one more miracle

What an interesting day.

I LOST MY IPOD! D: I think it was in my purse when I went out last night, and... it wasn't when I got home. Stolen? Fallen out? Who knows, but gone. :((((( I had a 30 GB 5G, and it was PERFECT for me, functional and big enough with no bells and whistles. Now my options are a stupid iPod touch that's tiny AND expensive (I don't need that huge screen! JUST GIMME MY MUSIC) or an also tiny and still expensive Nano, or an ENORMOUS and correspondingly EXPENSIVE Classic. AUGH DNW!!!! I'm so angry at myself. Why didn't I just take it out of my purse before I went to the bar?! ARGH.

Because I was looking for my iPod, I was late leaving to pick up angel726 for the Cobra meet and greet, so I was speeding. AND I GOT A SPEEDING TICKET! Making me LATER, hahahaha! ///o\\\ The cop caught me doing 83 in a 70... oops? He took pity (also probably saw I've never gotten a ticket before) and only smacked me with doing 75 in a 70, but now I have to show up to court in DETROIT and FML.

So basically, today cost me roughly $300 in the long run. AWESOME. /o\ At least I just got paid? :D?

The Cobra show (which was really a Boys Like Girls show, wut) was FILLED with people in black and neon pink or neon cyan. I felt seriously weird in my distressed red tee. Meet and Greet was kind of awkward, and Gabe-less (too sick? Ryland said hungover, but I couldn't tell if he was yanking my chain!), but still very nice. Ryland is tall! And lovely! I told him I got a speeding ticket and he said he was just glad I made it there alive, lolol. It was such an awkward setup and I didn't have anything to say really so I didn't talk to Suarez or Nate much. I did tell VickyT her jacket was AWESOME, because it was a military style deal very reminiscent of Black Parade. Then we got our photo and hustled on our way. I yawned my way through Versa Emerge, The Rocket... something? what?, and The Maine, and then it was Cobras!! Who were awesome and exciting, but the lighting was so shitty. The theme: "Let's Not Light The Performers!" Uhhkay. Whatever, Cobras, awesome, fangs up!

Then we left, because hahaha Boys Like Girls? No.

And now I am exhausted and in bed and watching White Collar. I have plans to see The Men Who Stare At Goats with Dave tomorrow, YAY. Aaaand scene.

What the fuck is up with humanity?

First I see the video of the "Naked Wizard" being tased at Coachella in Philly. The Huffington Post blurb seems to give it a humorous cast, but I see nothing but a harmless man being forcibly held to the ground by two policemen and then tased into submission.

Then there's the even more disturbing footage from the We The Kings show in Philly last night. One of the supporting bands parked their van somewhere they shouldn't, so the police felt the need to shove around some young guys until one of their heads left a large pool of blood on the stage.

What. The actual. Fuck.

On top of all this, I'm in the middle of reading "We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families," the riveting and wrenching account of the Rwandan genocide by Philip Gourevitch. I'm learning so much that is so important to know, but it's killing my soul piece by piece. The book includes the story of one man who just did what he thought was right (I think his story was the inspiration for the movie Hotel Rwanda), and he's so innocently and genuinely baffled by the fact that there weren't more people like him in the country. He protected thousands in his hotel, with no selfish intent, just doing what's right. And he was the startling anomaly in a country gone collectively insane, where priests gunned down their own congregations and police murdered schoolchildren.

The story is so enormous and horrible that the mind truly struggles to wrap around it. Neighbor truly turned on neighbor, in the most literal and horrifying of ways. Meanwhile, the international community actively tried to avoid intervening. The US (Madeleine Albright and Bill Clinton specifically) did verbal gymnastics to avoid classifying it as a genocide and thus obligating their own response. France was the only power to involve themselves, and they did so by bolstering and aiding the genocidal regime.

