If I go to one more birthday party I'm going to need a wheel barrow and a dedicated manservant

The past couple weeks have been filled with great socializing and lots and lots of food. It's been great, but if I keep up at this rate I'm going to weigh 500 lbs before the semester is over.

Last weekend was Sara's birthday. Our group of about 17 people had dinner at Casa Margarita. With such a big group it took a long time to get our food so I, along with the people sitting near me, ate the sinful chips placed, and replaced and thankfully not rereplaced, in front of us. When our main courses arrived we were basically full, but we did our best. We drove back to campus, had cake that Jessica baked and watched Hercules-like mature college students. Everyone sang along and it was great fun. However, the best part had to be the music video we found in the special features for No Importa la Distancia. All I'll say is burning boulders, lightening, and Ricky Martin taking himself way too seriously and I'll let it speak for its self if you dare: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9EhiqPInfI. It was a good night.

This weekend was Janna's birthday. Last night/Friday the gang, about ten of us, went to a steak house in (it was too remote for me to remember the name) Iowa. It was the real deal. We picked our own raw cuts of steak or chicken (except for Leah who picked her own serving of vegetables) and got to grill them ourselves. Personally, I like my steaks medium rare and I managed to grill a perfectly medium rare 12oz rib eye. After all of us were filled to busting Janna and Zach decided to add to our gluttony with a ridiculous dessert. At first it just seemed like sub-par ice cream with Hershey sauce...and then I saw the Brownie. Suddenly I was hungry enough for dessert.

On the way to the steak place we had listened to-I really should not admit this-Miley Cy*shiver*. On the way back, we redeemed ourselves by listening to boybands, Britney Spears, and a little Christina from the 90s. We belted our little hearts out to the sweet sounds of our childhood.



Today/Saturday was part two of Janna's birthday. Jessica and Elyse thought it was a good idea (at the time) to plan a surprise birthday party at a bowling alley (Totem Alley) in Marshall town. The problem-they wanted it to be a kids party. I drove Steph, Ben, and Hannah to the alley Saturday afternoon. Jessica and Elyse got there first and when we saw them they were having serious doubts-they had seen the party room. Eventually Janna's car arrived-she was not driving because she had been blindfolded the entire way. She was quite amused with the reveal. We went into the alley and saw the party room. Um. On the completely white wall, except for color paint splatters, were a couple wrapped empty birthday boxes and on one of the tables was the amazing bowling ball and pin shaped cake Sara had baked. There was also a thrown for the birthday girl. It kind of reminded me of a Dexter kill room.

The first game, I was amazingly not horrible (I am usually an awful bowler). The second game...did not go so well. It's alright though because I was doing it on purpose-you know-to raise the others' self esteem. While bowling, we ate a surprisingly good pizza and signed a souvenir bowling pin Janna got as part of the party. A rivalry b/w Sara and Elyse broke out and actually improved their game. The end of the second game was quite epic. It was the last frame and Sara was a little behind Elyse. All she needed was a spare and then to hit at least one pin. Sara hit no pins the first throw and then a spare. All of us were on the edge of our seats when Sara threw the last ball and got a-strike! It was amazing.

We retired to the birthday room and ate (way too much) cake. We decided we should try to eat real food when we got back to Grinnell. We ate at the dining hall and then went to the campus luau on Mac field. Part of the group played croquette and the rest of us played badminton (to the sounds of The Final Countdown). The luau people reclaimed their sports equipment when it got dark and we retired to Younker second for the best game ever. It was a mix of Pictionary and telephone; It's too hard to explain here, so I'll show some examples in another post. I haven't laughed so hard in a loooong time. We played about eight rounds of that. Then, Elyse Jessica and I reenacted Janna's birth (don't ask) and Janna opened her presents. By that time it was about 11pm and we were all exhausted-what, college students are supposed to like staying up late? I went back to Dibble and fell asleep with a smile on my face.

