March

March 1 6:00 PM
Listening to: Loreena McKennitt- "Live in Paris and Toronto"
Site of the Day: Subway Navigator (information on practically every system in the world)
Interesting News Story of the Day: U.S. Calls Arrest of Sept. 11 Figure 'Significant'
N. Korea Warns Nuke War Could Break Out
U.S. Checking New Arrivals for Radiation
Government Urges Under-16s to Experiment with Oral Sex
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I was thinking about watching "Chelsea Walls" last night, but then it got too late and I wanted to get to bed early, so I guess I'll have to watch it another time (maybe tonight). So glad I taped it.

It was so frustrating trying to fall asleep last night. The amount of traffic was tremendous! There was non-stop honking all night and into the morning. I wanted to call the Quality of Life Department and tell them to stop the honking, but I know they can't do anything about that. I really think horns should be disabled in the city (yes, I know that's impossible too).

Last night, for the second time in the past month or so, as I was trying to fall asleep I heard someone say something in my ear (I think it might have been Harvey). I'm not sure what they said though. It's a little scary when that happens, but mainly because I don't understand it and it's never happened to me before.

Today I've rested all day (except for the 2 minutes I went out and got a bagel), and I'm still exhausted. And I can't do more than one thing at a time (I was on the phone and went to get a glass of water, and I couldn't continue the conversation until I finished pouring the water- I feel handicapped). This music (Loreena) is perfect for my mood though.

When I went out, I discovered that the Fed Ex and Duane Reade on 3rd Ave are both suddenly gone. Those were useful things in the neighbourhood. This really is a poor residential neighbourhood. Oh, and not that this matters, but another change in the neighbourhood is the Taco Bell changing to a Subway a week or two ago.

March 2 4:30 PM
Listening to: Over the Rhine- "Good Dog Bad Dog: The Home Recordings"
Site of the Day: Brahm's Lullaby (Cradle Song, Wiegenlied) (no wonder nobody I meet knows these lyrics)
Interesting News Story of the Day: Pakistanis Arrest Qaeda Figure Seen as Planner of 9/11
After Rejecting G.I.'s, Turkey Has No Plans for New Vote
Spinning Blues Into Gold, the Rough Way
Oil Price Jump Adds to Jitters Over Economy
What Looks Like Slots, Pays Taxes and Eats No Hay?
St. John's Upsets the Blue Devils
Home and Business Grow, and So Does the Area
The Sound of Fury
The Prime of Frances McDormand
Ending Its Mega-Run, `Les Miz' Comes Full Circle
Winter Has a Dark Side: What Luck
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Harvey, Paula, Neil, Maxine, and Abby are all coming up here on Friday afternoon and leaving Sunday morning. Can't wait.

Not much else to say today other than that I'm looking forward to the Maryland game and SFU tonight.

March 3 8:45 PM
Listening to: Tori Amos- "Scarlet's Walk"
Site of the Day: New York City Blogs
Interesting News Story of the Day: N.Korean MiGs Intercept U.S. Air Force Plane
U.S. Wants Vote on Iraq Next Week; Others Not Sure
R.I. Club's Wall Covering Went Unreported
Pledge Ban Set for March 10 in 9 States
Musicians Union Sets Strike Deadline
As Bills Pile Up, Jobless Wear Down
Late 3-Pointer Gives Maryland, Williams Big Win
Wells Could Face Discipline from Yankees (all this media exposure is sure to drive book sales- I actually want to skim it myself)
Driesell Retires After 41-Year Career (I can't believe I didn't hear this until today when I was randomly looking for infomation on him)
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Why is it always colder when I have to traipse all over the city? In between classes I went to look at office space for a client and it was too close to bother taking buses (no convenient subway) and too far to walk in the freezing weather, so I took a taxi both ways. It was worth it (and I got lucky with finding one in both directions- lucky day).

I got an 83 on my human development test. I'm fine with that but also hope I do better on the next one. Plus, the lowest score at the end of the semester is dropped, so if I do better on all of them (somewhat unlikely), the 83 won't count at all.

