Day 199-200 - Mi manca italiano

I apologize in advance for the post in another language - for the past couple of days, I have missed the Italian language something fierce. It's gotten to the point where I didn't know what to do - I would start randomly speaking Italian just for fun. So I decided to rid myself of some of the longing and just write. There's always Google Translate if you need help ...

Lunedi

Alcun non é successo ralmente di nota - sono andata a una cosa di quilting con mia madre per la maggior parte del giorno. Ha portato la sua macchina per cucire ed abbiamao seduto per un paio di ore con due altre signore ed appena cucito. Bene, ho lavorato a maglia. Ma tutti hanno cucito altro. Era piacevole; le signore erano piacevole ed uno di loro ha offerto di darmi anche ancuni dei suoi vecchi libri che lavorano a maglia. Siamo venuti a casa e mi sono preparata per la visita del Lizzie - i fogli cambiati, aspirapolvere la stanza, ha riordinato il bagno. Sono stata alzato tardi leggendo (oops), ma é andata a letto alla fine.

Martedí

Oggi uno dei miei migliori amici é venuta a visitare.  Ho aspettato con ansia la sua visita da settimane, ed é stata cosí bella essera finalmente in grado di darle un abbraccio nell'aeroporto. Siamo tornate a casa, e solo parlato per un po', poi é andati fuori per la cena, e poi centro di guardarsi intorno per un po'. Abbiamo preso un sacco di foto del fiume, tra cui alcuni di noi stessi. Ecco alcuni dei piú ... quelli interessanti.

Day 198 - Skype and Make-Up

Today was another day of nothing-ness. Or at least nothing super super productive.

Woke up and learned that my dad had already gone into the office to work for a bit. It was expected, but I didn't realize he would be gone by 10:00 a.m.! Made myself some french toast (not too great, but I was also still groggy) then chatted with some friends online.

I ended up being super bored and actually caring what I looked like, so I straightened my hair super well and put on all sorts of make-up. It was a surprise. I looked like a Barbie doll. It was unnerving, but acceptable.

After making myself look all pretty (which I promptly followed by throwing a sweatshirt on), I Skyped with one of my best friends who is visiting next week (I am so excited to see her again!).

The afternoon/evening passed in a blur. Good movies (Legally Blonde and Mean Girls) were on TV, so I watched some of those, we had dinner (I had toast) and I downloaded some new songs to add to my summer playlist.

For the past 45 minutes, I've been looking at my own Facebook page (I'm backlogged to September 2010) and have been debating with my mom exactly what our plans are for tomorrow. It sounds as if I need to get up early, get ready, and then am her personal assistant at some sewing thing. It should be interesting .... but I'd best be getting to bed.

Day 197 - Stories, Showers, and Slug-a-bugs

Today wasn't filled with much of anything.

I woke up to a phone call from my friend who is travelling down here next week - she had a bit of a crisis last night, but I was more than happy to wake up and talk to her this morning. When I finally rolled out of bed, I wandered to the kitchen to make waffles for my dad and I.

Then came the boring part of the day: I did some laundry (and even put it away too!), watched TV, Skyped with a friend from school (it was so great to talk to her!), read (some ....), watched TV (probably more than I should have), and just have been putzing around doing odd little things (transferring tables and lists to the corresponding OneNote notebook pages).

My mom, dad, and I eventually went out to Hobby Lobby [my mom needed white fabric] and went to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner. It was pretty good ... though I didn't plan the best by wearing skinny jeans to a place where you're supposed to eat your weight in food. Oops.

I came home, parents went to work out, and I made my Summer playlist (complete with new country songs!) and cleaned (bathroom, closet) and have been writing (a new story, thought of the idea on our way to dinner, but it's too soon to tell how I'm going to like the overall product). Hopefully I'll Skype with another friend tonight, but then it's early to bed so I can actually be productive tomorrow!

Day 195-196 - A Sickly Sensation

So Thursday and Friday I felt super sick, so I decided not to post, since all you would hear would be "ahhh, my stomach hurts .... why aren't the meds working?!?"

Now you get a somewhat coherent post about nothing in particular.

Thursday: nothing of note happened. I laid on the couch, or in my bed, most of the day. My mom and I made a cake in order to satisfy our cravings of something sweet. It was a yellow cake, frosted with chocolate. And it was delicious.

Friday was pretty much the same thing: I had about 28394 pieces of cake (no exaggeration, at all) and lounged around again. Went out to lunch to get some Raising Cane's (best chicken ever) and then went back home to chill out some more.

I've been reading a ton, but yesterday I just kinda stopped. No real reason why, but I just didn't want to anymore. Which is a slight problem, since I have four more books to go through, plus the one I'm currently reading, and I was hoping to do it all before Tuesday, when my friend comes to visit. But I guess now I'll just have some books to read by the pool when we tan.

Day 194 - Woeful Winifred

Today has been up and down.

Woke up and just lounged around for a bit, mostly reading, taking a shower, etc. Finally went out with my mom around 12:30 to Costco (we needed page protectors) and to lunch.

As our last errand, we stopped by Bes Buy becaue my laptop, Winifred, has been sick lately. It's been quite sad. Basically, within the past couple of months, the webcam all of a sudden stopped working. The little light next to the webcam would still come on, but no picture would show up. Very odd.

