yays and nays

So, I know I've been gone for a while, but I plan to make it up to you guys with what will probably be a hugely long post. I've decided to copy our OSU newspaper, The Barometer by listing off recent events in my life as either "yays" or "nays." Here goes:

• Yay to graduating from college.

• Nay to summer classes after you've gone through the, "you're finally done!!" speech.

• Yay to getting 100 bucks for graduating from college.

• Nay to having to spend that 100 bucks on an accounting book, financial calculator, and Statistics 201 study guides.

• Yay to buying Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri, one of my favorite authors.

• Nay to forgetting to bring it back with me to Corvallis.

• Yay for friends loaning you other books, like Caramelo, by Sandra Cisneros. I highly recommend it.

• Nay for friends, when you realize that they have all summer to be free and merry, while you're stuck in a 3.5 hour accounting class every. single. day. Starting at 8am.

• Yay to being completely done with said accounting class in three weeks, even if it means selling my soul to a financial calculator.

• Nay to not having AC in our apartment, which results in us yelling at each other to be heard over the fans and the roar of traffic (well...the few cars we have that pass by. It's Corvallis. Anything more than 12, and we call it traffic) that comes through our windows.

• Yay to 3.5 hour accounting classes, because they are held in a firmly refrigerated room. Seriously, I wear a sweatshirt to class, and I'm still shivering. This is a conundrum, because I have to peel it off as soon as I walk outside and realize that the sun has literally descended upon Corvallis.

• Nay to having to ponder the dilemma of either carrying your sweatshirt over your arm like a butler's towel, or doing the uber dorky tie-around-the-waist technique from 7th grade. The latter of which strongly rivals the fanny-pack in loser level fashion.

• Yay to getting the IKEA Stuff for my Sims2. I probably love building and decorating the houses for my Sims than actually playing the game. Now with the IKEA stuff, I'll never play, but that's okay, because my Sims will be living in style...in pause mode.

• Nay to never actually decorating anything because my life is dedicated to pumping out cash flow statements and balance sheets on Excel for the aforementioned devil of an accounting class.

• Yay to my birthday in 2 days. 21 has been a good year, and 22 will be even better. I am making sure of that.

• Nay to class stomping all over my birthday, since it is on a Tuesday, along with the crushing irony of the fact that I was always jealous of the kids whose birthdays fell during the school year, and their moms would bring cupcakes and punch, and that now my birthday is falling during the school year, my last school year ever, and it probably couldn't be less unpleasant. I don't even know if cupcakes or punch could make it better.

• Yay to funfetti cake, which my mom has made for almost all of my birthdays before college, and could maybe, potentially, hopefully, make having a birthday on a school day bearable.

• Nay to ruining about 3 weeks worth of exercise when I bite into a small country sized piece of funfetti cake on Tuesday.

• Yay to my parents, who are amazing, and without them, I wouldn't be here (literally) writing about how I made it through college and life. The best part of graduation was hearing them say, "We are so proud of you, mija." They love me even if I'm a chubster who loves her cake. And eats it too. (I couldn't help it.)

• Nay to my parents indulging my chubster fantasies by taking me to the Olive Garden for my birthday.

• Yay to Olive Garden breadsticks. They are the carb equivalent of Matt Damon in my fantasy dreams.

=

• Nay to not being able to think of a cute and clever way to end this post, because I am tired from an 8 hour class I had to take, and sore from shooting dart guns.

• Yay to ending the post on a positive note, with the promise (to the 5 people who read this blog) that I will write more often. And, speaking of notes, how about a song or two to leave you with? The first is Sea of Love by Cat Power, and the second is I'm Yours by Jason Mraz. Enjoy!

good day, bad night

Since we were given such a beautiful day on Sunday, the four of us decided to go miniature golfing. It was an awesome way to have fun and relax before us undergrad students settled into our desk chairs to study, and Geoff the grad student headed back up to Canada.


The day started out well. I decided to wear my best golfing polo, along with some yuppie knock off big sunglasses.


