The Phoenix Incarnate

So, remember my post awhile back about attending the UNICEF Campus Initiative summit in NYC? Well, I had applied to be on the national council, which is a small group of leaders from UNICEF chapters all across the country, and they're partially responsible for putting the conference together.

I had applied in early July, and was supposed to hear back sometime later that month, but UNICEF national headquarters had a lot on their plate and the application process was delayed. Well, I got a call from a friend who had also applied telling me to check my email. I did....and there was an email from Rachael (the head of the fund in NYC) telling me that I GOT IT!!!

I'm so excited!!! My friend got it as well, which is fantastic! I'll be going back to New York the weekend of October 2-4. I CAN"T WAIT!! :D:D

This past weekend I had the priveledge of traveling to New York to attend the UNICEF Campus Initiative conference. Prior to going I was incredibly excited, but not really sure what to expect. I had been getting emails from different people with comference logistics, and I was busy preparing for my trip, booking my flight and deciding what to pack. It wasn't really a reality until I was up at four in the morning Friday, on my way to the airport.

I made it to New York La Guardia airport and caught a cab, thus kicking off my first typical New York experience: TRAFFIC. And I thought Houson gridlock was crazy. Luckily I made it to the hotel just in time to catch up with the UNICEF group going on the UN tour...which was incredible! There was a really cool sculpture outside the UN building, which was a revolver with a know tied in the barrel. It stands for the end of war and the promotion of peace in the world. Once inside we had to go through security (and of course my dumb ass decides to wear my metal-ridden bottle cap belt on a day where I was at the airport and the UN). We met up with our tour guide, who was wearing a kimona! (The tour guides all wear the traditional garb of their country of origin). The tour was so interesting and informative. I learned a lot about the UN's current objectives; eradication of hunger, education, gender equality, prevention of disease, etc. And we got to sit in the actual UN meeting room, which was so amazingly cool!

After the UN tour, we quickly stopped by the UNICEF gift shop where I spent way too much money, then went back to the hotel to check in, and *jaw drops to the floor and mouth hangs open* It was so swanky...and OMG the beds! Sooo comfortable...big fluffy pillows and down comforter. I changed for the welcome dinner, then headed over to the UNICEF building for the welcome dinner. It was so nice! (And the food was really good all weekend too, which was surprising...I was expecting simple cereal and sandwiches and stuff, but it was all really nice). After dinner there was an introduction to the conference and a really good speech on UNICEF's efforts in Zimbabawe.

Afterward I was planning on going to Times Square, and was also wanting to go to Serendipity 3 for their famous frozen hot chocolate, and because I love the movie. I was asking Skyler (one of the campus initiative leaders) how to get there, which lead to me becoming friends with a girl from Utah, Ariana. She heard me mention Serendipity, and was really excited to find out that it was a real place, because, like me, loves the movie. We ended up going to Times Square with about 25 people. It was amazing, getting to see it live and in person. Movies just don't do it justice. You need to have the 360 degrees experience. Obviously it was impossible for 25 people to stay together in a place like Times Square, so we all split up, and I walked around with Ariana and two guys, Ryan and Seth.

There was a random guy on the street selling Obama condoms. WTF? We asked him what made them Obama condoms, and he replied with, "They're flavored with hope." ROFL

We tried to go to the two story Toys R' Us with the Ferris Wheel, but it was closing. This was disappointing, but made so much better by the two story M&M store that was open. There was also a Hershey's store right next door, equaling chocolate heaven. We wandered over to the Rockafeller Center, which was supposed to be our meeting point with the rest of the group. We collected what people we could find then headed back toward the hotel, where I crawled into this amazingly comfortable bed and fell asleep.


Next morning...got up way too early to take a shower and got ready for day two of the conference. I learned so much about UNICEF and ways to make my school's chapter better and more effective. I won't go into too much detail here, because I could go on for pages, but if anyone would like more information on UNICEF I'd be more than happy to share. *Hint hint*

That evening Ariana, Seth, Ryan, Daniel, and I went to dinner at Serendipity. The wait was an hour and a half, so while we were waiting we went to Central Park, which was just a few blocks away. Serendipity was so cute! And the food was really good, and pretty expensive...but hey, I was on vacation. And the frozen hot chocolate was AMAZING! and HUGE. It fed all five of us. And I bought a really cute coffee mug. The guy at the register asked if I was Japanese...I love it when people know. After Serendipity, we went back to the hotel and dropped Seth and Daniel off. Then the rest of us walked to Battery Park, which was a cute little place on the water. And you could see the Statue of Liberty from it...it was really far off, but you could still see it. And I got some awesome shots of the city skyline.

