one more miracle

*pokes at the internet* *poke poke*

So I guess none of y'all are too interested in miss Minka Kelly. That's alright, I just think your lives are thus a little less sparkly.

I have been powering my way through my FNL S1 rewatch. It's just so damn GOOD. Even upon rewatching I've got tear tracks on my cheeks at the end of every episode. The characters capturing me the most are Lyla and Timmy and Smash. And Coach. And Matt. And Julie. And Tyra. And Tami. And Jason. And oh wait everyone! It's so interesting to press rewind on these kids' lives. Lyla and Tyra in particular change so fundamentally between the beginning to the end of S3, and to see the start of their journeys is just fascinating. I appreciate Tyra's depth more this time through, even though it's subtle, because I know what it burgeons into. And Lyla - well. &Lyla;!

Today my mommy arrived for a weekend visit! She's here for the awards ceremony which is happening tomorrow. Today got up to 90 degrees, it was kind of insane. There's a Spring Arts thing that was happening on campus, which basically meant live music and free (shitty) food, so we wandered through that. But it was so damn hot that we actually just wanted to get inside so we went to the mall, haha. My mom is pretty loose with the credit card when it comes to her daughters and the mall, so I had a lot of fun! :P I got a new gorgeous summery dress, an awesome denim patchwork shoulder bag, a pair of jean capris, and some fancy black dress sandals for graduation. It was a most successful trip! Then we went to dinner at the local creperie, om nom nom nommmmmm, where I had "The Capri" which consisted of melted fresh mozzarella, fresh tomatoes, basil, and olive oil. YUM YUM. I followed it up with a brown sugar and butter crepe. TRIPLE YUM. Hee.

Then we went to see the student choreographed dance show because my friend was in one of the dances. I'll be blunt - I do not get modern dance. A bunch of people mucking about on a stage, doing random things that only sometimes seem related to each other, with odd music or sound effects or even NO music. I just do not understand it in any way, and it doesn't usually even trigger my aesthetic beauty buttons. I just watch with my head tilted in confusion. A couple of the pieces were neat though, and I particularly loved a big African piece with a whole bunch of girls and two drummers, and the piece my friend was in, which was a gorgeous fusion of traditional Chinese dance and Western dance. Those were lovely.

Aaaand then we wandered over to Battle of the Bands which was going on in the center of campus, and saw a couple songs by this incredible duo - a dude on guitar and a girl on drums and vocals, and that's it. They were damn talented and could certainly jam, but their songs very much subscribed to the very long and unstructured tradition. They were entertaining though.

Then we came home and I watched more Friday Night Lights. You're shocked, I know!

Tomorrow it's supposed to be 80s again. I'm going to wear my pretty new dress, (which you can see HERE, I got the blue one!) go to brunch at a friend's apartment, be given three awards, and go out to dinner at a fancy local brewery. It's gonna be a good day! I hope you're all enjoying your weekends too. ♥

Tell me your top five favorite movies! I'm trying to find things to put on my Netflix list. I know there's a lot I need to see, I'm just drawing a bit of a blank, so help me out!

I just finished my last class-related-lab ever here at F&M. :O Kind of mind boggling. How is it almost May?! It was short and kind of silly, and now I'm home early and planning on going to the grocery store. Sweet.

I also just got my tax rebate check from the IRS - $450! Hell yes! I'm pondering how to celebrate - Threadless tshirt? BSG season 2.5? New shoes? The possibilities are endless! :D

Anyway, movies! Go!

Hi flist! Hi!

I am so ridiculously behind on LJ, because it has been one nonstop weekend! My dad and my sis were here the whole time so I've been doing this and that with them, and basically had no time to keep up with the internets. In the short bits I've caught, I've seen 1) SPN fangirls being crazy, 2) Misha being a darling dork who slashes J2 FOR us, and 3) Gerard being really beautiful in a totally random JPop video. What else have I missed?

Quick recap! On Saturday morning we had the Intercollegiate Student Chemists Conference here at my college, and I gave a presentation in the biochemistry division. It was actually sort of a competition, and I ended up winning first place in my division! Against only 6 other people, but still, that was pretty awesome. :) Then I had a looong dress rehearsal for choir. After that, it was in the 70s and sunny (!) so me and my dad and sis wanted to enjoy the sun. We spotted a baseball game going on near my school, and found that it was my college's baseball and softball teams playing games right next to each other! So we hung out for a few hours in the sun and it was really lovely. The girls were losing 2-0, but then they had an amazing inning in which they scored 6 runs and my friend Jess hit a home run! It was so great and a lovely way to spend the afternoon. Then we went to dinner at a local creperie and UNF UNF it was soooooo delicious. Peach mango strawberry smoothie and chicken caesar crepe and brown sugar/butter crepe, om nom nommm.

