5. My head is too big to wear my new headband.
4. I'm not sure of the context but in my politics class the other day a kid in the back row (the same one who didn't believe that Citgo was a Venezuela-based company because his cousin owns a Citgo station in Chicago) decided that they should make koala burgers in China.
3. Walmart doesn't sell caffeinated mango tea.
2. An old boss of mine once made me fill out an accident report at work for stubbing my toe.
1. "Global warming"
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
The Feel of Fall
Well, it has been a busy fall so far! I wasn't going to update until I had something interesting to blog about so I'm winging this...
I love love my new roomie but she has to become a grown up in less than two months so we are trying to have as much fun as possible before she leaves.
I love love my new roomie but she has to become a grown up in less than two months so we are trying to have as much fun as possible before she leaves.
I lasted about three weeks before I up and flew to California for the weekend. I like saying "for the weekend" because it sounds important. I pretty much just worked on my tan for a few days but I did get to see my friend who lives in Santa Barbara that I haven't seen in a few years and who, by the way, is getting married!! Congratulations :) Katrina and I managed to get COMPLETELY lost in Hollywood in the dark but that is all I am going to say about that...bad memory. It was well worth it though, I just wish Laura could have come too! This is one of the few pictures we took.
Besides Kiki-kins, my favorite thing about living in a house is that I get to cook for myself. I had pretty big ambitions in the beginning but I quickly ran out of resources and time to make nice meals. I did however manage to make my friends an Anna style fancy dinner one night that they said they all liked but I really know they were just humoring the new cook.
I haven't had time for very much because I am working a lot and my free time is spent in the studio getting ready for April...my SENIOR SHOW! It is going really well and I am very excited about some of the pieces I am doing. We don't have to have a theme but it is nice to have some sort of related tie throughout the pieces. I guess mine is something like, family/tradition/history/people. The show is supposed to showcase all that we have learned throughout our four years and it is all produced our senior year. A lot of the things I am doing are actually new techniques for me so, although it isn't exactly showcasing my skills, it is still mapping out what I have learned and what I am still interested in learning, if that makes sense. I'll post some of the pieces as I finish them up.
I am working early mornings at Target and it is pretty draining although I love the people I work with. They are mostly retired men and college students. No matter how much it sucks to get up at 4:00, they money is nice and I met my new friend Lindsay. We both had the weekend off for Halloween and went to a little party where we may have had a little too much fun ;)
Even though I am getting fat because I never work out and I am behind in every subject because I always work, I do manage to find lots of time for my Moonlights. I am living it up while we're here for one last semester because I won't always have the advantage of having them so close by.
It has been a whirlwind of a semester but I am glad to be here. I can't believe it is already the "holiday season." I registered for my last semester of classes EVER on Monday! Now I have to decide what I want to do when I grow up...more on that later. God bless.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Oh ya, well the Jerk Store called...they're running out of YOU
Earlier this summer I met one of the service guys at work for the first time. I was talking to someone else and out of the corner of my eye I caught him with his hand under his chin staring at me for some length of time. Finally he asked if I had seen the new movie, Talladega Nights, because I look strikingly like an actress in it. Since then he has brought it up a few times so I finally looked it up and asked him if I had the right girl. It turns out the actress is Amy Adams who I love since she acted in a couple episodes of the Office.
Anyway, she is gorgeous and I was flattered to be likened to "the new hot girl in the office." My new buddy in service says he calls her an "SST" you know, the Secretary Sleeper Type. Alright.
So, I can see a resemblance in the hair color and we both have stupid smiles I guess but maybe we don't look all that similar. It doesn't matter, I was feeling pretty good about myself. I was telling my friends about my little victory when a particular person decided it was necessary to add in his two cents. "Pssht, you look NOTHING like her." Piss off, let me have my moment.
Anyway, she is gorgeous and I was flattered to be likened to "the new hot girl in the office." My new buddy in service says he calls her an "SST" you know, the Secretary Sleeper Type. Alright.
So, I can see a resemblance in the hair color and we both have stupid smiles I guess but maybe we don't look all that similar. It doesn't matter, I was feeling pretty good about myself. I was telling my friends about my little victory when a particular person decided it was necessary to add in his two cents. "Pssht, you look NOTHING like her." Piss off, let me have my moment.
Friday, July 21, 2006
I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE!!!
