The Daily Adventures of Mercat

HOLY CRAP AN UPDATE.

Look, I know, I've been busy. I hate it. I am so, so tired of my classes. And sadly they will just continue on through next semester... Ugh.

I got a 50% on a test today, it was not pretty. There's a chance the lowest test grade will be dropped... I just don't fucking care anymore. I'm tired of spending three hours a night three times a week doing homework assignments for methods I will never, ever have to have memorized again, and in fact WILL BE RUNNING PROGRAMS FOR. Yes, it's important to understand what the program does, but the hours upon hours upon hours IS KILLING ME.

Anyway, the real reason I am here is rather an accident. Over on ontd_political someone reposted an article about racism in Glee from the mothership.

Here is the deal. In the past few months, I think almost every band kid/music major/drama club kid I know has become obsessed with this show. I saw the pilot episode, like... a year ago? Idk. I did not like it. One, it was not that clever. Two, it seemed like people just trying to make money off the sucesses of High School Musical, which is an embarassment in its own regard.

I could not articulate exactly why I didn't like it, except that it felt cheap and embarassing. Anyway, today, someone posted this:

"This show feels like nerd culture appropriation.

By which I mean, it feels like somebody who was NOT a nerd in high school tried to take Cliff's Notes on all the things that supposedly compromise the experience of "uncool kids," and then filtered them through the Mass-Media Screen of Marketability, so that they could sell this shit to the "popular people" while at the same time insisting that geeks should love this show because "it speaks to us."

Glee is to nerd culture what modern-day gangsta rap is to urban black culture - it's a bunch of oppressive outsiders to the culture trying to tell members of that culture what they themselves are supposedly like, via insultingly inaccurate and reductive stereotypes."

This. So much this. I feel like people are trying to take something I live every day (well, to an extent) and sell it back to me.

Bull-fucking-shit.

One, I refuse to let people sell me a lifestyle, period. Two, I refuse to let hollywood and the media dictate what things are. Three... it's not even clever. I haven't seen any more episodes but someone else pointed out that the writers have some odd sense of hipster-ironic humor... which is actually twice as painful. Twice as embarassing because they are trying to be ironic in their insults and stereotypes which just shows that hipsters fail to realize that most of the time they come off as insulting, not ironic. It's really, really difficult to imply irony well. Which is why hipster emos deserve to be slapped in the face as well.


...But emos are a story for another day.

Really not trying to belittle other minorities/scenes in that, but, let's face it, emos are lame as fuck.

OMG OHIO YAAAAY I'm so proud. This goes out to everyone who says we suck as a state. SCREW YOU.

Jones soda is making D&D flavors... I'm posting this only because I know there are some D&D fans and some Jones soda fans out there. Personally, I can't do Jones soda, the holiday flavors killed it for me (it's the aftertaste). Also, I'm glad to see gamers are getting their foot in the door with advertisers, like the WoW and Halo Mountain Dews. Okay Mountain Dew, you know what's next? Indy V, I want to see some fucking DELICIOUS marketing. Enough with that Dr. Pepper bullshit

Oh, and did I say Indy V? I think I did.

(Also, Jones soda has a perfect in, but I hate it so please don't. I'M BEGGING YOU, PEPSI, DO THIS FOR ME)

Also? It's about damn time someone made an INDIANA JONES PUZZLE GAME, goddamn. I want to buy it but sadly I don't think games transfer from phone to phone...? also, nerd moment, that article number is 1135 goddamn i'm a huge nerd

I'm actually surprised this didn't happen sooner, and that it wasn't a youtube mashup, but a real piece of music.

This man can draw perfect circles. It is ridiculous.

I always knew Abercrombie & Fitch was a pretentious pile of overpriced bullshit, but I didn't realize they actively discriminate. Yeah, glad I never shopped there, and now I never will. Ugh.

Fur Elise arranged for owls, loons, cats, and a wood stork:



Scanning dead salmon in fMRI machine highlights use of red herrings. I admit, this title immediately caught my attention; salmon was a joke at Troop this summer, and it's also become a (different and completely unrelated) joke here in PoD's trumpet section; also, ever since Katy introduced me to the Planetarium Puzzle I've always been drawn to anything regarding red herrings, maybe simply because I'd never heard the term used before. I have no idea why I am so obsessed with the concept, but I am. Anyway, it's a good article.

