ridiculous

The CEC retreat this weekend was insane, tiring, but lovely. I admit I was apprehensive, at first, to all the team building/bonding/ice-breakery, but I'm glad to have met more of the staff and gotten closer to those i knew.

Too many incidents and stories to recount, but I did enjoy the squiggly purple line that took up my entire GPS screen: 30 miles up Big Bear mountain. nausea + pitch black + gusts of fog + occasional spurts of blindness from oncoming car headlights = jolly good time / the opening sequence of Scary Movie 18.

SCENE TWO. EXT. NIGHT.

Humble teens in Toyota Matrix are lost trying to find cabin and pull into rubble driveway of stranger's log home. Shirtless, tattooed-chest, piercings dude walks out, approaches car.

DUDE

What are you guys doing here?

ME
Dougal, get back in the car please!

MICHELLE & RAMEE
This is where we lock our doors.

ME
So sorry, we're lost! (nervous giggle) . . .

Other than that, retreat was a great success. I lost my voice during the Miley dance party including most of films staff + Hannah! + others staring in disgust.

Pirates 2. was as nauseating as the windy road. I'm not sure I wanna staff that one. Sorry, Alex! But I baked the chocolate cake to make up for missing out.
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Tempus fugit. Cliché to say, but it's too true. This is Blue and Gold week already! Week 3! What the...?
Classes, homework, sneak, work, applications, concert, meetings, rally, bonfire, hockey game, going out (if there's even time).

I decided to drop one of my classes so I can focus on others, which has freed up my week. Thus, I'm maybe looking for a second job. I might work at Sprinkles, yes, as in the cupcakes! Apparently they pay $11/hour. I think it might be perfect because I actually don't adore Sprinkles cupcakes as everyone else seems to, so I can't really get sick of it either way. I'll just treat it as a product to sell. Plus, I get to take home any defect cupcakes, i.e. ones I accidentally press too hard and imprint with my fingers. So it'll be me accidentally touching 8 cupcakes in attempts to grab one. Oopsie daisies!

Netflix continues. I currently have 2046 and Baby Mama. Kar Wai Wong! Tina Fey + Amy Poehler + babies? !

Thanks Jarod.

Bah, Humbug

Everyone seems to be burnt out, over school, unmotivated. I don't know how to go about solving this problem. Midterms are coming up. Winter break could not be further away. I really hope I can change up my attitude somehow, or I'll end up the biggest Scrooge McDowner. Ugh.

In other news, I spent some quality time alone in the CEC office today, admiring the ridonkulous screen on the MAC, answering a phone call from a gentleman who was wondering if we had any events celebrating Yom Kippur. I let him down politely.

Tomorrow is gonna be an arduous work day from nine to five, yes, just like Dolly, except I won't be holding my boss hostage with the help of Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda.
I'll be setting up voter registration forms in the post office, a personal project in my efforts to do whatever I can for this election, and to help UCLA reach the highest percentage of registrants so we can win a Death Cab concert! I even made flyers! I couldn't go crazy with them, since it's the post office, but they get the major points across.

Life observation and pet peeve: people never read instructions when filling out forms. I find myself robotically repeating the speech on "Certified Mail is ...", "Delivery Confirmation is..." and it's frustrating. Even with voter registration, I've had people who fill out the form in front of me, asking whether they need to fill out the next line, then the next, and the next. There are 18 items, two of which are noted optional. Please read.

Tonight holds much potential for fun! We've decided to go all out and have dinner Gossip Girl style, i.e., us trying to put together our snazziest Chuck, Blair, and Serena ensembles. This is probably the only time we'll be going to the Hotel Angeleno for a fancy dinner; might as well dress up and enjoy it.

odds 'n' ends

I found the Bruincard! Just found it this morning and I can't remember where or when either...

At the moment, I am watching the debates. I find it difficult to stay focused on the topics of discussion. I keep thinking about how nice it would be if McCain were my gramps and Obama my pops, just two nice guys with oddly soothing voices. It's horrifying that we, as college students, have so much power in this election, yet we're still fairly ignorant about a lot of things and have that much power to screw ourselves over. Being part of and seeing all the efforts around campus to encourage everyone to vote is wonderful, though. Many people drop-off voter reg forms at the post office and always ask for them as well. Progress!

Oh, but just now the debates went from friendly to Gossip Girl. They're getting catty on taxes, social security, and medicare. Speaking of drama...I just remember I missed GG last night due to the sneak, but that was much more enlightening. Marianna Palka and Jason Ritter were the loveliest guests for Q&A.

As for fall quarter, I'm worried whether I can keep it up or not. I just feel completely burned out already, and this time for legitimate reasons not entirely because of my insomnia. On Sunday as I was driving back to school, it hit me that this is our third year. In a little less than two years real life starts. What the...?!? That's definitely !-?, for I am not excited about the unknown; same old dilemma, what's my plan? Of course, I do have teaching no matter what and I should probably start looking into the basics like a CCTC credential program and tests like CBEST to basically establish that I'm not a bonehead with the same intellectual ability of your five-year old child. I think not passing the CBEST would qualify for an epic fail.

This Friday we leave for retreat. I slightly regret volunteering to drive now that I know we are going to Big Bear. I'm also sad we are missing Iron Man--I kinda wanted to watch it again. But I know we will be reimbursed for gas and that retreat will be productive. Maybe I'll just stop by my house on the way there, have dinner, fill up the tank and continue on the 210 to the base of the most nauseating mountain drive. Windy roads, wee!

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day. I have tons of French homework to catch up on. Meetings galore. I also need to finish up applications for DM Committee and SCA. More time committments which I probably won't be able to follow through on.