The Verdict: Oink
Las Angeles Times
Dan Neil
16 July 2006
As we consider the worst fast-food offering ever, let us begin with the artifact itself: KFC's new Famous Bowls product consists of a plastic tub of mashed potatoes or rice, topped with yellow corn, fried chicken nuggets,gravy and three varieties of grated cheese. All in one container, all to be consumed as a single homogenous mass, spork after spork of undifferentiated food matter.
And there it sits on my desk, a steaming, sweating pound of food goo that I purchased at a drive-in window (more anonymous that way) for $3.99. Let me tell you, it's one thing to muse upon the Famous Bowls in a detached, ne'er-shall-pass-my-lips sort of way. Quite another to address the product, spork in hand.
And now, in the interests of participatory journalism, I take a bite. Hmmm. Uh-huh. OK. It's like throwing up in reverse.
The French culinary aesthete Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin reminded us that food is culture, and so we have to wonder what he would say about the Famous Bowls and life in this America. The French, after all, knew something about revolting peasants.
Even in a nation that has made the bulk fast-food bolus something of a culinary art, KFC's Famous Bowls are somehow splendidly, transcendently awful. Perhaps it's because, if you retain any of your childhood aversion to foods touching, the Famous Bowls will send you shrieking into traffic. Perhaps it's because it so brazenly exposes its own purpose: to economically pack the gullets of the poor. Gone is even the pretense that someone might eat this for its taste. This is gerbil food for the disenfranchised. One KFC marketing exec, in a moment of linguistic clarity I'll bet he wishes he had back, is quoted as saying the meals are directed at "heavy fast-food users." Never was the connection between fast food and addictive drugs made more explicit.
The Famous Bowls, according to KFC, are designed to lure more lunchtime customers with a meal that has all the goodness of KFC's popular dishes—like gravy—in one convenient, portable, easy-to-inhale serving. And thus the gustatory equivalent of composting.
A couple of questions immediately present themselves: Why not go all the way and top the Famous Bowls with an apple pie and pour Coca-Cola over them? To save customers the struggle to pocket their change at the drive-thru, why not throw it on top as well? If the product developers thought Famous Bowls were a good idea, I have two words for them: chicken smoothie.
You might have expected, after Morgan Spurlock's hilarious and scary "Super Size Me"—the 2004 documentary that charts his declining health on a steady diet of McDonald's—that the fast-food industry would be at least a little self-conscious about such offerings. Actually, no. McDonald's did begin to offer healthier menu options and retired the notorious Super Size option. But what has fueled McDonald's recent turnaround (revenues up 33% in three years) is the company's Dollar Menu, a smorgasbord of slow-acting poisons (trans fats, sugars, sodium and kilo-calories), marketed primarily at teenagers and minorities.
To keep pace with McDonald's, Burger King and Wendy's pumped up their dollar-priced menu offerings. Wendy's, deciding its Biggie drink wasn't biggie enough, recently began offering sodas in 42-ounce cups. Great, a beverage I can swim in.
In the face of criticism drummed up by "Super Size Me"—and the 2001 book "Fast Food Nation," the film version of which will appear in theaters this fall—the industry has executed a marvelous bit of jujitsu, marketing even more heinous concoctions as manly, red-state antidotes to froufrou girlie food that would be imposed by the meddlesome big-government lunch lady. I love the Burger King ad for the Texas Double Whopper in which a mob of men burns its tighty whities, waving signs that say "Eat This Meat" and singing, to the tune of Helen Reddy's "I Am Woman": "I am man, I am incorrigible, and I'm way too hungry to settle for chick food."
There is no shortage of fast-food travesties by which to be astonished. Consider the Carl's Jr. Double Six Dollar Burger, weighing in at a heart-plugging 1,420 calories, 101 grams of fat and 2.4 grams of sodium. A ballpark in St. Louis offers a bacon-cheeseburger served on a Krispy Kreme doughnut (which doesn't sound half-bad, actually). The Southern California restaurant chain The Hat serves French fries in a paper grocery bag and a Pastrami Burger the size of a moose's head. It's the only place I know where meat is a condiment.
Compared to these offerings, the Famous Bowls (710 calories, with 29 grams of fat and 2 grams of sodium) are relatively healthy. And so what if it's all in one bowl? NASA used to serve astronauts Thanksgiving meals in a squeeze tube.
And yet I remain appalled—as well as a little woozy from all the salt. It's one thing to say Americans eat like pigs, it's another to give it the force of literalism. But that's just what the trough-like Famous Bowls do. If there were a Food Court at The Hague, the Colonel would be in big trouble.