Next week I will be attending Octoberfest. There was talk of a bratwurst eating contest so maybe I should start putting up fliers:

Man(or woman)servant wanted. Must have own wheelbarrow and be able to push and pull at least 500 lbs.

Uno, S'mores, and Murdered Vegans

Two weekends ago I went camping with my adopted group of friends (meaning the group of seniors I wormed my way into). Each of them are very friendly and funny in their own unique way. After sitting at their table at lunch for a couple of weeks I started becoming involved in their weekend plans (since camping I have gone to 2.5 birthday parties and on October 2nd we'll go to Octoberfest!...in Iowa.) Now, I am not what you would call an experienced camper. My Girl Scout troop was not the rough-it-in-the-woods kind of group (more like rough-it-in-the-air-conditioned-cabin) and, while I appreciate nature, I usually don't feel the need to sleep in it. I knew, however, that camping with this group would be a lot of fun and so I bit the bullet, with an open mind.

Jessica (hilarious extrovert) and Sara (a great baker) went to Rock Creek State Park on Friday afternoon and stayed that night. When I arrived on Saturday afternoon (around 3pm), two more people had arrived: Elyse (was in my Environmental History of Food class with me) and Leah (quiet, but quirky). Jessica, Elyse, Sara and Leah were playing the most intense game of Uno I have ever witnessed. The game had apparently been going on for at least an hour and there was tense competition between Elyse and Leah: Leah kept skipping Elyse's turn and Elyse kept making surprisingly believable death threats at Leah. AND by the time I arrived, an alliance had already been formed and broken between Jessica and Elyse. Finally someone won first place and they started going for second until they realized that they now hated Uno.

A little while later Janna and Zach (girlfriend and boyfriend) and Ben (Stephanie's boyfriend) arrived and the group was complete. We hate hotdogs and many many many s'mores. After it got darkish we sat around the campfire. Jessica and Sara told a ghost story they had made up the previous night. Some short background: the group likes to tease Leah who is sort of small and a vegan. The story was about a group of college students camping at Creek Rock Park. They hear a story, from an old man, about a ghost who only kills vegans because his wife was killed by a vegan. The next day the college students find the smallest member of their group, who is a vegan, murdered with a hot dog stuck in her mouth.

By this point we had eaten and told ghost stories and it was dark. It kind of felt like it was time for bed and so someone asked for the time. It was like 8:20 pm. To fill up more time we discussed Disney movies, princess and princes. We also sang some "campfire" songs; Sara sang songs from her church camp and Elyse and I did a wonderful rendition of 'There's a hole in my bucket dear Liza'.

Eventually the time came to sleep. Zach and Janna slept outside (I cannot begin to imagine how uncomfortable that was-but I'm getting ahead of myself). Ben slept in Jessica's car. Leah and I slept in a tent and the others slept in another tent. When I was packing for the trip I thought we were going to have sleeping bags (we didn't, just blankets) so I didn't pack the amount of layers I really should have because it turned out to be very very cold that night. By the time 8am rolled around I had maybe about three hours of sleep. I packed up my things and was the first to leave the camp because, when I woke up, my goosebumps looked like gooseroadblocks. I was also still recovering from my cold and if I was going to do any of the massive reading I had for that weekend I needed to sleep under the warmth of my comforter.

After making sure to leave before I froze to death, I decided the best ending to the camping trip would be an egg McMuffin. After ordering and paying I went up to the second window to pick up my food. After handing me my fat and calories the woman working there said:

"It's a bit cooler this morning, isn't it?"

Grinnell: Navigating the Social Landscape

So, here I am, first semester of my third year at Grinnell College (no, not Cornell) in Iowa. Yep it's almost the end of my second full week and I am already sick. Not with Swine Flu, which has thus far managed not to enter Grinnell although it's really only a matter of time. Because I'm sick and don't feel like doing homework, and Thursday is one of my only free nights I thought I would take this opportunity to reflect on my experiences thus far. Also because I'm sick, and less than coherent (which I demonstrated quite well in my NGO seminar today) this post will probably have little to no logical order.