After that I went back to the hotel for night two of most comfortable bed ever...which ended way too soon. I actually set my alarm wrong and overslept...thus waking up to Charlene telling me it was 8:30...she had overslept as well. I threw all my crap into my suitcase and we headed over to the UNICEF building for the final day of the conference. We took a big group picture and had a little closing ceremony. I said good bye to a bunch of people, which was sad :(. Then everyone had to leave to catch their respective travels home. I took a cab with two girls to the airport, then sat in the terminal waiting for my plane. There were actually two flights to Houston leaving from the same terminal, so I tried to board the wrong one at first. My flight was a little delayed, but I ran into another girl from the conference, and we talked for awhile, so that was nice.

Then I boarded the plane and flew home to Houston...thus ending my most exciting part of the summer.

Getting to go to the campus summit was definitely one of the most amazing experience of my life. There's so much that all of us can be doing to better the world and promote peace through UNICEF. Anf I loved meeting people who are just as passionate as I am about the cause. And I finally got to see a little bit of New York, a place that I've always wanted to go to. Hopefully I can go back soon!

1. Your Middle Name:
2. Age:
3. Single or Taken:
4. Favorite Movie:
5. Favorite Song or Album:
6. Favorite Band/Artist:
7. Dirty or Clean:
8. Tattoos and/or Piercings:
9. Do we know each other outside of LJ?
10. What's your philosophy on life?
11. Is the bottle half-full or half-empty?
12. Would you keep a secret from me if you thought it was in my best interest?
13. What is your favorite memory of us?
14. What is your favorite guilty pleasure?
15. Tell me one odd/interesting fact about you:
16. You can have three wishes (for yourself, so forget all the 'world peace etc' malarky) - what are they?
17. Can we get together and make a cake?
18. Which country is your spiritual home?
19. What is your big weakness?
20. Do you think I'm a good person?
21. What was your best/favorite subject at school?
22. Describe your accent
23. If you could change anything about me, would you?
24. What do you wear to sleep?
25. Trousers or skirts?
26. Cigarettes or alcohol?
27. If I only had one day to live, what would we do together? (If you have no idea, just say something crazy, it'll entertain me!)
28. Will you repost this so I can fill it out for you?

I would update y'all on my life, but all I've been doing is working, and that's not at all interesting...except last night I dropped a lemonade on a guy, but he wasn't mad, for which I'm incredibly grateful. Anyway, I need a break.

But good news! I'M GOING TO NEW YORK CITY IN JUNE!!!! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!

For the National UNICEF conference...booked my flight this morning. Three days of work-free bliss, and i'll be spending them in freakin' NYC!! I've never been, so I'm really excited.

I...CAN'T....WAIT!!!!!

I've finally finished training, and am now officially a full-fledged waitress at Saltgrass in Meyerland (for those of you who are Houstonians). Please drop in and ask for me (then leave me a big tip). Haha, kidding...except....I'm sort of not. Good tips are what will make or break my paycheck.

Anyway, I took my exit final today, which is basically where you serve a manager from start to finish and he grades you on your performance. I was so incredibly nervous, and I messed up his order like three times. But then he told me that it was one of the best exits he's graded, so I was pleased. Then I worked a hostess double becuause the one they had scheduled wasn't feeling well. Thus, I am exhausted...and also, I've forgotten how boring being a hostess is on a slow lunch.

I have my first real shift tomorrow, so wish me luck!

I have a new car! Well, new to me anyway. It's a silver Toyota Corolla, and I love it. (Many thanks to my amazing grandmother, and parents, both of which contributed to the purchasing of the car). Finally. I hated having to ask people for rides all the time, or going through the complicated exchange of borrowing my dad's car, which was really inconvenient for him, and I felt bad about doing it. Now I can turn into a boring adult and do grocery shopping and stuff  =P.

In honor of my crack addiction to Bones, I've decided to christen my car Booth, because it's totally sleek and sexy. It has the wood textured accent on the dash and doors and everything. Speaking of Bones, I've noticed that everyone on that show drives a Toyota (Booth drives a Sequoia, Bones has a Rav-4 this season, and Angela drives a Matrix). This makes me happy....Japanese cars are the best.

