friday, 31 august

quote of the day: "i think i'm the only person on my floor who goes to the bathroom" -mandahouse

i love you, aaron. don't worry about a thing. thank god for 4 day weekends, eh? my eyes still sting from last night. i hate cigarettes. poor kevin. that's abouts all i have to say about that. i have SOOO much to do this weekend. meetings, meetings, programs, planning. ack. too much. kinda stressful. thank god i dropped classes yesterday. orientation went really well, i must say. everything's good. except for the fact that it's then end of yet another month, so i have to do all the end of the month stuff with my site, which is all so often a big pain in the ass. oh well.

thursday, 30 august

quote of the day: "if i wanted to talk to myself, i'd do it in my apartment. it's more comfortable, and i could have a drink while doing it." -fr. wildes

no freaky dreams last night. one weird one about robbing a bank in harbin and having my hall director tell me that i couldn't take a history class. today is the 2nd day of classes. i'm dropping two classes and picking up one, i think, in an effort to let myself look forward to the semester. unfortunately, that means i'll have to return some books to leavey, and it is particularly swampy today. oh well. orientation tonight 5-7 in bulldog alley: be there. then i'd like to go out, but we'll see what the fates have in store for me.

wednesday, 29 august

first day of classes. ack.
quote of the day: "i thought we made puppies" -kevin

my first floor meeting could have gone worse. it could have gone better, too, though. all in all, i guess i should take what i can get when it comes to RAing, eh? today, i have a couple classes. bioethics and booker prize. get to meet the class i'm TAing this semester. and carry some stuff for fr. ribeiro.

i had one freaky-ass dream last night. i had designed a device that could display the movement of electrical signals through a person's brain. it adapted to a specific person, though, so it would only work if the right person was using it. i was testing it on myself, and as time progressed, it started displaying my brain patterns with less clarity. then one day, the display showed nothing. i went through all the exercises, but nothing happened. then something appeared on the screen. instead of a brainwave image, though, it was a rough sketch of me from behind. then the image began to turn, and when it was finally facing me, i could tell that "my" mouth and eyes were sewn shut, but "i" was screaming. then a thought flashed through my mind: "break the silence." any ideas??

tuesday, 28 august

quote of the day: "c is for cookie. that's good enough for me. you know the rest" -becky

summer ends, and we wonder where we are. and there you go, my friends, with your boxes in your car. and you both look so young, and last night was hard you said. you packed up every room and then you cried and went to bed. but today you closed the door and said, "we have to get a move on." it's just that time of year when we push ourselves ahead. we push ourselves ahead...

it's the end of summer, when you move to another place. yesterday was really really busy. i was on duty. i did a lock change. my god. that was an ordeal. anyway. it's the last day of summer. first floor meeting is tonight. most of my residents are here. let's get this party/year started. amanda got to go out with meg last night. how jealous am i? pretty jealous. here are shouts out to mary and erica. and that's alls i have to say for now.

monday, 27 august

quote of the day: "how can you thnk the keebler elf is gay?" -sam

parents left yesterday :-(. and missed the aardvark. saw the accountant, sd, and sab, though, so it wasn't all bad. i also ran into fr. ribeiro at midnight. here comes the school year. i think that i may drop one english class. we'll see. i get to meet gtown's president today. i talked to maria briefly last night. that was nice. good day to all!

sunday, 26 august

quote of the day: "good work, buddy." -patronizing nso guy

so, being on duty wasn't so peachy keen as i had hoped. i was awoken by residents at 6 am to deal with a guy passed out in the hall. oh well. i survived manda's move-in day. ate some great meals with the parents (THANKS!!) and ended up at andrew's bday party (also: thanks) and at reggae fest with ian and mary. new name: san diego. mmhmm. parents leave today: saddest day EVER. but meg and john get here, which is cool.

saturday, 25 august

a year and a day of daily updates!!! :-D
quote of the day: "i can't get my shirt on." -manda

sorry about the lack of an update yesterday. i really am, because it was the one year anniversary of my dailies. anyway, thursday night i ate so much i thought i was going to burst. then yesterday, we drove back into the district, where we made door decs for my whole floor, ate at pizzeria uno, bought manda's books, took showers in the parents' hotel room, and ate thai for dinner. it was also my first night on duty. and the dorm didn't burn down. how happy am i? it came close, though. today amanda moves onto new south 2. pretty exciting, i'd say. i'm pretty sure something else is happening today, too, but i don't really remember right now.

