filter. Let's just say that the air will be a bit drier for awhile. But, that would explain the insane reaction my bod's been having (ie this whole not getting over bronchitis, continual post-nasal drip, croakiness, fatigue from fighting off infectious bugger, et cetera). Yeah, this whole sick thing is definitely not working. Last week was alright, but it got worse this week again, starting with last Saturday...probably partially thanks to my bus commuting computing errors that put outside in blustery heavy snowfall for at least an hour. Yeah, that shopping trip did not go as planned.
My logistics were solid...but one of my route maps wasn't. Basically, I missed three buses and ended up in a nearby restaurant eating a chicken sandwich and sipping a pomegranate martini. Major props to my friend who came and rescued me. (So wish I had my car! But then, if I'd had my own car, I would not have had the excellent, albeit somewhat oversized & overpriced, martini.)
Right now I have gorgeous pink stains all over my left hand from the juice of fresh cranberries. I wonder if it will come off?
(I made a very high fiber high protein cookie with cranberries, a hint of orange and some miniature chocolate chips. They're not bad, especially considering that one of the main ingredients is Kashi GoLean...a cereal that when I first bought the box, I though might like. I was sadly mistaken.
But less about food, more about...oh I suppose I shall have to do.
Anyhow, choir leaves on tour today. In a mere 6.5 hours I will have to be packed and reported to the headquarters of campus ministry to help load our bells and accoutrements on the bus. Yep, it's a handbell choir. I play the top octave (Dflat7 to C8) and our lowest C & D (which are bigger than my head); however, I don't get to play both ends of the spectrum in the same pieces, so it's not too hectic. What is hectic is figuring out how to fix my life. The academic bit, anyway. The rest of it seems to come with a personalized, to-the-minute, freely updated guidebook these days (available via ... something about a cobweb covering the planet. Sorry, didn't really catch that part...) No, but I have royally screwed up my French class (again - what is it with me and la langue francaise?!) - my 9th year of French and I can no longer manage to right a two page essay?I'm thinking it may be time to drop the class and the major. Because I am just not up to snuff for that class. But registration wouldn't let me go any lower, despite my attempts at reasoning with them. So. Yeah, anyway, I basically just had this paper due Wednesday, and I've never turned it in. I shouldn't be so terrified of a professor, but I am. I'm scared of all of them actually. Which is silly, but the truth.
Another truth? I should have done at least one additional model out of polyurethane foam in the industrial design workshop before Wednesday, certainly before today, and I just didn't. I could easily have made the time (if I had slept at night instead of through classes or done work instead of casting myself into the horrible netting of internet flash gaming...it's so terrible! why do I do it!? because I don't have real friends to play with and I'm avoiding my academia. but that's a topic for another time), but I never did. So I should be showing up to that class in like 45 minutes, but I'm thinking I may just not go at all this week...I'm really tired. And if I'm gonna have to ring tomorrow, er today, then I should at least have some sleep, or I won't be able to focus on the notes.

Wowzers. I'm totally going all first-half-of-the-twentieth-century-author-who-gets-longwinded-and-convoluted on you...sorry. In any event, that end of life is kind of "waugh-waugh"... Well, then again, if I think about it, I guess my other spectra are going that way too. Totally bombed an important event appointment I promised a friend I'd do - that wasn't good. Have been increasingly homesick and nostalgic lately. Eugh. But in the cheery news section, I do believe that I found my stolen bike, complete with a new university registration and attached to a bike rack on the southern quad. They replaced the handlebars and the wheels. I'd love to get a good look at the registration numbering - see if it's been switched out/around etc. But then agin, the person currently in possession probably wouldn't know due to lack of involvement in the crime's perpetration. Most likely they bought it from a local bikestore who bought it off some lowlife scumbag fencer of cheapass goods. (Really, when you could take any of the many awesome and worthy bikes on this campus, you choose the huffy ventura in need of chains, handlebar grips, poslishing, seat cover and wheels? And then you don't even frankenstein it? Just replace half the broken parts? That's so stupid!) Anyway, need to file a report and then can find out if that really is my bike or some bizarre coinkydink. (I am somewhat annoyed that this blog's spellcheck does not recognize the veritable word "coinkydink"...that is rather sad.)

I don't really think there's anything else to say right now.

Here's hoping the squirrel's tail grows back!

Ciao,
Ren

Vote!

So I rarely use this blog (a fact which I hope to soon change, but we'll see)...
However, I'm now going to shamelessly plug a friend's entry in a design competition.
Go to this page:
http://socialdesigner.com/submissions/a-year-in-the-color-of-living
Click the heart that says "I love this!" to vote.
You'll have to do a quick sign-up for the site, but it's free, cool, and never spams.

In other news, I'll be bringing you my awesome recipe for fruity bourbon slush this week!
Plus, thoughts on...I have no idea.

Sorry for staying away so long.
Time to get prolific, pretend invisible internet readership!

Ciao!
Renni