Las Angeles Times
Dan Neil
16 July 2006
As we consider the worst fast-food offering ever, let us begin with the artifact itself: KFC's new Famous Bowls product consists of a plastic tub of mashed potatoes or rice, topped with yellow corn, fried chicken nuggets,gravy and three varieties of grated cheese. All in one container, all to be consumed as a single homogenous mass, spork after spork of undifferentiated food matter.
And there it sits on my desk, a steaming, sweating pound of food goo that I purchased at a drive-in window (more anonymous that way) for $3.99. Let me tell you, it's one thing to muse upon the Famous Bowls in a detached, ne'er-shall-pass-my-lips sort of way. Quite another to address the product, spork in hand.
And now, in the interests of participatory journalism, I take a bite. Hmmm. Uh-huh. OK. It's like throwing up in reverse.
The French culinary aesthete Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin reminded us that food is culture, and so we have to wonder what he would say about the Famous Bowls and life in this America. The French, after all, knew something about revolting peasants.
Even in a nation that has made the bulk fast-food bolus something of a culinary art, KFC's Famous Bowls are somehow splendidly, transcendently awful. Perhaps it's because, if you retain any of your childhood aversion to foods touching, the Famous Bowls will send you shrieking into traffic. Perhaps it's because it so brazenly exposes its own purpose: to economically pack the gullets of the poor. Gone is even the pretense that someone might eat this for its taste. This is gerbil food for the disenfranchised. One KFC marketing exec, in a moment of linguistic clarity I'll bet he wishes he had back, is quoted as saying the meals are directed at "heavy fast-food users." Never was the connection between fast food and addictive drugs made more explicit.
The Famous Bowls, according to KFC, are designed to lure more lunchtime customers with a meal that has all the goodness of KFC's popular dishes—like gravy—in one convenient, portable, easy-to-inhale serving. And thus the gustatory equivalent of composting.
A couple of questions immediately present themselves: Why not go all the way and top the Famous Bowls with an apple pie and pour Coca-Cola over them? To save customers the struggle to pocket their change at the drive-thru, why not throw it on top as well? If the product developers thought Famous Bowls were a good idea, I have two words for them: chicken smoothie.
You might have expected, after Morgan Spurlock's hilarious and scary "Super Size Me"—the 2004 documentary that charts his declining health on a steady diet of McDonald's—that the fast-food industry would be at least a little self-conscious about such offerings. Actually, no. McDonald's did begin to offer healthier menu options and retired the notorious Super Size option. But what has fueled McDonald's recent turnaround (revenues up 33% in three years) is the company's Dollar Menu, a smorgasbord of slow-acting poisons (trans fats, sugars, sodium and kilo-calories), marketed primarily at teenagers and minorities.
To keep pace with McDonald's, Burger King and Wendy's pumped up their dollar-priced menu offerings. Wendy's, deciding its Biggie drink wasn't biggie enough, recently began offering sodas in 42-ounce cups. Great, a beverage I can swim in.
In the face of criticism drummed up by "Super Size Me"—and the 2001 book "Fast Food Nation," the film version of which will appear in theaters this fall—the industry has executed a marvelous bit of jujitsu, marketing even more heinous concoctions as manly, red-state antidotes to froufrou girlie food that would be imposed by the meddlesome big-government lunch lady. I love the Burger King ad for the Texas Double Whopper in which a mob of men burns its tighty whities, waving signs that say "Eat This Meat" and singing, to the tune of Helen Reddy's "I Am Woman": "I am man, I am incorrigible, and I'm way too hungry to settle for chick food."
There is no shortage of fast-food travesties by which to be astonished. Consider the Carl's Jr. Double Six Dollar Burger, weighing in at a heart-plugging 1,420 calories, 101 grams of fat and 2.4 grams of sodium. A ballpark in St. Louis offers a bacon-cheeseburger served on a Krispy Kreme doughnut (which doesn't sound half-bad, actually). The Southern California restaurant chain The Hat serves French fries in a paper grocery bag and a Pastrami Burger the size of a moose's head. It's the only place I know where meat is a condiment.
Compared to these offerings, the Famous Bowls (710 calories, with 29 grams of fat and 2 grams of sodium) are relatively healthy. And so what if it's all in one bowl? NASA used to serve astronauts Thanksgiving meals in a squeeze tube.
