startle me

London Saga: Part 7

2010-06-14T20:35:00.000-04:00

Another wonderful day in London.

Before I begin, I have to say something about London and the weather. *Ahem*

So today dawned bright and beautiful and clear, so I pranced out to class wearing a long-sleeve shirt and shorts. But by lunch, I came to my senses and changed into jeans, which turned out to be a good idea, because the afternoon quickly turned cloudy and RAINY. But not just a downpour, which I can handle. It was this thick, drizzly mess that didn't come straight down, but rather blew sideways from every direction.

I love London, but I'm not sure if I could deal with the schizophrenic weather every single day.

Anyway, so after class, we went to the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea, which I really enjoyed -- strange, because I don't usually like modern art. The woman who was giving us a talk about the art was ... well, she just talked so quietly I couldn't hear a single word. But I entertained myself by watching an impromptu soccer game in front of the gallery, so that was fine.

The current exhibit was called Newspeak (after the Orwell novel, yes), and while I didn't quite 'get' everything, I think I had an overall good experience.

Then came a walking tour of Chelsea, and we stopped in front of many of the houses that once belonged to famous Londoners. I think this would have been much more pleasant if it hadn't rained incessantly.

The tour de force of the evening, however, was Wicked. It took me a while to get into the play, but once I did ... wow. It blew me away.

The ending was really different from the original play, but I preferred this ending. (Won't give away anything here.) I highly recommend seeing it.

London Saga: Part 6

2010-06-13T19:25:00.000-04:00

Okay, so I didn't blog yesterday. But today will be an recap of my weekend in general. :-)

Yesterday, I did two main tourist-y things: the Tower of London and the British Museum.

The Tower of London was incredible. We took a tour with a beefeater, or a yeoman -- because yesterday was the Queen's official birthday, they were dressed in special outfits that was pretty cool. These beefeaters are tasked with 'defending' the Tower, and it's a pretty big deal to be chosen. They live on the premises, which means they get a house within the Tower walls -- how cool is that?

So we got a general overview of the Tower and its functions, then checked out the Crown Jewels, which is opulence at its best. I was awed by the amount of gold and precious stones contained there. We also saw the torture rooms and the armory -- all cool stuff. I really enjoyed my time at the Tower.

My friends and I grabbed lunch at a nearby grocery store -- sandwiches on the go -- and headed to the British Museum. They have an incredible amount of awesome stuff in this museum; I felt like I could have spent days there.

We, however, made a beeline for the Rosetta Stone. Even the fingerprint-marked glass that hid the Stone couldn't really mask how incredible it was to see the thing in person. The Egyptian and Assyrian exhibits were especially cool -- go mummies!

We also checked out the Sutton Hoo treasures, and then we spent a good amount of time in a temporary exhibit on Chinese printmaking.

We walked back to Regent's Park (and got lost along the way), which was really nice because the weather was perfect yesterday. (Jeans and t-shirt kind of fare.)

Walking through Regent's Park was gorgeous -- there were people walking their dogs, impromptu cricket matches and little children running around enjoying the wonderful weather.

Once we returned to Regent's, it was time to watch the much-anticipated England vs. U.S.A. soccer (or should I say football?) match. I chose to watch the game at the College, which probably wasn't a bad idea. I heard that pubs were a bit crazy that night.

The game was really intense, especially during that first half. It was really interesting to hear the British commentary, because I'm so used to American commentary where usually the U.S. team can do absolutely no wrong. It was a bit strange to hear the other side of the spectrum.

Anyway, I think that I'm fine with a 1-1 tie, although a lot of the Londoners didn't seem too pleased with the results.

Today, I went shopping on Oxford Street with a couple of my girlfriends. We ended up in Primark, this giant confection of a department store with rock bottom prices. I bought a pair of shoes for two pounds.

As would be expected with the prices, the place was mobbed. The lines to the dressing room were out of this world, and I ended up trying on a lot of my clothes right near the racks. It was exhausting navigating around the throngs of people, but totally worth it. I was really pleased with my purchases. :-)

After stopping by Starbucks (hooray for American consumer imperialism), we returned to Regent's College to do some reading for class tomorrow and get ready for another week.

I got to Skype with my boyfriend and talked on the phone with my parents, which was really nice. And now ... now I'm writing this blog post.

