For my Philly friends

If you went on the CSM Philly trip with me, and somehow found my blog, this post is for you. Fuego and sea-themed cards (especially the christmas tree worm), that is all. :)

Happy Wednesday!

Actually, Wednesday's are pretty mundane, but still I suppose today is worthy of a post...

First of all, I would just like to let everyone know that the rodent problem has been rectified. After barricading myself in the front 2 rooms of my apartment for 3 days, I finally asked my neighbor to come and handle the situation for me. I essentially locked him in the barricaded rooms, shut the door, and crossed my fingers it was dead. Lucky me, because the rodent was very dead. I tend to imagine (even though I refused to actually go in and look at the carcass) that it wasn't a pleasant end. They set up glue traps, so when this rodent (which was a mouse) first got stuck in the glue, it was only part of it's body... in it's last moments it dragged itself and the trap across my kitchen floor. Kinda sad, even for a rodent. My neighbor threw it out and I then spent the next 5 hours sanitizing and washing all the floors in my apartment. Everything is back to normal now.

I spent a good portion of yesterday afternoon reading tjbash, which was just generally hilarious. I hadn't been on that site in a very long time...now that I've viewed it I should be set for the next 3 years bahaha. www.tjbash.org

I felt this quote was worthy of posting in that Brinda has a physics test tomorrow she is freaking out about and this appropriately sums up my sentiments. Leave it to Doc Walk to add hilarity to my day.

// Semester Exam review
Dr. Walker: The semester exam is next... Tuesday. Anybody have anything they have questions about? Something you've been struggling with for the past few months? Anything?
John Jaskot: Physics.

My mom sent me an e-mail this morning that said Mother Teresa was made a saint last night in Rome (well I suppose Vatican City) at 11 pm, which is pretty awesome news.

Otherwise, my paper is still nonexistent, words with friends is improving, the weather is seriously unfortunate, and my feet are cold. Pretty typical day.

Hello, first floor clemons

At the request of my good friend Sarah, who just saved my blog to her favorites, I have opted to update more frequently. As in now. And presumably in the very near future.

So here I am, currently sitting on the rather dull and dirty first floor of club clem, home to groups of people looking stressed and eating awkwardly so as to not make a lot of noise. It actually is quite comical to watch how unhappy everyone looks with their headphones and srat cups littered among the open macbooks. Oh clemons.

So I am here...not because I particularly like this library...I'm an aldie fan, hands down...but because alderman after 8 pm kinda creeps me out and i don't do clark. So I'm in clem with my freshly checked out textbooks about the Italian Risorgimento and Otto von Bismarck trying to come up with an essay topic for my paper that is due in about 72 hours... 50% of my final grade ftw.

So far this is what I have learned that may or may not be useful: Cavour was a badass, but Bismarck was even more of a badass (I am an expert on how to be a badass, I read blogs about it and everything... if you don't get this joke don't worry it's not directed at you). Sardinia was pretty important. Napoleon III pretty much allowed Italy to unify under the premise of crushing Austria. And there we have it. Months of sitting in a class about the evolution of Europe and that's all I've gotten about Italian Unification. Obviously I make excellent use of my time.

Words with friends update: I have lost every single game I have played, with the exception of 1. I declined it by accident, so I technically didn't lose it. But no worries, folks, I'm making progress...I think a win may be in sight in the near future. Although I don't want to speak too soon.

In the spirit of procrastination (and the recent realization that I really should know more random trivia), here are a few pieces of info to expand your horizons and brighten your day:

- Hippo milk is pink.

- More than 10 people a year are killed by vending machines.

- You can overdose on caffeine (this does not bode well for me).

- The warmest temperature ever recorded in Antarctica was 3 degrees Fahrenheit.

That's all for now. Hope you enjoyed this, Sarah.

An unfortunate occurrence

Dear Friends,

So looking at my blogger history (full of unfinished thoughts, random anecdotes, and large lapses in posts) I am making an entry today to document the unfortunate incidents of the past 24 hours.

Namely, one incident.

There is a rodent trapped in my kitchen. Yes. It's in there. Well actually it's more like...contained in half the apartment (kitchen and empty room) - I closed the door to that side of it and stuffed rags under the gap so hopefully it does not burrow through. How it got in I have no idea. How long it's been here, I also have no idea. Don't really want to contemplate that one. All I know is that it is large, brown, fat, ugly, and has a tail. It is also apparently pretty stupid.

So now what do I do you might ask? After rapid iphone communication with my Dad, a newcomer to the world of technology, I have learned that no one is going to swoop in and hoist it out or shoot it on spot. No. Apparently they will set traps - and apparently the types of traps they set are important. After a mild freakout and sleeping in my uggs (I cannot access my rain boots because they are in the kitchen, fail) in case the situation necessitated a speedy exit, it is safe to say I have survived the night.

Now they come to set traps and the rodent (who I have designated as a "he") will hopefully die in a trap on my vinyl kitchen floor until I have the courage to go in and check, at which point I will have to wait until someone comes to dispose of it. Classy.