People have been signing my guestbook recently (and some are still sending me emails)- thanks guys. I love watching the trends I go through with this site.

If anyone is familiar with Golden Key International Honour Society, can you please let me know of your experiences? I'm assuming there are better ones out there and this one is trying to get as many people to join as possible so they can get their $60, but I just don't want to rule it out completely. They sent me a letter the other day, telling me that I am able to become a member. Is it worth it? Is it worth $60 to put something that may or may not look good on a resume? I don't have anything else at all like this to put on my resume- that's why I didn't just throw away the letter when I got it.

I'm sure Tori will play "I Can't See New York" Saturday night, but I really wish she wouldn't. I don't feel like being down that night. I wouldn't mind her playing some of her more depressing songs, but for some reason, I'm still not ready to handle a September 11th-related song. And not because of the actual events that happened on that day but because of the media and how they still won't let us make that day a memory by keeping it fresh in our minds every chance they get. I'm hating the media more and more lately (in general, not just because of that one point).

I also read that there will be bass and drums joining Tori on this tour but no guitar. That makes me happy. The guitar tends to overpower her piano.

I just realised tomorrow is Mardi Gras. Nine years ago, I was down in New Orleans with Jon, Jeff, and Brian. That was kind of a big deal, although I didn't realise it at the time. I just sort of heard they were going, Jon asked if I wanted to go with them, and I said okay (or something like that). I just went like it was a casual thing, like going to the movies. I think I did that with a lot of things when I was younger- made semi-big decisions like they were no big deal. I think that's a good way to be for decisions that aren't life-altering. That way you don't sit around thinking for long periods of time about things that aren't a big deal, things that aren't once in a lifetime or something that isn't a rare event). But I did it with bigger decisions too, like the decision to go to NYU. I barely thought about where to go to college. I just heard that NYU had a good musical theatre program, and so I applied there (besides Maryland, I don't remember to which other schools I applied, maybe I didn't apply anywhere else). When I didn't get in the musical theatre program and they sent me information about doing the School of Continuing Studies program instead, I just did it. I didn't think about whether that was a good idea or not (in hindsight, I'm not sure it was such a good idea). I don't even know if I got in anywhere else (I know I got waitlisted at Maryland). If I thought more about that decision, I could have thought about other options, like going to a community college or just not doing the school thing for a while (which is what I did eventually anyway). And then I remember that I like to think that everything happens for a reason (something Nate and Lisa discussed briefly on SFU last night), so I was meant to go to NYU. Not for acedemic reasons, but for social reasons (I had some interesting experiences while I was there- some good, some not so good). So... yeah, tomorrow's Mardi Gras.

March 4 6:15 PM
Listening to: U2- "Joshua Tree"
Site of the Day: Zoltan the Adequate (Toronto's Finest Geek Magician)
Interesting News Story of the Day: U.S. May Consider Resolution Withdrawal
Sept. 11 Suspect Probably in Afghanistan
Actors Guild Warns Against Blacklisting
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Rachel Weisz was born on March 7th! A celebrity I actually have heard of and even like (although the only thing I really remember her in is "The Shape of Things"- can't wait for the movie to be released). And Ruthie Henshall was also born on the 7th. Are more and more celebrities putting their birthdays out there? How did miss these 2 the other times I've looked for people with my birthday?

I wouldn't mind getting out and relaxing somewhere like Joshua Tree or southern Utah. I think if I have time to travel this year, I should go somewhere that is a combination of relaxing and active (somewhere like Utah). Maybe I'll go out to Grand Junction and stay with Josh. Then I could have a relaxing, active, and inexpensive trip. Or if I have enough time, I could do a road trip out there (and make sure the car rental company doesn't track speed).

I enjoyed having one more day of semi-rest today as the rest of my week and weekend will be busy. I slept in this morning and didn't do too much today, mentally or physically. Now hopefully I've completely gotten rid of the virus-thing (if that's what it was).

