I like scaring little kids

Yeah, last night I was at First B terroizing middle schoolers. It was so fun! Of course, they have absolutely no respect for authority, but that's exactly why it is so fun to totally freak them out. Of course, I got a little freaked out myself at first, because it was dark and we were in pretty much the whole church. That place is huge, and I still don't know my way around all of it. The boys didn't really get scared, though. They actually started fighting back when we would tag them. Julie got put in a headlock twice! Then the kid faked an asthma attack and collapsed on the floor. Dianna said she was going to pose him so that when he stiffened he wouldn't fit in a coffin, but he grabbed her and she kneed him in the temple. I guess that's just the danger in this sort of event. Oh, and Laura Rasmussen was there (she used to live in Brookings). I caught her twice in the first round and she called me mean. Hah!

Back at school we watched Mulan and stayed up late talking. I'm so glad we get an extra hour tonight for daylight saving time.

-Kim

Yeah, um, no good title today. Sorry.

So last night I was at a concert of the St. Lawrence String Quartet, and it was amazing. Every time I go to something like that it makes me think, "I wish I could play like that." They did this really modern piece that was kind of weird. It involved them shouting nonsense sylables in rythym with the notes they were playing. It was actually really cool, but funny at the same time. It made me think of David. Especially the first violinist, because he was just really into what he was doing the whole time and looked as if he might fall out of his chair from the excitement. Also, it was great fun just hanging out with Sam for the evening. She's so cool, and I need to get to know her better.

Let's see, on Wednesday night I learned two very important things:
1. The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy is an awesome movie
2. I should never drink coffee. Honestly, it doesn't affect me the way it does other people. It made me feel like my head was floating, and I really couldn't concentrate on anything. So, it's back to the hot chocolate at Java City for me.

I think that's about it for now. I need to go eat lunch and go see Adam's colloquium presentation about chaos theory.

-Kim

Return to the Salad Bar

You know, it's funny how even though everything changes, it all stays the same. I worked Saturday with a girl who had been hired after school started. Even though she was newer than me, she knew how the bigger better bar worked and got to be in charge. But she was actually really nice and we found things to talk about for our entire shift. Then today I worked again with the older ladies. Deb called in sick, which was actually a relief. That meant Lynette was in charge, and she's not scary at all. It was actually a slow day, so we had no trouble keeping up in spite of having fewer people. Oh, and I made a discovery. Cutting with a dull blade is not the most dangerous, as we would be had to believe. In fact, the most dangerous is to be used to cutting with a dull blade and suddenly be handed a nice sharp one. Yeah, all summer I never hurt myself, bu tnow that they've got new and sharpened knives, I made my thumb bleed today. Kind of badly too, so we'll see how that turns out.

So, what have I done thus far on break besides work? Well, Friday night I didn't make it to the RemedyDrive concert, Kevin and I decided it would be better just to stay home and relax. I can tell you for sure that I do not get enough sleep at school. Here I slept in and actually had dreams I could remember. That might be most of my problem at school, i never ever get enough sleep.

Anyway, Saturday was Hobo Day, so I had to go to the parade. The Pride was awesome, as usual. Though, i couldn't spot any of my friends in the crowd of uniforms except for Kody, and he doesn't really count. Oh, I saw Dan Bielfelt, he's kind of hard to miss. The high school actually has a decent color guard this year, which I was very pleased to see. But they're still using the same parade song. Honestly, can't we get a little variety? Patriotism is all well and good, but there's more than one song that fits the bill. Okay, I'm rambling, back to the parade. I learned what they did with our old marching band uniforms. They gave them to the middle school. Well, the coats at least. I don't know what they did with the pants, I always wanted to keep a pair of those pants, they were cool, with a red stripe down the side. Oh, but they have cooler hats then the high school. The middle schoolers get red berets to go with the red baldrics and capes of the coats. I am definitely jealous. It makes me want to form a marching band at USF just so we can have cool uniforms. Well, that wouldn't be the only reason, but it would be ompossible with our numbers and budget anyway. We left the parade when it began to snow.

And lets see, I also spent all Sunday afternoon figuring out John Locke. Today I wrote my paper, and I just hope it makes sense. My dad will read it tomorrow and we'll see. I still have to write my Brit Lit paper. I figure I should turn it in early since I intend to skip class the day it's due to see Adam's colloquium.(I can't spell that word...) I also still need to finish dealing with my laundry and get things packed up to come back to school, which is a bigger job than it sounds like. I won't bore you with the details.

