chase the horizon...

It's a beautiful day here in Ann Arbor, and I'm in the best mood I've been in in a while.  I don't really have any good, new information to update, so I'll just post these lyrics, 'cause they express my mood right now.  Listen to the song whenever you get a chance.

"Let Me Love You"
-Tim McGraw

Sometimes I close my eyes
And imagine you're with me
Chasing passion into the night
All tangled in a dream.

Oh if you could see my heart
The way I feel inside
You would know just how far
I'm willing to go to get to you
There is nothing I won't do.

Show me what its like to lose control
Free the desire in your soul
Oh oh let me love you.

Let me take you to a place like no where else
Show you the things you never felt
Oh oh let me love you.

Oh I want to taste your kiss
Be the reason for your smile
Touch the magic on your skin
Be the one that drives you wild.

Oh if you could read my mind
You'd know you're everything I need
You'd see yourself through my eyes
You may understand what I'm going through
Just how much I want you.

Show me what its like to lose control
Free the desire in your soul
Oh oh let me love you.

Let me take you to a place like no where else
Show you the things you never felt
Oh oh let me love you.

Let me love you.
Let me love you!

Show you what its like to lose control
Free the desire in your soul
Oh oh let me love you.

Let me take you to a place like no where else
Show you the things you never felt
Oh oh let me love you.

Oh I love you.

Show you what its like to lose control
Free the desire in your soul
Oh oh let me love you.

Yeah baby.

Let me take you to a place like no where else
Show you the things you never felt
Oh oh let me love you.

Let me love you.
Let me love you.
Let me love you.
Let me love you.

Okay, so I went and saw Superman Returns this past weekend.  It was really well done, I enjoyed it immensely.  I was talking to this man outside the theatre while we were waiting to get in, and he showed me a newspaper article from some paper I can't remember.  It was absolutely hilarious, and I wanted to share because it made me laugh a LOT.

Apparently, the studio executives were not very happy with a specific element the new Superman film.  Nope, you guessed wrong, they aren't worried about the production quality... they're worried about the size of Brandon Routh's bulge.  Evidently, the new Man of Steel is so well endowed, the costume department had to fit the red underwear in the costume with a special piece for the movie.  The execs were worried that his bulge was going to become a distraction.  According to the article, "It was a major issue for the studio.  Brandon is extremely well endowed and they don't want it up on the big screen."

The article then went on to discribe how, after the first screening, a large number parents in the audience complained about the bulge.  They had to REDUCE THE SIZE OF THE BULGE WITH DIGITAL EFFECTS.

For those keeping track, this is just about the biggest compliment a man can recieve.  "I'm sorry, but you're just too big for the big screen.  We're going to have to make you smaller."

How good must life be for Brandon Routh right now? I can just see him in a club hitting on some woman: "Yeah baby... they had to hire another special effects company to REDUCE the size of Mr. Krypton if you know what I mean".  Hilarious.

I don't know how many of you that read this knew a woman at Hope named Darcy Quick, but she was a friend of mine.  We weren't close, but I knew her and respected her.  Darcy is the Hope College graduate that was in the news recently who was lost on Mount Rainier this past weekend.  Her body was just recently found, and it seems that she simply slipped and fell.  This is pretty gut wrenching, and I just wanted to post the Chicago Tribune article that describes the events, for anyone who hadn't heard and still knew her.


"There are no certainties in life, no promises that we all get to live out our lives full of years."  Truer words were never spoken.

I just saw the most incredible movie I have seen in years: V for Vendetta. It's one of those movies that is so good, I can't sleep, and I can't stop thinking about it. If you haven't seen this movie, go see it immediately. I'd write a bunch of stuff about what makes this so amazing, but I just have to take the time to work it out in my head. Amazing. Simply amazing.

This is hilarious, thanks for the idea, Chrysti. Go to Google, and type in "[Your name] is" and write down the best responses you get. Make sure you use the quation marks. Learn all sorts of things about yourself! I tried just doing Chris, but I got about 80,000 responses of "Chris is gone!" referring to American Idol, so I decided to go this route.

Christopher is a pseudonym for Samuel Youd
Christopher is looking a bit grey
Christopher is a member of the Church of Scientology (not for all the tea in China)
Christopher is dating actress Laura Prepon of That 70's Show
Christopher is a saint venerated by Eastern Catholics
Christopher is sometimes represented with the head of a dog
Christopher is right
Christopher is not right
Christopher is traveling for the rest of the week
Christopher is chairman of the National Security Subcommittee of the Government
Christopher is a man whose talent is marked by intellectual power
Christopher is a very rare and special person
Christopher is of mixed heritage (Asian-American)
Christopher is a newly refurbished boutique hotel
Christopher is also a world class fly fishing and casting champion
Christopher is the literary equivalent of sparkling banter
Christopher is impetuous and trigger-happy
Christopher is the Tony Robbins of Internet Marketing

Interesting, huh? Learned all sorts of new things about myself... Like apparently I'm a nutbar that belongs to ridiculous church.

