Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm back home for the next four days, which is actually kind of nice, if a bit crazy. I forget how loud my house gets with this many people in it.

Hope you all have a fun, food-filled, safe Thanksgiving! I plan to sleep in and eat a lot for the next four days - if you can, you should do the same! ♥

So. In the last four days I have:

• seen Imogen Heap in concert. OH MY GOD. SO FUCKING AWESOME. Seriously, her voice is magic incarnate.


• determined that I am "casually dating" someone. At least, this is what Paige tells me it's called. (lol.)


• been sick for the first time in over three years. I forgot how much gross stuff comes out of you when you're sick.


• been to the hospital urgent care for the first time since the sixth grade, because I started getting crippling abdominal pains and Paige got worried that my appendix may explode. As it turns out it wasn't my appendix...and they don't actually know what it is. Officially I believe they called it "irritation due to upper respiratory illness." Who knows?


• probably put on twenty pounds from eating only carbohydrates since I'm supposed to avoid upsetting my stomach.

Paige and I may actually be married. I try not to dwell on it.

The abdominal pains haven't gone away yet -- they are subsiding, if very slowly. I wish they weren't so damn persistent, I'm tired of eating endless amounts of cereal and tortillas. (All the doctors in the hospital looked puzzled when I said I wasn't nauseous, just in severe pain. Apparently abdominal pain without nausea is uncommon?)

This has been a very strange week.

Here, have 1/3 of California sticking up the other 2/3 that I drew for the Cal Dems magazine cover. (I promise I have real art, I just can't get my scanner to work right now :P)

Oh, xkcd. How I love you. Please never, never stop indulging my inner nerd. ♥
You need to know something about chemistry to get it, but if you do ohmygod so hilarious!

Considering the fact that I spent a total of 9 hours today studying chemistry, this is one of the best pick-me-ups ever. Reminding me that this insanity can actually be entertaining, too.

If my normal, functional thought process could make its way back into my brain, that would be fantastic, thanks.

Happy birthday to me. :)

Now, I just need to get through my 4-hour chem lab on four hours of sleep after slightly too much alcohol last night...

Someone conned me out of over $100 yesterday.

I was coaxed into buying a magazine subscription that would presumably go towards cancer research, by a guy who said he was in a frat on campus that was hosting a fundraising competition. He approached me as I was on my way to a meeting, chatting amiably and making jokes and generally being friendly, pitching his magazines, the grand prize trip to London for his frat, and the good cause this was all going to. I agreed to listen, and he was frustratingly persuasive. I agreed to help him out, thinking that I had to shell out at most $40 or so. We went to the ATM so I could pay him; I had no checks on me. (What college kid does??)

He told me to pull $148 out of the ATM (and I, running on 4 hours of sleep and completely stressed/taken by surprise, didn't bother to check whatever receipt he wrote me and did it). I paid him, feeling bad because I hadn't expected to spend that much money but convincing myself it was going to a good cause. After all the time he spent talking to me, I felt bad about turning him away when I was standing at the ATM to pay him. I had a meeting to go to; I left, and he did too. The whole thing was done in less than fifteen minutes.

I had a bad feeling about the whole thing and checked the receipt at the meeting - he never dated or signed it, had written $48 on it when I gave him $148, and I didn't have any of his contact information. I don't know if the name he gave me is fake, or if he's even in a frat.

Mostly I'm furious with myself because it was my own damn fault, and now I can't stop thinking about all the things that should have tipped me off that something wasn't right. But whether it was gullibility, stress, or sleep deprivation, I didn't notice. And I figured I should put some money in my karmic bank, and he was friendly, and...I don't even know. I still can't come up with a sufficient explanation for why I did what I did.

I guess I'm just disappointed - in myself, because I feel like an absolute fucking idiot, and in humanity in general. I forgot that people like that existed, that they would gladly take your money with a smile and a charming smile. I'm pissed that he was laughing at me the entire time in his head as I made a fool of myself.

I've contacted the frat that he was presumably a part of, to see if they are actually doing a drive, and if not, to tell them someone's pretending to be a member and conning money from people doing it. I'm also planning on calling the campus police to inform them as well. I'm not really holding out any hope for a resolution, and certainly not to see my money back ever again.

I know that the worst thing that happens is that I prove myself a gullible fool, and lose $150 to a stranger. It's not the end of the world, even if it sucks.

I guess I'm just having more trouble reconciling the emotional repercussions of it all.

So I just finished watching the newest episode of True Blood ( and it's totally my own fault for getting addicted to this show ) Cut for spoilers and to spare the rest of you my fangirling.

I'm moving to Berkeley on Saturday! For good, that is. I'm perplexed by my desire to go back to school, but I guess that's the true indicator that I love my school. Even when I can clearly predict the countless nights of pain, organic chemistry, and sleeplessness ahead, I still can't wait to get back there.

I'll be the last to move into my house, but I slept in my own room when I visited there two nights ago and it was glorious. I am so ready for it to be "my" room and already appreciate the upgrade from a twin-size bed to a full-size one. Given my tendency to pick up very tall boys...this is probably a good thing. Paige and I have the most sketch bathroom in the world, meaning that our bathroom is a water closet, shower stall, and sink all situated in the open garage. As in, not enclosed in an actual room. (We need to rig an opaque shower curtain, the shower stall is completely clear.)

And yet somehow I'm still not deterred in my desire to move in. (I may be crazy.)

The next few days will be spent packing and praying to God I don't forget anything important. I've said bye to most of the people I need to say bye to, and the rest of them can come and visit me in Berkeley anyways.

If all goes as planned, this summer is the last time I'll legitimately live in my house as a permanent resident for the next three years (and, if I'm lucky, longer). It's weird having tangible evidence that I'm growing up.

Stumbled upon these while cleaning out my room in preparation for The Day I Move Out. I forgot how much I really loved AP English.

Six-Word Stories

from me:

• Can't - I'm your sister. Sorry, Luke.


• Emo Danish prince dies. The end.


• Darth Maul: still alive, just bisected.

from other people/authors/etc:

• Starlet sex scandal. Giant squid involved. - Margaret Atwood


• Metrosexuals notwithstanding, quiche still lacks something. - David Brin


• The baby's blood type? Human, mostly. - Orson Scott Card


• Failed SAT. Lost scholarship. Invented rocket. - William Shatner

Try telling a story in six words - it's harder than you'd think.

I'm updating from Berkeley! Haven't actually moved in yet, but my friend is in the middle of training to be an RA and I decided to come up to visit him. Spent the night here, and we are leaving for a dining-hall breakfast momentarily (decidedly better than a lunch or dinner). I really do miss this place. I'll be moving in officially on the 21st or so, I think. I'm...ready to be back. Even if the idea of starting classes again is less than palatable.

I haven't been sleeping well again...I either fall asleep way early because of exhaustion (or pass out and nap during the day) or else I don't sleep until 3am or later. I'm not sure how this will change when I get back to school; it's either going to get better or worse, but really I could use as much sleep as possible at the onset of the semester. :P Stupid insomnia.

In other news, ( I dreamt about someone I would rather not have ). Cut to save all of you the tl;dr.

Okay, off to breakfast! I hope they have omelettes. :3

I need:

1. a distraction.


2. to get more sleep.


3. a boyfriend.


4. help.


I don't know what I need, but I need something.