thursday, 23 august

quote of the day: "i'm happy. i have crabs." -jake

thursday is here already. does it ever shock you that every second can seem to take an eternity, yet days slip by with almost unbearable celerity? anyway, i get to see my parents and mandahouse this afternoon. YAY! and training is almost over. unfortunately, i'm going to miss the banquet this evening. other than that, i don't really have that much to say. gotta make my door decs today.

wednesday, 22 august

quote of the day: "james, tell the gazelle story." -mary

RA retreat yesterday. fun fun fun. actually, it was pretty cool, though i was tired and dirty as heck by the time we got back to campus. it had its high and low moments, of course, but i must say it was great fun to just screw around with mary, cuz she's one awesome possum, if i've ever met one. anyway: i also met with prof. barr yesterday morning, and i had breakfast/lunch at booey's. mmmmmm. hope y'all have good days today, and safe travelling to my parents and the weeze as they fly across the country.

ok. return of the weird dreams. two last night. in the first, my little brother and i put on this cursed mask that changed us both into toddlers. and i had on this really scary glove that had a viscious miniature dog head on the tip of one of the fingers. woke up before the end of that one. the second one involved sledding without a sled and stretchy shelves and two year olds with their own cell phones who can sing opera.

tuesday, 21 august

Happy 22nd Birthday, James!!
quote of the day: "what a disenfranchised group my sperm must be." -ian

so. today i meet with the psych prof i'll be TAing for this year. i've heard good things about her. i'll also be doing a ropes course with reslife. and not being fed enough, per usual. this training thing is awful for my diet, and i may never forgive reslife for that. we'll see. last night ian and i discovered the true symbolism of the fountain in the quad. and i got toothpaste. i went to the shortest mass of all time (17 minutes). and i had a lot of RA training. woo woo.

monday, 20 august

quote of the day: "you're like my dad, and ian's my mom." -joni

i think i need to go to confession over the death of my fish. maybe this public confession will purge me of my guilt. maybe i should attach my sin to a goat and run it out of town. too bad i'm in training all day today. all day. i went to the mall with ian yesterday. that was good, clean fun. most of the time, anyway. i also watched chocolat with a bunch of folks. it seemed long while we were watching it, but it was pretty good. i don't really know what else to say, besides that my parents and the notorious A.L.H.(26) are headed this direction in two days here. YAY. i miss all you spokane folk. you guys is da best! oh, and did i mention that the Ms won the series? cuz they did.

sunday, 19 august

Happy Birthday, DAD!!!!
quote of the day: "i became an RA, and that's when the perpetual drunkenness started." -anonymous guy who was an RA last year.

debbie, christina, jen, gina, jessica, matt, etc...i'm sorry i don't remember all the names. last night was fun. talked to the aardvark a couple times. i became ubriaco. i chatted with james. it was all good, pretty much. today: short brunch/tour with campus ministry. last night: lots of discussions about privilege and what deans/ people in the administration are big jerks. and who had seen what res life people around dupont with their BFs. how adorable are ian and joe. that's abouts all i have to say. take it easy, all, and happy birthday, dad: the big five-one.

saturday, 18 august

quote of the day: "we're not good, but we're ardent" -dr. tartaglia, CAPS director

phreakiest part of yesterday: doing 10 RCRs and then coming back to my room to find 2 extra chairs. i did, however, discover that my room is one of the bigger singles in the dorm, which made me muy happy. training was particularly grueling yesterday: if the suicide/depression morning wasn't bad enough, i also had the pleasure of being the token at my lunch discussion group. aw, well; it was still a pretty good day. i had a portabello mushroom sandwich for dinner. i got to eat a donut, too. that was nice. other good things happened, too. i just can't remember them all. here's a weird thought i've had all week, though: while i've been sitting in RA training, there have been kids my age (and younger kids) hanging out at camp reed. oh how jealous of them i have been.