An interesting article on cursive and print. Another topic I've become fascinated with ever since I found out cursive was no longer being taught in schools. It came as kind of a shock to me, because, well, we're going to end up with people who can't read it. Not that it's too difficult, but I imagine for some it could be, especially with letters like the old style Q, or Z. See, I don't even remember anymore because they (who is they?) changed it when I got to second grade, so we relearned some letters. Anyway, I mean, I can understand that so many people type now that it rarely matters. I mean, fuck, pretty much all my teachers refuse to accept handwritten assignments. But I am inherently drawn to fonts (I don't know why, I just am--I sketch fonts when I'm bored, for god's sake, random words that pop into my head just because I want to make them look interesting) and it makes me sad that an alternative sort of alphabet could disappear. Anyway, just some thoughts there, nothing really pressing.

Depp unsure about Pirates 4, which would be a bummer considerig the first movie is so much better than the second two.

So, I decided to start chewing gum. This was at first a challenge because Juicy Fruit, ever since they changed their recipe or something a few years ago, it tastes terrible. Although I DID finally find sugarless Juicy Fruit in the US--it comes in those 60 piece BigEPaks. So despite that I'm a little bit of a chomper and I get tired of chewing it pretty fast, this is the plus list I'm trying to focus on: I don't bite my nails as much, it prevents me from eating as much snack food, and it burns some calories. BUT Orbit peppermint is pretty good (I don't think it's sugarless though?) and Trident bubblegum is pretty good, too.

ALSO since Pittsburgh sucked so much this weekend, all I did was pick up a halloween snowglobe. I wonder how long it will last. HOWEVER, it is awesome.

Just watched Coraline--really good. I was planning to read the book before I watched the movie, but it just so happens that Flyer TV put it on this month, so I watched it anyway. I'm sure the book is even more detailed than the movie, as books generally are, but regardless the movie is jam-packed and Neil Gaiman is still a genius. I'm sure it would be wonderfully horrifying to see in 3D.

Also, I totally want a little jerboa marching band, how adorable was that?!

And my kitties, I wish I could keep them at school with me.

Anyway, it's one of those weeks where I can't keep my head on straight. Yesterday was horrible, I had some time but couldn't think of things to do. Even though I know I have a list, it's like some section of my brain fogs up and I happen to never end up thinking about any of that and I do nothing productive and feel restless all day. I felt the best just walking a block from my parking space, which made me think I should have gone marching or something.

Part of the problem is that weekends like that, all you have is Sunday, and not all of Sunday because we have chapter, and it feels like you don't have enough time to rest and still be productive, so my brain is trying to do two things at once (be productive, but restfully?), which is doesn't know how to do, and that just does not end well.

BUT the band trip is nothing major this weekend (other than trying to avoid a certain someone who may or may not be trying to creep on me) and we don't have to learn anything new for the show (at least, I don't think we do) and pregame went fine, so, there is that. Band should actually be relaxing, maybe.

What I can't figure out is why I don't eat very healthily. I mean, I eat healthier meals than your average collegiate, I'd say, but at the same time I forget how to cook or what to cook or what I like to eat and I always end up eating more crap and fat than I should. It's making it really difficult to try to get on a healthier diet... I don't know what to do about that. Part of it is that I bite my nails and chew on pens and as a result I feel like I need to be eating something, just as a nervous habit. And gum makes me sick to my stomach if I chew it too often, so that's not a useful alternative. I don't know what to do, because I sure as hell can't be eating ALL DAY.

Anyway, that's all for now. Just needed to get some stuff out of my system... Got plenty on my plate right now.

It's not Saturday, but we fucking hyped the shit out of that this summer. TO THE POINT OF SUCCESS

Anyway, first off I want to apologize for the stuff still not in the mail... The person who was supposed to get it there for me failed miserably while I was gone. They will be there ASAP!

That being said, I had a fucking awesome summer and we made goddamn history. First Finals in 23 years and we got a standing ovation before we even went on. You know who gets those? Alumni corps. Not your everyday corps, that's for damn sure. So for all the people in top scoring spots with your precious little egos, I don't hate you (I do dislike your bandos, though), but I am completely, over-the-top satisfied--maybe even overjoyed--knowing that I had a more fun summer than you. So maybe we're not the best, we've still got more heart, and that's why I came there in the first place.

Yes, once again, drum corps turned me into a foul-mouthed bitch (again), but FUCK if it ain't beautiful being the Golden Child, for once. As someone else put it, it's hard to beat Mother Theresa at her own game.