Before I get into the real meat of things I'll tell a little story. It's my first class of the semester-Soc Methods @ 10am. We are asked to split into pairs to look at something online. I was at a computer so a girl moved next to me and introduced herself. Her name...Emily. Yep. Emily is also in my sociology seminar.

My classes

Methods is with my intro soc professor. His name is David, well I'm sure that's what I called him my first year. The same day I met socEmily, David introduces himself as David (think Dahveed). Yeah, I'm pretty sure I've pronounced his name wrong basically forever. Oh well.

Environmental and Resource Economics. I think the prof, Montgomery, gets off on being perceived as evil. He made a little intro slide show of criticisms of economics' role in environmental politics, and taking on the voice of the critics, he called himself an evil, heartless fascist. He has repeated this sentiment several times. This class so far has made me rethink some things; I've started taking a more objective view about the environment and what should and should not be done to protect it. I also learned that a human life is worth between 3 and 5 million dollars. Shattering the myth that life is priceless...well: priceless.

Politics of Russia. What can I say, I like Russia. Right now we're learning about the Soviet Union, a lot of which I already covered in my WWII on the Eastern Front class. I still like learning about it (especially Stalin-I love Stalin-not the killing though, that was bad-I just think he was pretty smart-Also Hitler has nothing on Stalin in the evil department) and also my background helps me make comments in class. If only that translated to my other classes.

Sociology Seminar-NGOs: Organizing to do Good. My seminar and I are not on great terms right now. I had to write a reading memo yesterday about a chapter in a book we're reading (Frumkin's On Being Nonprofit). I did not feel so great when I was writing it-my head was a party of congestion, grogginess and general disarray-and so I don't think it was very good. I also didn't absorb the info very well. So today, when I was asked to comment on my writing, I blanked and stuttered my way through a noncoherent and partially incomplete response until another classmate mercifully took the reigns. It's my smallest class and is filled with smart (mostly) seniors who have a lot of insightful things to say. Also, participation is worth 20% of my grade and the prof is my adviser. I swear, on this blog, that I will try really hard and improve myself-once I'm healthy.

Now, to address the title of this post. During my last two semesters at Grinnell I roomed with Perri and we became very close-basically inseparable. While I value our friendship a lot, it might have limited me socially (in the way that I felt so comfortable with Perri that I didn't feel the need to socialize beyond that-not to mention my general shyness and awkwardness). Well, this semester Perri is studying abroad in Denmark, so I knew that I had to make an effort if I didn't want to hang out only with myself. After some work and some luck I've managed to work out a pretty solid-though not perfect-social system.

Last semester I occasionally ate with Perri, our friend Steph (now a senior and my next door neighbor by a great twist of fate) and Steph's group (also seniors). I was really on the utmost periphery of the group. This semester I've managed to break in further. I eat lunch with them basically everyday and I go to their baking Tuesday (one of the girls, Sarah, is really good at baking). For dinner, I usually eat with my friend Seido, Caroline and their group of friends. I also attend anime club Friday nights; Siedo is the leader. The club has addicted my to Samurai Champloo, an anime with sword fighting and hip hop music. I also work Sunday and Wednesday nights (I like and talk to all of my co-custodians) and I have Community Chorus on Monday nights. The only real hole in my social schedule is Saturday nights. The hole will at least be filled this Saturday as I am going camping with Steph's friends. And that will probably be my next post, so bye for now.

My Forefather

Well, I finally watched the first episode of the 1960's anime: Gigantor! I thought, since it is basically the title of my blog, I should share my thoughts on the episode. Though, nothing I say could really do it justice.

1) I could listen to the Gigantor theme song all day. "Bigger than big, Taller than tall, Quicker than quick, Stronger than Strong. Ready to fight for right against wrong! Gigantor! Gigantor! Gigantor!"

2) I giggle every single time anyone mentions the name Gigantor. It's like they're speaking right to me!