Silver lining for the week: using the complimentary dinner for 2 coupon at West Restaurant at the Hotel Angeleno. We will be making the best of that one coupon, the five of us, ordering a few extra appetizers/entrees and splitting all the costs. Our excuse to dress up, qualifying for their requirement of "smart casual"...as opposed to stupid casual? Would that be hillbilly plaid + mocassins? Thankfully the Angeleno is only five minutes away and dinner seating ends at 10pm so we will make it just on time. I'm already salivating over that meal. Excitement!

Oo! and because I'm so in awe with the machine, I must express my enthusiasm over Magic Bullet and the fact that it works! Of course, now, I'll have to experiment like crazy and try dicing, blending, chopping, ___ing whatever I can.

I've upgraded my Netflix to the next, 2-DVDs at-a-time because Jeffries and Myers made me feel lame about my $8.99 plan. It was a good upgrade, though I did discover how misleading "flat fee" is because they charge tax. Oh well.

The debates are very tense now. I'm anxious for upcoming tv, mainly House and Fringe, plus my mind-numbing reality show addictions that I choose not to mention. Kudos if you can guess though!

douze jours plus tard...

Due to some poor planning, I am taking French IV this fall after having taken French III last fall. The large gap is definitely taking its toll. Thus, I have decided to use some French here and there while blogging, hopefully adding some flair and flounce to these mundane ramblings. For you, the reader, though it will be slightly annoying, it should help you learn some random French, non? Oui?

It's been a while since my last post, and I can't recall every exciting detail, but here are some re-caps that stick out in my mind.

Sproul Block Party. I know, that just sounds lame, but lame it was not! That's how it started, me and Susan, third-year creepers walking up to a dead turnaround with freshmen. We got there a bit too early, found Aldy and Maral, then the party started. We danced and sang like crazy for 3.5 hours. I couldn't even make it back to the apartment so I crashed on Maral's awesome futon <3. Dance parTAY followed up this past Thursday at the most fun Tiger Heat we could possibly ask for, yes, la nuit de Britney Spears!! However, all this dancing and exhaustion has us worrying about Dance Marathon. I think the big 2-0 is showing some signs of wear on my energy. How sad.

Week two is off to a start trés intéressant (cheesy and forced, but I'll continue). Sidenote: these wannabe educational inserts remind me of the SNL parody on Dora. Good times.

Premièrement, I bought a Magic Bullet from Costco! Those who know me can easily picture little Megan jumping with excitement over this infomercial treasure. I'm as happy as I was 16 years ago on le jour de Noël when I opened up my Polly Pocketville from Santa. Now I can finally make my father-daughter smoothie--so named because we "invented" it this summer after much experimenting.

Deuxièmement, Kim and I assembled a rather awesome curtain to cover the open doorway that leads to our space from the kitchen. The project only took dix minutes. We cut a sheet that I took from Sproul this summer in half and scrunched them on the rod--two pieces of plastic cable covers stuck together. Then we evened out the bottom, snip snip, and voila! Privacy! We have more ambitious goals for aesthetics, maybe some tie-dying or painting, but for a makeshift curtain, it does the job. Now, I don't have to worry about the other roommates seeing me walk across to the bathroom in the morning looking haggard. It's not really a self-confidence issue. I'm just not a pretty sight in the morning and would like to spare the other girls from having to start their day seeing a homeless person in their apartment.

Troisièmement, I just got back to the apartment after driving my friend's roommate to the E.R. because of a sudden foot injury. I shall spare you the gory details but let's just say: glass bottle, shatter, shards, foot. Thankfully, the injury wasn't deathly serious, but it will require a few stitches. I will probably receive a call soon to go pick her up from the brand spankin' new Reagan Med Center, which, by the way, is very nice, as Borat would say. As usual, the child within me wanted to explore the lobby de l'hôpital. The chairs were pleasantly cushy, adjacent to a fancy children's t.v. room and vending machines. To my utmost joy, there were dispensers everywhere with super hospital Purell. Also, each bathroom stall had a "pull for help" cord, that I probably would have yanked without second thought had the label not caught my attention first.

In other news, my next Netflix flick is on its way. Queue (same in French!) to date: The Counterfeiters; Tsotsi; 2046. I was considering upgrading to the next plan up, but je sais que je won't be watching more as the quarter goes on.

As for the VP debate, they made me giggle as much as the SNL parodies did. Tina's spot on impersonation becomes increasingly disturbing. Who knew Anne Hathaway had such a lovely singing voice?

Maintenant (now), I am fairly screwed for tomorrow's cours de Francais. Many exercises to do and questions to answer. I'm so distracted by the smell of the newly bought everything bagels. Did I mention that I basically brought back four boxes worth of Costco, Vons, and the Korean market? Om nom nom...

bonne nuit!

this and that

Discovery: the window in our room makes the most painful noise known to mankind upon opening/closing. Imagine your token "fingernails down a chalkboard," but at a pitch twice more shrill.

Reason for discovery: guy belting out the In-N-Out jingle in a semi-operatic style; guy blasting lil' Wayne; more drunk people walking the streets.

On any other night, I'd be more tolerable of the noise, probably find jingle guy amusing, but I have a migraine at the moment because of my sleep deprivation.

I just realized I missed Heroes and Boston Legal last night, and I have no t.v. yet to watch House and Fringe tonight. Heart sighs.

On a brighter note, Netflix is really as fast as they claim! My eyes actually widened when I saw the red envelope in my mailbox.

Current film: Married Life. I'll watch anything with Chris Cooper.