And that's why I fucking love drum corps, y'all.



Now that being said, I miss the donk of the bus hard core already :C and I don't want to be doing leadership stuff for band and I forgot how much I hate "real life" and because of that I plan on being my bitchy, sailor-mouthed self as long as possible. I don't give a fuck anymore, because I have some of the best friends on the planet from this summer. <3

Not that I don't love you all, I just enjoy being able to avoid 95% of life's idiots for extended periods of time.


Aaaaaand I miss the donk of the bus. We're responsible assholes and I miiiiissss theeeeeemmmm

P.S. I have probably a week's worth of reading to catch up on, so don't expect to see me around much for the next few days.

Today turned from a Sucky Final day into a Nostalgia Day. Which, as always, is both awesome and terrible.

First of all, I found out I really don't give much of a shit about X-men. I just like action movies. (And it doesn't hurt to have Hugh Jackman and Liev Schreiber in it, does it?) Also, I was in a room full of nerds. Not nerds in the good way, either... Like, awkward high school boys. The ratio of guys to girls in that room was way too high. Also, I'm glad Domer doesn't mind being a douche and cracking jokes because that movie was PRETTY FUCKING CHEESY. But in a good way! I just couldn't stop from laughing, sorry. At one point I asked him what Zero's power is (since he... shoots guns fast? And since Domer seemd to actually know shit about X-men) and he was just like "He's just Matt Ehrhart" which made me laugh my ass off.

Best part of the movie (also Best Audience Reaction): the subtitles "Springfield, Ohio" shows at the bottom of the screen. Crowd erupts into cheers. (That was pretty much the only reaction except for a few laughs like the elevator scene. BOO, I need audiences that laugh more. No wonder I sound like a psycho.)

Finally, did anyone watch the Chuck finale monday? Okay, so, not to spoil much or anything, at one point Ted Roark says "Imagine that, that terrible pun will be the last words you ever hear." WHICH COULD NOT HAVE PREDICTED THE ENDING TO THIS MOVIE ANY BETTER. I'm serious.

Really? You picked a lame line as your "dramatic ending"? This is an action movie, and not a great one at that. (Okay, well, it's great. It's just also cheesy.) And it's part of a huge series. And you couldn't show some dramatic character return or show up or have someone's ass get handed to them with a punny finish line? Instead you just... tried to be serious in a punny manner? idgi.


...Anyway... So the concert was tonight, and I realized I haven't been there in a damn long time. That is, the auditorium. I miss it a lot... =/ I miss Miss Shoup a lot, too, and all her craziness and taste in music. Anyway, so we kinda played like shit, but that's okay. I hung out with Stephen and Phil and Travis some, which is always good, and OH MY GOD THE KINDERGARTENERS WERE DRESSED UP LIKE FLAPPERS AND DID "FIVE FOOT TWO". Talk about coincidences. I did the whole dance backstage from memory :D My mom joked that I should have gone out there on stage as an "alumni performer". It's hard to believe it's been sooooo long, and yet that song and that dance have stuck with me better than almost anything else I ever performed at St. B's. Miss Shoup even remembers doing it last time =)

Which was kind of when the sad, nostalgic, oh-my-god-shit-is-ending feeling started to set in for the night. I'm officially a senior, even though I get a victory lap and grad school, that's still a HUGE jump in perspecive, feels like. Graduation time is always that way for me. Well, that and move-out every year. =S

It's weird though; at the same time I just hang out with the guys (earlier Travis/Stephen/Phil, later Domer/MattE) I feel both completely secure in myself (uh, as a person I guess) and yet I miss them and shit like Carroll so much. And I know I'm going to miss UD people over the summer, and I dunno, I just keep missing and missing and missing and I... don't know. Anyway, that's enough emo from me.

So at the concert, apparently the not-immediately-connected crowd did not know Edgar and Rachel might be dating, except for Stephen who supposedly had seen them making out after rock mass one time. (I believe him, but I don't exactly trust him, either.) But then Phil (or... MattE? or Travis?) told me that their sister (all of whom I am much more likely to trust) said they saw them holding hands down at the Greene. SOOOOO that kinda seals that deal for me, I'll be over here puking kthx

Also, Dad found out, but what happened was that we were all being overreactionary and hyperbolic (face it, when are we not) and Phil managed to tell him that they were getting married, which they are not, it's just my favorite reaction to say (with a disgusted look) "I don't want to go to their wedding" (which I think Stephen or Phil made a hilarious joke about "speak now or forever hold your peace" but I can't remember what it was, lol). ANYWAY, so then Dad asked me if I'd heard, and just to check it wasn't being bullshitted around (which always happens, and SURPRISE! it did) asked him exactly what he heard, which was that they were getting married, so I made sure to clear that up.