At any rate, I have not had time this weekend to see my Brookings friends, for which I am very disappointed. I shall have to try again next time I'm home.

-Kim

Pumpkin Carving Madness!

So, yeah, tonight was fun. The play was a dark comedy, and the most laughter came when a couple of characters dropped dead on stage. It was all very funny though, and Emily did an awesome job. So did Amanda, who played the deaf paraplegic who could talk. The only part that really weirded me out was the game show scene, but that was because they were dressed as planets. Anyways...

The Dating Game was fun, though not entirely what I expected. Adam was by far the best contestant--he had a rose for the girl he picked! It was so cute, and I wish I had had my camera at the time.

But the best part of the night was random pumpkin carving craziness. I joined Adam, David, Scott and Todd, who had claimed a rather tall and skinny pumpkin. After an offhand comment from me about their design resembling a rocket, they decided to actually make it one. And then I had to cut the smaller pumpkin open since Todd was having issues with it. David was painstakingly adding detailto the back of several pieces while Adam and Scott put as much fire on the thing as they could. In the end it actually turned out really well. I would put a picture up, but I still haven't figured out how to do that. Perhaps Dianna will post one or show me how.

At any rate, I need to go to bed now. My voice has continued to get worse, and I need to perform tomorrow.

-Kim

I hate allergy season

If you've been around me at all in the past couple of days, you'll know what I'm talking about. I still don't know what I'm allergic to, but apparently there's a whole lot of it right now. My sinuses are all congested, which leads my ears to fill with fluid if I don't keep taking the extra sudafed. Yes, extra. I OD on sudafed every stinkin' day just to keep my head clear and uninfected. But, yeah, all the phlegm (sorry if this disturbs you) makes my throat rough, and can even upset my stomach. So, basically, it's like being sick without an actual treatable cause. And of course it would hit me the worst on the weekend of Hymnfest. My voice sounds absolutely terrible. I just pray I can sing tomorrow.

In other news, my parents took me to Plato's Closet today, where I found the coolest new shoes. (Yes, Jesse, more shoes) I am definitely going to have to go back there sometime.

And I would just like to say that my violin teacher, Maria Peters, is pretty much the coolest person ever. I've learned so much since I started taking lessons from her. She tells me clearly what I need to fix, and she's so supportive in everything. And she gives me all sorts of new music. Right now the piece I'm learning she calls "gypsy music." It has three difficult sections, but it all sounds really cool. At the begining I play over an octave's worth of nots all on the G string. That's 6th and 7th position! (If any of you understand what that means) And then there's one place that's almost all double stops (two strings at the same time) and another that's all harmonics (sorry, there's no simple way to explain this one). I should be able to get this one ready for one of the earliest departmentals next semester.

Well, I think all that's left is a preview of tonight's events. We're going to see Emily in the play tonight, which should be pretty cool. And then it's the Sulli Party Dating Game. I'm sure we'll have a lot to blog about after that. So, until later.

-Kim

Jury Duty

"I don't always thank You for the rough days and the hard times in my life, even though I should. 'Cause every single moment, whether sleeping or awake, is Your creation, and what You've made is good." -O.C. Supertones, "Jury Duty"

Okay, so the title tells you one of the main things that's been bothering me lately. I got called for jury duty today, so I had to miss class. And the class this caused the most trouble in was choir, of all things. You see, my director, Krause, has a policy of only allowing 3 absences a semester. That's fine, but he also says there is no such thing as an excused absence. Several of us were already upset that a school activity (the Neobel Conference) counted as one of our absences for the semester. But when I talked to him yesterday about my jury duty, he wouldn't even excues that. Which makes absolutely no sense. It's not like I could just skip out on the court--they'd haul me in for my own trial. So I've been worried about this for the past couple of days, as I am taking choir for credit this semester and can't deal with getting a bad grade because of jury duty. This is a big deal, because today would have been my last allowable absence until January.
Well, now that i've gone and told you I got out of it, I should explain a bit more about how it happened. Audrey gave me a ride this morning and after I got checked in we just waited in the jury room for what seemed like a very long time. There were nearly 40 prospective jurrors. Then they called us in to the court room and drew our names from what looked like a Bingo drum and made us sit in the jury box to be questioned. There were the standard questions of, do you know anyone involved in the case, are you in any way related to law enforcement in such a way that you would be biased, and so forth. Then the lawyers started asking questions and I finally got to speak my piece when he asked if any of us have some reason we would not be able to give our full attention to the case. So I explained that my grade was in danger because my teacher would not excuse my absence, and the judge though that was the stupidest thing ever. He took down Krause's name and said that he would call the president of the university if my being called in for this and future cases made me go over my allowed absences. So I felt a lot better knowing that the judge was on my side on the whole Krause issue. At any rate, I was one of the many that the lawyers decided to eliminate, so I got to leave the courthouse two hours after I first got there. I missed Psych, but I'm really not worried about that.