And yet I remain appalled—as well as a little woozy from all the salt. It's one thing to say Americans eat like pigs, it's another to give it the force of literalism. But that's just what the trough-like Famous Bowls do. If there were a Food Court at The Hague, the Colonel would be in big trouble.
Burned Down in History
I got an unfortunate history lesson last month about Cotter Hall. It was built in 1876 for C.C. Beck, the wealthy owner of a Winona brewery. Saint Mary's acquired the building at its founding in 1912 and it was used as a residence by various people until 1990 when it was boarded up and filled with shit that nobody wanted to dispose of properly that the University likes to call "storage."
On June 12 a fire completely engulfed the Cotter House. I still haven't heard what the cause was but I'm sure its fishy. There were no utilities in the house and the fire started at around 2:00am. Perhaps there are a few students who are second guessing the great idea they had to break into the house and smoke cigarettes in the middle of the night.
Part of me feels fortunate that I got to see the house before it was destroyed but another part of me is sad that Saint Mary's is not as concerned with preserving their history as I wish they were. It is especially unfortunate because with the new president and some other changes that have been happening around campus, the University was actually looking into what options they had to use the house before it became an eyesore at the entrance of campus.
Some pics and interesting facts:
*The house cost $17,000 in 1867
*Dr. Mayo performed emergency surgery in this house in 1915, attending to Bishop Heffron's gunshot wounds after a failed assassination attempt.
Kare11 coverage of fire (video)
"Structurally, the building is a total loss, historically, it's irreplaceable."
Thursday, May 04, 2006
Indiana Jones & The Temple of SMU
Okay, so what was supposed to be study day turned into an exciting evening of exploration of the many secrets of SMU. All of us have heard about the cave by the Old but none of us have actually been in it. On the side of the bluff there is a creepy little opening to what used to be a holding place for the old brewery. This is the opening of the cave from the inside looking out:
Before we got in I was disappointed to hear that the cave was man made. By the time I got in I didn't care anymore...it was creepy enough. It was pretty long...when we reached the back wall of it (it is like a tunnel) we couldn't see the light from the opening anymore. There were a couple of side tunnels like this one:
The only bugs we saw were some crickets on a wall, other than that it was just a bunch of junk, old bottles, scaffolding, newspapers, and boxes with the occasional couch or television set. We didn't find any skeletons, bricks that opened up into other dimensions, OR Chester Copperpot, but at least we looked cool:
So, after we conquered the cave:
We decided, for the seniors' sake, we would break into the Cotter House (also a first for all of us). The Cotter house (or Beck House) is a huge old run-down brick house on campus that has been used over the years for all sorts of things:
We heard that there were ways to break in but we couldn't find anyone who knew the secret so we thought we'd find it for ourselves. Good thing I am not afraid of heights:
All of the windows were either locked or boarded up...save one. I found an open one on this little roof:
It led into the most disgusting bathroom I have every experienced but we all made it in okay and started the exploring. We could tell it used to be a beautiful place with amazing woodwork and crown molding but it is completely run down, smelly, and full of storage shit and bugs. We could have left through the back door but it was way more exciting to climb back through the window:
It was more than just a fun study break, it was the perfect way to finish out the year and a reminder of fortunate we are to go to a university with such a rich past.
I had a rocky year, but a good one at that. In four days I will be officially done with finals and will be calling myself a senior in college. Whew.
Before we got in I was disappointed to hear that the cave was man made. By the time I got in I didn't care anymore...it was creepy enough. It was pretty long...when we reached the back wall of it (it is like a tunnel) we couldn't see the light from the opening anymore. There were a couple of side tunnels like this one:
The only bugs we saw were some crickets on a wall, other than that it was just a bunch of junk, old bottles, scaffolding, newspapers, and boxes with the occasional couch or television set. We didn't find any skeletons, bricks that opened up into other dimensions, OR Chester Copperpot, but at least we looked cool:
So, after we conquered the cave:
We decided, for the seniors' sake, we would break into the Cotter House (also a first for all of us). The Cotter house (or Beck House) is a huge old run-down brick house on campus that has been used over the years for all sorts of things:
We heard that there were ways to break in but we couldn't find anyone who knew the secret so we thought we'd find it for ourselves. Good thing I am not afraid of heights:
All of the windows were either locked or boarded up...save one. I found an open one on this little roof:
It led into the most disgusting bathroom I have every experienced but we all made it in okay and started the exploring. We could tell it used to be a beautiful place with amazing woodwork and crown molding but it is completely run down, smelly, and full of storage shit and bugs. We could have left through the back door but it was way more exciting to climb back through the window:
It was more than just a fun study break, it was the perfect way to finish out the year and a reminder of fortunate we are to go to a university with such a rich past.