But still... Now that Dad and Mom know, it's kind of weird. Because all I can do is tell them I'm sufficiently creeped out by it, it's not like I can just go up and be like WELL I'M GLAD YOU LIKE TO HANG OUT WITH HIM BUT I KIND OF HATE HIS GUTS, you know? Although I did realize if push comes to shove I cna tell them he really is kind of a creeper. In that awkward-guy way. BECAUSE HE IIIIISSSSS D:

Bleh, anyway. The main point of may day was this: Wolverine was awesome but cheesy, I miss doing the Charleston, and I love hanging out with the Carroll guys. =)

And now I'm really tired. =/ Gotta movie out tomorrow, oh what fun


I'm trying not to think about summer Surveying and how much I'm going to want to kill myself taking that class. Instead I'm hoping for lots of downtime I can use to get in shape and Tuesday Trivia Nights and taking my little to see Star Trek and hopefully having some awesome weekends. bleeehhhhhhhhn

[EDIT] Almost forgot ( don't wanna spoil it for you, but )

Spent yesterday playing Pandemic 2, you can probably guess why. Let me tell you this: firstly, fuck Madagascar. Secondly, do not play this game unless you are willing to give up about six hours of your day. I mean it. That's how long it took me to successfully beat it, and I ended up pulling an all-nighter to write my papers that were due at noon. Oops.

So, swine flu? Not a pandemic yet, but being the slightly-paranoid be-prepared-for-anything-and-everything type of person I am, I am definitely tempted to Go Buy Shit.

Also I have to return my pistachios to Target because apparently there was a recall? Don't know if that was related to that salmonella outbreak or anything.

SO, Friday night was the best, most epic party ever. Two POD kids had a joint 21st with the theme "dress as your favorite Disney character", which, let me tell you, is a perfect way to get DEDICATED INVOLVEMENT at a costume party. You know how Halloween costumes are so half-assed now? Yeah, well, this party was not. Only I'd say a half dozen girls wore... clothes... with a princess crown, but everyone else DRESSED THE FUCK UP AND IT WAS AWESOME.

See, because when you throw a costume party out-of-season, peops are actually really ingenious. Candice went as Esmerelda and used a blue tube top as a corset. David went as Prince Eric and it was hilarious because he had jeans, hiking boots, and used a red tie as the sash. Carl didn't want to bother dressing up at first but I FINALLY convinced him, and though he was originally going to go as Gaston he went as the Hunchback which I might add is both simply and hilariously achieved by shoving a pillow up the back of one's shirt. Phil went as Prince Philip from Sleeping Beauty, and he actually had a broadsword until the cops rode by and he decided to go inside and put it away. Let's see, there was a hilariously drunken/smoking Winnie the Pooh, a Wizarding Mickey, a Mr. and Mrs. Incredible (Josh and his gf), HOLY SHIT MARK WAS THE BEST BUZZ LIGHTYEAR EVER, he made it with boxes and duct tape (and we decided the trumpet section is having a Pixar Day next fall during band camp), and a hilarious sultan/genie, an Aladdin and Jasmine, Jen went as Cruella DeVille and was upset she couldn't find a cigarette holder but me in my costuming-obsessed hoarding manner had one so we walked over to my house to get it, and there were at least two people running around as Pongo and Perdita, though I thought I saw some other dalmations at first. I had been looking for an excuse to dress up as a pirate again (I haven't worn that outfit in about two years!) and to be quite honest I do not trust a large group of drunken people with a $300 hat, so I went all out and determined that I have enough clothing to dress two or three pirates and enough accessories for probably four. Seriously, I have more jewelry than I can wear at one time. Oh, and there was a group of Muses and a few other characters like Mickey running around, too. Oh, and we had Cogsworth, too, though for the first couple of hours I thought he had basketball lines drawn on his face.