So that was my weekend! Tomorrow, class discussion will center around a collection of poems about London that coincidentally was published by my press. (I remember doing the publicity for it.) And I think we are supposed to see Wicked tomorrow, which should be nice. I've read the book and enjoyed it, more or less. (This is more than I can say about Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister.)

Ahem. That's probably enough rambling for today ... onward toward tomorrow!

London Saga: Part 5

2010-06-11T20:15:00.001-04:00

Not that you could tell from this picture, but this is me in Cambridge.

I'm an awful picture taker. I take photos of stuff (mostly buildings) from bad angles in bad lighting. I never actually appear in my pictures, and when I do, I choose awful backgrounds for them.

Cambridge was gorgeous -- we went punting down the Cam River, which was extremely pleasant. The weather was fabulous and the day was bright and sunny, which I don't think is particularly frequent for England.

After getting back from a wonderful daytrip to Cambridge, I had dinner at a little pizza place off Goodge Street, which was nice.

And now I'm writing this blog post, which will be incredibly short because I'm tired, and I have a full day of tourism ahead of me. :-)

London Saga: Part 4

2010-06-10T19:04:00.000-04:00

My throat is killing me.

And I don't think this is possible, but somehow, my ears are hurting like crazy as well. I feel absolutely dreadful in so many ways.

And here's the thing -- I was feeling so chipper today. I actually participated in all the activities, which is the first in a long time, and I thought that I was getting over this. But by nighttime, I guess my good health wore off and I was left feeling like crap again. Anyway, as a defense mechanism against my sudden lack of cheer, I'll recap the day.

In the morning, we had a very informative and interesting lecture on London's religious history; afterward came a lively discussion on the play After the Dance (highly recommended). After a quick lunch in the refectory, we took a walking tour of Kensington and the nearby parks, which is a posh neighborhood where such greats like Joyce, Henry James, Robert Browning, T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pound have lived. It was also where the movie Finding Neverland was filmed, and there's a statue memorializing Peter Pan there.

Trivia fact that is also very sad: out of the boys that inspired Peter Pan's lost boys -- I think two committed suicide, and the other died in the war, all before the age of 20.

And A.A. Milne's Christopher Robin likewise committed suicide while he was a student at the university.

We also passed by the body of water where Shelley's first wife drowned herself.

Okay, yeah, I'm starting to get a little ... down.

*Ahem*

On the brighter side, we then watched more of the Up series, but that wasn't exactly happy-go-lucky either.

Alright, this blog post is getting no where. Hopefully I'll be able to write a more fulfilling one tomorrow, after I get back from visiting Cambridge. (Very excited!)

Grumpy and sick,

Rachel

London Saga: Part 3

2010-06-09T19:47:00.001-04:00

I don't have the brainpower right now to pull up an alliterative title, so let's just go with 'A Day In Which I Slept Most of the Time, But Still Managed to Have Some Good Experiences.'

Today for class, we had an excellent lecture on London's architectural heritage by a man whose name I've conveniently forgotten, but he had a crazy hairstyle that reminded me of Einstein. According to one of our program coordinators, the lecturer has a different hairstyle every year, which is awesome.

But by the time the lecture was over and we continued our discussion of The Secret Agent, I began to feel so overwhelmingly tired again, despite the fact that I'd slept like 13 hours the night before. And I was coughing and blowing my nose and probably grossing out everyone within a three foot perimeter of me.

When lunch break rolled around, I decided to try to take a quick power nap before the afternoon session, but when my friend came to wake me up, I couldn't get myself out of bed. I was just so exhausted. So yay me - I ended up sleeping through the ENTIRE afternoon, missing a visit to an art gallery over in Rivington Place.

I woke up at 5 pm really irritated and groggy. I knew that we were supposed to watch a play at the National Theatre at 7:30 pm, but had no clue if everyone else had just stayed out or when we had planned to meet up. Luckily, I ran into a few other people from our program who got me up to date, and after eating dinner in the refectory (I love that they call the dining hall 'refectory'), we took the Bakerloo line to Embarkment and walked across the Thames to the National Theatre.

The outside of the National Theatre really isn't much to look at; it's basically a big slab of concrete in the '60s Brutalism style that doesn't really do much for contemporary viewers. The inside, however, is gorgeous. A live band played Irish-influenced music; the colorfully decorated interior buzzed with Londoners dressed for a night out, each hoisting a glass of wine from the lively bar.