I had a rocky year, but a good one at that. In four days I will be officially done with finals and will be calling myself a senior in college. Whew.
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Enclosed is $20.00
(This is the card I received from my Grandma, Mary, in the mail today)
Dear Anna,
Your mom said you were going on a "walk-a-thon" or something to raise money for whatever? Anyhow, I hope this helps a bit.
Love,
Grandma & Grandpa
Dear Anna,
Your mom said you were going on a "walk-a-thon" or something to raise money for whatever? Anyhow, I hope this helps a bit.
Love,
Grandma & Grandpa
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
My Top 13 Reasons Why I Love Being an Undergraduate College Student
13. I am still under my parent's insurance.
12. There is always a fall-back conversation starter when meeting new people (What year are you? What's your major? Where do you live?).
11. Getting to the point of being homesick for school.
10. College is a fairly legitimate excuse for doing all sorts of stupid crap.
9. Talking with alumni.
8. Somehow the entire world fits into my campus.
7. I feel decades younger than people two years older than me and decades older than people two years younger than me.
4. There is a strange fascination for being a kid again.
3. The sisterhood known as the Moonlight Dancers.
2. I never have to do this all again.
1. I never get to do this all again.
12. There is always a fall-back conversation starter when meeting new people (What year are you? What's your major? Where do you live?).
11. Getting to the point of being homesick for school.
10. College is a fairly legitimate excuse for doing all sorts of stupid crap.
9. Talking with alumni.
8. Somehow the entire world fits into my campus.
7. I feel decades younger than people two years older than me and decades older than people two years younger than me.
6. It is socially acceptable to wear sweats to class, dinner, meetings, and church.
5. The anticipation of turning 21.4. There is a strange fascination for being a kid again.
3. The sisterhood known as the Moonlight Dancers.
2. I never have to do this all again.
1. I never get to do this all again.
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
A Tale of Two Bathrooms
I was walking home through the woods behind my house up a VERY steep hill while a bunch of friendly talking cardinals followed me. I suddenly realized how beautiful this scenery was so I decided to turn around and soak it all in. Bad idea. I went sliding down the hill until and old fence post stopped me. That didn’t hold me long. I slid down the hill some more and an old tree stopped me momentarily until finally I slid over a jump and landed feet first in five feet of snow. I looked down at my feet and was standing on the roof of an old building. There was a hole in the roof that I had just missed falling into. It was just big enough that I climbed down into the hole. I explored this old building and found it to be a public bathroom. It was very dirty, like a bathroom at a park. There were three rooms, a lady’s room, men’s room, and a waiting room in between.
It was at this point when I met up with three of my friends who happened to have similar circumstances bring them to where I was. We explored some more and found a bathroom just like the one we were in connected to it. This bathroom quite frightened us as there was a toilet that was flushing. We looked in and saw that it was a faulty toilet and nobody was in it. That was a relief. At this point I realized that I myself had to pee. It was too disgusting to use one of the actual stalls so I squatted on the floor next to a drain. My friends were in the other room waiting for me when I heard voices that didn’t belong to them. I quick pulled up my pants and ran out of the room. I got a glance of the people, without them seeing me, before I left. There were four of them also, one woman and three men, all dressed in suits and ties. I met up with my group and we were trying to find a way out. As we passed through another hallway I noticed four doors with one word written on each of them. The looked extremely old with steel bars covering them and each had a large key hole that made it distinct. As we went into the adjacent room we were spied by the group of adults who started after us. I grabbed one of my friends and ran into the hallway with the rooms.
My group didn’t know it, but when we walked by earlier I spotted under the dust on the floor the four skeleton keys that belonged to the doors. We found the key that matched the closest door and ran in. The room was full of strange treasures which made it look like an antique shop and it was very dusty. We started exploring the strange new space when all of the sudden the dressed up woman entered the room. She had a suspecting demeanor but seemed nice to us at first. For the next few minutes she began to explain to us what this strange place was that we had found. She and the three men that she was with were professors. They had been searching for this "lost world" for decades. She explained to us that the buildings were ancient and all of the original artifacts were still in place. My friend and I looked at each other and sort of chuckled. We were standing next to an old, but definitely NOT ancient, foosball table and there was a picture hanging on the wall that looked like it was from the 1950's. The women then took the picture off the wall to reveal an even older artifact. It turned out all of the original treasures were in fact in the room hidden under unassuming junk.