At one point a bunch of people grabbed a bongo and a flute and a tambourine and a couple of pots and held an impromptu dance party in Art Street's amphitheatre, which went on for at least a good hour, maybe two. But that party went SO FUCKING LONG (at 3:30 Candice and David and I finally left, and people were still going) and everyone was being friendly and chatty (minus a few moments of drama and some poercelain bus driving) and it was just AWESOME. And I talked with the crazy kid dressed up as Pongo for a while (he went to Centerville and does Rhythm X) and he's rooking out with Bluecoats this summer on synth, so that's exciting. I love POD people and DCI people and everything. =)

Also I found out I am very bad at flip cup.

Anyway. And then yesterday all I did was curse Madagascar and write two horribly bullshat papers on Henry IV and the establishing scenes of Romeo and Juliet vs. Julius Caesar.

I didnot realize Romeo was such an emo, and now I hate that play more than ever.

WOO, good weekend.



ALSO--CHUCK: FINALE AND FOOTLONG is TONIGHT so WATCH THE SHOW and GO TO SUBWAY and yay. :D ~I'm exciiiiteeed~

I am not ready at all for school. Packing up for corps I just realized this... I have Christmas stuff everywhere. I'm not moved in, I needed the time to relax so I still have stuff to move and then I still have to redo my room. Plus recruitment. Plus girl scouts. Plus the Minardi's project. Plus James' tattoo which was his birthday/Christmas present. Plus all the other art I owe people. (Hopefully... I can get that done this weekend, or rather, TOMORROW, while I sit by myself in the Denver airport for FIVE HOURS.)

Maybe I shoudl only take those 15 credits and not try to cram another class in there. That way I can focus on all this stuff, anc corps, and maybe looking at grad schools. *sigh* I hate "wasting" those credits, but maybe it would be good to have that space. Maybe I could join the drama club and help with props, I don't know.

Ugh. Kind of nervous about tomorrow because I should have been practicing, should have been working out. Should have been so many things... But mostly I am just stressed about school. I need a longer break, that's just the way I work. I need mental recuperation time.

Not to mention I barely got to see my friends at all, and a bunch of them are getting together tomorrow to hang out and catch up--and of course I will be in an airport for most of the day. And not even during a time when I can call them and chat over the phone while they are together... =/

http://www.middletownjournal.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2008/10/30/mj103008mccrabbminge.html

Three bouts of cancer alter band director's perspective
By Rick McCrabb
Thursday, October 30, 2008

SPRINGBORO — Weeding the flower garden and running the sweeper will have to wait.

Stephanie Minge has more important issues. Like life and death.

For the third time since 2005, Minge, a 29-year-old band director of the Middletown middle schools, is battling osteosarcoma, a rare form of cancer that typically affects children.

"It's been an adventure," she said Wednesday, Oct. 29, while sitting in her Springboro living room. "Right now I take it one day at a time. Otherwise, it becomes too overwhelming. You start asking, 'Why is this happening to me?' "

Some questions don't have answers.

Minge's cancer can't be traced to her family tree or her unhealthy lifestyle. Someone threw a diseased dart and Stephanie Minge was its target.

Minge calls herself "a planner," which works perfectly until someone rewrites your calendar.

Four years into her marriage, Minge figured she'd be a mother, fixing nightly dinners and sharing humorous stories with her husband, Sammy, about their band members.

As cancer sometimes does, it sprang a surprise attack on Minge. Three years ago, she complained of chest pain, and several doctors told her it probably was a pulled muscle from lifting her students' musical instruments.

Then, a few months later, she discovered a large lump near the top of her sternum. On Dec. 5, 2005, doctors dropped the "C word."

"I was shocked," she said of the devastating diagnosis.

The cancer was so rare that doctors at Kettering Medical Center — unable to treat it — referred her to M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, 1,100 miles away.

She rented an apartment there and endured six rounds of high-dose chemotherapy. The tumor was removed on May 6, 2006.

Three more rounds of chemotherapy followed and she was declared cancer-free.

She was told she'd be off work for 18 months, an inconvenience she shrugged off because "at least I was alive."

Funny how insignificant work becomes.

Minge was clean of cancer for 14 months until a scan revealed it had returned to her left lung. Back to Texas she went, and in December 2007, another surgery.

She beat cancer again.

But for only six months.

Shake your head is disbelief.

In June, when her fellow teachers were beginning their summer break, Minge was informed a huge mass — that eventually grew to the size of an orange — was spotted on her liver.

Back to Texas, another surgery, more chemotherapy. The right lobe of her liver and gallbladder were removed.

Stop already, cancer. For God sake, how much can one person take?