The play we saw was Terence Rattigan's After the Dance, perhaps his most brilliant - and underappreciated - play. (This is according to my program.) It was also directed by Thea Sharrock, whose former projects include Equus, which starred Daniel Radcliffe.

I'm not very familiar with Rattigan's other works, but After the Dance blew me away. I came into the theatre feeling under the weather, without a single idea what the play was about. And for you, my invisible reader, I shall recap:

In the late 1930s, the play follows a socialite couple, Joan and David Scott-Fowler, who are determined to drink and dance their way into revelry despite the changing social and political conditions of their time. David begins an affair with a younger woman named Helen Banner. She attempts to 'change' David for the better; in her simultaneously oblivious and cruel way, she destroys Joan and David's marriage.

The play is hilarious, darkly comedic, and incredibly poignant. And the production itself -- the set literally took my breath away; the acting was fabulous; the audience raptly involved.

During the intermissions, fellow viewers stopped me and asked what I thought; I had an interesting, thought-provoking discussion about the relevance of Rattigan's work today to generations unfamiliar with the decadence of the Roaring Twenties.

Did I mention that I love London?

Anyway, the play itself made me feel so heavy ... although I can't really pinpoint why. It's something that I keep mulling over in my head, something that I want to keep talking about, which means that it's meaningful in some way or another.

I've been thinking a lot about what artistic merit means, at least to me, and while I don't have the answer right now, I'll keep you updated on my musings. I think I'm beginning to believe that the text or work itself has no value within itself, or meaning - but that meaning is created by the dialogue interposed onto the text, and its effect on people ... a more liberating view of art than most would probably accept.

Ahem. Well, that's enough postulating for now. Amazingly enough, I feel tired. So long until tomorrow!

London Saga: Part 2

2010-06-08T15:58:00.000-04:00

I think I'll need to title each part of my saga with alliterative titles, much in the vein of Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events. If yesterday is 'Brilliant Beginning,' then today is 'Sucky Sequel.'

I've been feeling a bit under the weather for the past two weeks, but nothing absolutely unmanageable. But today, I woke up feeling awful. I couldn't breathe out of either nostril, my head felt like it was about to explode, and I was strangely numb and sore all over.

Hm.

I muscled through class in the morning, but still felt really sick by lunchtime. I didn't feel hungry at all, so I ended up sleeping through lunch. In the afternoon, I dragged myself out of bed to get to class, where we watched a documentary film called Seven Up! To be more accurate, it's actually a 'series' based on the Jesuit quote "Give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man." 14 British seven-year-olds from diverse economic backgrounds were chosen in 1964 to participate in the documentary. Every seven years, the documentary interviews the children to see how they progress through life; the explicit assumption behind the series is that one's socioeconomic class determines one's life. The latest installment was 49 Up, released in 2005.

The idea is simultaneously troubling and fascinating, and I thought that the series was well-done, even if the questions posed by the directors were a bit leading and the fact that the viewer was asked to judge the participants based on their answers to interviews when they were, oh, seven- or fourteen-year-olds is a bit ludicrous. Half the stuff I said when I was 14 would make me sound (mostly) crazy, and I certainly wouldn't want to be judged for any random comments I say even today.

After class was a literary walking tour through Regent's Park and up Primrose Hill - past the house where Yeats had lived and where Sylvia Plath killed herself. Unfortunately, however, I felt way too sick to do the tour, so I ended up missing it, which left me super, super bummed.

Since I hadn't eaten anything at all today, I forced myself to eat dinner. Having no sense of smell severely dampens one's ability to enjoy food, so I was basically shoveling tasteless stuff into my mouth, although my friends told me that the chicken and rice was actually quite good.

Because of the poor weather, the program coordinators decided to cancel a showing of Miller's Crucible that we were supposed to go to tonight. Everyone else is out and about - either watching The Prince of Persia down in Lester Square or at various pubs.

And me?

Sigh.

Since I thought that we had to go watch The Crucible tonight, I scheduled a chat with my boyfriend for midnight, when I was sure to be back home. But now that means that I'm simply sitting around and waiting for midnight to come ... and I still have four hours to go.

/ moping

Anyway, that was me unloading my woes onto you, the unsuspecting public. I really hope that I feel better soon - being sick is absolutely no fun at all.

