Overwhelmed and preoccupied

I am in the midst of researching human sacrifice in the Andes for my religion and power class and could not be more unenthusiastic. There is a plethora of information, but so much so that I hardly knew where to begin a few hours ago. I now find myself periodically checking my email and more often my facebook account to see if anything exciting has changed since my last check. I am fortunate enough to now find myself sitting in the Greek and Latin Reading Room (my secret study paradise on the 4th floor of Memorial Library) enjoying the room to myself, finally. I have been through all the stacks, searched endlessly for books regarding my topic, and come up short. Most are in Spanish, which though I fancy myself conversational, is no good for a well-written research paper. I have gone so far as to do my Ovid homework (Latin translations) rather than continue researching this horrendously broad topic. I cannot help but feel like even after a semester of learning about pre-Columbian societies, I am starting from scratch. Whereas my knowledge of ancient Greece is admirable, what I have taken away from this course has been unfortunately little.

I have been thinking about Greece a lot lately. I recently finished a book, borrowed from Kelli (of Iklaina - the excavation I participated in this summer): And Only to Deceive (Tasha Alexander). It was a short read (necessary for me to have begun it, given the burden of this term paper!) and mentioned Greece several times. It barely delved into ancient Greek history and myth, but it was enough to make me smile in recognition of the facts that were mentioned in passing. For the past few nights I have enjoyed dreams of Athens where I remember every street and dog, and also of Pylos, where I spent so much time with Lauren and Kelli (my closest friends during the dig). For the readers' enjoyment, here is a selection of some pictures from my travels this summer (more will follow soon, once school has ended, I hope!):

Temple of Apollo at Corinth

Mask of Agamemnon from National Archaeological Museum, Athens

A small dog waits on a rooftop for the sun to set in Oia, Santorini

Looking out toward an island from the edge of the Temple of Poseidon, Sounio

Lexie, Ethan, and I being statuesque at the sanctuary of Athena Pronaia, Delphi

Giving a column some love at Olympia

Ilyssa, Kate, Lauren, and I digging away at some Cyclopian architecture at Iklaina (IKAP)

 

Honey - fresh from the comb! It was brought to the site by local farmers!

If you are anxious to see more pictures, hold your horses! I have nearly twelve hundred. Ideally, I will post them when I find the time :)

Snow - again??

I was just getting used to this lovely springtime weather when Mother Nature decided that she was just going to tease us all and bring back the snow. I am growing tired of the dreary mornings filled with snow on the ground, meaning that riding my bike is next to impossible. Even a few days ago when it was muddy I was happier. I guess I'm back to wearing my yucky winter shoes.

This weekend I went home. It was nice to be back - and I definitely surprised my parents when I was sitting at home reading when they got back from Sam's Club. My baby dog must have peed in the house about six times while I was home, which was naughty, but cute, since he only does that when he's really excited. My family and I went to Golden Corral on Saturday for lunch which was nice since I know my dad hasn't had much work lately. I swear we were served by Diego Luna. He had braces, but the Dirty Dancing charm was still there. Anyway, my dad was hilarious because he was the epitome of the "meat and potatoes" guy. He had chicken, catfish, steak, and cod, with a side of mashed potatoes and peach cobbler for dessert. Needless to say, I had a baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, a small salad (lettuce, lol) with Mandarin oranges, a small scoop of chocolate ice cream, four gummy bears, a packet of saltine crackers, spaghetti and sauce, pineapple tidbits, more Mandarin oranges, three onion rings, a tiny slice of apple pie, and a few tortilla chips. The mashed potatoes were amazing. They were probably my favorite part, unsurprisingly. Well, I guess that if you did not know that I began liking mashed potatoes this year, that would be surprising.

While home, I noticed that Mark Verhalen lost the primary for Oak Creek mayor, and Tommy didn't receive enough votes to move on to the election for alderman. I'm bummed about Tommy not making it, but it looks like he's going on a European tour, which will probably be more fun anyway! As far as the election for mayor goes, I really hope that Dick Bolender wins again. I can't stand what I've read of Dimity Grabowski through the common council minutes, and I think that Dick really has brought a lot of business into Oak Creek. (Not to mention a Sonic that has just been approved on Howell!). I just hope he wins the actual election!

I have a ton of stuff to do this week, including taking an exam for anthropology, writing a research paper on X-Ray fluorescence for my archaeological chemistry class, studying for a quiz on interesting case uses for Latin which is on Monday, and doing homework for Italian. I may not have mentioned it here, but I am taking Italian pass/fail so that I can better concentrate on my other three classes. I'm still getting an A in it (maybe I shouldn't have taken it pass/fail!) because it's not that bad after having ancient Greek, Spanish, and now Latin. But I think that if I stressed about making sure I did well in Italian, I would not be doing so well...really, I think so.

I'm really excited to watch the Amazing Race and the Apprentice tonight. I just hope that by 8pm tonight channel 15 (NBC) comes in. Gotta love digital....not.