Anna Quindlen commonly writes "The Last Word" op-ed piece for Newsweek, and while I don't always agree with her, she is so insightful that I have to respect and appreciate what she has to say. This was such a good piece, I had to post it. Hopefully I'm not breaking any copyright laws, 'cause I got it for free on the internet.


In other news, there was a massive rainstorm last night in AA, and I got home right before it started.  I made my dinner, stuck it in the oven, and then went for a run.  That's right, I ran through a rainstorm, and it was freaking awesome.  There just something about being in the middle of that kind of energy and force that is just awe-inspiring to me.  My song of late has been Natasha Bedingfield's "Unwritten" which was running through my head the whole time.  I've included the chorus below, maybe you'll understand why.

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten

In other news, my refridgerator finally got fixed.  It only took months and my mother coming over to AA to sit in my condo all morning waiting for the repairman to come.  Turns out that the reason it was so loud was that some plastic piece was bent, and vibrating against metal in the back of the fridge.  The whole thing took approximately 5 minutes.  I'm happy and bitter all at the same time.  At least it's fixed, that's what I tell myself.  Anyway, it's a relaxing Friday at work, and with any luck, I'll head home a little early and pack up to go to Holland in the morning.  Relaxing Friday, that's all anyone can ask for.  :)

Here's something thought provoking -

The next time you hear a politician use the word "billion" in a casual manner, think about whether you want the "politicians" spending your tax money.

A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into some perspective in one of its releases.

a. A billion seconds ago it was 1959.

b. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.

c. A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.

d. A billion days ago no one walked on the earth on two feet.

e. A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the rate our government is spending it.

While this thought is still fresh in our brain, let's take a look at New Orleans - It's amazing what you can learn with some simple division. Louisiana Democrat Senator, Mary Landrieu, asked Congress for $250 BILLION to rebuild New Orleans.

Interesting number, what does it mean?

Well, if you are one of 484,674 residents of New Orleans (every man, woman, child), you each get $516,528.00.

Or, if you have one of the 188,251 homes in New Orleans, your home gets $1,329,787.00
Or, if you are a family of four, your family gets $2,066,012.00.

Obviously, a lot of this money goes into things like clearing streets and building an infrastructure again, but I still thought these numbers were interesting.

Apparently, I would rather do this than do work today.

I just saw a trailer for a movie this morning on the Today show. It's about a MAGICAL MAILBOX THAT SENDS LETTERS BACK AND FORTH IN TIME, CAUSING SANDRA AND KEANU TO FALL IN LOVE. I think that deserved all-caps, don’t you? What the crap...

What is it about a really good movie that can force you to stop and re-examine yourself and your life? How is it that a film made before we even knew ourselves can speak so clearly to parts of our souls that we never knew existed? Maybe I’m alone on this one, but there are just some movies that make me stop in my tracks and acknowledge some belief or hope or desire that I never knew I had. I think this is the real reason certain movies become classics. There are a ton of movies out there that I love and enjoy but that I get nothing out of except 2 hours of entertainment. (Josie and the Pussycats being a great example. Hilarious movie, not so much on the take-home message.) But there are some that I see and days later I’m still thinking about it. They turn into these thorns in my brain (painful sounding, but reasonable analogy) that I just can’t seem to get rid of.

Books do it to me as well. I can always tell a good book by how sad I am that it is over. When I get to the end of these books, my mind starts racing with questions that were unanswered in the pages. The characters in these stories become a part of me, and I start projecting myself into the story, taking things personally, feeling the emotions with the players. As one of my friends here would say, I begin to live vicariously through the characters. Maybe it’s just a storyline that deeply relate to, seeing myself in a lot of the different characters. Maybe I’m just nuts. It’s possible.

The West Wing ended last night. I’m in a fragile emotional state at the moment. Sue me.

I should really be working right now, but I’m incredibly distracted and not feeling very good. Physically, not emotionally. I feel a little ill, but I’m going to try to fight through it. A friend of mine defends her thesis today, and I’d like to see her do it this afternoon.

I have finished my first year of graduate school. Wow. First off, I can't believe that it's the last week of April and classes are over. Most other places have another 3 weeks or so before they finish up, but here at UM, we don't believe in taking that long. The last day of classes was mid-April, and so we've finished exams. It's a big relief, I have to say. It's nice to be a little relaxed now.

