HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

Just saw a swan float by on the lake. Happy birthday to me! Thanks little swan.

Well, before I spend my birthday furiously writing a research paper on cyberbullying and trying not to cough out my left lung (that ones my favorite, don't tell the right one), I just opened my third Lego door! I also ate a pumpkin muffin and listened to Christmas tunes.

Welcome to the world, Officer "Stan the Man" Stanley. He came fully equipped with zippers, a sly smirk, and two handcuffs. TWO OF THEM! Look how he yields them as mighty weapons. Nothing can get by Stan the Man. Don't bother crossing him. He will cuff your hands and your feet. Or your hands again. Cuffed twice, yo.

Who thought it'd be a good idea to arm the criminal?

Just sitting in the dark, in my room, looking out the window at the sunset on the lake. The picture is a pretty crappy representation, but it's a very pretty sight, what with the colors and the water.

Spent another day in sixth grade, trying to learn eighty or so names and attempting to answer questions about plot and theme. Overall pretty good day, despite the exhaustion I felt by about 10am and the fact that I had no idea what the other teachers were talking about 90% of the time. But they're all just so nice and amusing.

But now I'm sure you're all wondering what was behind door number two of the Lego Advent Calendar...

Yay mysterious pieces! The best part of this calendar (and that's a tough call considering how much awesome it's made of in general) is getting to build the pieces. Although finding the head of Johnny Shush's evil, gold toothed, grinning face was a little scary. Anyway, today brought...


...a catapult! (And just so you're aware, I opened this at least an hour ago and couldn't for the life of me think of the word "catapult." It took way too many google searches of variations on "war slingshot?" to finally find it.) AND it's not just a regular catapult...it launches snowballs??!? Lego snowballs?! Have we finally learned what the random white pieces are? I only assume, what with the winter wonderland scene, that these represent white chunks of snow. And now it really worries me that Johnny came equipped with his own snowball.


And this snowball catapult actually works! I won't tell you how long I lay on the floor launching snowballs.

Also, Lego does not condone launching Lego snowballs at peoples' faces. Safety first, people! When I first opened this, I got scared I was somehow going to poke myself in the eye with this Lego contraption.

HAPPY DECEMBER

First things first: where the heck did November go?!

I still can't believe it's already December...I also can't believe it's already Thursday. All day I kept thinking, I need to memorize my music for choir rehearsal on Thursday...oh no...that's tonight! Too late.

I also had my last education class today (although the seminar with the same people continues next semester), and it feels so strange to be done. The wise parting words my professor left us with: "Don't hit your students. And don't swear at them." Words to live by, people.

I also discovered that my friends have decided what we're doing for my birthday Saturday, but refuse to tell me and then laugh at me. And then criptically state that it'll be fun for me, and for them. And laugh some more. I got scared and left them for choir rehearsal, where we practiced for our Christmas service Sunday. It was kind of disorderly but we did get to practice with real fire! So no complaints. Also I was given alcoholic cider in a tradition known as wassailing (thanks wikipedia) because I am a senior. I did not expect this caroling and giving of cider because of the leaving-mandatory-rehearsal-early-and-angering-the-almighty-choir-director debacle of 2010. I politely took one sip and then poured it down the drain in the bathroom. I'll take my hot cider sans alcohol please. But I liked the gesture.

Anyway, guess that's it....



...KIDDING! We've got a Lego Advent Calendar goodie to check out!! I opened my first box early this morning and reveled in my first Lego buddy, even though I don't trust him...

Meet ex-convict Johnny Shush (I just read a book with a mobster by this name). He's clearly an escaped criminal, as can be seen from the number on his shirt and the evil glint in his eye, but he's also got a pretty nice jacket and a gold tooth. Mobster connections, obviously.

Can't figure out the extra white Lego piece though. In the picture its top is black, but no such black piece could be found. At first I thought perhaps, a Lego thermos? But he's way too badass for a thermos. We probably don't want to know what that white thing is...

Johnny in his lonely lego world, only a mysterious white object, a hobo hat, and a stylish red bandana for company. Hope he enjoys it while it lasts.

I can't wait until tomorrow!

And I don't know about you, but this box promises great things. Great, Christmasy things. The criminals, the cops, the fisherman, preoccupied Santa and his dog...it all really embodies the religious countdown that is an advent calendar.

(Just ignore Lego's age limit of 12...Just because I'm turning 22 in less than 48 hours doesn't mean I don't enjoy good, wholesome Lego fun!)

Make the ringing stop!

For the second day in a row, my neighbor's alarm (a clock? a phone?) has rung uninterrupted for over an hour.