So we went to Best Buy to talk to the geeks [it's a self-imposed name, don't worry] who asked me a whole bunch of questions. Yes, I had uninstalled and reinstalled all of the programs. Yes, I had run for updates. They told me another thing to do, but one was very pessimistic. He said it was part of the hardware of the computer, and that it'd have to be shipped out to get fixed. We finally decided that it wouldn't work, and so that left me with three options:

1. Buy an external webcam. Though this sounds like a good idea, I always think that they're a bit strange, and rather pricey to get one to attach to a laptop. Plus, I haven't ever really heard good things about the ones made for laptops, since most laptops come with an internal webcam.
2. Ship the computer out to get fixed. Winifred would have to be shipped out, taken apart, fixed, then sent back. The bottom line? It's pricey. As in, the men told me I'd be better off with Option #3.
3. Buy a new computer. It doesn't need to be fancy, or super expensive, but a good, reliable laptop that won't break two years into my ownership. We went over to the computer section and talked to someone about computers and I might have found a couple, but we'll see.

I'm sorry to say that Winifred may not make it to the new school year. But he'll have a nice home here in sunny Louisiana - I'm sure he'll enjoy being retired.

Day 192-193 - Reading MARATHON

Sorry for no post yesterday, I was buried under 3421 pages of books.

Yes. I totaled the pages. And yes, I am hoping to read all of those pages in a week. Let me explain:

Yesterday morning, my mom and I went to the Baton Rouge library. I got a library card (I know, it was a shocker that I haven't had one ...) and they made the mistake of telling me I could have 50 things checked out. Challenge accepted.


I left library branch #1 with four books: three in a series, and fourth one that just looked cool. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any of the Harry Potter books, which I was hoping to get and re-read. So we head off to library branch #2.

This is the library that I've been studying at, so I know the shelves pretty well.  I found the one book I was looking for (The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear) and saw that the author had written two other books. I grabbed those, thinking that if this library didn't have the Harry Potters I was looking for, I would still leave with a pretty good haul. Turns out they didn't have the books, so I left with the three I grabbed.

Seven books, not too bad for a day's work. Granted, they come up to mid-shin when stacked on the ground, and total over 3,000 pages of reading material. But still, I've done worse (how much worse, you probably don't want to know). Well, the problem I encountered was that I was still 150 pages short of finishing The Freedom Writer's Diary, so what did I do? Grabbed a reading pillow, blanket, and just hunkered down on the ground and read in my room.

Freedom Writer's Diary: completed. 1 1/2 hours.
The Diamond of Drury Lane: started. 220/419 done.

Went to bed around 12:30, after talking to my friend about her visit here.

This morning, woke up and talked to the same friend about her flights, and then realized "shoot, she's coming in a week. I need to finish reading all of these before she comes. Otherwise, everyone I have ever met will consider me a failure." Yes, that is what I thought. Yes, I understand it's ridiculous. No, I still have not changed my goal.

So today my mom and I took a short excursion to the mall (we might go again tomorrow ... I need to find some grandma-appropriate sundresses for my trip in August). But other than that, I've just been reading.

The Diamond of Drury Lane: completed.
Cat Among the Pigeons: started. 58/367 done.

Hoping to finish the second book tonight. Let the marathon continue!

Day 191 - Facebook Freedom

I woke up this morning around 8:00 a.m. after having a dream that everything in our garage in MI was stolen (including my car). I cried in my dream, and woke up freaking out. Yes, I would cry about my car. He and I have a strong relationship (please pretend that that's not weird). I lounged around for a bit, mostly reading and such, and then wandered out to get breakfast. We had French toast and sausage. Yummmmm.

Planned menus for the week with my mom, then went out shopping by myself. Talked with one of my friends from up north, came back, tanned for a bit. Not super exciting.

This afternoon/evening I've basically just been hanging out. Made some pudding. Played cards with my mom. Watched Law & Order with my parents. Read. A lot. Texted with friends.

Oh, and I deleted him from being my friend on Facebook. Yes, it was pretty momentous. But I realized that it would give me clocure. I won't try to "check up" on him, and then get upset. I won't be able to see how he's saying the same things to her that he did to me. He won't be a part of my life, which will be good.

I'm also debating deleting my Facebook. I've realized recently exactly how much we are attached to social networking sites now, and yes, I understand that I'll be in the minority. But I'm not saying the lack of profile would be forever, just maybe for a week, or two, or a month. The end of the summer, tops. Maybe until I get back to the state of Michigan. It'll be a little experiment.

Yes, that means that the only way to contact me would be through texting, and maybe the occasional Skype. Yes, I know that it means that I may not talk to as many people. No, these facts do not scare me, and no, they do not sway me from my probable decision. No Facebook means that I spend less time on the computer, it means that I won't spend hours just sitting on the computer (though I definitely would still blog ... I think I'd go crazy without it). No Facebook would mean that I can get back to my past, and reenact a summer where I just sit around and read, go on adventures, and have fun without technology.

Yes, it's a crazy idea. And yes, I'm going to do it. This is my last week of Facebook. I'd better make the best of it.