Afterwards, as the RPF (the opposition to the Hutu Power government that had organized the genocide) swept across the country reclaiming it, the Hutu Power leaders scared everyone remaining in the country into fleeing ahead of the RPF because it claimed they would slaughter everyone (not true). A million refugees settled in Goma, Zaire, and were immediately showered with international humanitarian aid efforts.

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK.

I just. I can't deal.

Note: I have not yet watched the Atlantis finale. It's downloading right now, so no spoilers please!

I am rather unsettled because I nearly got in an accident today :( It's snowing a LOT, and I was on the highway going literally 20 MPH and trying not to so much as blink. This guy moves over in front of me and I'm forced to use my brakes, and my whole car skids sideways. WTF. I had to wrestle with the wheel to correct it, and I did, but it was terrifying. My car was literally turned totally perpendicular to the road. I was really lucky because if someone was next to me, I would totally have hit them, and if the other drivers were going at any speed at all it would have been bad. But I was okay. I called my dad and immediately started sobbing (I had managed not to cry yet) but he talked me down and gave me some pointers. I drove the rest of the way without taking a breath, it felt like. But I got home in one piece, thankfully. I am still a little shaken.

I feel like an idiot, because the reason I was on the road was to go pick up my fixed laptop. I was at my Mom's house and about to take my siblings to my Dad's for the week, but I got a call just then from Apple saying it was ready, and the Apple store's a lot closer to my mom's than my dad's, and let's face it, I wanted my computer back. The snow was still really light, and I thought I'd get back with no problem. But I95 was HORRIBLE, right at the time I was driving on it, so that was a pretty shitty plan :( Oops. My dad had to come pick us up because I simply could not drive any more. And it's still snowing, supposed to keep going all through the night.

On the bright side, I have my laptop back! It looks like a brand new computer - they replaced the top casing, the hinges, and the whole keyboard and surface. It's beautiful and the screen actually stays up and I love it \o/

I didn't see Atlantis last night because I was out seeing Milk with my mom. Wow. What a powerful movie. I cried in the car all the way home, and couldn't stop thinking about it. All of the performances are just wonderful. I think my favorite was Emile Hirsch, actually - he was so darling. The story is so potent and necessary for this moment in time. I hope that it will have an impact, because it's really painful to watch a movie about all the struggles that have already been fought, the victories won, only to realize that they were but temporary and we are sliding back into the gulf. I anxiously await the day when Christian/Mormon fundamentalism's star wanes, when we get to stop listening to this hate disguised as religion tripe. It will be a battle, but I know we can do it.

Aaaanyway. Yesterday I went back to my high school for the first time in a long time, and got to see all of my teachers. It was just wonderful. I talked to practically everyone. It's always a great ego boost to go back there, haha. This time Dr. Melmed (who is this huge chemist who decided to teach high school - I wish I had appreciated him more while I had him) told me that he and Mr. Galanopoulos, who taught me when I was 14 (!), had been talking and both of them chose me as a student who had affected their lives the most. I mean, what do you say to that??? And every time I go back I hear something like that. It's really sweet. I love those people.

P.S. All Merlin fans need to read astolat's Onfindan. It's glorious and beautiful and epic and moving. Arthur and Merlin's first steps toward King Arthur and his trusted advisor Merlin. Really something else!

Oh ELJAY! I think you all need a collective, massive SMISHING. *squeezes you all tiiiight* Everyone seems to be having a seriously awful month. NOVEMBER, YOU ARE ON NOTICE D: You gave us Obama, sure, but that doesn't give you the right to grind us all into the dust!

I think everyone who's feeling a little blue should watch this video: Capucine tells a story. It's a little French girl telling the most rambly and silly story you've ever heard, and she's got these massive anime eyes. She's really something else, and I promise you'll at least smile! There's loads more videos of her here, because apparently her parents have decided that a photo album is not enough! A Vimeo album is the new way to track your child's growth! It's kind of hilarious.

Anyway, yes, go and smile <3

I myself am taking a break from studying for biochem exam, ughh. I hope I do at least somewhat better than last time. :(