All of us first years have until May 1st to relax before we have to begin reporting for summer research session, so most of us are hanging out recovering from this crazy semester. And this has been a crazy semester. Holy cow. The ridiculousness of this past semester makes up for the cake walk I had this past fall. But enough of that. Actually, what's irritating me at the moment is that we STILL don't have our lab assignments. We were supposed to get these things a week ago, but we can't start until we are officially accepted. Which is why we all are waiting until May 1st to begin. Grrrr. I hate departmental politics.

At the moment, I am sitting in my parents house, taking care of the cat while they are going to some conference in Kansas City that I don't really care to know that much about. I'm here using their electricity and eating their food. It's a good life. Okay, I'm going to get back to what I was doing.

This past Thursday was my golden birthday. I turned 23 on March 23rd. Thanks to everyone who sent cards and emails and called. I appreciated it a lot. :)

I'm glad my birthday was this past week, because the week was less than a highlight. I got back two tests, both of which I unceremoniously BOMBED, and I sprained my right hand. That's right, I sprained my freaking hand. I have discovered that having your thumb braced into a specific position on the hand you write with has got to be in the top ten most inconvenient things in the world. All of this happened before Wednesday. So, Thursday, I taught and then went to class, and headed home. I was going to go see a movie, but in the end I called up a friend and we went to a bar in Detroit. It was actually fun, but let's just say it was a late night. The one highlight of my week.

After that, I spent Friday night and Saturday afternoon with my parents, which was nice, considering that I haven't seen them since Christmas. Life gets busy, I guess. It's interesting, but the more I visit them there, the more it becomes clear to me that I don't live there anymore. I know that sounds stupid, but when I go back there, I don't have any stuff there, and I stay in the guest room. I guess this is the fact of growing up. My home is in Ann Arbor, and my parents live in the house I grew up in. When I go there, it's a visit, not a homecoming. Small difference, but it's still a new thing to wrap my mind around, you know? It's still nice to see them, don't get me wrong. Okay, I'm rambling. Moving on...

Saturday night was a prospective student visit weekend for UM. I helped some other grad students pick up the prospectives at the hotel and walked them over to the restaurant. We had dinner and then went to a bar for the evening. I actually went with a smaller group to get ice cream and coffee and to sit and talk. There was a guy there who wanted to talk to me about my lab, so I said I got with them to talk. It ended up being a really good time, we just talked about a ton of different things. More than wanting to know about Michigan, they really wanted to know how we made our decisions. I think it was pretty refreshing for them to hear someone talk about making the best possible decision for them, not just "Come to Michigan! Come to Michigan!!!" At least, that's what they told us.

Today was low key. Worked on some homework, graded some papers. Now I'm watching Grey's Anatomy, and then going to bed. Wish I had something more interesting to report, but that's really it. Cheers!

... extracurriculars seem to follow me.

Funny story: Wednesday night was our first ever meeting of the condominium association that my condo place has. Our real business of the evening was to formally hand over control of the condo complex from the developer to the board of directors. To do that, we had to appoint a board. The developer guys was droning on and on and ON and it was about totally unrelated crap that I didn't care about. So I went to the bathroom to splash come cold water on my face and stay awake. By the time I got back (less than 3 minutes later) the nominations from the floor were just finishing up. So I voted for the 4 people who were interested who were present. When the votes were all counted and they announced the board, I was one of the names announced. I was totally thrown and confused. It turns out that none of the people who were on the ballot showed up to the meeting and I got nominated from the floor while I was in the bathroom. No one else was willing to do it, so I said I would. It just better not be very much of a committment or I'm resigning. It's flattering to be wanted, but I barely have time to update my LJ. One of the biggest lessons I've learned in the last year is to say no (be proud of me DeBo) and I hope I won't have to exercise that.

And now, I'm going to go try to catch up on Monday night's sleep. Don't even ask me about the sleep I missed last night...

I'm bored, so I'm posting this.

Your Gemstone is Amber

Creative, happy, and logical. You shine in any intellectual endeavor

Well all, I hope you had an enjoyable break. Mine was nice. It was good to get away from the irritation and stress of grad school for a little while. Although my last few days seem to have made up for all that relaxation that occured. Since I have a spare hour, sitting here waiting for my class to start at 2, I'll tell you about it.