3) The villain's name for the first episode...Dr. Katzmeow. His evil deed of the episode...Dr. Katzmeow has taken over Antarctica! (whales, icebergs, and all)

4) When Jimmy controls Gigantor with his control stick. (you'd just have to see for yourself)

5) All of the good guys' Antarctica outfits.

6) Penguins with guns built into them.

7) The randomness of it all-both the plot and dialogue. "The air down here is so cold it even turns tea to ice cubes!"

8) One of the bad guys, who clearly has a Russian accent, says- "I am from Europe." Yeah, sure, that's specific. Also, all of the other bad guys seem to speak with a German accent. And the good guys who aren't American... French accents.

9) Unlike Batman, Gigantor doesn't seem to have any problems killing a lot of people...a lot.

10) My only real complaint is that Gigantor doesn't speak. I'm thinking something along the lines of the Hulk would be good.

Gigantor- "Gigantor needs get new agent. This show ridiculous"

Colored Collages

When I was in San Antonio I went to a brunch in a small cafe/specialty pancake restaurant. There were works of customer made art around the walls. Someone had done a series of collages that formed a rainbow. I thought it was a cool idea, but instead of paying 80 or so dollars, I decided I could do it myself. So I did. I'd say some are more successful than others, but I had fun and it should make good dorm room art.

Super Duper Montana Continued

Day Seven (Thursday)

Emily went to work at noon (til 10pm yeesh) and I drove Sarah to the Bozeman Airport. More surprisingly, I didn't get lost on the way back. I then did a little shopping at the Old Navy Emily works at (sans Emily) and then I went to the mall and shopped at...JC Penny's! Yes the same JC Penny's that has gone out of business in Arlington! Ok maybe I'm trying to make this sound a little bit more exciting than it actually was. I did buy some awesome comic book shirts though.

At five I third wheeled with Mary and Tony. We went to a most excellent pizza place-Old Chicago. Then we headed over to music on Main-a live music event held during the summer. Right over the stage were intense rain clouds (everything around the concert's location was blue and bright). At about 6:35 it started raining buckets and we all had to run for cover. Fortunately, the rain stopped right at 7:00, the concert's start time. Wasn't a huge fan of the music-too country-and it was cold and I was tired (complain!), so Mary and Tony drove me home; they also had plans after the concert which would have been awkward for me to be a part of.

While waiting for the rain to stop and the concert to begin I saw this poor soul. This recession has hit everyone really hard-Even Santa.

At about 11pm, Em returned home. Trevor called saying he was hungry, so the three of us embarked on what would turn out to be one of the most bizarre car rides of my life. First, I heard a whole argument between Em and Trev which seemed to be contained in twenty minutes. They said things that made the other mad, they sincerely apologized, all the while switching between laughing and shouting. It was not the kind of passive aggressive fights I'm used to. After Trev scared the person working at one Wendy's we had to go to another. We chilled out in the parking lot eating and listening to Legally Blond, which Trevor sang enthusiastically to. Finally, we stopped in a pretty abandoned parking lot and had a dance party in the headlights of Trev's car. Good night.

Day Eight (Friday)

Em made breakfast for me and Lois. Em and I watched an amazing spoof music video on YouTube which I'll put a plug in for right now- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGRfDv7wLUc. I wrote on this here blog while the annoying plop sound of Em's Facebook chatting radiated from next to me; we both showed off our maturity by chatting online (quite annoyingly) even though we were less than a foot away.

Em left for work and I tried to watch a soap, but Obama was in Bozeman on Friday and his speech interrupted regular programing. I hate it when insignificant things like the president get in the way of my television watching! I went upstairs and watched a massive hail storm from the guest bedroom window. I had never been in such a big hail storm before. It sounded like gum balls were descending on the earth, but the hail was only about the size of those circular, almost metallic, sprinkles I used to put on ice cream. Then, I almost had a heart attack when I saw a spider the size of a big grasshoppers climb on the outside of the window. I guess it didn't like being pelted.