It was here the next turn of events started. The woman reached to reveal what was hidden underneath the foosball table and quickly her demeanor changed. I was standing in front of her and my friend behind her. She had us cornered and began ranting about how we would never be responsible for finding this place. She had an evil look on her face as she raised the bars over her head to kill me. My friend thought fast and swiped the flat part of the table from behind her. She wacked it over the women’s head just in time. The bars that she had in her hand got lodged in her skull and she fell to the floor. We watched as the magic of the room changed this woman from a middle aged good looking professor to an old woman, so old that she wasted away soon into nothing and was gone. We had killed one but we knew that three more were still after us.
While we were in the room one of the men had also snuck in but we managed to escape him. The room stared aging anyone who was in the room who, at this point, was me, my friend, and one of the professors. We ran out of the room and shut the door behind us. As soon as we stepped into the hallway our faces went back to normal but the man who was trapped now looked like some sort of white-haired demon. He was locked in by the steel bars but reached out through them and grabbed me around my neck. While this was happening my friend grabbed the keys from me and opened another room. When another one of the professors followed her in she shut the steel door on him to lock him in but the same fate that had just befell me happened to her. The man behind that door also began to age and he reached out and grabbed a hold of my friend.
As we were struggling to get away the other two from our group spotted us. They were standing on the ruins of a wall directly in front of me. When they looked behind them they could see the last man approaching the hallway of doors and warned us that one was still on the loose. They looked up and saw that there might be an escape above them. They pointed and yelled to us, "THE ROOF!" As they climbed their way to the spot where a board covered up a hold in the roof, my friend and I wriggled our way free from the men who were holding on to us. All four of us then climbed up and with all of our strength lifted the board. We caught a glimpse of the last man entering the hallway just as we had finally escaped. We lifted the plywood that was laid over a hole in the roof and covered with snow. As the four of us pulled ourselves up we looked across the field that we were in to see a number of beautiful, well kept buildings. I said out loud, "just as I suspected, Yale University." And then, I woke up.
No, the end of the story is not the old, "it was all a dream." I don’t actually know the end of the story was but I do know that it was the end of my dream last night.
It was at this point when I met up with three of my friends who happened to have similar circumstances bring them to where I was. We explored some more and found a bathroom just like the one we were in connected to it. This bathroom quite frightened us as there was a toilet that was flushing. We looked in and saw that it was a faulty toilet and nobody was in it. That was a relief. At this point I realized that I myself had to pee. It was too disgusting to use one of the actual stalls so I squatted on the floor next to a drain. My friends were in the other room waiting for me when I heard voices that didn’t belong to them. I quick pulled up my pants and ran out of the room. I got a glance of the people, without them seeing me, before I left. There were four of them also, one woman and three men, all dressed in suits and ties. I met up with my group and we were trying to find a way out. As we passed through another hallway I noticed four doors with one word written on each of them. The looked extremely old with steel bars covering them and each had a large key hole that made it distinct. As we went into the adjacent room we were spied by the group of adults who started after us. I grabbed one of my friends and ran into the hallway with the rooms.
My group didn’t know it, but when we walked by earlier I spotted under the dust on the floor the four skeleton keys that belonged to the doors. We found the key that matched the closest door and ran in. The room was full of strange treasures which made it look like an antique shop and it was very dusty. We started exploring the strange new space when all of the sudden the dressed up woman entered the room. She had a suspecting demeanor but seemed nice to us at first. For the next few minutes she began to explain to us what this strange place was that we had found. She and the three men that she was with were professors. They had been searching for this "lost world" for decades. She explained to us that the buildings were ancient and all of the original artifacts were still in place. My friend and I looked at each other and sort of chuckled. We were standing next to an old, but definitely NOT ancient, foosball table and there was a picture hanging on the wall that looked like it was from the 1950's. The women then took the picture off the wall to reveal an even older artifact. It turned out all of the original treasures were in fact in the room hidden under unassuming junk.
