End of the Semester!

Friday was the last day of classes!

The last few days are always pretty emotional. I think the only reason I wasn't really broken up about the end of my Grant Writing class is that I know I'll have the same prof. again this fall (and I'm really looking forward to it).

So, in the last week, I've turned in a handful of final projects, taken two final exams in class, and written a few last papers. *whew* All I have left for the semester are two finals: applied linguistics and spanish literature, joy.

I went and became a "member-owner" at the Wheatsville Co-op today. I'm going to start buying all of my produce, rice, pasta, and beans there. On the other hand, that's all I'm willing to buy at the Co-op; their fancy-schmancy organic gluten-free breads and hand-fed-bees honey is not quite within a college student's budget.

Peter and Carly had a Beltane party the other night, so that was fun. And, speaking of which, here are Scarborough Fair photos:

The entrance. A castle, you say? Yes, I would like to enter.

I don't know how to caption this one. My only options seem to be the silly "An hat shop!!" and the sophomoric "I got crab at Scarby!" I'll let you guess which one I chose.

Zilch the Torysteller, happily spoonerizing your favorite fairy tales beyond all recognition!

Seriously, though, he's great.

Lunch! It comes in a bowl. Made of bread. (A bread bowl, if you will)

Also, if you sit still long enough, cute guys with German accents will come sing you rap songs. Yes!

What's that? A mask made from awesome? Actually, it's made from leather, and I think it looks amazing. There are some seriously talented people selling their wares at Scarby.

Oh, to be young enough to ride the jousting game.

Sitting in the audience. I love that I captured the random stranger checking Carly out here.

Me an' Amanda.

Oh, right. This is me getting my hair braided by the Twisted Sisters. They did a great job, and I got a green flower in my hair. Fun fun.

This is a kids' ride, which is why I convinced everyone to hop on with me. That guy with the dreds had to run back and forth to make it move. Also, he was interesting to talk to -- he hopped on while the ride was going so we could chat.

I'm really too short to be pulling off that pose. *alas*

Scarby, part 1

It's been a long day.

Here, have a video from Scarborough Fair(e)!



These guys were a LOT of fun. I hope we see them again come our next trip (May 17th).

In Which Our Heroine is Covered in Excrement

So, instead of detailing how cleaning the fish tank went this afternoon, I'm just going to give a list. Ready?

Ok:

- Our phone book
- The kitchen sink
- The kitchen floor
- My khaki pants
- One of the cats
- Most of my dish towels
- The counters
- My shirt

...oh, you want to know what that's a list of? Well, its a Great Big List of Things That Got Covered In Smelly Fish Tank Water this afternoon. Carly was awesome enough to give me a siphoning-cleaning-thingy for the fish tank, but I neglected to anchor the "out" end properly in the sink. Yay.

Also, Master Saxon (the black fish) decided that while I was up to my elbows in water, fixing the plastic plants, it would be a great idea to bite me on the wrist. Why, Saxon, why?

In other news, that fish has a huge, powerful mouth for something that lives on flakes. Ow.

Workin'

My new job is going well. If you ignore the fact that I spend 1-4 hours a day staring at the computer screen and reading bad writing, it's actually kind of fun. Also, I logged 10 hours in this, my first week. Whoo $90 paycheck after taxes!

So, that's that. I have a 5-minute podcast due, a grant due, a quiz over the subjunctive in Spanish, and a quiz on modernist Spanish literature next week. Joy.

Habitat for Humanity

Finally, here are the photos for the Saturday we spent with Habitat for Humanity a few weeks back.



It was definitely an amazing experience; the woman whose house we were building was there, hanging out with us AND we were working to earn hours for a friend of mom's so that she can get a house sometime soon.

We worked mostly with the siding: my arms hurt for two days from carrying it around. I was deemed unfit to hammer nails into the siding, but I did get to stand on the other side of the wall and hammer out nails that came through wrong. Also, they let me use the power shears, which are awesome. Al and I did a little painting, and I acted as an anchor for the ladders on some of the more uneven ground.



"Wait, there are people inside? I should be more careful with the nail gun . . ."

Inexplicably, they gave the GIANT level to the shortest person in the group.

"Ah, yes, we have located the corner of the building. Excellent."

I've Been Published!

Brijit didn't like my abstract on an article about Japanese Whiskey, but they published my comments on an interview with the Girls Gone Wild moron (I mean, founder) today!

I am filled with glee, and also I get money for it.

Gearing Up for a Road Trip

Because I am an awesomely cool college student, I'm going on a short road trip towards the end of the month.

Because I am a huge nerd, that road trip is to a renaissance festival. Namely, Scarborough.

That's right, kids, I will be enjoying food on a stick, the Royal Ale and Wine Festival, entertainment, and a mythical monster museum.

You know you're jealous.

Easter

If you think I'm behind on blogging about holidays, you should see my scrapbook. (let's just say I'm not at 2008 yet)

Easter was pretty typical at the ZD household, [although someone didn't make any food from the Slovak cookbook and thereby ruined Easter]

First, there was Guitar Hero.


Then, despite not having a single family member under the age of 17 -- unless you count the dogs -- we tromped out front for the Easter egg hunt. Mom, filled with ideas of us "playing fair" and "being nice to our guest" and "Niki and Dad not taking all of the eggs from everyone else again this year" made us go out at staggered times. Sadly, this meant pretty much everyone got outside before me.


And, some horrible person had brought two dozen cascarones, ensuring that everyone got covered in confetti and bits of egg.


