brain go bang ashy go ow

I hit my head on the bottom of the counter while picking up a Sprite cap.  Ow.

So!  Florida was fun.  We stayed in New Smyrna Beach for a week in a rented condo right on the beach.  I got to wake up every morning and see the sun rising over the ocean.  (I'm a reluctant morning person.)  Mostly we just spent our days being beach bums and tanning (and burning in some cases), as well as running out and jumping the waves.  (NSB is also the Shark Capital of the World, apparently.)  We chilled out at the condo pool a little while when we got sick of the salt water, or we needed to lounge around on one of the deck chairs to fry our backs.  We also got to go up to the top of a working lighthouse (203 steps, baby), as well as climbing a bunch of rocks on a different beach.  Saw dolphins in the distance at some point.  Ate steak and ribs a lot; the only Floridian culture in which I participated was having a bite of alligator, as well as lobster.  For the record, I'll never eat lobster again -- it tasted like fishy chicken, which isn't bad, but the idea of eating an alligator (perhaps because it's a predator) creeps me out.  As for souvenirs, I got a necklace with a coin that looks like one of the "nine pieces of eight" from Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End and a shark tooth, a couple t-shirts, and a lovely, fluffy stuffed sea turtle affectionately nicknamed Turtle Butt.

Now that the totally epic vacation is over, I have just finished making an entire spreadsheet of different prices for textbooks for the school year, comparing the prices from the Truman State bookstore, Patty's Bookstore (a local shop for textbooks in Kirksville), and Amazon.  Looks like the locations from which we buy the books will be pretty varied.  But at least I'm learning how to use Microsoft Excel, finally!  If I were to get each book from the cheapest place, it seems like the total will still be around $410.  EEEEEEK.  It's mainly Intro to Philosophy's fault, since it has the most books.  Also Russian's fault, since it's got a huge software/DVD/CD junk.

In more school-ish news, it's likely that I'll be a double major in French and Creative Writing.  But, of course, that's dependent on whether or not I can be accepted for the CW major next semester.  Since I really don't want to do a double major and a double minor, the minor in Russian Studies will be dropped.  I really want to do Russian, though, so I'll probably just take the six language classes and not do the required history, literature, etc. classes that the minor requires.  I'll keep the French Translation minor since it only requires two extra classes from the French major.  WOO!  I seriously can't wait.

Also, I've gotten an override for the French Immersion Weekend that takes place in October, I believe.  That'll bring my total credit hours for the semester to eighteen, which is the maximum.  Whoooa, dude.  But I'm EXCITED!  The more French in my life, the better. 

C’est fou comment ma vie a changé pendant deux ans à cause d’un chanteur et sa musique.  Et puis la musique d’autres chanteurs.  La musique francophone m’a donné une vie.  Avant que je découvre la langue française, il n’y avait rien que j’aimais vraiment.  Maintenant, il y a beaucoup de choses.  Ahhhh, j’adoooore le français.

The sunshiny state

I am writing this from unknown territory.  I have, dear companions and reluctant readers (plus a stalker or two), made it to Florida!  I am sitting in Kat’s van, with no one really talking much.  The music of Anthony Snape plays from the stereo; Kat is reading some beyond-thick book in the front seat, and Lauren is writing on her own laptop on the seat beside me.  I don’t think we’re this quiet very often, so this moment should probably be savored.  Especially by Kat’s mom, who has been driving for the past day-and-a-half.

I know you’re dying for a recap of what’s happened so far, so here goes.  I got my hair cut and highlighted (red) on the morning of the sixth at The Loft, a lovely salon in downtown Hannibal near Java Jive (where I spend quite a bit of my time, despite the main product they sell).  Then we left from there and headed to St. Louis to pick up Kat’s cousin Marin before going to the wonders of Barnes & Noble.  I was originally going to buy Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates, which I have been meaning to buy ever since I saw the movie (a Titanic “reunion” with Kate Winslet, Leonardo diCaprio, and Kathy Bates), as well as Candide by Voltaire, but I changed my mind.  I ended up buying a planner for college this Fall, as well as a Russian language map—exciting, right?  Well, at least the language map is.

We then went to Belleville, Illinois to spend the night at Kat’s grandmother’s place.  After a hot and largely sleepless night, we left at around 7:30 the next morning at ate at Cracker Barrel about an hour away.  (French toast and hash browns—yum.)  Then we drove, and drove, and drove.  We reached the hotel in Ringold, Georgia around whatever time we got there and almost immediately jumped into the indoor pool.  The hot tub was lovely!  We all played around in the pool, and it was quite fun picking everyone up and throwing them, as well as being thrown myself.  Teehee.

The next morning we left at 7:30 again.  I wasn’t feeling too hot, so I skipped out on breakfast and stared uselessly at my laptop wishing the hotel’s Wi-Fi would work again.  Around eleven, however, I finally got hungry so we stopped at McDonald’s in some random city in Georgia.  While they all got the horrors of iced coffee, I treated myself to the pleasures of chicken nuggets and French fries.

Then we drove some more!  About twenty or so miles from the Georgia/Florida border we stopped at Old South Barbecue, which a pretty small place off the highway.  They told us it was closed, but when they realized that we (well, not so much me) only stop there once a year on the way to and from Florida, they let us in to eat.  Oooh, it was so good!  But there were elk and deer heads on the wall, so that was kind of creepy.

Now, basically, here we are.  We crossed the border not too long ago, and we just took an exit leading to Jacksonville (where we’re staying for the night) and Tallahassee, which is where my sister was born.  We’ll reach the condo at New Smyrna Beach tomorrow afternoon, but for now I’m just looking forward to Wi-Fi at the hotel tonight.

Aaaand that’s about it.  Hopefully this will get posted tonight.  If not . . . try to survive.

Friday, July 8, 2011 – 4:16 p.m.

 Continued - 6:07 p.m.
We made it to Jacksonville, Florida alive!  HUZZAH!

I can see clearly now yada yada yada

It's July!  Woo, n' junk.

Now that that's taken care of, it's onto the important stuff: I got my driver's permit!  I hope the residents of Missouri are very, very afraid.  Take caution on the sidewalks, children.  The process was a lot different from what it was when I got my permit in California when I was sixteen.  I almost got the impression that California lets just about anyone get a permit.  There were less questions, and I believe the test was easier.  Although there was something about this out-of-school driver's ed. thing that I never really got.  I don't know.  I just found it strange how different everything was.

Also, I've finally gotten my new glasses.  They're red.  I've been told they're cute, but meh.  I'm not a good judge of my own personal appearance.  I'm tired.  We ran around all yesterday (spent the day in Quincy, Illinois), and all today here in Kirksville.  I need a nap.  Or a Sunkist.

Aaaand I'm too lazy to write anything else.  I could have just written a Facebook status about this junk, but . . . I didn't feel like it.