When Emily returned from work we decided to borrow a movie from Trevor. He actually had a date with Mary (Em's sister) planned for that night. Yes, Trev is Emily's friend, but when he came for dinner on Wednesday Mary saw something that she liked. The whole situation seemed pretty awkward to me and Em and I had a lot of fun talking about it. Anyway, Trev's roommate was getting ready to throw a party, so Em and I hung out a little bit at Trev's, listening to music. I also tried hookah for the first time-something my high school friends wanted me to try for a long time. After hanging, I recommended "Goodwill Hunting" to Em. We went to the mall briefly, so I could try my luck at Victoria's Secret (Surprise! No luck). Then, we went home, ordered pizza and watched Goodwill Hunting with Em's mom. It was even better than I remembered it-good movie-good night-good visit. Wait what?

Day Nine (Saturday) The final day :(

So, it was time for me to leave the wonderful land of Montana and Emily's wonderful company. She drove me to Billings Airport while I played 'The Full Monty' for her-one of my favorite musicals. Em was especially a fan of 'Big Ass Rock'; Emily has good taste.

We said our heartfelt goodbyes at the airport and I reluctantly parted from Emily. My flights were uneventful and I was actually able to sleep on most of my flight from O'Hare to DC-a rarity for me.

So in summary, the whole trip was amazing, though I really wish I had more time between returning to A-Town and going to Grinnell. This trip also was great preparation for this next semester. With my closest friend and roommate studying abroad this semester, I'm going to need to make new friends. I was thrown into plenty of social situations and met a lot of new people and had a lot of fun doing so. I can think of nothing better for a shy person like me, than learning that talking to new people can be not scary and even fun. Let's see if I can carry this lesson with me to Grinnell.

Montana the beautiful

After my summer job fell through I needed to find a way to occupy my summer (this was before I found out about my San Antonio road trip), so I decided to see my most excellent ex roommate Emily Jane in her town of Bozeman Montana. Thought I would include the highlights since it would be impossible for me to describe all the amazingness.

Day One (Friday evening)

Friday was the amazing day of flying wet and making Emily waiting too long. On the car ride (back) to Bozeman, with Emily and her comic book fan/friend Kenny (who lent me Final Crisis), Emily talked about her friend Alex (a boy) who would come to stay for a couple days. When we arrived at her house and I saw this friend Alex, I turned to Emily and said "You could have told me that I know Alex." Alex is in my class at Grinnell.

Day Two (Saturday)

Emily had to work in the morning so Alex and I went to Main St. and watched a parade-well it was more like walking next to a parade. We took in all the amazing floats which were affiliated with various local businesses/groups. The only float we couldn't place was a giant duck float which kind of looked paper mached. Whenever its beak opened someone on a loud speaker said 'duck'!

We met Emily for lunch at an excellent burger place. Fox news was on a TV screen in the restaurant. They were covering the crash of an airplane and a helicopter nonstop (the accident had happened four hours earlier and they were still calling it breaking news). We made fun of the news coverage because they were really reaching for details at that point-a child was killed (Oh no! That's awful.) and the plane was filled with Italian tourists (Oh, that's OK then).

The parade was part of the bigger Bozeman Sweet Pea Festival (a music and arts festival). Emily, Alex and I went to the festival later that evening (after a hike up a mountain and a visit to Emily's church) to hear Afro-Cuban music. We danced for about five seven minute songs (I think I've found the one type of music I can almost successfully dance to). After dancing I met my first batch of Emily's friends. At one point all the leaders of the conversation went upstairs and the shy people down stairs (yes, that included me) joked about how socially awkward we are.

Day Three (Sunday)

Emily and I had to say goodbye to Alex around noon and, almost immediately after, Emily left for work (she has three jobs). I took a walk around two lakes with Em's mother and her sister Mary. Little did I know that I would return to the lakes much later that day for more fun.

In the evening Emily and I picked up two of her friends (Beth and Victor!) who were stranded in a parking lot. We were headed to a barbecue (at Beth's house) with more of Em's friends (this was my second batch of greetings, but it included two people from the previous night (Marilee and Trevor). On the way to Beth's apartment we experienced the greatest cosmic setup ever; we all saw...a chicken crossing a very busy road. Obviously the chicken crossed the road to avoid becoming roadside dinner.

