So True

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February 21st

The second best day of the year.


I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

I thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head:
"There is no peace on earth," I said,
"For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men."

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men."

Till, ringing singing, on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime,
Of peace on earth, good will to men!

Into Thin Air

My cake... or maybe I should say Nidhal's cake.

I like watching the Olympics.

Good news: I got an A+ on a big assignment for one of my classes. Bad news: another one of my classes is completely stupid. Grr.

http://www.countyhealthrankings.org/michigan
Check that out. Washtenaw County is the 7th healthiest county in Michigan. Arenac County is the 72nd healthiest county in Michigan (or, otherwise stated, the 11th most unhealthy county).

Happy Valentine's Day

Yesterday, I read Skin by Ted Dekker. I could not put it down. ...I guess I had forgotten how good his books can be. It kept me guessing the entire time. The primary ending was a good twist, but it kind of took away more than it added, I think. You get to know these characters throughout the book and then, in the end, all this history with these characters is erased. And the secondary ending was unnecessary... very matrixesque. But it was definitely a good read.

Nidhal and I had his favorite breakfast: toast with a variety of possible toppings (cheese, meat, cream cheese, etc.). I also made a cake in the shape of a heart. And for dinner, there is a variety of food (lamb, chicken, potatoes, fennel salad, and a tomato/zucchini thing).

I always forget what I want to write when I get here.

On Friday, I finished The Hobbit in German, and then I read Skin and now I'm reading Helden Wie Wir by Thomas Brussig.

Germany on Toast

The title is referring to the breakfast we had today. It's not typical German or anything, but it's what Nidhal and I always used to eat for breakfast in Germany when I was visiting him. It's just toast (or a Brötchen in Germany) with cream cheese and Chimea (a Tunisian nut paste). So we had that today along with a soft-boiled egg, and it was wunderbar.

SNOW DAY! Yes, EMU decided to close the university for today, so I do not have class tonight. This is, of course, a good thing, because I hadn't done my homework yet. Whoops. :) I'm excited.

Now with my free day, I am going to make chocolate croissants. Technically, they are crescent rolls from a can, but I didn't feel like going through all the work to make actual croissants. One day I will, but not today. However, I did make the chocolate ganache to but inside them. Not that that was difficult, but it's an accomplishment nevertheless.

My cold is slowly getting better.

And I HATE it that stores are always so so SO far ahead of the actual season. Nidhal and I went to get boots for him in December or early January, when the snowy season was just beginning, and they were all on clearance already! There wasn't one nice pair left. And then yesterday we were in Meijer and saw Spring Oreos with yellow cream centers. It's not even Valentine's Day yet! Wouldn't it make more sense to have Oreos with pink centers right now? And we can't forget Target who puts winter boots and coats out in August and swimsuits out in January. Stupid.

Super Scrabble Bowl

After doing the laundry, I basically spent the whole day playing scrabble. I played one game against a friend and one game against myself. I won the game against myself 296 to 253. :) The other game is, as of now, undecided.

My cold feels more like allergies now. Sneezing and itchy nose...

Let's see... what else... I thought I had more to say.

The Heroes season 4 finale was much better than all the season 4 episodes combined. Silar is my hero. I didn't like him in season 1, but ever since then, he's been one of my favorites.

I would like a chocolate croissant, please.

I seem to be feeling better... at least during the day. Nights are still rough. But at least I feel healthy when I need to be doing things.

Nidhal hasn't seen his family in a couple of years and I have never personally met his family. So we need to go this summer when I have two months off. But that costs a lot of money. We've been applying for jobs and such, but so far there hasn't been too much luck and we're slowly running out of time. SO if anyone wants to pay us to do anything between now and the end of June, we will do it gladly. Hopefully we'll be able to find the money because his parents are planning on us being there.

We watched Das Experiment last night. I had seen it once about 5 years ago, and strangely, I was more appalled by it the first time around. It's based on the Standford Prison Experiment done in the 70's. Good movie.

Tailwinds and Rising Meadows

This afternoon, I watched Manhunter, which is basically Red Dragon from the 80's. I think I like Red Dragon more just because of Hannibal. There's more of him in that one and he also seems more intelligent and calculating there. But it was good. It was interesting to see the similarities and differences.

I'm sick. Sick. Sick. Either my mother gave me her cold on Saturday or it's been coming for a while. I've been getting headaches almost everyday for a week, so I'm inclined to think that that's related to my newly developed sore throat, stuffy nose, and fuzzy-headedness.

This afternoon, I met with my new conversation partner. He's from Korea and he's studying computer science. The conversation went surprisingly well. Usually I can't hold up conversations for long, but we were talking for a good 80 minutes. The length of the conversation was especially surprising considering my inability to form complete thoughts.

I have new shoes! They are light brown and wonderful. I would sleep with them next to me if Nidhal weren't there. I also have a new used DVD entitled Das Experiment. Now if I just didn't have so much homework.