P.S. My mom now has facebook. Updates will follow... ;)

$500 Facebook Gift

Just wondering if anyone else happened to espy the gifts facebook has decided to offer as of recent. Here is a screenshot of the elusive "Rare Rose" gift, available in a "limited" quantity (15,000) until Friday, and an explanation of the gift system by Facebook. I also highlighted the gift before it, a $50 "Gold Rose" gift.



For $500, or even $50, I'd better have some tangible gift or else something I will be able to appreciate. $500 would buy a nice necklace, a ton of chocolates. Nobody wants a crumby facebook gift that might even go unnoticed (recently I turned off my email notification for gifts).

Things I Like

This is a brief list of things I like in no particular order, because I am unwilling to post a note about 25 things about myself on facebook. Also, I am procrastinating and waiting for Ronnie to call.

• Blueberries
• Playing video games
• Eating popcorn at the Rathskellar after APO with friends
• Lists
• Knowing that no matter where my life takes me, I will be able to find happiness; I am optimist.
• Writing, keeping a blog
• Asti
• Riding my bike - but not biking, because that implies vigorous exercise and sometimes I enjoy a leisurely ride.
• Snuggling, and being close to Ronnie
• Doing nerdy things
• Wearing high heels and looking sexy
• Yoga, as of recent
• Chicken nuggets, though I am trying to not eat so many at once :/
• Going to the Shell in the morning. It is a challenge going so often. I really hope that I can lose some of the weight I've put on since college since I don't feel like myself with this extra "love."
  
• Reading just about anything - magazines (so long as they are not about celebrities), newspapers, online news, readings for class, and of course fiction. I have read non-fiction and enjoyed it, though my preference is historical fiction.
• Laying outside in the sun
• Working at JSM. The people there are amazing and I love what I do!
• Swimming. Recreationally only, though.
• Shopping for gifts for other people
• Making things - I love building things, creating things, and designing things. I think that had a been better at calculus, engineering may have been the way to go.
  
• Learning about anything and everything
• Good surprises
• Getting texts and being surprised by Ronnie - I love when he does unexpected things for me, and when he's spontaneous
• Grammar, and those who can understand its quirks.
  

I'm a creep

Today, rather than beginning my reading for cultural anthro (Anthro 300) I ended up spending about an hour creeping on facebook. Why? I'm really not sure. All I know is that the semester is just beginning and I already feel busy. Last week I worked 26 hours. I also worked out for at least 7 hours last week. I've been really good about going to the shell every morning, except for one time last week. But, to make up for it, I ended up going to the SERF later and working out an hour before I went to Late Night Yoga with Cait. It's also nice knowing that I've inspired Cait and Beth to come work out! I even bought cute stretchy pants at Old Navy.

Because I like lists, and I just bought four new movies, here is a list of all the movies I own, color-coded by how I acquired each:

Amazon.com Gift 5.99 DVD Store on State
Target Blockbuster Wal-mart

• 1408
• 50 First Dates
• Alexander
• Along Came Polly
• Amityville Horror
• Anchorman
• Big Daddy
• Brother Bear
• Count of Monte Cristo
• The Day After Tomorrow
• Dirty Dancing Havana Nights
  
• Finding Nemo
• The Green Mile
• Gladiator
• Kingdom of Heaven
• Knocked Up
• Lord of the Rings (1-3)
  
• Mamma Mia!
• Pirates of the Carribean: Curse of the Black Pearl
• Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest
• Planet of the Apes
• Texas Chainsaw Massacre
• There's Something About Mary
• Troy

That was exciting. Anyway, for anyone who caught my name on the news or through online articles, yes, I was at the Monster Truck show here in Madison and yes, I did see that man get run over. It was awful to see and I'm going to leave it at that. I don't think I'll ever forget what I saw, or the reaction of the crowd and driver.

On a happier note, I've now visited Sonic three times successfully. I say successfully because of almost all of the times I've attempted to go there, there has been such a long line that it's almost not even worth it. Yeah, I said it. Though delicious, it is not worth it to be in line for more than 20 minutes for Sonic.

We hosted a fondue party last night for Liz's going away to Costa Rica complete with a homemade fondue recipe invented by Liz! She made a chocolaty peanut butter fondue in which we dipped angel food cake, pretzels, strawberries, oranges, apples, and marshmallows. Yummy! It was the four of us roommates plus Katie, Amy, April, Steph, Mitchy, Josh, Alex, Trent, Ashley, Dani, and Bri. I'm really going to miss her - she is amazing. Who else is going to enjoy FailBlog with me? Honestly though, we've gotten a lot closer this year and it's too bad that we might not see each other until August. Why August? I finally got my acceptance letter to Greece! That means I'll be in Athens, and possibly at a field school afterward, from late May until July or August. We'd end up missing each other by only a day or two.

My room is an absolute mess. If I had to pick an adjective to describe it, I would say that it's awful. The excuse I make is that the time I spend cleaning my room could be better spent working out. Though often I find that I work out best in the morning and end up not cleaning my room anyway.

I think that's it for now. I really should get around to studying since I have an Italian exam this week (thank goodness I'm taking it pass/fail) and I have a bunch of anthro reading to catch up on.