So, yeah, I'm very very happy.

My roommates and I were looking through the job ads in the Houston Press, and came across one for a casting agency looking for movie and television extras.

I thought it would be a lot of fun to do (and of course, nerd that I am, my mind immediately jumped to having a cameo in an episode of Bones). So I called the number, and the first thing the lady asks me for after my name and contact info is my credit card number. Then she fed me some stuff about having to pay a security deposit...fishy much? They're supposed to pay you to be an extra. She did say that if you're not hired you get your security deposit back, but I'm not willing to part with any money until I'm dead positive the company is legit.

So there goes my pipe dream of being in the movies. it's not like anything is ever filmed in Houston anyway, except for maybe Apollo 13. Someday I'll make it to the industry, as a big-shot, award winning special effects artist. Someday...

This semester I joined my school's chapter of UNICEF (The United Children's Fund). So far I've really enjoyed being a part of the organization. I had been wanting to branch out more and join more groups, and I really think UNICEF is a good fit for me. It's a great cause and their efforts really do make a difference in the world, which I feel is really important.

Anyway, officer elections were today, and I got Director of Fund-raising. It actually worked out to where each position had only one person on the ballot, which was sort of cool. Initially I would have had to run against a friend of mine, since it was possible to run for more than one position, She wanted Director of Advocacy. We were both running for both positions, but it all ended up working out perfectly; i really wanted fund-raising, and she really wanted advocacy, so it all fit. And the other new officers are cool, so I think it will be a good year. I'm really excited about it.

In other news, I'm going to be working at Saltgrass Steakhouse (again) this summer, as a waitress. I have quite a bit of stuff to memorize for training, so that should be fun...I'm not really looking forward to the prospect of waitressing, because I know how rude people can be. But it's money, which I need, so I suppose I should just be thankful that I have a job at all. Really though, it's probably wise to be polite to the person bringing you your food....has anyone seen the movie Waiting? Just so you know, if you have seen it, I would never do that to someone's food, but I'm just saying.....not the greatest idea to piss off your waiter. I really hate it when people treat those in the service industry as if they're inferior...it's a really unattractive personality trait. *Hint* If I'm on a date, I always pay attention to how the guy treats the waiter. If he's an ass, it's definitely not going to work out.

Anyway, I'm about to pass out at my keyboard, so I'm off to bed.

I keep promising myself that I'm going to update more often, and then somehow I never do. But this time, I really am going to make an effort to post more. Really. I am. 

Anyway, quick update on my life...I'm a sophomore in college (probably the main reason I never post=no time). OK, that's kind of a lie. I find plenty of ways to avoid school work....currently my non-school distractions involve Bones, which I am completely, head over heels in love with. Seriously, no show has effected me in quite the way this one does, and I can't get enough of it. Other than that, school sort of controls my life...and I still have no idea what I really want to do...but I need to get it together and figure it out soon.

My life is actually kind of boring if you really think about it, which is sad. I haven't done have the things I've been wanting to do....bar-tending school, read more books, go on a random road trip, meet more people, write more, do something really worthwhile with my time...
And it doesn't help that I'm hopelessly unlucky in the dating department, but I don't really feel like getting into that right now. Anyway, hopefully you'll be hearing from me soon, and hopefully with something more interesting to say.

Fun meme stolen from everymemry

My Nine Names
1. YOUR REAL NAME: Miko
2. YOUR GANGSTA NAME (first 3 letters of real name plus 'izzle'): Mikizzle
3. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME (favorite color and favorite animal): Red Dragon [sounds more ninja-ish to me]
4. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME (your middle name and street you live on/or neighborhood if it's a number): Elisabeth Pin Oak
5. YOUR STAR WARS NAME (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name): Tsuma
6. YOUR SUPER-HERO/CRIMINAL NAME (Your 2nd favorite color and favorite drink): Blue Limoncello
7. YOUR IRAQI NAME (2nd letter of your first name, 3rd letter of your last name, 1st letter of your last name, 2nd letter of your mom's maiden name, 3rd letter of your dad's name, 1st letter of a sibling's first name, and last letter of your mom's maiden name): Iutonbr
8. YOUR WITNESS PROTECTION NAME (parents 1st names): Elisabeth Kenzo
9. YOUR GOTH NAME (black, and the name of one of your past or present pets): Black Bandit [how appropriate]

The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they've printed.