The ringing just stopped...it's a miracle! So thankful for silence.

I spent my morning (8-10) at the preschool, where I stood outside in the cold receiving pretend mail and packages from two very eager three-year-olds. I then watched a group of children playing in pirate ships the teachers set up (with planks, crates, and cloth on sticks). They rowed in their boat, saw a shark, ran out of the boat, saw another shark (?), ran back to the boat, saw a shark, ran out...until going in time.

I've just finished preparing for a psych debate tomorrow, and now I have to work on a final English paper outline due Friday, for which I only have a vague topic and two books. And then I've got to write my psych final paper, for which I only have printed out research articles. If I didn't have to sleep, I wouldn't be so concerned, but I am not one for all nighters, and lately I've barely made it to midnight. So time to get working!

I hope you're excited for tomorrow! December! Legos! Calendars! Christmas! I am pumped!

Oh hi, didn't see you there!

WHOA! Almost forgot what it was like to write a blog post. Plus the soft crying of my neglected blog distracted me for a bit.

But I'm back!

I'm back because December 1 is almost here and that means I will be opening the best birthday present ever (followed closely by the VIP experience of the Starkid SPACE tour in NYC)...A LEGO ADVENT CALENDAR!


Look at how happy I am with that piece of Lego goodness in my arms.

One of my favorite bloggers (after, of course, Katie, Amanda, and Julie), Dan Bergstein, blogged his way through last year's Lego Advent Calendar and it kept me amused all the way to Christmas. He'll be blogging again this year ( www.laserfarm.com ), and since I am now in possession of a calendar as well, I figured I'd join in the fun! For you to share. I hope you enjoy it. Though Dan will be infinitely more amusing so I'd read his blog too. Can't wait for the fun to begin! Kind of makes the prospect of writing endless research papers slightly less icky.

(That's a lie...writing research papers is still 100% icky.)

See you in December!

Lazy days of summer

It's Friday! Friday! Gotta get down on Friday!

That is what happens when I open up a blank blog post and can't think of how to begin.

Since July 4th I have gone zip lining, worked, ran, and really done nothing at all. In fact, I just tried to remember what I did yesterday and nothing came to mind. But after some thought, I did go running with Amanda and Julie, as well as had lunch at Mill No. 3 with Mum and Amanda. Yum yum.

Tuesday's zip lining was super fun, especially in the beautiful weather and with some very fun friends! We got to check out the views and take lots of pictures, like this one:

Today I took a trip to Barnes and Noble to buy a GRE practice book. Let's hope it works. I have one month! But now it's time to go to work. Friday night. Hopefully all goes well. I've had a nice break since Wednesday matinee, so I'm ready to face people again. Let's do this!

USA! USA! USA!

Yes, yes, I am a horrible blogger. I suppose I should just give up recapping our trip and skip ahead to the present. The farther away I get from when I last blogged, the more I don't want to catch up. So let's just not catch up, shall we?

Today is the fourth of July! Happy birthday America! You're getting old! But not really. This lady over here is way older than you. And still we haven't figured out why she's kind of smiling. Did you know some crazy guy threw acid at the Mona Lisa? ACID! Poor thing. It was also stolen in 1911 by a Louvre worker and not found for two years. Who knew? Well maybe you did. 8 points for you then. And a cupcake.

I am currently sitting in my living room watching the Boston Pops. They just started playing the 1812 Overture. But of course no one recognizes it for a good ten minutes until the cannons start. Here we go. USA! USA!

Hope everyone's eaten some form of meat on a bun today. FREEDOM!

Tomorrow I am going ZIPLINING with Amanda, Julie and Randi. Yay! So excited to do it on a nice day instead of in the pouring rain! It's too bad more people couldn't join us, but I am sure we will have a blast! I will make sure to document the fun.

I'm also excited to finally have a day off work. I've been scooping popcorn for six days straight. And I'm sorry general public, but I just can't take you for another day. Why are you so angry about being at the movies? Stay home if you hate people so much! Send your children to camp if you can't stand to be around them. Don't take your frustrations out on the poor young girls behind the counter scooping your popcorn and cleaning up your messes. I do, however, love making mixed Icees. So feel free to order as many of those as you'd like.

After work I got to spend a short amount of time at the Worthley's shindig, where I eventually just played with five-year-old Jessie, who was pawned off on me by a sister who shall remain nameless. Jessie has a pretty good imagination though. Kid carried around a brick, pretended it shot lasers, and had conversations with it.

FIREWORKS! BBQ! FREEEEDOMMMM!!!!