Since I still have three hours until my scheduled chat with my boyfriend, I think I'm going to go take a quick late-evening nap, then return in a few. Farewell until then!

London Saga: Part 1

2010-06-07T19:46:00.000-04:00

Before I start, I must confess that I am an absolute awful blogger. (Take a look at the date of my last blog post.)

But as a requirement for my program here in London, I'm required to journal every day. So hopefully, that'll keep me accountable, at least to an extent.

A few requisite facts about this thirty-part saga. The "prelude" or "prologue" to this saga would be my approximately 12 part journey through Spain, Italy and France. But that's for another day, or perhaps another blog post.

I'm studying at Regent's College in London, located inside the beautiful Regent's Park, which is filled with a bazillion variety of roses, many, many birds and squirrels that are too friendly for anyone's good. There is a cat on residence named Sooty, which is always a good sign.

Today was my first official day of class. We're working on Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent, and I must secretly confess that the last third of that book is kind of a blur for me. This is extremely strange when considering that the last third is when the most interesting events occur. We have a quiz tomorrow on the book, and I'm kinda nervous. I'm in summer, not classroom mode.

Because I forgot to set my clock up an hour from Paris time, I ended up waking up an hour earlier than intended. Not a problem - I took a wonderful stroll through Regent's Park and down Baker's Street. (I live right near Sherlock Holmes's house, where there is a very cheesy and very overpriced 'Sherlock Holmes Museum' that I have been advised to avoid.)

In the morning, we have 'class' in the traditional sense - a classroom, etc. Our afternoons, however, are far more interesting.

Today, after lunch, we went to St. Paul's Cathedral and explored the bowels of the magnificent building, including the crypts. I pretended to be British and honored the memory of Nelson and Wellington. Then I climbed the bazillion and a half steps to the top of the dome of the cathedral and enjoyed the most beautiful view of London.

When I was in Paris, I told a tour guide of mine that I was going to London. He promptly replied, "I hate London."

When prompted for an explanation, he told me, "London is so disorganized. In Paris, you'll see that all the buildings look at least somewhat similar. A city isn't a city if there's no coherency."

I could definitely see a complete lack of organization in the London skyline - a haphazard smorgasbord of buildings in architectural styles ranging from Gothic to '60's brutalism, expressionism to Classical.

I loved it.

Maybe I'm just inherently disorganized, or perhaps I simply feel awed in the face of such monumental and carefree chaos. Or perhaps I'm just a gawking American tourist who is amazed by all things British.

Oh, and as a side note - a few London things I love:

1. The WC, or wash closet
2. The phrase 'Adverse Camber'
3. The names of the Underground lines (Bakerloo, Hammersmith & City and Jubilee, among them)
4. Rooms are not 'vacant' or 'empty'; they're 'vacant' or 'engaged'

Ahem. So anyway, after St. Paul's Cathedral, we walked across the Millenium Bridge - yes, the one that was destroyed in movie version of Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince - and we went right to Tate Modern, which is an absolutely awesome contemporary art museum. We viewed an exhibit entitled 'Flux' with a wide range of art from Matisse to Picasso, Warhol to Rodin, and lesser-known names in between.

After that came a walking tour of the south side of the Thames from the Tate Modern all the way down to Lester Square. We passed Big Ben, Parliament, the Prime Minister's Residence, Nelson's Column and the London Eye. The best part? It didn't rain at all.

After dinner in an Irish pub called Waxy's (don't ask), we watched Les Miserables in all its dramatic, unadulturated, love-at-first-sight misery. Don't get me wrong - I loved the play. It's epic, sometimes too much so, but mostly all in the right places.

It was raining when we left the theater, so I enjoyed a pleasant walk back from the Baker Street tube station to my dorm room - and now I am updating my blog! :-)

Hopefully these posts will become less of rote recitations of my activities and more thought-provoking in the future. Despite the fact that this blog has been around for several months now, my level of activity still renders me a novice.

That's everything for today - I'm exhausted and ready to sleep. Good night!

Korean food!

2010-03-13T15:09:00.000-05:00

My writer friend Annie got me thinking about Korean food on both Twitter and my blog. I absolutely LOVE Korean food -- it's one of the things that I miss most about being away from home and at college.