friday, 17 august

quote of the day: "did i tell you about the woman who asked me if i wanted a bluh?" -ian (of course :-P)

the highlight of yesterday was probably seeing vanessa. she is awesome, and i wish i'd gotten to know her better in the 4 and a half odd years that we've been schoolmates. perhaps this year. training dragged on a bit yesterday. RAs sure seem to ask a lot of questions that might (by some) be qualified as "rehashing." sometimes i miss spokane. not much, but little things. it's weird that my life here is so detached from my life there. speaking of which: buon viaggio to brandon as he heads to STL to see laura. have a safe flight and drive to school, my friend. blah blah blah. hung out with ian last night. discussed helping with lgbt orientation at nso. hmmm.

thursday, 16 august

quote of the day: "we don't put out fires at georgetown" -yesterday's fire safety presenter.

let's see. yesterday i ate two meals at new south. i went to mass before training started, and then wisey's for a bagel. training was all right. there's only one other RA from the great pacific northwest. sad day, i know. after training, i went to dinner, where i had an interesting exchange with a football player who lived on my floor last year. i did some reading, ran into fr. ribeiro (a pleasant surprise, i must say), and ended up coming back to my room pretty early to do more reading. all in all, it was a good day, though i had a headach for much of the evening. oh, other highlights: getting to chat with allison, my mommy, and the aardvark.

wednesday, 15 august

Feast of the Assumption
quote of the day: "ian got out" -chad

yesterday was better than the previous day. still getting adjusted to dc, though. very much so. i met my fellow LXR RAs...i was happy to find that they're all pretty cool, as is my hall director. i went to the tombs for the 2nd night in a row. i checked out and saw that my books are gonna be exhorbitantly expensive. argh. ian brought me some cake. today: training, ALL DAY. that's about it.

tuesday, 14 august

quote of the day: "i'm idaho" -ralph

the return was awful. yesterday was generally awful. new colors, here, though. they signify my change of time zones. or something. i don't really want to talk about the hawrrible trip now. and apologies to everyone who messaged me and i didn't get back to last night. i was unpacking.

on a sadder note, i'd like to ask everyone to pray for the repose of the soul of aaron's grandfather, who passed away yesterday evening, and to pray for his family during this difficult time.

monday, 13 august

HAPPY 89th BIRTHDAY, GRAMMA K!!!
quote of the day: "alaskan squirrels are carnivorous" -scraps

today is my triumphant return to the nation's capitol. or something like that. so much flying. thank goodness for tylenol pm. and for my gramma. how great is that woman? pretty great, i'll tell you. surprise of surprises yesterday: mike. i was quite surprised. the barbecue was great. getting the chance to say goodbye to most of the people i wanted to say goodbye to was great was well, though i can' say i wasn't disappointed that i *didn't* get to say goodbye to a couple of folks. ah well, i'll be back.

sunday, 12 august

quote of the day: before mass...
"you should take off your pants" -mom
"it's too late" -fr. mike

last day in spokane = sad day. all packed, i think. well, almost. i'm hoping today will serve a mainly social function, and help me make sure i haven't forgotten anything. tree and manda and the aardvark and i went to camp to pick up rufus and bobbo yesterday morning. ended up having the pleasure of driving y2 home, as well. hopefully, we'll convince hopter to come visit the town of george. hope to see a bunch of folks the last time for a bit today. you know who you are :-). Ms won, barely, last night. OH how sweet it was.

sometimes, i'm really glad i keep a written journal separate from this one, because there's so much i like to write about that doesn't feel quite right aired for the world to see (SEE--i can be a little self-conscious, at times). anyway...regardless of lots of late nights spent journaling, i want to thank everyone who made this summer AMAZING, and make me so hesitant to get excited for the coming school year. (i'm sure i'll forget a name or two, but here's an attempt, in no particular order): mom, dad, manda, becky, bobbo, gramma, aaron, james, brandon, katie, kate, alissa, john c, meg, john f, rob, allison, marie, josh, stephen, maria, and everyone else i've so horribly forgotten. y'all brighten my days in a brazillion different ways, and i feel fortunate to have each and every one of you in my life.

saturday, 11 august

quote of the day: "that's a ____-free ficus" -stifler, in american pie 2

yeah. quality flick. wicked scary previews beforehand, though. saw greg riches at the theatre, though. also yesterday: almost unbearably delicious thai food, and lots of driving around. saw brandon. babysat on two separate occasions for rowan and bailey. saying goodbye to the aardvark today: sad day :-(

friday, 10 august

quote of the day: "it's 99 friggen degrees out here and instead of spending time with my air conditioner, i am walking through a friggen field" -val

yesterday was the official end of my employed summer. oh yes, those gruelling 5 hour weeks were almost unbearable at times. amanda and mom and i went to hill's someplace else for lunch. that place never fails to pleasantly surprise me. aaron came. it was weekly periodical day, and i got to meet a wicked cool woman named amy. all in all, it was a pretty good day. oh. we had thai food. and we're having it again tonight.