The B-B-cue was fun and involved me playing Mario Party on Wii pretty poorly. Kenny showed up late and we discussed how Final Crisis makes no sense-stupid Grant Morrison you think you're so cool and trippy, but really you're just the jerk who killed Batman. The party broke up when a neighbor complained about the noise, but Em, Trevor, Merilee and I went to hang out on a grassy hill smack dab in the middle of the two lakes I walked around earlier.

Day Four (Monday)

Em's sis, Mary, had a friend (onagainoffagainonagainoffagain boyfriend) Tony visiting. While Em was at work in the morning (once again) I tagged along on a hike with Mary and Tony at a place called Hyalite. Let me just say that Montana is absolutely gorgeous. No matter where you are you are surrounded by mountains. The waterfalls at Hyalite were especially pretty.

In early evening I satisfied a Dairy Queen craving and Em and I went to a park. By this day I had been on two/three hikes. Em suggested we take a walk in the park. About ten minutes later I slowly realized 'wait a second, this is not a walk. This is a hike-you tricked me!'. We had a deep conversation about societal expectations and religion.

Em, Trevor, and I had a relaxing night watching The Queen at Trev's house. Trev ended up being the friend of Em I saw the most. He is quite a character, really nice and generally awesome.

Day Five (Tuesday)

Mmm, chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. Em's friend Victor came for a chat on the porch. He likes fishing and hunting and goes to a strict catholic school in Florida. Then, Em went to work, but Victor hung around and I talked with him, Tony and yet another one of Em's friends-Sarah. Sarah is a fellow sociology major (Anthropology double major). She's very religious, nice and has the distinction in her social group of never wanting children. Em and I had talked at the park about the basic expectation in Montana for a woman to get married, quit her job and have kids. Many of Sarah's friends insist she will change her mind, but I think Sarah is an example of a woman who is not afraid to admit what she wants, even if it goes against peer pressure and society expectations.

Tuesday night Em and I (Emigail) watched 'Step Up' with Lois (the baby of the family). She kept on getting angry at Emigail for making sarcastic comments at cliched scenes. Come on! How could I possibly watch 'Step Up' without snarking?

Day Six (Wednesday)

This was Em's only complete day off. We picked up Kenny (who has comic books, but no car) and went to a bagel place that really loves to slather on cream cheese. We decided to have a picnic at a place with water and went to Safeway to grab supplies. At one point we saw a watermelon and Emily asked if we wanted to get it. My question was; "Where would we get a knife to cut it". This put Kenny and Em over the edge and they basically laughed at me. Why? Because I had betrayed just what an East coaster I am. In Montana everyone carries a knife and has a gun in their car.

Trevor joined us for the picnic (and insisted on driving even though Em is by no means a bad driver). It was fun, except there was no sun to be seen anywhere. Em, Trev and Kenny all swam in the freezing cold water-I didn't have a bathing suit so I carried their clothes and was eaten alive by mosquitos (my bug bites itch at this very moment). When thunder and lighting appeared we returned to Em's house. Emily made two different types of cookies because the first batch wasn't perfect enough. Kenny and I took turns at the piano (Kenny is a music major and Trev has been playing piano for thirteen years, but I was the only one in the room who could actually read music). After I butchered some Phantom of the Opera on piano we decided to watch the actual movie, until we decided to play Super Smash Brothers (with Tony, Mary and Lois-Em's littlest sister)-I think Kenny had a lot of fun beating me (I was being a little annoyingly competitive). We (Kenny, me, Em, Trev, Mary, Lois) played Scattergories. My favorite part was when one of the items on the list was 'a four letter word' and we had rolled an F for that round. I got the point because I was the only one who really went there. We all had dinner, Kenny Em and I watched some YouTube (Tapiocaaaa!), then we called it a night.

...To be continued