It was here the next turn of events started. The woman reached to reveal what was hidden underneath the foosball table and quickly her demeanor changed. I was standing in front of her and my friend behind her. She had us cornered and began ranting about how we would never be responsible for finding this place. She had an evil look on her face as she raised the bars over her head to kill me. My friend thought fast and swiped the flat part of the table from behind her. She wacked it over the women’s head just in time. The bars that she had in her hand got lodged in her skull and she fell to the floor. We watched as the magic of the room changed this woman from a middle aged good looking professor to an old woman, so old that she wasted away soon into nothing and was gone. We had killed one but we knew that three more were still after us.
While we were in the room one of the men had also snuck in but we managed to escape him. The room stared aging anyone who was in the room who, at this point, was me, my friend, and one of the professors. We ran out of the room and shut the door behind us. As soon as we stepped into the hallway our faces went back to normal but the man who was trapped now looked like some sort of white-haired demon. He was locked in by the steel bars but reached out through them and grabbed me around my neck. While this was happening my friend grabbed the keys from me and opened another room. When another one of the professors followed her in she shut the steel door on him to lock him in but the same fate that had just befell me happened to her. The man behind that door also began to age and he reached out and grabbed a hold of my friend.
As we were struggling to get away the other two from our group spotted us. They were standing on the ruins of a wall directly in front of me. When they looked behind them they could see the last man approaching the hallway of doors and warned us that one was still on the loose. They looked up and saw that there might be an escape above them. They pointed and yelled to us, "THE ROOF!" As they climbed their way to the spot where a board covered up a hold in the roof, my friend and I wriggled our way free from the men who were holding on to us. All four of us then climbed up and with all of our strength lifted the board. We caught a glimpse of the last man entering the hallway just as we had finally escaped. We lifted the plywood that was laid over a hole in the roof and covered with snow. As the four of us pulled ourselves up we looked across the field that we were in to see a number of beautiful, well kept buildings. I said out loud, "just as I suspected, Yale University." And then, I woke up.
No, the end of the story is not the old, "it was all a dream." I don’t actually know the end of the story was but I do know that it was the end of my dream last night.
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Off To A New Beginning
Well, I think it's about time to get back into the swing of things. I suppose we are four weeks into the semester! Check out Laura's Blog and Katrina's Blog to get the story from Christmas break.
Basically I have been doing a lot of sleeping and a lot of partying. The latter really only consists of a heightened number of dance parties in the Old and going out probably three times. My first Winona bar experience was a good time but it just didn't compare to St. Michael. I mean, there were no bald & tattooed karaoke artists, nobody "knew my name," and the sleez was slim to none. I think Winona could really afford to step it up a notch. I couldn't have wished for anything more than to be home for my birthday :)
As far as the sleeping, my schedule worked out to classes only two days a week. No complaints.
Laura and Katrina and a couple handfuls of kids came to visit last weekend! Just when I think I can't stand another day without them...
They show up in my room! I never thought I'd meet another soul who likes candy as much as me until Analise came into the world. My candy dish just so happened to empty from her coat pockets while they were getting ready to leave :)
Anyway. I've got a long semester in ahead of me. I've gained one of the loves of my life (I finally got into a ceramics class!) and I've lost another but I am trying to tell myself that I just might enjoy change if stop being such an afraidy cat. Life is good.
Wait...my post wouldn't be complete without some moonlight action! Enjoy:
Basically I have been doing a lot of sleeping and a lot of partying. The latter really only consists of a heightened number of dance parties in the Old and going out probably three times. My first Winona bar experience was a good time but it just didn't compare to St. Michael. I mean, there were no bald & tattooed karaoke artists, nobody "knew my name," and the sleez was slim to none. I think Winona could really afford to step it up a notch. I couldn't have wished for anything more than to be home for my birthday :)
As far as the sleeping, my schedule worked out to classes only two days a week. No complaints.
Laura and Katrina and a couple handfuls of kids came to visit last weekend! Just when I think I can't stand another day without them...
They show up in my room! I never thought I'd meet another soul who likes candy as much as me until Analise came into the world. My candy dish just so happened to empty from her coat pockets while they were getting ready to leave :)
Anyway. I've got a long semester in ahead of me. I've gained one of the loves of my life (I finally got into a ceramics class!) and I've lost another but I am trying to tell myself that I just might enjoy change if stop being such an afraidy cat. Life is good.
Wait...my post wouldn't be complete without some moonlight action! Enjoy:
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