Consider that for three of her four years as a wife, she has battled cancer, and for the last three years, she has worked six months and been hospitalized for 15 weeks.

"My life has been on hold," she said wiping tears on the leg of her blue jeans.

Her residences include Springboro, an apartment in Texas and what must feel like every hospital room in between.

She's thankful for her "support system" — family, friends, co-workers and the church family at First Baptist — for pulling her through the depressing situations, the lonely nights when tomorrow seemed as improbable as tasty hospital food.

She gives her husband most of the credit. Some men, she said, given the same obstacles as Sammy, would have run away and hid.

Not her Sammy.

"He didn't stand beside me during all this," she said. "He has been right there with me, going through it together."

Like they said on their wedding day, June 26, 2004, "... though sickness ..."

From the outset, Stephanie and Sammy, who met at Miami University, have kept an online blog (www.xanga.com/minge411) of their walk with cancer.

She calls it "a real look at the good, bad and ugly."

So what's a "good day?"

"Not throwing up," she said.

I didn't have the nerve to ask her about a "bad day." She answered it anyway.

"I try not to have bad days," she said.

Then she continued: "You get tired of it, of course. This cancer has become my full-time job. It's like I should be moving on."

The numerous chemotherapy treatments have robbed Minge of her straight blonde hair, but they also repositioned her perspective, a trait no scarf can hide.

"The little things aren't important anymore," she said. "I used to really care about the landscape in the front yard, but as you can see, that's not my priority now. I don't care about keeping a spotless house either."

Right now, she'd trade everything for a clean bill of health.

Cancer Benefit Concert for Stephanie and Sammy Minge

When: 6 to 8 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 2

Where: First Baptist Church, 4500 Riverview Ave, Middletown

What's happening: Performances from Middletown High School's show choir Purple Pizzazz; violinist Corey Keighley Hall; soprano Karen Mail; pianists Chris Baird and Phil Thornbery; First Baptist Sanctuary Choir; and three-man band Johnny B. and the Gravediggers.

Cost: Freewill offering. Open to the public.

So YAY Halloween shopping today! Definitely needed to get some capitalism out of my system, haha. I found a cute bat at Pier One and I got some fun stuff at the Halloween store. I got a knife for my costume and a pair of metal handcuffs for the pimps and 'ho's party (and a suitcase at the thrift store, yay!) and then also I couldn't pass up an "Arabian dagger" and an actually semi-quality metal snake band for an Egyptian costume (which I intend to use when I finally get my shit together and go as a Gorgon).

At the thrift store I finally found a green vest and also a sort of Mandarin vest that I plan to use for a steampunk outfit. I am dangerous when I go costume shopping--sure I have one outfit I need stuff for, but then I see a million other things that I want to do *eventually*... And this is why I have soooo many boxes full of costumes and props around the house, hehe.

I also got the chain (for my swiss army knife!) and the paint (for the suspenders), so basically all I really need is the purple gloves and the makeup latex, I think. No wait, I need to buy the socks from Sock Dreams, but that's it. I went to Hot Topic to see if they had the hexagon shirts in stock... But I didn't see anything at all. I don't think they had room for it, all the costume area was trashy girl outfits and bizarre raver stuff (I mean, more bizarre than their usual fare).

So tomorrow it's off to the Dayton Mall to check the other Hot Topic, and also any other Halloween stores down there; I know there's a Spirit store (I think I went to Halloween USA today), and hopefully at least one other. I was kind of upset that the Halloween store today didn't have Joker accessories (just full outfits), and they didn't have anything Indiana Jones at all (I need the fake whip). And Walmart and Target haven't either... Frustrating. Plus I want to find some of the fake dust that the Halloween Store had the past couple of years, I'm hoping that will dirt up my outfit sufficiently. Maybe I will have to take sandpaper and paint to it too, I don't know.

No luck on my purse run, either. I went all over the mall just looking for a khaki-ish military-ish messenger bag, because this one's kind of dying and for some reason it gets black all over EVERYTHING I put in it. I don't really know where I can find one... But I really need a new purse. Blaaaaaaugh. It was kind of funny how I just marched right in every store to the back to find their purses, looked over the wall for a second and then marched back out. Definitely on a mission. Sometimes the staff didn't even ask me anything, lol. TOO BAD FOR YOU =P

Whaaaaat eeeeeeeelse. Oh, I made a Best Buy run to see how early they open Tuesday, and I'm guessing the skull with dvd is going to run me about $50... Totally worth it. It will make a sweeeeeet Halloween decoration (jk... sort of). But I did find a FIVE WAY mp3 splitter, and the sound jacks are also input jacks, so that you can hook up a couple mp3 systems like a mixer. Which, I don't know how useful that will be, but a five-way splitter? Most definitely.