And now on to happier news. The variety show on Friday night went really well. The mic on my violin didn't work the way it was supposed to, so the audience couldn't hear all of it, but we played well nonetheless. I'm just so thrilled that David, Adam and Joel put so much into that song for me. They are basically the most awesome guys I know.

Oh, and I'm never eating at Burger Time again. Saturday night I went there with Grandma and her friend Joan, and I felt just awful later that night. I was supposed to be studying with Lindsey for philosophy, but I just couldn't concentrate. But as soon as I threw up I felt better, which tells me it must have been the food. We were able to finish our study session, and I know it really helped me with the test on Monday. There is one question that I'm just kicking myself for forgetting, but I'm pretty sure I nailed the essay, so it's all good.

Sunday morning the choir sang for all 3 services at First B, and that went really well. I actually had a lot of fun, in spite of having to wear that hideous black dress. Next sunday is Hymnfest, at which we'll be performing with the Augie choir. And we'll be singing the piece I play bells on, so that should be fun.

Well, I think I'm all caught up now, have a wonderful day.

-Kim

No Proper Update

I suppose I'm supposed to catch you up on everything that's been going on in my life for the past several days. Actually, I think I skipped over pretty much all of homecoming week. I seem to have trouble finding time to blog since school started. I guess it's because I basically run around like a chicken with my head cut off. Lately I've been able to live life more than watch it, which gives me less time to write and more to write about. But now that I take the time to compose online again, I can't remember what it was that was so important that I had to broadcast it across the world.

It's Homecoming Week...

Well, I am now officially going to be home and working at Hy-Vee during fall break. I called Deb this morning and arranged my hours. She says the new bar is working out great, so it should be alright.

Let's see, in other news, it's becoming increasingly complicated to make my variety show act work out. David, Adam and Joel are the best guys I could have playing the parts they're on, but it is almost impossible to find them all free at the same time to practice. Tonight is supposed to be when we'll figure out if we can pull it off. Cross your fingers and send up a prayer.

-Kim

Serenity Spoilers

So, yeah, I should probably tell you all about the Einstein thing sometime, but I have got to get this off my chest first.

Warning! If you have not yet seen and intend to see Serenity and care at all about the characters, DO NOT READ THE REST OF THIS POST! I don't know how to make the text invisible, so you'll just have to rely on your own self-restraint.

First off, I must say that the movie as a whole was everything I expected, and then some. The "and then some" didn't all have to be there, in my oppinion, but I wasn't terribly surprized. Although, none it concerned Inara. Kaylee did most of that talking, and Jayne was his usual self. It all was rather more bloody than I had expected, which was most of the reason for the rating.

One of the best things, in my oppinion, was that the movie did not stray from the series in tone. No matter how serious a scene was, there was always a one-liner or an exchange that had the whole theater laughing. Going opening weekend with all the other psycho fand really helps, in my oppinion. If I see it again, which I'm open to, I will only go with someone else who understands.

Okay, now for the part that hurts. I will again repeat my warning: if you don't want the movie to be spoiled DO NOT READ THE REST OF THIS POST!



They killed off my favorite character! They killed Wash! How could they kill Wash?! He was married! And he was the coolest one on the whole boat! I mean, I love them all, but Wash was my absolute favorite. And they killed off Shepherd Book, too. Now we'll never be sure what his secret was. I thought the whole point of this movie was to get interest back up to continue the series. But how can they do that with two dead characters? It's like they don't actually want it to go on. Terribly sad.

-Kim