Happy Thanksgiving, I suppose.

For Thanksgiving, I was in Pigeon at my grandparent's with my extended family. It was generally a good time, although it never lives up anymore to the Thanksgiving weekends of my youth. We had Thanksgiving on Thursday and Christmas on Friday. Everyone left on Saturday. Anna was there, and she was adorable. My little cousin Heidi (who is a little older than Anna) was also there, and she was cute too. I had to play with her and her 5-year old brother, Will, in the snow. She frequently said in her cute little 2 1/2 year old voice 'follow me guys'. I was only home a little bit on Sunday... I was gone by 2pm. I saw Ross on Wednesday and Ryan on Sunday briefly. It would have been nice to have more time to see people (like Lyne and her offspring). I might come home this weekend or next weekend. We'll see how it goes.

And now I'm back here and nothing has changed. La dee da. Lucky for me I still have a box of thin mints.

This Week

Monday: It was so humid that it felt like breathing water.

Tuesday: This day was long, cold, and boring. The GSI for my linguistics class lectured and he did well. He explained things clearly and the class didn't take advantage of him like they do the professor. Some people in the class have developed a type of banter with the professor (who is a humorous man). It can be quite entertaining, but sometimes it gets to the point of blatant disrespect and can really affect the efficiency and clarity of the lecture.

Wednesday: I had free bagels, coffee, and hot chocolate for breakfast. The Alumni Association has been doing that every Wednesday for a while. This week was the last time for this semester though. The power went out in the MLB during my German class, and the professor found out that I didn't watch the movie that we were supposed to watch last week.

Thursday: This was another long, cold, boring day. I had to watch that stupid German movie. I wanted to watch it at home on my computer, but the link/file on the internet wasn't working. So I spent about three hours in the LRC (Language Resource Center) today. We watched a National Geographic movie about volcanoes in my GeoSci class, but the idiot video person turned it off before it was finished. The GSI had said that we should stay until the end, and I wasn't planning to, but then it was interesting. And then the idiot turned it off. Grr. It is freezing outside.

Ich hasse die Welt.

I'm back in Ann Arbor after a weekend at home. It was nice sleeping in my own bed. I think those are the first good nights of sleeping that I've had in a while. My parents seemed pleased to see me. On Saturday, I went with my mom and Agnes to some bazaars. The one in Au Gres sucked. There were cleaning supplies and make-up, but very few actually good or appropriate things. There were a couple Christmasy tables, and those were nice. There was a table with Beanie Babies (I got another penguin), and that was also nice. And there were Girl Scout cookies, and that was really nice (2 boxes of thin mints for me). Other than that, it sucked. Some things would have been ok if there just would've been more stuff there. There was some elementary class selling basic wreathes. In the context, it looked like just another table trying to get people to give them money for their worthless crap. There weren't really any good products offered. In Standish, however, the selection was quite nice. I got a free raspberry pie from [my uncle] Glen, a UM cat dangling a MSU mouse in its mouth, a small gift for Nidhal, and my mom got some nice things too.

My camera came and I like it. It's small and cute, and basically like my old one but with some new/better features, and that's good because I then I don't have to remaster another camera. The only not so good thing is that it takes a special battery. Also, I have no way to interface the memory card with my computer, but I'll figure something out for that.

While at home, I started reading Pride and Prejudice again. It's been years since I first read it (6-8 years, probably), and it's nice to get reaquainted with it. I noticed that some lines in the newer movie were given to other characters, and some other lines are word for word. In fact, a lot of the lines in the movie are quite similar to passages in the book, which makes sense... the movie is, after all, based on the book.

On Friday, I had dinner with Ellie and Steph (neighbor sophomore year and roommate freshman and sophomore year respectively). It was nice to catch up with them.

And that's really all there is to say. I think I'm going to sit on the couch with a box of thin mints, a slice of pizza, and a Vernors or perhaps a glass of cider now.

Schlaflied

If I could have a superpower, what would it be? Reading minds was always on the top of my list, but flying would also be cool. On the other hand, teleporting could be better than flying because then I could just teleport to Germany instead of making a long flight (with a plane or otherwise). And traveling through time would be cool too, but I wouldn't want to be able to affect anything. I'd just want to observe. Being able to heal oneself would also be quite useful. And so would being able to learn things really really quickly. Lesser superpowers would be moving stuff with my mind, walking through matter, super hearing, invisible, etc.


On a less cool note, the stupid people in these apartments were unable to just park in their own spot, so now there are no assigned spots, which is total crap. My spot was good. Very good. It was MY spot. I like my spot. I am so annoyed and not at all pleased with my living situation... or any situation at this point.


I'll probably go home this weekend but I might not be there until late Friday night. We'll see.


Poor Nidhal is sick. It sounds like a nasty cold. I hope he feels better.

No Longer an Adventure

Today was annoying. I didn't have time to eat until 8pm. That means, I got up at 9:45 and had nothing except a very small glass of coffee until I finally got my weird tasting macaroni and cheese. My first class was at 11 (German). Blah is all I have to say about that. The next class was French, but my partner was a really weird, dumb girl. Then I had my linguistics lecture and was bored out of my mind. I had to walk from the MLB (German, French) to Weill Hall (Linguistics), and they are a speed-walking 13 minutes away from each other. Right after my linguistics lecture, I had to go back to the MLB for a meeting with my professor. And then right after that meeting, I had to go back to Weill Hall and then further in order to meet with my linguistics group. I am getting really sick of the stretch of State St.

And then after the group meeting, I was finally home. I ended up getting into a conversation with Jenny, which was followed by an IM conversation with Nidhal. Therefore, I was not able to eat until after 8pm.

Prison Break was on tonight, but I didn't watch it. It was two hours long and thus conflicted with Heroes, which I did watch.

In conclusion, all I do is go to class and watch TV/movies.

Mighty Ducks Marathon

When I wrote the post for yesterday, I did not realize that I would have a Mighty Ducks marathon today. It was a nice waste of time. And that was pretty much all I did today.

It's nice to see Michigan win again. UM is 4-0 against MSU since I've been here. Beautiful.

The weather was nice again, but I did not spend one fraction of a second outside.

Nidhal is safe and sound back in Freiburg. His first week of classes was this past week. Unfortunately, his sleeping habits haven't yet adjusted to Germany time.

I could do my French homework or write my German paper or read for Linguistics now. Or I could waste more time. There are, after all, so many movies in the world.

Quack Quack

It's been a busy two months.

There is so little to write about. I took a little nap this afternoon. Classes were boring today. I got my grade for my French oral exam and it was a 'B'. I guess that's not bad. My most recent French test probably wasn't great. I don't know if I want to take French next semester or not. I like learning the language, but the incessent homework is really not my thing. I would rather go through the book myself, but like I'd ever accomplish anything that way.

My digital camera died. Did I say that? I bought a new one and it should be arriving at home soon. It sounds not bad, but the battery is a speacial one, so that could be inconvenient.

I spent the afternoon watching TV. Friends, Stargate, King of Queens, Full House, etc. At least in Germany I couldn't just sit around and watch TV because there was never anything good on. All I'd ever watch was sometimes Simpsons (weekdays 6-7) or Desperate Housewives reruns (well, they would've been reruns for the U.S., but I think it was the first showing there). And my printer was good in Germany. The one I have now takes about a year to start printing.

My MCard was falling apart, so I went to the office and got a new one today. I didn't have to pay anything because it looked like normal wear and tear, and I'm pretty sure it was. I was surprised that they just printed it out right then. It took maybe five minutes maximum.

I have a keychain duck that quacks and has a blue light in its mouth. It is cute... and that light is bright.