Haiku

I was just looking through random blogs and came acrossHaiku You Ku, a group of prolific poets who post only in haiku. There are introspective haikus, abstract haikus, and a few humorous ones. I love reading haikus! I'll definitely keep an eye on this blog.

Hooked on A Capella

I absolutely love a capella music. I'm especially fond of contemporary/pop a capella, like U Penn Off The Beat, The Bobs, and Rockapella. Before my computer crashed and erased all my downloaded songs, I used to have 162 different a capella mp3s from the days of free, unlimited Napster. My high school had an a capella group, by audition, that sang everything from Sade to madrigals; I consider myself a talented singer, and even though I made it to the All-State Music Festival, I never got into the a capella group. It was almost entirely made up of kids whose parents were doctors and lawyers and made hefty contributions to the local arts programs. Typical rural town. I was quite upset by this; even members of the group commented to me that I should have made the cut, year after year. Well, I was wondering, what if I started my own a capella group, maybe at SGU? Then I'd be guaranteed a spot, and I could even pick and arrange the music! What a blast that would be! I was having so much fun thinking about this, I decided to make a list of possible names for an SGU A Capella group.
1. Xyphoid Process
2. Invasive Procedure
3. The Placebo Effect
4. The Waiting Room
5. The SGU Scrubs


Any other ideas? I welcome any comments!

Going down the drain, in style

I missed the November 15th deadline to apply for the spring semester of SGU, but it's just as well, because I don't think I'd be able to handle going off to school while I'm still struggling to medicate this depression. You see, I can't really concentrate on anything-- reading a book is even a labor, I can't focus. This is the first time in two months that I've been able to even focus on typing. But I do have every intention of going to SGU. I even have a list of dorm supplies started :)

I'm not sure how I found it, but this article on designer toilet paper caught my eye. I remember when I was about 15 I spent the night at a friend's house for her birthday party, and I was very pleased with her parents' choice of bathroom tissue. I wanted to know what kind it was, but I was too embarrassed to ask. In the U.S., specialty bathroom items aren't nearly as popular as abroad, mostly because they have to overcome this country's aversion to openly discussing, displaying or advertising anything to do with the loo. But in countries like Korea and Japan, toilet culture is much different and extremely consumer-oriented. And in France, wiping with your reading material has come back into style with Petit Lutin(pdf), toilet paper featuring printed articles on French culture and current events. This trend toward luxury in the loo is bound to hit the U.S. soon enough because we Americans tend to believe we all deserve the best, in the end [comma optional].

In other drain news, we just had our garbage disposal hooked up... after it sat in my parents' closet, brand-new, for 4 years. In rural Maine, it is EXTREMELY unusual to find a garbage disposal in any house, and this is the first time I've ever lived in a house that had one. The first one I ever saw was in my grandparents' apartment, and I thought it was so upscale! Maine is a little behind-the-times, to say the least. I'm very excited to try out our new luxury!

Idiosynchracies

10 Odd things about me:
1. If I take my socks off, even if they're clean and I've only worn them for an hour, I will not put them back on.
2. I have a specific way in which I eat my apples, biting until there are two equal planes, then gradually eating at both sides symmetrically.
3. I have no problems with blood, vomit, urine, defecation, pus, saliva, or eating bugs.
4. Alligators really freak me out.
5. I love the smell of marigolds and hate the smell of petunias.
6. I have synaesthesia: Tuesday is bright green, 5 is a bronzed brown, and most music sounds blue.
7. Loud noises like lawn mowers, motorcycles, fireworks, gunshots, blenders, and loud music, make me highly agitated and anxious.
8. I have a pet salamander named Monroe.
9. My favorite number is 64 because it is the cube of a square (4^3) and the square of a cube (8^2).
10. My first celebrity crush was Weird Al Yankovic.

I'm still alive, barely

I know, I know, I disappeared off the face of the Earth for two months. I've been a hermit. I'm struggling with a major bout of depression, trying to get it sorted out with my doctor. I've just been spending my time watching, recording and rewatching CSI, CSI: Miami, CSI: New York, Criminal Minds, Numb3rs, Close to Home, Bones, and Grey's Anatomy. Plus the occasional visit to BBC America. I've been sleeping or "resting" (really just daydreaming and being depressed with my eyes closed) for 16 hours each day. I really need to get out of this rut. Even if I had a job right now, there's no way I could keep it the way I'm going.

On a lighter note, my Mom and I hosted a fairly successful Thanksgiving dinner, albeit a day late due to a big snowstorm. I discovered a yummy recipe for Rum Raisin Pie, which was a smashing hit. One word of warning, though; if you are on the antidepressant Lexapro, do not drink alcohol. You see, my doctor only gave me the sample packs, which had no warnings about drinking, but apparently the full patient information packet that comes with an actual pharmacy prescription does warn about it. I drank about 2 ounces of wine and had one slice of the pie and I was stumbling over my words, swaying on my feet, and telling my poor grandmother how much I really hate my cousin. Thankfully she probably won't remember a bit of it in a month or two.