I grew up in Kansas, where finding Korean ingredients or Korean restaurants was impossible. My mother had a garden where she grew peppers, sesame plants and cabbage. But when we moved to the Washington D.C. area, I was SO shocked to see 1) Korean restaurants and 2) Korean grocery stores.

Lotte (롯데) is one of Korea's largest conglomerates. They have department stores, hotels and fast food chains. They also make electronics, gum and provide financial services -- they're HUGE. They also make amusement parks. When I visited Korea, we went to Lotte World, which is like an indoor theme park, although there are some "outside" rides, too.

Anyway, they own a chain of grocery stores all over the world, and one of them is only a few minutes from my house.

"Grocery store" is a bit of an understatement. They have a live seafood market, selling everything from flounder to shrimp, squid to sea cucumber. They sell clothing, makeup and accessories. They have several restaurants inside, and a bakery. The fresh produce section includes perennial supermarket wares like apples, oranges, etc. But they also stock durian and kelp.

Anyway, it absolutely blew my mind the first time I walked into this place, and now, I honestly can't imagine my life before international grocery stores like Lotte.

That's why being in Charlottesville can be super tough for me, eat-a-holic. The tofu at Harris Teeter just doesn't measure up to what my spoiled taste buds are used to. LOL. Spring break is finally coming to a close, and I'll be going back down tomorrow. Sigh. While I'm ready to get back into the swing of things, I'm not looking forward to bad dining hall food and my worse cooking.

Farewell, spring break (and yummy food!) It was nice knowin' ya.

Why do I suck at blogging?

2010-03-11T16:14:00.001-05:00

So I totally forgot about this until now, when good ol' Jay gave me the Honest Scrap Award. Of course, the irony is that I'm supposed to be revealing my carefully crafted lies referenced in my last blog post.

So let's start with that.

1. I've actually had several names. Rachel, which I go by now, isn't my real birth name. Nope, that's what I was born with, although I did have a few name crises in high school.
2. Although I'm Korean-American, I can't stand Korean food because it's too spicy for me. Bleck. Another lie. I am absolutely obsessed with Korean food, and I LOVE spicy dishes.
3. My shoe size is 8.5. Sorry, Jay -- I'm not big foot! Actually, my shoe size is 7.
4. Out of all the household chores to do (laundry, doing dishes, vacuuming), my least favorite is doing dishes. I actually don't mind doing dishes all the much. I hate picking things up, though. Once I've scattered everything around, I like it to stay there.
5. To date, I've claimed fourteen books as my own from various public libraries. Ding ding ding! Usually what happens is that I lose the book, end up paying for the book (and for the library fees), and find it three months later under the bed. A few titles that I've claimed from this method include Ender's Game, Into Thin Air, and The Belgariad: Pawn of Prophecy.
6. I hate Girl Scout cookies. They're overpriced and don't taste all that good, in any case. Anyone who follows me on Twitter knows that I'm obsessed with them. Um, yeah. I think I've gained ten pounds over the last few days ...
7. I have to have everything neatly organized (a bit anal retentive). Going back to number 4 -- I'm a messy, disheveled person! I'm constantly forgetting to do things (like update this blog). If I forget something that I'm supposed to do for you, just send me a gentle nudge. I won't grudge it at all.

Okay, so now it's time for me to reveal several truths about myself. Um, let's see. What else beyond the stuff stated above?

1. This semester, I'm taking six classes: a literature seminar on American culture, American Poetry, Korean 102, Spanish Composition, Computer Science, and Basso Continuo Playing (Baroque harpsichord and organ.)
2. I don't really watch T.V. Major exception: the Olympics.
3. Like Jay, I really, really, really want to go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. For those that know me in real life, I'm a little bit obsessed. I can slip in Harry Potter references, any time, any day. I also can complete the Harry Potter games on Sporcle at amazing speed.
4. Oh, and aforementioned Sporcle is how I waste a good amount of time. Bubble Spinner is another time-consumer.
5. I read The New York Times Book Review religiously.
6. I still haven't declared a major, although most likely it'll end up being English.
7. I have a twelve-year-old dog named Smokey. He is a miniature poodle, and he is precious and smells bad. I am in love with him.

Smokey.