It really is unfortunate that I'm not on Spring Break at the convent right now so that I could freak out with my roommates and Fr. Stephen could deal with it for me. But seriously, I miss you all. I got words with friends, my username is impish nomad. Add me.

So yeah. Guess I won't be eating this week. Wait STOP is this for real? There is an app called chess with friends??? Ok I'm going to go download that and then go see my apartment people. I will keep you posted on the...developing situation.

Besos, lex

The end of an era...goodbye 2010

So, in the last 80 minutes of 2010, I will just say that I am ridiculously ready for 2011. 2010 was a looooooong year. 2011 will be infinitely better. Oh and, you know, going to El Salvador on Sunday is pretty exciting. :) I will be ringing in January 1 by reading articles and finishing a book I bought a long time ago called "The Monster of Florence" (it's a true story about a serial killer in Italy).

Happy New Year!

santiago, soda, and sunshine

Above I have posted a picture of pilgrims hiking the way of St. James (Santiago de Compostela), a trail that spans the entire length of northern Spain. This summer I learned about it in Valencia, and it is something that I would really like to do at a date in the near future. It takes about 40 days (700 km...don't know what the equate to in miles). Many people, Catholic or not, have hiked this path and say that is a deeply spiritual experience, regardless of your religion.

There are soooo many things to do out there. Tonight I was talking to someone about how I really want to go see the coca-cola factory in Atlanta. Anyone who knows me knows I carry this drink around me essentially at all times. It seems fitting to go see where they make it. I also really want to go see the old antebellum mansions and plantations in the deep south...i've never been to the south really (i don't consider florida the actual south).

A few years ago (actually the day after the trial of the horrendous speeding ticket senior year), my mom and brother and i went back to merritt island, florida after quite a long time. Merritt Island is...well like it sounds...and island about 5 minutes from cape canaveral and the kennedy space center on the atlantic. It's 50 minutes east of orlando. I think this is a tangential anecdote that is subliminally conveying my deep desire for sunshine and warmth. i despise the snow and cold. altho i must say i would never live in florida again if i could help it. once is enough.

In other news, I changed the background of my blog (idk how really i clicked a button and it looked ok so i'm leaving it for the time being...thank you science and tech high school for my inability to operate a computer) to outfit a more globetrotting outlook. I'm going to El Salvador in a week...which is so EXCITING! I haven't had time to be excited about it at all, and i'm slowly but surely getting through the feminist and microfinance readings (not my 2 favorite topics to be sure)...but it's interesting stuff. which i am going to read now.

so happy boxing day (altho it is technically the 27th now) and a belated christmas to everyone. wow. :)

procrastination part dos

One last spanish essay of the semester and then i am finished with spanish essays hopefully for a very long time. it is actually quote atrocious of me to be blogging at the moment, especially because i am about 8 pages away from being finished with the first draft of a paper due tomorrow afternoon. can someone say unfortunate life decisions¿?¿?¿?¿?¿?

soooo in other news it is the christmas season....and that translates to holiday shopping¡! which i normally wouldn't care about except that i work at Bath and Body Works up in NOVA. talk about some ridiculously rude people. not all of them obviously, but it is amazing! i feel like navigating the store is metaphorically related to driving in 66 during rush hour and having people cut you off and honk their horns and be altogether unpleasant. i got an award (well award might be stretching it but it was at least a distinction?) for providing excellent customer service! some person went online after black friday and filled out a review that said i was an excellent salesperson. my manager was super excited because it was the only compliment the district got that entire weekend. good job me. oh the hilariosity that is retail.

also did you know there are a bajillion types of lotion??? there is body lotion, body cream, body butter, shower cream, hand cream, antibac hand cream, shea lotions, and don't even get me started about the ridiculous amounts of aromatherapy stuff. yeah. lotion is complicated. who knew?

in other news here is something interesting. my birthday is well i guess tomorrow (since it is technically now the 14th) and today i went to the good old DMV to renew my license. procrastinate? yes perhaps i did but NO ONE likes the DMV. anyways i show up and they tell me i have to retake the permit test because i got a ticket under 21. i got a ticket two years ago for going 75 on 495 right before the braddock road exit (for those who know - this is not speeding at all, in fact i was the slowest person on the road in the very right hand lane about to exit and some unmarked car pulled me over...am i still bitter? not until today¡¡!¡!¡!¡!¡). even tho i went to defensive driving, went to court and plead guilty, paid the fine, and have been driving just fine for the past two years, i know have to retake the test. the man says to me - you will be fine you should know all this stuff. like i know how many feet i need to stay behind an ambulance. just use common sense, numbers are unnecessary! anyways this entire ordeal irritated me so now i have to go back tomorrow and take the test i passed literally 4 years ago (sophomore year of high school???) to reinstate my license. and the ironic part? if i fail the test i can just drive away! at least until wednesday.

well it has not been a fun semester, but at least it is wrapping up. in honor of lisa reading this blog and lorenzo, sofia, and paloma in valencia.......besos y que vaya bien.