First off, I'm sick. I'll grant, I'm light-years better than my parents are, but still, it's annoying. My parents have come down with this Martian Death Flu, and I'm just clearing my throat a lot, but I can deal with that. At least I'm not kept awake at night from coughing fits. I went to the doctor, just to try and nip this in the bud early on, maybe reduce the severeness that I thought was coming, and he told me to gargle with some foul tasting thing he perscribed and to take Advil. For this he went to medical school. Sigh.

In other news, Wednesday night I recieved an email from the chair of the chem department informing us first-years that one of my classes had been cancelled. No warning or explanation (other than scheduling conflicts) or anything. Just cancelled. I was pretty irate, because this means I have to take a different analytical chem class that I really wasn't to keen on. We had our first lecture today, and while the prof seems like a nice guy that I would get along with, I'm still bitter that this other class got cancelled. Supposedly it'll be offered in the fall, but I'm not sure I'll be willing to risk it then. What if it gets cancelled again? No, I'm just taking a different chem class and then all my chem classes are out of the way this fall. All I'll have to take are 2 cognate courses, which shouldn't be too bad (I hope). You know, I kinda hoped that once I got into grad school, classes would just fall my way and everything would be easier. I never expected to have to compete for a spot in a course. It's just stupid, but like always, I'll suck it up and deal with it.\

Hmmm, let's see... Yep, that's really all the interesting stuff I have going on in my life. Wish I had more to say, but that's really it. I hope all is well wherever you are. Cheers!

As of this morning at 11:29 AM Eastern Standard Time I am completely done with my first semester of graduate school.

Thank God.

It's been a rough few weeks, I have to say. Especially this last couple days. My exam today was over material for a class that basically ended 3 weeks ago, so the materials is stuff I haven't thought about in weeks. It took a lot more studying that I expected to remember what the crap the lectures were about. I've also come to realize that my note-taking ability is not quite up to where it really should be. I seem to have reverted to writing in this shorthanded code that I developed in high school, and it's been so long since I used it I don't really remember it, which is a problem when you're writing equations. It took me a whole day just to understand the notes I'd written in the margin. The test was also a lot harder than I expected. But I'm done thinking about it. It's done and over and I'm happy.

I spent the afternoon having lunch with my analytical chem friends at this great Chinese place, and then shopping for Christmas presents with friends. It was fun. Kate and Anna are awesome people, and I like spending time with them. It's amazing how close my circle of friends has gotten in a few months. I am so glad I came to Michigan. I can't imagine being anywhere else.

Okay, I have to go take a nap. Laura and I were going to work out for a while, but she hasn't called me back , so poop on her. I only got 4 hours of sleep last night, so I'm going to go to sleep. Merry Christmas everybody!!!

Great idea Justin! I needed yet another way to avoid doing the work I should be doing right now. Right on!!!

Go to your Calendar and find the first entry for each month of 2005. Post the first line of it in your journal, and that's your "Year In Review".

Here's mine:

January: Well, I'd like to tell everyone who isn't aware that funerals totally suck.

February: Okay, I know it's been a while, but this was just too good not to share with the world.

March: Welp y'all, it's official: I'm now 22 years old. And I'm not gonna lie, I feel freaking old.

April: **This month must not have occured as I did not post during this month at all.**

May: My life has fundamentally and irrevocably changed: I have graduated college.

June: Lazy summer days.

July: **This month must not have occured as I did not post during this month at all.**

August: I'm spending my last few days at home, and soon will be heading off to Ann Arbor permanently.

September: Today was the first day of classes for us wolverines here at the University of Michigan.

October: I'm finally getting paid back for all the freetime, all of the easy ride that I've been enjoying for the last month and a half at grad school.

November: Well, this has been an interesting few weeks.

December: It's funny, I actually did give a homeless guy change last Monday.


I remember not posting at all for these long stretches of time, but I didn't realized I'd gone a whole month. Twice. I guess I'm a slacker or something. (As evidenced by the fact that I'm sitting here doing this rather than actually doing my work.)

Tomorrow is the last day of classes for the campus, but I only teach tomorrow, so today was really my last day. It was pretty stupidly easy, so that's good, but I've got a lot to do tonight. I've got to finish a homework assignment today as well as grade my lab reports for my students. It doesn't sound like much, but it's a lot. I'm looking forward to being done teaching for a while. I'm beginning to understand now why all my friends in education say that the first year is the hardest. I feel like I'll be a much more effective teacher next year now that I know how everything works. Anyway, Christmas break is looking mighty fine right about now.

Oh, I went and saw the new Chronicles of Narnia movie. HOLY CRAP. I was completely and utterly blown away. Seriously, I think I've found my new favorite movie. I can't even remember the last time I was so moved. AMAZING.

Okay, back to work.