thursday, 9 august

quote of the day: "I juist want ostop liking peolpe [sic.]" -ian

finished headlong yesterday. moving on to disgrace now. last one. well, i never did finish our fathers, but whatever. i went to the elk with rob for dinner. then we walked around browne's addition and talked to one of my cousin jeff's neighbors. and then we drove somewhere or other, and saw some neat houses. then we walked from his house to blockbuster and rented broken hearts club and best in show. both were pretty good. i ended up going to bed real late. this morning, i woke up at 7:45 in the middle of a weird-ass scary dream. read on...

i was working at a donut place kitty-corner from cliff aerie. and my boss said something really sketchy. and i started to walk east. and he got out a lasso. and attached one end to a stump. and i ran to a schwann truck, and jumped in, and told the driver to drive faster, because my boss was trying to kill me for complaining about him. we got to the intersection of cliff and grand, and we had to stop, and my boss rode up on a horse, and shot the driver. and when he did, he looked like a skeleton. and then i woke up. and it was 7:45. so i just got up.

wednesday, 8 august

quote of the day: "aaron poops a lot" -mom

yeah. we had dinner wicked late in the house house last night. well, actually, it was at the bayou, but it lasted from like 8 to 10. kinda killed the whole evening. that's ok, cuz i kinda got flaked out on again. lol. just kidding. anyway. wednesday. sad. sad. sad. at least the aardvark comes tomorrow.

tuesday, 7 august

quote of the day: "we need to find puko a boy to hump"
-manda

both hands. use both hands. oh; no; don't close your eyes...yesterday was lethargic. mr. burns didn't call me back. rob went from seattle to the lake. generally boring. i hope gramma is feeling a million times better today. i spanked an analytic gre practice test last night: WOOHOO! today: getting ready to head back to the town of george. i feel like i've just been on break, and that i'll be going back to good ole 226 darnall, and seth. i hope i still see him this year. that kid is wicked cool.

monday, 6 august

quote of the day: "remember those girls downtown trying to get bobbo's attention?" -mom
"they were homeschooled" -becky

ARGH. that's pretty much what i have to say. ok: review time. i went to chelan for thursday and friday nights. came back saturday. went to a concert with brandon and kate on saturday night, then watched the emperor's new groove with buzzsaw. yesterday, i went to camp to drop off beckers and robert. buzz went with us. got to see hopter and snoop. that was nice. becky is JCing for jumba. i think that's about all of interest that happened yesterday. today i have work, and i like it that way. or maybe that's dar williams. gonna work out with the mom, too.

i dreamt last night that we'd bought a lot on that new golf course going in at rockford, but they then decided to move the whole project to banff, and i was muy excited. there was also lots of kissing going on in the dream. and not by me. but everytime someone tried to kiss someone else, one or both of them would spontaneously change into a different person. kooky, eh?

sunday, 5 august

quote of the day: "we played strip golf at the country club" -mom

chelan was fun. busy day today. more to come, perhaps, later.

thursday, 2 august

quote of the day: "i normally get complimented" -luis

do you ever reach a threshhold after which one piece of information can change your outlook? that happened to me yesterday, and suddenly i realized that maybe returning to georgetown now wouldn't be so awful after all. i have a feeling i'll still miss home, but there are a few things i won't be so sad to leave behind. ah, school as escape mechanism. haha. i'm headed to chelan today. be back tomorrow or saturday. we'll see. the 13th is fast approaching. sad/happy day. have a good one.

wednesday, 1 august

quote of the day: "martha stewart is fat" -becky

yeah...so august is here. i don't like this month all that much. i got up wicked early yesterday. worked out. then got my teeth cleaned. all 2s and 3s. someday, i'll have all 2s. soon, i hope. and, ummmmm...it's august. i think i mentioned that. i bought fresh raspberries. went to lunch with mom. did some work for rob. ran to city hall. fresh pizza. fresh smoothies. jurassic park. nosy people are annoying as hell.