Currently Reading (it's spring break!):

The Mists of Avalon in appreciation of my long-standing love affair with Marion Zimmer Bradley; The Girl Who Played with Fire in preparation for The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest and The Wild Things because Vintage/Random House sent it to me.

Currently Listening to:

Currently Procrastinating on:

* Completing my American Studies application,

* My Spanish presentation, and

* Practicing piano.

Oh, how I love procrastinating.

A blog award?

2010-02-28T20:18:00.000-05:00

Wow! Thank you Cheree for my first Blog Award. Heck, I didn't even know these things existed! Anyway, since I'm always scrambling for blog topics, this made my post very easy.

The Rules:
1. Thank the person who tagged me. (Thanks Cheree!)
2. Copy and Paste the award on my blog.
3. Link to the person who nominated me.
4. Tell up to 6 lies and 1 truth about myself.
5. Tag at least 7 people for this award.
6. Post links to their blogs.
7. Comment on each of their blogs to inform them of the nomination.

Here are the lies (Just remember one of them is the truth):
1. I've actually had several names. Rachel, which I go by now, isn't my real birth name.
2. Although I'm Korean-American, I can't stand Korean food because it's too spicy for me. Bleck.
3. My shoe size is 8.5.
4. Out of all the household chores to do (laundry, doing dishes, vacuuming), my least favorite is doing dishes.
5. To date, I've claimed fourteen books as my own from various public libraries.
6. I hate Girl Scout cookies. They're overpriced and don't taste all that good, in any case.
7. I have to have everything neatly organized (a bit anal retentive).

Um, so I don't really have anyone else to pass this onto that hasn't already gotten the award. So sorry for the double-nominations, folks!

1. Kurt
2. Annie
3. Jay
4. Vicky
5. Tamara
6. Ashy
7. Mireyah

That's all for now! I've been feeling a little Looney, especially since I've been watching Looney Tunes for an awesome American culture class that I'm taking.

Currently Reading:

Currently Listening to:

Currently Procrastinating on:

* A paper for said American Culture class,
* Writing an article for the school newspaper, and
* Working on promoting The Ante Review.

I have many things to do.

2010-02-23T12:36:00.005-05:00

Courtesy www.xkcd.com

Those of you who follow me on Twitter might know that I'm a wee bit obsessed with xckd. *ahem* It's one of many interests, which include:

1. Young Adult/Middle Grade Fantasy (Harry Potter, Hunger Games, His Dark Materials, Chronicles of Narnia, etc)

2. Salsa (Pico de gallo, pineapple habanero, etc)

3.17th Century classical music (Monteverdi, Bach, Handel, etc)

4. The Olympic Games (Speed-skating, figure skating, etc)

5. Apples (Fuji, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, etc)

6. Major book awards, (Pulitzer, Man Booker, ~~Nobel~~, National Book Critics Circle, etc)

This is more a warning than anything else: potential topics that might surface in this blog, especially since I have no clue what the heck I'm doing.

To close:

Currently Reading:

Currently Listening to:

Currently Procrastinating on:

* A Spanish essay,

* Reading Wallace Stevens (although he does rock),

* And editing The Cavalier Daily

Blogging

2010-02-22T01:00:00.002-05:00

I suck at this.

But I'm trying.

Okay, to start off: a survey!

001. What is Your Name?

Rachel

002. How old are you?

003. What is the link to your website, blog, or myspace?

http://startlingreality.blogspot.com/

General

004. What is your height?

5'6"

005. Do you have any siblings?

Sistas :)

006. What is your eye colour?

Brown

007. What is your hair colour?

Dark brown

008. Do you wear glasses or contacts?

I have one contact for my left eye. Strange. o.0

009. Are you right handed or left handed?

Funny story -- born left handed, but am currently right handed. I blame my mother.

010. Do you have any piercings?

Just two, one in each ear.

011. Do you smoke?

Nope.

012. Do you swear?

>.> Sometimes I slip up.

013. Do you get along with your parents?

Yep.

014. Your heritage

Korean-American

015. Your fears

Sleep paralysis and really large spiders.

016. Goal you would like to achieve this year

Keep up with this blog, finish writing novel #3,

017. Most overused phrase on an instant messenger

lol

018. Best Physical Feature

Umm. Let's just say that I'm not disfigured in any way.

019. Your bedtime

Usually around 2 A.M.