Then today, I sang in my choir's big semester performance, and it was kind of a big deal: ( The choir invasion! )

It was a really amazing experience, and a great note to finish my time with the choir. We have *the* most incredible director - he seems to live and breathe music, and the way he coaxes it out of us is so beautiful. And he's just a really sweet, caring guy. It's been a blast singing with him for the past four years. It's definitely something I'm going to miss about college!

While I'm sharing photos, I thought I'd post some really gorgeous ones I've had sitting about for a while. These are mostly from my flight back from San Francisco. It was a beautiful, sunny, clear day, so I had the most beautiful views of the Rockies and a lot of lush grassland. There are also a few pictures from around campus on the beautiful days we've had recently. I hope you like them!

( The beauty of spring )

Well that's it for now! I should do some laundry and try to get caught up on LJ. Mostly I want to read SPN fic (I know right?!) and/or watch old SPN eps and/or old FNL. I'm on a nostalgia kick.

Which! Speaking of! Me and my sister watched Hunted, Playthings, and Nightshifter this weekend. ♥____♥ Season two, you are forever first in my heart!! "We're not workin for the mandroid!!" <333333

Ack, this test is ENORMOUS. It's past midnight and I haven't even finished reading through (and summarizing) my notes for the FIRST time. *facepalm* We're covering a huge swath of time and places - going straight from precolonial through colonialism and all the way into decolonization in East and South Africa. Big focus on Kenya, Congo, and South Africa, but other places poke their heads in too - Tanganyika, Uganda, Ethiopia. So many places and names and themes and ack, I am so overwhelmed! It doesn't help that my teacher talks so bloody much and I am a very thorough note taker, so one day I had 9 single-sided pages of notes for 90 minutes of class. O__O You better believe my hand was killing me afterward! Meep.

I haven't even gotten to his list of short answer questions that we should be able to answer to be prepared for the essays. I'm not optimistic about this test being a 99 like last time! >.<

It also doesn't help that I'm bloody exhausted. I just fell asleep over my notes for the second time. Sigh.

Er, on the bright side, this is my last non-final-exam test in my entire college career? \o/?

Oh, on an actual bright side, I got another email about another award! This one's called the Rawnsley Science Prize, and "is presented to a senior(s) who, by her or his actions and attitude while a student, will use the scientific knowledge he or she has gained to best advantage." I think I'm most touched by this one, because that's something I really pride myself on, the desire to do something meaningful with my skills. So the fact that they're giving me an award for it is really wonderful and validating. Also, "prize" to me implies money, which is always yay. ;)

Back to the books....

Things!

- I gave blood today! \o/ For the first time since before I went to Dublin! I loved giving blood sophomore year, did so about 4-5 times (and have the scars to prove it), but then I went abroad and got a tattoo so that put a kibosh on things for a while. But now I'm finally eligible again and I have successfully sucked a pint of my life away! I know, it's weird to enjoy giving blood, but at least I'm doing a public service right?

- I got two emails that I thought were repeats of each other, but instead I was being notified that I've been awarded TWO separate awards by the college! One is the "Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society Prize" and the other is the "American Institute of Chemists Award". I'm more than a little blown away. I'm not lying at all when I say I completely didn't expect anything like this - as far as I'm concerned, there's much better scientists in my class. But um, someone (my department!) disagrees, and I'm humbled and flattered and so pleased. Yay.

- I've found a house that I'm very seriously interested in! It's a four-bedroom beautiful old house right near downtown Ann Arbor. There are two guys living in it already, one from Germany and one from Poland, and they've got a girl from Arizona confirmed to move in for next year. I've been talking to the German guy a lot, and he seems really awesome, very down to earth and interesting - he's a math major and he biked from Germany to Nepal! Crazy! The bedroom that I would get is up on the top floor of the house and looks pretty damn huge, with a peaked ceiling and really nice natural light coming in. The rent is even lower than I was hoping to spend, AND includes all utilities, which is pretty rare and important for Michigan winters! I emailed one of the guys' old roommates, and she sounded very positive about the place and the guys, saying "I cherish very warm memories of the friendships I formed with Florian and Simon, who are sly, funny, very sweet guys." I think it would be a whole lot of fun to live with them. (European guys for the win!) There are a few minor drawbacks. It's not in the exact area of town that I wanted to be, but it's still close enough. It doesn't start until late August, so I'd be living with my uncle for almost two months. I exchanged an email with the girl that will be moving in, and she seemed... shall we say, flighty? You obviously can't always judge a person from their email tone, but it gives me some idea what she's like. We might get along but I don't think we'd be super close. All that said, it sounds like a really great place. Florian's going to call me this afternoon so I think after that conversation I'll be maybe more ready to make a decision? If I'm leaning towards yes, I'll post the pictures to get your opinions!

- I watched some of LOTMS today. Ugh, BOYS. Still my favorite piece of canon EVER. I love all of them so ridiculously much.