Dear Santa... Dear Santa, This year I've been busy! In October I donated bone marrow to knottyamc in a life-saving procedure (300 points). Last Friday I committed genocide... Sorry about that, hopecronkite (-5000 points). Last Monday I gave change to a homeless guy (19 points). Last Saturday I gave twizzlers888 a kidney (1000 points). In June I pulled dimundangel's hair (-5 points). Overall, I've been naughty (-3686 points). For Christmas I deserve a lump of coal! Sincerely, avery2383

Write your letter to Santa! Enter your LJ username:

It's funny, I actually did give a homeless guy change last Monday. Ann Marie, you better appreciate the bone marrow. ;)

Okay, so I'm standing at the bus stop in front of my apartment this morning waiting for the bus. I'm taking a later bus because I happen to not have to teach today, and I happen to be out there a minute or two earlier than I normally am. Of course, this unusual confluence of events conspires to pull a fast one on me. This red sedan pulls up with their window down (I'm thinking they're gonna ask for directions) and I hear "Chris?" Of all the people that it could be, it turns out to Paul Hayes, a classmate of mine at Hope. Not someone I was every really close to, but an acquaintance nonetheless. We never really agreed on much, but we were always respectful to one another. He offered to drive me in to campus, and I agreed. It was all of a 7 minute car ride, and we ran out of things to talk about. I told him about grad school, he told me about the exam he was in town to take, and then there was this silence. Yeah, that was about it. It was pretty strange. Such a totally random way to start off my day.

Switching topics now, I have decided that students cannot listen at 8:10am. I told my morning class at least 6 times that we did not have class today because of the Thanksgiving holiday, and I still recieved about 10 emails asking if we had class. By the last one, I have to admit, I was a little snotty. Don't get me wrong, I totally understand about forgetting things over break, I'm just a little confused how someone could ever forget that class has been cancelled. I always planned stuff into those times, like sleep or homework. Well, not as a freshman, but still... Okay, anyway, moving on.

It's pretty nice that I don't teach today, because I have a lot to accomplish between now and this weekend. I'm heading over to Holland this Saturday to see my sister get ordained, and I've got a lot to get done before then. My students are turning in a long lab report today at noon, and I have free time from 1-4pm today to get as many of them graded as possible, because I also have a homework assignment and a second presentation to build this week (I already finished building my first one, a fact that my classmates hate me for). I've also got virtually all of Thursday free, so that'll be nice. Hopefully I can accomplish a lot and get everything taken care of before Friday, so I can just enjoy the weekend and be there for Amy.

Okay, I'll get back to work now. Enough wasting time on LJ!

Okay, this is hysterical. I bet Bush wishes he could get away with doing this... http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/11/21/thai.pm.ap/index.html

So I'm sitting here in a computer lab updating this instead of studying for the test I have in less than an hour because I am just sick to death of studying this crap. I was supposed to have this test something like 3 weeks ago, and it's been postponed and postponed and postponed to the point where I can't remember this junk anymore. So preparing for it has become irriating and exhausting, and I'm looking forward to having it be done. Honestly, I'm saturated, so I think I might be doing myself a favor and taking a break before going in there and bombing this test. Woot. I can rationalize anything.

This next month is going to be more challenging than I would like. I've got two assignments I have to get done by Wednesday afternoon because it's due the Monday after Thanksgiving break and I need a special program that's only on the computers here to do it. Then I have 2 presentations to begin building over the break that I give the first week of December. I'm losing the weekend right before to work on it because I'll be in Holland seeing my sister get ordained, so I have finish those during the week. After that, I have two finals: one test and one group presentation. Plus, throw in there two or three more homework assignments. What'll be much more annoying is grading the final exam for my kids. Funny, when write it out like that it doesn't seem so bad. But trust me, that's a lot. I still have trouble whining about it too much, but I'm quickly working through that self-inflicted guilt.

I can't believe that I'm roughly one month away from finishing my first semester of graduate school. It seems like I just graduated Hope a little bit ago. But it was actually more than six months ago! Wow, life is passing quickly. I guess that's a good thing; it means that I'm having fun here and will finish pretty quickly. I just feel like right with I'm getting to the part of my life that I really like, it's speeding up and out of my control. Middle school sucked and dragged by, but ever since I got into high school, my life has been accelerating. High school seems like a lifetime ago, and college seems like it only took a few days. Now, I blink and it's a month later.

I only get philosophical when I'm tired, so I apologize for bad grammar and strange sentence structure.

Okay, I'm going to go read the headlines on CNN.com, and then get back to studying. With any luck, I'll rock this test and be set. Cheers!