020. What time do you arise in the morning?

Depends on if I have work in the morning. Either 6:30 A.M. or 8:30 A.M.

021. First thoughts waking up?

Shut up, you stupid alarm.

022. Do you shower daily?

Yep.

This Or That?

023. Bright or dark room?

Depends on the circumstance! ;)

024. Chocolate or vanilla?

I love chocolate.

025. Dogs of cats?

My adorable precious baby poodle Smokey.

026. Pepsi or Coke?

Coke.

027. McDonalds or Burger King?

McDonalds (although Burger King has onion rings...)

028. Ant or Dec?

I had to Google this so ... neither?

029. Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea?

Lipton.

030. Cappuccino or Coffee?

Coffee (a tad obsessed)

In the last month have you...

031. Drank alcohol?

Does a sip count?

032. Gone to a mall?

Today, in fact.

033. Eaten a box of Oreos?

Nope

034. Eaten sushi?

Nope

035. Been on stage?

Nope

036. Been dumped?

Nope

037. Gone skinny dipping?

Nope

038. Stolen Anything?

Nope. I'm fairly boring.

Have you ever...

039. Laughed for no reason?

All the time.

040. Been caught doing something you weren't supposed to do?

All the time.

041. Been in love?

Indeed.

042. Fired a gun?

Nope

043. Been drunk?

On love.

044. Been called a Tease?

o.0

045. Been beaten up?

Nope

046. Shoplifted?

Accidentally.

What was the last....

047. Furry thing you touched?

My poodle

048. Thing you've said?

"Bye."

049. Song you've listened to?

"Used to be" - Beach House

050. (Who was the last) person you've spoken to on the phone?

Mommy

051. Movie you watched?

Um, honestly can't remember. I saw "A Serious Man" recently.

052. Thing you were doing before this?

Looking for my phone charger (unsuccessfully).

053. Time you cried?

The time you cried and threw your crayons across the floor

054. Song you've sang?

"I'll never love this way again" - Dionne Warwick

055. Time you looked at the clock?

Looking at my laptop time

056. Food and drink you've had?

Grilled tuna salad from Coastal Flats (yum!) and water

057. Flavour of gum you've chewed?

Big Red (cinnamon)

058. Shoes you've worn?

My wannabe Target brand Uggs. lol.

059. Store you've been in?

Urban Outfitters

Favourite...

060. Planet?

Earth

061. Age you've been so far?

Seventeen. Although 19 has been nice, too.

062. Season?

Autumn, and then summer.

063. Number?

Twelve

064. TV show?

Avatar: The Last Airbender. Do the Olympics count?

065. Flower?

I'm always a sucker for roses.

Random...

066. How much cash do you have on you?

Like ... $12. My life savings. (Hey, I'm a poor college student.)

067. What's a word that rhymes with 'door'?

Floor

068. What T-Shirt are you wearing?

Not wearing one.

069. What brand of shoes are you wearing?

Not wearing any right now.

070. What did your last text message say?

"Ughh. It got canceled."

071. What were you doing at midnight last night?

Watching the Olympics.

072. What's your current desktop picture?

The cover of Shel Silverstein's "The Giving Tree"

073. What's a word that you say a lot?

Anyway

074. If you were a crayon, what colour would you be?

White. It never gets used.

075. How is the weather right now?

Brisk, but warm for February.

076. What is the first thing you notice about the opposite sex?

Their smile.

077. Are you too shy to ask someone out?

Nope.

078. Can you do a headstand (not using a wall)?

Nope.

079. Who would you like to see right now?

My boyfriend.

080. How many pillows do you sleep with?

Three

081. Would you go on a date with someone on MySpace?

082. How do you want to die?

Peacefully

083. What do you want to be when you grow up?

Haven't quite decided -- maybe a writer, maybe a lawyer, maybe an editor.

084. What country would you most like to visit?

Spain

085. How many CDs do you own?

A bit archaic, eh?

086. How many things, in your past, do you regret?

Let's not dwell.

087. Do you think you are attractive?

hm.

088. Do you believe in yourself?

Sometimes.

089. Do you want to get married?

Yes.

In a boy/girl...

090. Favourite eye colour?

Green

091. Favourite hair colour?

Brown

092. Short or long hair?

Depends on how he pulls it off

093. Height?

At least as tall as I am.

094. Weight?

Can't deal with someone lighter than me.