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) [Bracket] the books you LOVE.
4) Reprint this list on your own blog.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 1984 - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare (I haven't read the COMPLETE works, but it's unfair to count every single book an author has ever written as one top 100 book...I've read a lot of them, so I'm counting it).
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carrol
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis (um... isn't that included in number 33?)
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams

95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

31....not bad. I've been meaning to read a lot of the ones on there,so perhaps the count will grow in time.

 

It's been about a year since my last post (literally), but in my defense my life has been hectic to the extreme. And somehow it still contains all the stupid high school-esque drama I had hoped to escape in college. Oh well, I suppose some people never grow of their immaturity.
I want to make more of an effort to post though, and thought I'd start with this meme that I pinched from cherryfeather

1. Pick 10 of your favorite movies.
2. Go to IMDb and find a quote from each movie.
3. Post them here for everyone to guess.
4. Italicize and bold when someone guesses correctly, and put who guessed it and the movie.
5. Looking them up (and then posting your answers) is, of course, cheating.


1). "Sometimes, I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion!"
2). "Who? Who is but the form following the function of what, and what I am is a man in a mask."
3). "Well. there's the usual things. Flowers, chocolates...promises you don't intend to keep."
4). "I spoke to you about my feelings because I love you! I had no thought for your reputation!"
5). "I don't cook! I'm a scary and powerful fire demon!"
6). "I say, that what you say, is what I say."
7). "Hello David. I mean sir. Shit, I can't believe I've just said that. And now I've gone and said shit twice. I'm so sorry sir." "It's fine, it's fine. You could have said fuck and then we'd have been in real trouble." "Thank you sir. I did have an awful premonition that I was going to fuck up on the first day. Oh, piss it!"
8). "I want my father back you son of a bitch."
9). "So are you hiding from the law or is just a bad nose job?" "Mhm, bad nose job."
10). "What is this? A center for ants? It needs to be at least....three times this big!"

 So... it's been about a month since my last post, but I haven't had much time...college has been INSANE! But now I have a little time to update y'all on the goings-on of my collegiate life (Ok, that's not entirely true, I should be studying for a statistics test). 

I won't bore you with every detail of every day that I've spent here, I'll just give an overview of what's been happening. 

First off, my classes: 
Human Situation: This is the Honors College equivalent of an english/literature class. We study various works of literature (right now it's the Greek classics) and comment upon how they speak about human nature. The class is split into two portions: lecture and discussion. Everyone has lecture together, and the various professors take turns lecturing on the text. We're split into smaller groups for discussion, where we get to give our own opinions and arguements about the reading. I have this crazy Irish professor-Dr. Morrison. He's a really tough grader, and is a little intimidating, but his class is so much fun. He uses the f-word about six times a day on average, and always says something that makes the whole class crack up. He's not afraid to be crude, and I like that. 

Speaking of crude, we're reading the freakin' funniest play on the planet: Aristophanes' Lysistrata. It takes place  during the Peloponnesian war; Lysistrata is the heroine of the play-she's basically fed up with the men being away, so she rallies all of the women and gets them to swear off sex in order to make the husbands come home. The version we're reading is a modern translation, so it has all of the current slang and vernacular. If you're interested, It's the Focus Classic Library edition, translated by Jeffrey Henderson. 
Here's one of my favorite lines:
Men's Leader: That's right, I'm bushy down below, but manly men are always so!

Statistics: Anyone who knows me knows i absolutely DETEST math, so I don't enjoy this class in the slightest. At least it isn't overly difficult. And I have friends in it, so I'll survive. 

Fundamentals of Sculpture: This class is FUN. We've just finished making life-size clay heads resembling ourselves (personally I think that mine ended up looking like a native american man). The only downside is that it's an 8:00 class, and the building is all the way down Wheeler, so I have to be up at 6:30 in order to get ready and leave in time. But the class makes up for it. I really like the professor...she's really nice and a little bit crazy (which is good). She always rides around the class in this old wheelchair, which is really funny to see. Last class we had critique on our clay heads, and she let us bring breakfast, so that was alot of fun.