So yesterday. I'm forgetting something at the moment, but let's start with Capture the Flag. It is a fun game. But let's face it, it's a war game and everybody knows it; when you play it, everyone tries to cheat the rules to their advantage-- I have never met anyone that did not try to exploit the loopholes. As soon as our team left the game meeting to set up camps, I realizes this game was going to create a little drama, as one of the first things we did was create a fake flag. Loooovely. Anyway, we had a half hour to hide our flag, let the other team know where jail was and get ready. It's actually a pretty good set-up, all of campus and all the surrounding housing areas are out of bounds, as are the insides of buildings. The pathway from the campus entrance all the way down behind Stuart served as the boundary, and it was fairly even. We knew the instinctual place to put a flag was Serenity Pines, so we set up the decoy flag there with Candice and two of the other mello girls. Our jail was practically all the way across campus in front of KU in that amphitheatre area, which turned out to be a very bad idea for us. I think with about five or ten more people on each time it may have been viable; it at least kept the other team busy and away from the flag. Apparently the fake flag kept them going, too, the only problem was that there were a lot of people keeping busy at the jail, and then the rest of the team was at the decoy; leaving just me and Brooke to watch the flag. The basic idea was that Brooke would hide in the bushes around the corner from the flag; it was sort of in a corner next to VWK so the other team would pretty much have to pass her to get to it and she could walk out behind them and tag them and scare the shit out of them. My best part in capture the flag is hiding in a dark shadowy place as a lookout and scaring the shit out of anyone who comes by.

I was actually surprised by how many people wear black... When Katy took some art class I remember her telling me that black actually stands out in nature because of its complete lack of color, so I pulled out my green pants and actually my purple sweater worked really well, too, even though the inside of the hood is white. The secret to not being noticed I think is more in being completely still, which I lot of people can't handle. I don't know.

So anyway they really didn't send many people up our way towards the top of Stuart, I think because they didn't want to have to climb the hill that was on their side. I saw Tony come around behind Stuart Hall, up the back road. I jumped the gun and called for Brooke and went around her way and didn't see where he went, so at first I was afraid he was hiding in the bushes. But I went back to my tree lookout (I just leaned up against a tree for most of the hour... I could see the road behind Stuart as well as the hill in front and road in front of VWK, so I could basically see any direction the blue team would come for the flag unless they came through the bushes behind VWK, which turned out to be that they didn't even know the flag was there until laaaaaaaate). Anyway, so no one was really up our way but I was very afraid people would be because although as a team we'd agreed there would be more from our side up there backing us up, but no one was, they'd all left to be where the action was, I suppose. Standing there on lookout for long enough made me realize some of the failures of our plan, lol. I'm way too much of a strategist. Like the fact that I should have stayed hidden more than I did, because I think all that did was attract everyone to the fact that our flag was up there. Although Doug was scouting around too and I think he was the first one to figure out our flag was up there, because he then came around the front. It was rather funny, I watched him walk away down the street by VWK and then double back and creep up in the shadows.

Okay, so this part is the best part of the night. I am watching him sneak up towards the flag, but he doesn't know Brooke is right around the corner. I am trying not to give too much away, because I'd realized we'd been abandoned at our post and with only two people we actually can't afford to tag anyone and have to escort them down the hill to at least the other players, let alone back to the jail. So I am just waiting for Brooke to have to get him, hoping we can get it to all go quietly. At that point I see three blues come around behind Stuart and I'm just praying they don't see me in the shadows. I should have just let them go quietly and assumed they didn't see the flag, but by then I was too scared they were going to just walk up and take it, so I took the risk to scare them off, which incidentally I think did more harm than good because they realized I turned back. (I couldn't just leave one person guarding the flag... though I doubted anyone came with Doug, he was being too sneaky, like I was.) Instead I waited until I was out of their line of sight and they had passed the bushes, and then risking Doug knowing where I was I ran across behind the bushes and that was when I chased them a little and turned back. I realized that they noticed I had turned back, buuuut I had to, even though I really didn't want to. =/ Anyway, so I come back and I'm assuming Doug is as stubborn as I am, that he's still waiting in the bushes. I see some guys come out for a smoke and Brooke scared them where she had been hiding, and I heard the guy say he was going to pee there. Well I found out later that he had already had his pants down, and then when Brooke scared him he went over to where I assumed Doug was, and I hoped he didn't get peed on. Well later I found out (when he and Brooke told me about it) that he was still there (which we found out when we got stormed right at the end at eleven... that was a disaster letmetellyouwhat) and that he didn't get hit (at least I don't think so) but he didn't let the guy know he was there, he just was silent and hoped nothing happened. (Which, I knew he was that kind of intense about the game like I was-- I mean, he wore camo-- so I was happy to see that my guesses were right on that front.)

