lacking something.

sometimes I am desperate to get onto my computer, and then I realize that there really isn't anything new there for me that wasn't there a couple hours before. and then I go to almost every one of my bookmarked tabs at the top and check something on them (craigslist, ebay, bank of the west, myspace, etc.).
and then I still find time to complain to myself that I don't have enough hours in the day to do things that are more productive (reading, writing, etc.). sigh. humans are so ridiculous. we have so many aspirations and yet we so often completely lack the motivation and ambition to fulfill them. I have thought about this so many times, making me just as guilty of it, if not more.

on another note, my little cousins found photobooth just as entertaining as I thought they would.






Colorado has generally been really awesome. my whole body is kind of sore for some reason and I have a giant scrape on my knee from falling down on a dock yesterday. but we have spent some serious time biking around which has been wonderful and the weather has been equally wonderful.
Treynor and I have been taking some pictures on disposable cameras. but I have also taken some on my digital so that I can upload them onto here when we get back.

more to come on Colorado when I return to Iowa!!!

I think everyone just comes to Colorado to be beautiful.

English 335 babes.

I am currently enrolled in English 335: Studies in Film. we are studying Howard Hawks's movies. I pretty much love this class.

it's only twice a week for about a month this summer, and there is hardly any real work to be done for it. we have a few articles to read for each class period, most of which are pretty cool(plus I have hours of doing nothing at the copy center to do read them). each day, we watch some really awesome old film. so far, we have watched Only Angels Have Wings, Bringing Up Baby, and Rio Bravo.
all of these I found very enjoyable, especially Rio Bravo.
today, we are watching the original Scarface, which I am also looking forward to. to top it all off, our professor Leland Poague is the most adorable and wonderful teacher ever. he's right up there with Dr. Prater on my favorite enthusiastic professors list. he's extremely difficult to follow at times because he gets so excited about film that he's totally scatter-brained, but it's just great. he also satisfies my love for adorable old people.
we only have to write a total of like 4 2-page papers that are graded easily and we only have one exam, which I think he will probably over-prepare us for.
not to mention, the class counts as an upper level class, which is a neccessary part of graduating. whether it will transfer over to University of Iowa as an upper level class, I'm not too concerned because I would not regret taking the class anyway.
hopefully I have convinced any readers out there to take this class or the equivalent at any college you may be at.

watching Rio Bravo was awesome because I have never honestly watched any old westerns, and it was a really great one to start on. NOT TO MENTION, DEAN MARTIN (who also goes by the name 'Dude' in this movie, which is sweet in itself) IS A TOTAL BABE AND I NEVER KNEW IT BEFORE. he plays kind of the town drunk at the beginning and then has a wonderful renewal and comeback and proves himself in this awesome bar scene.

now, I'm really not one to swoon over celebrities, because I think it's ridiculous and they are people just like you and me, but I can't really stop myself from being totally into Dean Martin in this movie when he shoots a gun the way he does, or laughs the way he does, or sings a song in his beautiful voice the way he does. if I was my grandmother's age, I am partially convinced that we would have gotten married because after seeing him in this movie, I wouldn't have settled for any less of a babe. I know this is all very ridiculous and whatnot, but I figure if I'm going to have a celebrity crush, it's better that he's not alive anymore. that way, I won't be tempted to act like a giddy teenage girl at the thought of actually meeting him and him falling madly in love with me, like many do nowadays with Rob Pattinson (whom I will admit is a total babe).

anyway, sorry for all this, it won't happen again, but I just had to say something about my huge attraction to a guy who would've now been my grandfather's age. uhh...

walkin' around in our summertime clothes.

to be completely honest, I don't like summer weather. I really don't. and it doesn't hit me until days like yesterday and today. I know I shouldn't complain, but I just can't stand the hotness/humidity. it's awful. however, it's times like this that I really, REALLY appreciate living in a basement. it's wonderful down here in the summer. I found myself just sweating and wanting to die while simply sitting at the boys house watching Lost tonight. I can't do it, I can't do it.
Colorado is supposed to have super wonderful weather this week though, which is nice because my parents just told me today that they are going there this weekend and I'm most likely going to tag along. I was getting pretty bummed at the idea of not being able to go to Colorado at all this summer, but this will be nice. I might bring my bike. and I am definitely bringing a butt-ton of books to read and it will be wonderful. I've expressed before my love for escaping Ames, especially to Colorado. I want to live there one day, I really do.

I've just been really happy lately.

there are some truly great things about summer that I can't deny:
-riding my bike everywhere
-eating ice-cream every day
-having literally no worries about school (even though I am taking one class)
-being able to count on hanging out with people every night of the week because no one really has to worry about school
-the general "I-don't-care-about-anything-in-the-world-and-that's-totally-fine" vibe
-bonfires
-grilling out

also, I have found that the band Beulah is a good band for summer. I really don't care about listening to them at any point besides during the summer.

double also, The Love of Everything is playing at the Mews tomorrow for 5 bucks! I am really excited. I haven't seen him since I was introduced to his music at an Appleseed Cast show at the M-shop 4 or 5 years ago. I have a feeling it will be a lot different, but hopefully not different enough that I don't love it like I did.

omg complete series of planet earth.
thanks mom and dad!

daily observations.