Fundamentals of Drawing: I really like this class too, though it's harder than I expected. The professor is really cool as well. He has a sort of Bohemian outlook on art. He says that every artform is drawing in a sense. Musicians draw notes through space, dancers draw movement across the stage, etc. He also says that if you see a technique in someone else's art that you like, use it. It's not really stealing, it's only making you better at what you do. We've been doing comparisons of food lately, to help us learn to really see what we draw, not what we think it looks like. Let me just say that marshmallows are NOT easy to draw. You'd think they would be, but to really make it look like a marshmallow...it's not. Raisins are hard as well. 


So, those are my classes this semester. School work consumes alot of my time, but surprisingly I've had a good bit of social interaction as well. I've already made some really good friends. That's one thing I really like about college, you get close to people faster than in high school. No one is really worried about their reputation or social status. We all just sort of mesh. 

Shout out to: Ashley, Shannon, Caitlyn, Patrick, Loy, Bryan, Ronnie, Sam, Sarah, Annie, Jonas, Eva, Liz, Jared, Angela...and any other cool people I've met so far (sorry if I forgot your name!) And of course to my old friends who are here with me: Chloe, Alex, Eileen T., Eileen L., Cate, and all of those people too.

You know, people seem to have this misconception about the University of Houston...but you know what? It's AMAZING. And just tell me what your mascot is...a cougar can probably eat it. 

GO COOGS!!
Who, by the way, DESTROYED Tulane in the football game this weekend! 

Tuesday and Wednesday I was at Camp Allen in Navasota, Texas (i.e. "the middle of nowhere") for the UH Honors Retreat. Despite the fact that there was zero cell phone service, I actually had a really good time. 

We took chartered buses up to the camp from the university, which was cool. I was expecting to be roughing it, but the rooms were hotel style, also pretty cool (except for the part where I found a giant cricket in my bed). Once we got there we checked in and got our group assignments. it was superhero themed; I was in the Captain Planet Group (i.e. "best group ever!"). 

Tuesday was pretty chill. I met a girl named Ashley in my group, so we hung out for most of the time at camp. We went swimming (me in all my clothes because my dumb ass forgot to bring a swimsuit), which was alot of fun. We played shark attack with some other people....I got caught because I swallowed a bunch of water and came up coughing, so it was easy for the shark to find me. 

After that we had group meetings, where we played a bunch of ice breaker games. Normally those kinds of things are awkward, but I actually really enjoyed them. We played this one game where we had to fit our whole group into squares of various sizes taped onto the floor. We decided to have a couple of people on piggy-back (of course that meant me, since I'm always the smallest one in any situation). So I try to jump on this girl Lizzie's back, and she loses her balance....and we go crashing into the wall. So now I have a huge bruise on my shoulder. But is was funny, and we ended up fitting into the square, so it was all good. 

Our group  counselors were really fun and crazy. We had to come up with a group cheer, and they insisted it be dirty, so we came up with: Captain Planet. Only You Can Prevent....DIRTY BALLS! (which no one got but us.....Dirty Balls....the earth is a ball, Captain Planet is environmentally conscious....get it?) Yeah, and Rhys' (one of the counselors) girlfriend made us these badass captain planet rings (anyone remember the show?)

One of the best things about group meeting was the *cough* cute guy in my group *cough.* I won't say names, since I'm paranoid like that, but to all you Doctor Who/Torchwood fans...he could totally pass for a college-aged John Barrowman! 

That evening the Honors Follies was held (which is basically a talent show). It was very entertaining....especially the two guys who did a spectacular rendition of "Dick in a Box." (made even funnier by the fact that Dean Estess was sitting in the front row). 

Then we had this totally amazing scavenger hunt, which involved some VERY creative thinking on our parts. That was probably the best part of the retreat. 
Some of our better ideas included:
--A Black Cape-Our counselor Lucia, who is black, rode piggy-back on Rhys, cape style
--Birth Control-we used a coat hanger....which we also used for the something really scary question
--Out of State Driver's License-I used my alien driver's license from Roswell
--Transvestite-We turned one of the guys in our group into a girl, and he was a great sport about it


Wednesday was basically lectures about what the Honors college has to offer. We also met with our major groups, and with our Human Situation teachers. I have Dr. Morrison, this really intense, crazy Irishman. he seems tough, but really cool at the same time. Then we had alot of chill time, and I hung out with Ashley and Azizah. We spent some time before dinner playing hackey sack with some other people (which I completely suck at, by the way). The game basically disolved into batting the hackey sack around like a volleyball, to see how long we could keep it in the air. Sadly, after dinner it was check-out, and then we boarded the bus to go back to Houston. 

So, I had alot of fun, and made some really cool new friends. I'm really excited to start school in...wow, three days!

Friday, July 20, was quite possibly one of the slowest days of work in living memory. We didn't even have the usual weekend lunch rush to keep my mind occupied and off the looming Deathly Hallows release. It was pure torture, having to be "Texas Friendly" when my head was about to explode from all of the anticipation.

Finally, my shift ended, and Liz came to rescue me. We went out to eat, then went back to her house to get ready for the Grand Hallows Ball at Borders. The decorations were quite spiffy, and it was cool to see all of the other Potter nerds all dressed up. Among the coolest costumes were Sirius Black, and surprisingly, Umbridge. And there was this girl selling these REALLY cool knit hats, but I didn't have enough for one, so I might order one from her later. The Great Snape Debate was the best event of the night, other than recieving the book of course. Both sides made some good points, but I have to say that Snape supporters (myself included) presented a better arguement. Then finally, FINALLY, they started lining everyone up to get the book. Liz and I were near the back of the line at first, which sort of pissed me off (being that we waited in line, at nine o'clock in the morning, IN THE RAIN, to get wristbands. Ours were orange, meaning that we got to get in line first. But alot of people disregarded that and got in line ahead of us, which was annoying, but all was well when one of the Borders people said that they would not be sold a book if in line with the wrong wristband color). And the line moved fairly fast once midnight hit and they started handing out the books. I was hyperventilating by the time I got to the cash register. Liz and I grabbed our copies, ran outside, and jumped into the car as quickly as possible, to avoid spoilers. We got back to her house, where she opened her birthday present from me (how cool is that, turning 16 on Deathly Hallows release night?) I'm really glad she liked her present, that Tardis painting took me FOREVER! it's surprising how hard it is to draw a box.... ANYWAY, we changed into out pyjamas (hehe, British spelling) and made some tea, popped all of the movie soundtracks into the 5-Disc changer, and.... (drumroll please) started reading.


( SPOILER WARNING! DO NOT CLICK IF YOU HAVE NOT YET COMPLETED DEATHLY HALLOWS )

*FOOTNOTE: PLEASE read my spoilers post if you've finished the book..I poured my heart and soul into it, and I would really like people's opinions. Please?*

Today is one of my precious days off, and it was very well spent on a day of ice skating and shopping at the Galleria with my friends Alex and Michael. 

The shopping was somewhat more entertaining (1) I can't skate worth crap (2) I'm an 18 year old girl, let loose in one of the biggest shopping institutions in the country...enough said. 
And Michael showed up post-skating, and he's here on vacation from Las Vegas, and I NEVER get to see him, obviously, so it was fun to just hang out. 

We spent a good deal of time at Hot Topic, where Alex practically had a heart attack over the Inuyasha merchandise...though I shouldn't be one to judge, considering the entire shelf of Harry Potter swag and paraphernalia and what not. However, the most entertaining bit of the day would have to be our adventures at Urban Outfitters. We were looking through all of the weird books, and ended up spening an hour marveling over the immense strength and athletic ability it would take to achieve the sex positions in this book we found (weird, I know). I was reading from a book entirely composed of random sex facts (Urban Outfitters is a strange, strange place). Which leads to the title of my blog. Apparently, sometime in the 16th century, there was a considerable population shortage in England, so the king ordered people to have sex in order to boost the population. Fornication Upon Command of the King. Thus, the origin of the F-Word. As to the validity of this fact...well, I'm not sure If it's true or not, but....I got a good laugh out of it. 

Back to work tomorrow....joy. But on the plus side, Deathly Hallows in two days!!!

'Ello. First entry... My friend Liz, a.k.a. cherryfeather  helped me open an account...finally. I've been meaning to for awhile, but what with having to work this summer, I've hardly had any time to myself.

I saw Order of the Phoenix last night with Liz (well, technically it was this morning). I won't give any spoilers, so i'll sum up the movie in one simple word:

SQUEEE!!!! 

I willl say that Ootp has GORGEOUS cinematography. Go see for yourself!  I'll probably post a more in-depth entry with my thoughts and psycho-babble on OotP at a later date, perhaps after my second viewing.

That's all for now. Hopefully I'll have the time to post on a regular basis. We shall soon see.