Evan also decided to wear a polo as well, although this is not out of the ordinary. He wears one just about every day.

Now, Travis was a sight. This kid only ever wears track pants and OSU (insert some sport here) t-shirts. I literally had to pick my jaw off the floor when I saw him in a polo, khaki shorts, and quite possibly the funniest hat I have ever seen. I think he wins the award for the day in the Exaggerated Golf Attire category.

This was by far the nicest mini golf place we've ever been to. Every little hole has a mini diagram for you to see before whacking your ball into the parking lot. Hole 11, as you see here, has a stream running through it, and, a piece of the turf was missing, to make it tricky.


An Evan, in his natural habitat.

So Travis didn't mind the diagram, and instead decided to rocket his ball into some bushes. Evan, being the good guy that he is, helped him out, while Geoff and I giggled like little girls and took pictures.

It's funny how much one concentrates to get a plastic little ball 4 meters.

This was a tough one. The hole was actually uphill and to the left, plus, there was a giant fake rock in the middle. This was at the top of the little hill. I (light blue ball) narrowly missed getting trapped in the fake rock, while Evan (dark blue ball) was much less fortunate.

Travis taking a shortcut to the next hole.


We couldn't pass up the chance to take a photo next to chainsaw carved bears. Who makes all these? And, how do they all look exactly the same? Ponder, and discuss. Also, notice the funny old man cap on the bear. :)

I'm sorry these are so bright, by the way. Geoff's big ol' thumb moved the setting on my camera to shutter speed, and it was set at a low one, which let all that wonderful afternoon sun into every picture.
Impatiently waiting for me to stop taking pictures and golf. I took this one and was shocked at how bright it was, and then I realized that the setting was off. The guys wouldn't let me take another one, though.


After golfing, we went to McMennamins to grab a drink, and we had a really good time. At the time of this picture, I had no idea what I was in for.

I knew that the pollen was terrible outside, so I made sure to take a Claritin before heading out. 24 hour relief, my a$$. Everything was fine until we got back home, and I rubbed my eye. Instantly, they started watering and I sneezed three times in a row.

It's over, I remember thinking. I've really done it.

Did I ever. I was up sneezing so hard for the next 6 hours, that I went through a whole box of Kleenex and Evan took an emergency trip to Freddies for more allergy meds. I tried everything: taking a benadryl, taking a shower, changing out of the clothes I had worn outside...ugh. The worst part was probably the fact that I couldn't do anything but be miserable. And when I'm miserable, my misery wants company, and it so happens that Evan was in the most cheerful mood ever. He was as happy as a little clam, and for some reason, it infuriated me. Why does that happen? Why, when we are sick, do we absolutely hate the people who can't be as cranky and irritable and sneezy and wheezy as we are? Poor guy. He should be applying for sainthood here soon if allergy season lasts much longer.

All in all, it was horrible. I honestly don't think anything could be worse than that. Maybe like, childbearing, but in that case you get something out of it. All I have today is a raw nose, sore muscles from sneezing, and a tummy ache from all the medication I took. Maybe it's Karma for being an absolute beast last night. That's probably it.

Anyway. It's time for bed. You can bet that Tylenol Allergy Multi-Symptom tablets made it onto my Totally Awesome Tuesday list!

Various Travels pt. 2

My latest adventures have taken my camera and I to campus, and along I-5. This is what we saw.


This is the clock tower on campus, and someone has very carefully written various bible passages all over it, even though someone else is just as quickly erasing them. It's interesting.
I really liked the stark blue in this shot, though.

The reason we went to campus was the Battle of the Bands event here. I don't even want to know how these people got up on top of the Memorial Union, but man, they must have had an awesome view.

This is Charlie. This picture has no technical merit, but his hair definitely does.

We had the chance to see an amazing sunset on our way back home from Portland. I kept getting dust specks from the window in each shot, so I actually (stupidly, in hindsight) lowered my window, stuck my arm and relatively expensive camera out the window while going 75mph, and snapped a few pictures. I justify my actions with the fact that they turned out awesome. I may actually get prints of these.