Yeah, anyway. Ten minutes left in the game we started getting company, they ran off knowing the flag was there and I think had gotten chased off by maybe Josh (the red captain), but as Andy ran down the hill he told the rest of the blues to get up to the top and get the flag. And there were like six of them, and then we were fucked. I knew our only hope was to try to delay it past eleven, which we think we succeeded in but they never rang the bell so it didn't end until they got the flag over to their side (which was 11:03, by the by). Although we were pissed off because they totally swarmed us when we had to replant the flag, which technically we were supposed to get ten minutes to re-hide, and they were supposed to go back to their side. And I was screaming "RED FLAG" at the top of my lungs which was the signal to get reds up the hill for backup, which GOD KNOWS WHY everyone was just CHILLING AT THE PINES when clearly the rest of the blue team not in jail was up the hill. Blargh.

And as for all's fair in love and war, they crossed Baujan field to hide their flag or some shit (which was not only against the rules but illegal for all students), and hid it in a place with one point of access (the rules said two, but they counted "up" as a direction), and then they didn't admit to who was on their team when they swarmed us, which was the entire point of the makeup (lol, pep band facepaint) even though people were showing up late just to watch the game, intentionally. So I was pissed about that because Josh (trumpet Josh) and Peter both lied to me about Josh being an observer, so I dismissed him from my strategy and ended up having to kind of fight him off. (Though I laughed when he tried to tackle me out of Peter's way and I spun around and he slipped on the leaves and fell... karma)

ANYWAY. So afterward we all bitched and then we all got together for a party at Peter's house and a bunch of played Peabone (also Mao also Jackass) which is the game where you know the card structure but you have to determine the rules as you go. It's fun as long as the rules people make as they go are fun, but they made me rather uncomfortable and I tried to be a good sport but eventually just gave up and took my deck and left. =/

So that was yesterday and today... yep. =)

I'm starting to think I want to upgrade to a paid account... So I can have a few more icons, but also maybe better layout and management stuff... I don't know, I keep thinking about it but I never register. And I keep telling myself the next time they offer permanent accounts I'll get one... So I don't know. Meh.

Random 1957 factoids, continued:

The University of Hawaii incorporated Chi Epsilon (the civil engineering honors group) then. Random, I know.

Man, UD didn't set up Chi Ep until 2000, daaaamn. I got an invite, so that's pretty cool, but I don't know if I'm going to join. I'm already pretty busy with Phi Rho and band, even though I'm not doing pep band... I want to do sustainability stuff and also have some more free time for myself and to hang out with people and keep myself in shape and stuff.

Also, I have some news on the Indy front but IE froze and crashed so I have to go dig it up again. But I'll be back later with that.

Good news: we raised at least $1000 dollars for the American Cancer Society with Hopewalk! I dunno, I think just crossing that $1000 bar makes me feel like it was a significant donation. Something about being in the hundreds for such a work-intensive event just didn't feel right, because we have so much involvement but tees take away sooo much of the registration fees... So beating that mark makes me feel a lot better.

So what's more annoying than having the neighbors across the street playing their music so loud you can hear it through the walls? A live all-day concert two blocks over and all you can hear is the bass, no notes or anything. Blargh.

I feel like I'm not updating as much as I'd like to... But I've been busy. Kind of stressing over where I want to march. Semi-resigned myself to Troopers, if I can afford to go out to Wyoming that much... And I feel like I don't really have the time to put research into this decision, but if I don't make it soon I know I'll be really upset.

Maybe Friday afternoon or Thursday evening I can work on that. This is something that talking to people about I feel is not really going to help me any... Mom and Dad will just encourage me to march where I want to, Grandma would try to guilt me into Troopers, Carl will try to guilt me into Glassmen, I dunno. There's no real stand-out choice. =/ Blaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrggggh.