A Thanksgiving composed of pizza rolls, coffee, ramen, and television.

=)

So my German professor, nice as he is, is a VERY loud man. He's from San Francisco and is always jumping around the class. I'm not trying to sound obnoxious or anything, but I can't help but feel out of place in the 301 class. He knows this though and let me go to the 411 class yesterday, which was much more complex stuff that I was excited about. However at the end of the 411 class I told the professor that I was from Professor Fuller's 301 class and he told me I could try some time in 411. The professor told me I was more than welcome to come into the class and see if I preferred it (411 is the level I placed in in a placement test online). However, he said, the class is full and I won't be able to transfer into it for the semester and I'd have to wait until January. So Monday it's back to 301, which is honestly kind of boring.

On another note I think my sociology professor is Brendan Fraser.

Classes start tomorrow!

Monday:
German 301 from 12:45-1:50
I placed into the 400 level but the professor wanted me in his class, though he suggested I go a couple days in the 400s to see how I like it.

Political Science 205 from 2-3:05

On Democracy from 3:30-4:45

Mentored Inquiry from 7-7:50


No classes on Tuesday or Thursday, Wednesday's the same as Monday, and Friday's just German and Political Science.

It'll be nice to get out of the dorm now, since, as I have absolutely no money, I never had much reason to before other than to wander around Portland with no goals to be met.

....my neighbor's masturbating or whatever she's doing is too loud for me to sleep.

after four hours of sleep to what sounded like a chainsaw tearing through a metal street post, accompanied by a backdrop of jackhammers and thunder (it's still thundering though).

Faaaaaaaaaantastic.

Sorry for not answering your call, Allison, my phone was charging and I was at the bookstore. I'll call you tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully my ID card got there and has been sent back here, because I don't get to do much without it haha. Then with the FlexPass I can actually go out and do things, and possibly $200 of my social security. Change of address worked, the card in the mailbox now has my name on it, but not Oscar's. Bwahahah.

Living off noodles is fun. Portland's a very eclectic city from what I've seen of it so far, but the people all seem really nice. There's stands all throughout the place selling food from east Africa and southeast Asia, and I even saw a Kyrgyz food stand yesterday. Anyhoo all is well over here. Classes begin Monday.

So I went to Neuberger Hall today to talk to the head of the German department here, and we got to talking about my classes. Classes for a major in German start at 301. I took a placement test online and was recommended for the 400-range.
Anyway he asks me if he can talk to me in German, so he asks about my family, life, how long I've been in Portland, if I've studied at a university before, etc etc. Afterwards he tells me he was mentally checking certain points in my answers (i.e. saying "in einer kleinen Stadt" instead of "in eine kleine Stadt"). He told me he was very impressed with how I spoke and the vocabulary I used, and that he's not seen a person my age speak German like that who isn't a native German, or at least raised there.
What he suggested is that I start out in the 300s just to get the credits, but that he'd let me (as I'll be in his class) go to Professor Menke's 410 class and see how I like it, since he told me he thinks I'll be fine in there.

And also I might not have to take the math classes I'm supposed to take. Classes start Monday, I'm taking German, a class on democracy, something called Mentored Inquiry, and political science. Possibly Math 70, which, by the way, I have to take because I got a D in Algebra II and a B in all my other math classes in high school. Balls.

In other news a homeless person spat on me last night as Oscar and I were walking back to the dorm from Voodoo Doughnut. So pissed.

Allison and I fly out at 5:30 tomorrow morning and I'm stuck with gastroenteritis I've had since Friday.

http://www2.scnow.com/scp/news/local/grand_strand/article/horry_county_police_investigate_deadly_stabbing_at_club/73924/

DJ Houghtaling was a friend of mine, and a friend to all my friends, a friend to all of their friends. Everyone my age in Myrtle Beach knew him. He always had a smile on his face, would help you out of any sticky situation you found yourself in, never ceased to be the life of the party. I'll miss him, Myrtle Beach will miss him, and Maine will miss him.

I just went to the mailbox to pick up the day's mail, and lo and behold, at the bottom of a couple magazines and bank statements, I see a letter from Portland State.
The letter I've been waiting for. I open it right at the box and learn I've been accepted.

I may as well be floating right now. I wanted so, so, so much to get into this college and did what I could to make sure I got in. The effort paid off and I made it!

=)

Today's senior skip day! So it's (from what everyone's saying) an excused absence for seniors and so I won't be attending school as originally thought. Exams are next week and today's actually a good day to get some work done.

HOWEVER, soon I'll be going downtown with some friends and I don't know what they're planning exactly, but they want to go to Garden City.

Graduating next month on the 5th, Kirsten's wedding is in July, and in August I'll be moving.

Good day  =)

I know it seems like a situation that'd get you to think, "If you can go to Maryland with your friends, why can't you go with me to Kentucky?"
Well the answer is that that was spring break and these are school days near the end of the year.
But anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that I have an idea to make it up to you. Not because I feel obligated in any way, but because I want to.

Bwahahahahahaha.

I just got a birthday card today from my close friends Patrick and Florian (who I've been to Germany with twice). It's big, and signed by everyone from FHC.

I don't care that it's late, it's the best card in the world =)

Oh hell yes.

I'm going to the salt marsh today and may not make it back in time to tell you all how I feel.

So if the crabs, oysters, jellyfish, otters, whale sharks, portuguese man-o-wars, lobsters, giant deep-sea (which means "salt marsh" essentially) arthropods, squids, octopi, and chickens-of-the-sea eventually do drag me down into the depths and I metamorphose into one of their kind,...

...tell the world my story.

The Barnes and Noble here moved to a new location, and so the books I'd like to find are:

• Armageddon in Retrospect, which is a bunch of Kurt Vonnegut's unpublished stories found after his death.
• Like You'd Understand, Anyway by Jim Shepard.
• Bucket of Tongues by Duncan McLean
• The Trick is to Keep Breathing by Janice Galloway
• Acid Plaid by Harry Ritchie
• City of God by Paulo Lins.

Also I have a bet running with one of my teachers from last year about who will win Euro 2008 this summer. He suggested we pick one team we're confident in, and then one underdog. So I have France and Romania, he has the Netherlands and Croatia. So far the bet's just at $8 but it'll evolve. Kirsten, any wagers you want to make? 

First, some books to be read:
    Cry the Beloved Country, a really good book Allison bought for me.
    Seabiscuit, also a book from Allison I never got around to reading.
    Gullivers Reisen, a book Kirsten bought for me.
    Der Goldene Kompass, a book Florian bought me.
One book I've had my eye on is God is Dead, which is some short stories of a world in which God doesn't exist. Also, Acid Plaid which Cassie recommended, and is an anthology of Scottish short stories. Looots of reading to be done.

    Also, I decided I want to be in the Peace Corps sometime during or after college. Most likely after, since then my chances of being accepted are greater.


woo!
 

I think I've decided on where I want to go to college. The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Its costs are reasonable, and I know what courses I'd want to take. I have one year of high school left of course, but I've been trying and trying to find where I want to go once I leave South Carolina and go to college, and UWM seems like the best place I've looked at.

woo!

Sie verkauft Fisch
er ißt keinen Fisch
so hat er bald Katzen
er kauft jeden Tag Fisch
so kann er sie sehen
sie fängt an zu lachen als er fragt
und geht aus Mitleid mit
er hat keine Worte
bringt sie nach Hause und es fängt an zu regnen
sie erzählt von ihrem Vater
hat Nadeln im Schädel und wird nicht mehr leben
er denkt wie gut doch der Regen ist
braucht das Grabbeet seiner Frau nicht gießen

Sie verkauft Fisch
er ißt keinen Fisch
er hat Katzen
er kauft jeden Tag Fisch
so kann er sie sehen
sie sieht ihn an
er merkt es nicht
er fragt sie wird mit ihm essen
sie hat Fisch
er will den Nachtisch vor der Suppe
er bringt sie nach Hause und es fängt an zu regnen
sie erzählt von den Kindern
kann sie nicht haben
hat einen Wolf im Uterus
er denkt wie doch gut der Regen ist
kratzt die Suppe von der Zunge

Sie verkauft Fisch
von Fisch muß er kotzen
die Katzen sind tot
er kauft jeden Tag Fisch
weil sie das will
so kann sie ihn sehen
und als sie ihn fragt fängt es an zu regnen
er bringt sie nach Hause
sie erzählt von ihrem mann
hat weiche Knochen
weich wie Gräten
es geht nicht bei ihr
sie wohnt über einer Tischlerei und einem alten mann
die Tischlerei wäre dann gut.