Totally Cool Stuff Tuesday #4

Today was a real Tuesday. It started against my will at 7am. I was dreaming that I was talking to a friend of mine, and suddenly she reached out and starting pinching my upper lip really hard. It really hurt. So much that I actually woke up and realized that a HUGE bug had just bitten me on the lip! I flicked it away, satisfied to hear it hit the wall pretty hard, but I could not fall asleep again, fearing that this stupid bug had friends nearby that also wanted a kiss.

So I lay there and listened to Corvallis waking up, and when Evan finally decided to wake from his hibernation, I squeaked, "Evan! Something bit me on the lip while I slept!"

He squinted at me for a second, then said, "Oh. That's no fun." Then he rolled over and went back to sleep.

That wasn't exactly the reaction I was hoping for. I lay there for a little while longer, now jealous of how easily my boyfriend can fall back into a completely unconscious state in a matter of seconds.

And thus, began my day. There have been things, however, that have greatly improved the day. And here they are:

1. Lipton's Diet Green Tea - Zero calories, and antioxidants, to boot. Plus it is uber refreshing .

2. Realizing that all my finals are online and open-note - This is like a granted wish from the Senior Year of College Fairy.

This would have been me during finals week if my professors hadn't decided to be completely and totally awesome.

3. Finally buying my graduation shoes - I spent a good portion of the weekend scouring shoe stores looking for the perfect pair of graduation shoes. I knew that I wanted a wedge heel, and they had to be black, so as to match the rest of my somber graduation attire (black robe, black cap...it totally fits the celebratory mood) and whenever I thought I had found a decent pair, the lady would say, "We are actually out of that size, but there is one pair left in Hoover, Alabama (or Albany, Oregon, but either way, it was really inconvenient). Do you think you'll be stopping by there?"

Anyway, I set out this afternoon, determined to find a pair of shoes in my own freakin' city. And I did. Veni, vidi, vici.

4. Knowing that this Friday marks 2.5 years for Evan and I - I love looking back at all that we've come through together, and even more, I love looking forward at what is to come, because I know it will be awesome.

We rule.

5. This week's song shall be "Build a Home" by The Cinematic Orchestra. I really like it, and I hope you do too.

Various Travels pt. 1

It is rare to find my outside of my apartment without my camera. The great thing about having a point-and-shoot is that I don't have to carry around a suitcase for all my lenses, or wear one of those dorky cameraman's vests.

Anyway, we recently took advantage of a relatively nice evening and walked down our block to a small playground. These are a few of the shots from the small adventure.

I must have taken 100 shots of these swings. I just loved how bright they were.


I don't exactly like the zoo-like feel of this one, but I had to take advantage of the sunburst behind him.
Evan is such a patient guinea pig for my portrait attempts.

After I got frustrated with portraits, I decided to take on some flowers, and felt better about the results, even though it took a few tries to get the flower, the leaves, the spiderweb, and the sunlight all in focus.
There is this lone rosebush that grows out of what I think is the worst soil possible, but the rose that ensues is always just gorgeous. It's as if it's trying to say, "see? this place isn't so bad"
Flowers are soooo much easier to take portraits of than people.

I really liked the contrast of colors here, and the lighting on them was absolutely ideal.

I will pay someone 50 bucks to tell me what these are, because I want to plant a few and then take pictures of them all day.

These used to terrify me when I was little. I hated the idea of standing up and walking on them without any hand holds. I suppose that they were made to improve our balance, and the fact that I avoided them at all costs could explain why I am a huge klutz.

There are a lot more pictures of this afternoon that I would like to post, but frankly, the glacial pace at which blogger uploads them is frustrating. So, if you would like to see more, just head on over to my other time-vacuum, Facebook, and look for my photo albums.

Also, stay tuned, because I have more pictures of more recent travels comin' up in a new post! Yay!