I miss my bicycle, but my cat is so adorable that it's okay.


other observations:

awkward situations are impossible to avoid, even if you life your life trying to do so.
-garage sales are awkward.
-craigslist is awkward.
-apparently trying to order something from a restaurant by yourself is awkward.
-trying to figure out where you are going in a foreign city is awkward.
but you're usually not the only person feeling awkward in whatever given situation. also, you may never see the other person again, so who cares.

jazz music is perfect for rainy weather.

taking advantage of free things is always a good idea.
-free places to stay
-free food
-free visits to the museum
-free anything

being nice is usually the best way to go.

if you are unsure of going somewhere new/different when given the option, you should probably just do so.

banksy

seeing this tonight, pretty excited.

spring cleaning and other things.

I love cleaning things.
I just spent the last half hour or so cleaning out my itunes library and it feels good.
once I get home to Ames, I will probably go through my closet and get rid of more clothes even though I feel like I do that every other week. I think it's OCD, but I find myself thinking about the size of my wardrobe and the clothes that I have and the fact that I keep buying new ones, and I get really anxious. it's like I'm always wanting to sort through my clothes and get rid of more. I've gotten into the practice of this: when I buy new clothes, I get rid of 1 or more other articles of clothing from the same genre. I can't figure out if I'm making bad habits, making good habits, or just adjusting to the bad habits that I already have.
I will probably clean out my room when I get home from the cities as well. and whenever I have time, I will probably clean out my room at my parents house, especially of clothes and useless junk that I have always kept around for no real reason.

another nice thing about cleaning out my itunes library is that it's making me realize I have a lot of new music by bands that I actually like that I should check out. listening to new Broken Social Scene right now. it's okay.

on another note, I am sitting at one of the many Dun Bros coffee places in Minneapolis and they spent like an hour roasting their own beans and it smelled just delicious.
now that I am caught up on all of my television shows, I won't have any real reason to sit in bed for 3 hours after waking up, so I will probably be coming to this Dun Bros again for the next couple of days while Porter is at work. it's a nice place, and it will allow me to get out of my element a bit, if only to just read some Chronicles of Narnia or 1 Kings.
also, I spent an hour at Urban Outfitters today shopping and buying shoes that I probably didn't need, so I don't really have any reason to go shopping for the rest of the week. unless I decide to try and tackle the Mall of America by myself one day... eek. I do want to go to J.Crew though... blargh! what's wrong with me?!

anyway, I feel like I've been out of my mind and not myself lately and I'm glad that I am not in Ames this week and spending some serious time alone while Porter is at work during the day. it's going to be alright, I do believe.

triathlon?

I think I might...

I was listening to St. Vincent on a genius playlist and decided she could be the girl version of the Decemberists (disregarding the girl that actually sings with them 90% of the time).
they should go on tour together, that would be neat.

things that are neat.

scented trash bags

that nestle chocolate milk powder stuff
whoever thought of that was really intelligent. in my experience, a half gallon of regular milk rarely gets used because I don't like drinking milk. buying a carton of chocolate milk doesn't usually work very well either, because even though I love chocolate milk, I always forget I have it. non-perishable chocolate milk powder works well. also, kids love it! ;) I always know that I have regular milk, and now I know that I will always have the possibility of chocolate milk.

bicycle lanes
people get mad if you ride your bike on the road. people get mad if you ride on the sidewalk. someone recently wrote something in the just sayin' section of the daily along the lines of "it's called a sidewalk, not a sidebike." not to mention the fact that riding your bike on the sidewalk is I think frowned upon by the police. I feel like I heard once that it is actually illegal or something. that's probably something I should know. well anyway, I just recently decided to actually use the road for biking. I have a new road bike so I figured it would be fine, I would be able to move fast enough. and five minutes didn't even pass before some dude in his stupid car yelled "SIDEWALK!" out his window when I rode by. sigh. no one's ever happy. I just feel like bikes are a very practical mode of transportation and should be accommodated for. there are some bike lanes on various streets around Ames, but if they were put onto the main streets, like Lincoln Way for instance, maybe everyone could be a little bit happier.

college.

school has always been one of my least favorite things on this glorious earth, and I don't know what it took... but I am just starting to embrace and love it now. I don't know why, but it has taken me a semester and a half to realize how much being a student is really awesome. as difficult as it can be sometimes, I think at heart, I really love staying up late writing papers and studying for (some of) my classes. this is all very weird, because sleep has always been one of my most favorite things on this glorious earth.

I'm taking advantage of the library and being on campus to work on things rather than risking falling asleep at my own residence. for instance, being at the MU after midnight- drinking free coffee, putting off finishing this paper because I'm already wired, reading the new neat zine and the few parts of the Iowa State daily that I enjoy, listening to Kanye, looking for organs on craigslist, deciding that I am definitely not getting a ticket for 80/35, writing this blog entry...

also, I thought it worth noting that being in paper-writing mode has recently caused me to constantly re-read anything I write, including blog entries, and figure out the best organizational pattern for all of my thoughts and ideas.

double also, just remembered the horrible feeling I get in my stomach when I hear tables and chairs being moved around while the custodian is sweeping in the MU food court.