Eventually we were pretty sure we'd gotten all the eggs (if not, we'll find out in May when it gets really hot), so everyone headed back indoors. There were prizes for all: Al, as the baby (I mean, youngest family member) got a chocolate bunny and a National Geographic magazine, and I got lottery tickets for my gambling fix. Oh, and the cartoon eggs, of course.
Polar Bear

Street Musician

Fidel Castro (no, I don't know why)


Then dad did the traditional ZD Easter Bunny Dance, and we all had dinner.

Understatement of the Semester Award Goes To. . .

. . . Ivy! for her performance in "IM Conversation from This Afternoon."

Ivy (6:06:55 PM): I got those two pieces of my own into the show and the commercial from art direction which was a group project

Me (6:07:04 PM): ^_^!

Ivy (6:07:34 PM): I got $40 for each of my pieces so $80 and a certificate for getting into the show

Me (6:07:39 PM): wow

Me (6:07:41 PM): nice!

Ivy (6:07:45 PM): then our commercial won a Ralph award

Ivy (6:07:56 PM): so $500 for that

Me (6:08:29 PM): !

Ivy (6:08:30 PM): so in the end I made out with 3 awards of exellence, a ralph, and $220

Me (6:08:35 PM): NICE

Ivy(6:08:43 PM): I'm pleased

Ivy (6:09:17 PM): oh and since we got a ralph award we are going to be in graphis magazine

Ivy's Birthday

Spring Break, 2008

Specifically, sometime on Tuesday.


Ivy's mom, little sister, and Jyan picked me up for a "schindig" (read "tea party") at Ivy's in San Marcos for her birthday.

The following are actual pictures of the event.

David, with uninvited guest in background.

Ivy setting up.

Ivy doing double duty as bouncer.

Voltron [correction, Wing Zero], acting as guard on the gift bags.

The spread.

The menu.

The (exhaustive) tea party rules. Pinkies are not, in fact, to be raised. Wooster would be heartbroken.

Party time!

"Oh, Ms. Niki, you do make the wittiest remarks!"

"One morning, I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajama's I'll never know."

Tea Central


"Tea! That's all I needed! Good cup of tea! Super-heated infusion of free-radicals and tannin, just the thing for healing the synapses."

Sam, drawing me a picture. Takes after her sister, she does.

No tea party is complete without a rat.

Shopping Spree

Spring Break is never complete without a Goodwill shopping spree, right?

Three tops, $5 each:

Some have a way with words

Is it bad that my profile quote still cracks me up every. single. time. I read it? Probably.

Clearly, I'm leaking brain cells. Today in my Spanish-American Literature class, it took me five minutes to remember the word for "something happening contrary to what is expected" in Spanish. You know, irony. *sigh*

Even better, we know the prof. is grading our little two-minute informal presentations (mine today was on an Incan origin myth), but we have no clue what the criteria are. Is it grammar? Is it content? Is it what we're wearing? We don't know, because she sits there with a scrap of paper taking unknown notes of some kind, and doesn't tell us anything. For all I know, I failed because I didn't use seven gerunds today, or something.

I go to get a new copy of my drivers' license tomorrow morning, to replace the one I lost to that shark.

With my new license, I can A) early vote, and B) legally drive myself to my new job.

What new job, you ask?

I am now "gainfully employed" as a "child care provider" at a "Baptist church." Which means I get "money" to watch "children."

It's actually a lot of fun.

Seen on/near Campus in the Last Week

• A short, older professor wearing the Mad Hatter hat.
• A group selling pink carnations for the Vagina Monologues (all I could think of were "vagina flowers").
• One student wearing a thick jacket, standing next to another wearing a tank top and shorts. Both were dressed appropriately for the weather.
• A guy stopping random passerby to hard-sell them magazine subscriptions. I really don't like these guys.
  

Longhorn for Heifer

Look at this, updating two days in a row!

I was going to hold off on this announcement until closer to my birthday (and you all have the date marked on your calendars, right? Right??), but I see a couple people have noticed already.

If you look to the right, just under the "About Me" section, there's a box that leads to my firstgiving page. For my 22nd, I'm trying to raise $220 for Heifer International -- you can read more about the way these online donations work over at my Longhorn for Heifer page.

So, sometime between now and the beginning of August, if you like, stop on by!

Parties, Magicians, and Free Money

The Imbolc party I attended Friday evening was lots of fun. Unfortunately, zoning restrictions meant that we were unable to sacrifice a fatted calf (or, in fact, have a fatted calf there at all). But, we did watch The Reduced Shakespeare Company -- they're completely hilarious, and I highly recommend watching them.

The day after Imbolc was my grandmother's 70th birthday luncheon. It was, if you'll believe it, actually more rowdy than the college party. 26 of her friends showed up, and we took over half of the Olive Garden for four hours; it was pretty fantastic! Between us my family took about 500 pictures, but I only have a few uploaded at the moment:


So, after all that Friday and Saturday, Sunday and today were rather quiet by comparison. Sarah came over last night to watch Secretary with me (great movie; not something I'd watch with the family), and tonight I watched The Illusionist (nothing particularly new with the plot, but the cinematography was nice and boy, can I watch Edward Norton for two hours).

And, finally, the free money part. I have sold out! From now on, I'll be doing sponsored review posts every now and then. Nothing obtrusive, hopefully, probably none too often, and you'll probably be able to tell they're sponsored. Bear with me, please: college students need to eat!