I think I found someone to go to the Tori concert with me- Katie from my theatre class. She said she wanted to go, but I never trust people. Hopefully it will work out.

I think I might watch "Chelsea Walls" tonight.

March 5 4:15 PM
Listening to: Sarah McLachlan- "Solace"
Site of the Day: A Dent in the Tori Universe
Interesting News Story of the Day: When Cabs Won't Stop, a Little Pinch May Help
Second-Generation Low-Fare Airlines Raise Standards
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Two years ago on this day (well, technically, the night before) I had a dream about Hussein wanting to blow up the world.

And speaking of dreams, I remember the dream I had in between hitting the snooze button:
I was in a car on a sort of road trip with 2 guys I didn't know. We were on the Baltimore Beltway and they were in charge of directions. We got off the Beltway and took back roads to Main St. in Ellicott City. When I noticed where we were, I was happy. We made a stop at a general store and Abby was there. She was a year older than in real life and was sitting at a table doing some kind of craft project. But I think I found her in a different room sitting on the floor. I wondered where Neil & Maxine were, so I picked Abby up and took her with me while trying to find them. I think that's when Abby sat down at the crafts table. Then I saw Alix Dale (she really does wind up in my dreams often), and she was trying to explain something about a CD or something music related- I don't really remember that part anymore. Then I was back on the road trip. I looked out the window and saw we were on Liberty Rd. near Caroltown Mall. I asked the guy driving where we were trying to go, and he said I-70. I told the driver that there was a much easier way to get to I-70- we didn't need to get off the Beltway and drive all over Maryland. Then I was on a school bus driving on ridiculously curvy and icy roads, and the bus driver kept turning around to talk to the woman in the front seat. That made me nervous. Then some guy on the bus walked down to the front door, opened it, leaned out, and threw up. Ick. Maybe I ran into Alix after this part. The longer I'm awake, the fuzzier the details get. Oh well.

I shouldn't have hit the snooze so much though. I originally woke up before the alarm, and even though I felt quite awake, I saw what a dreary day it was and decided to go back to sleep (and kept going back to sleep each time the alarm woke me). I'm always more tired in the morning when I do that.

I still don't have as much energy as I normally do. I wonder what I can do to change that. I can't think of anything I'm doing differently besides slowing down my life. Maybe I need to stay super-busy in order to have the energy to do everything. Or maybe I have some sort of lingering virus with the only symptom being fatigue.

Tonight I have to go train someone on some software. Fun.

Going to try to get to bed early-ish tonight. Then I'll try to sleep in a little on Friday. I'd really like to not need that much sleep this weekend since I'll be out late and busy during the day. Maybe having people here will give me more energy.

And thanks Neil, Maxine, and Abby for my fun CD's (Audra McDonald's "Happy Songs" and "Chicago: Music From the Miramax Motion Picture"). Maybe we can listen to them when you're here this weekend.

Also part of the reason I had trouble falling asleep was that my teeth hurt. Don't know why I didn't do anything about it.

The past 2 March 6th entries have been awful. I'm going to change that pattern today (I hope)!

So it snowed/sleeted/rained today. The streets were pretty messy when I left this morning and it was still snowing when I got home (it's snowing anymore though). I decided to skip human development (even though I like the class) today. I was using the weather as an excuse (an excuse for myself- attendance isn't required in that class) but really it was more so I could get stuff done before this weekend. So far I've coloured my hair and did some work. Before my groceries get delivered tonight (hope there isn't any trouble with that because of the weather- don't know what it's like wherever they are coming from), I need to clean the apartment and call this guy about his computer problems. I heard from a technician that I should try to reset the battery and then, leaving the battery out, plug it into the wall socket and try to turn it on. If that doesn't work, he'll have to send it back to Toshiba. And this, my friends, is why I like Dell. Two things I mean to do today (go to the bank and get Jay a birthday card) I didn't do because the sidewalks were messy and I didn't feel like running around for things that weren't completely necessary. I can easily do those 2 things tomorrow or Saturday.

I have more energy today. Wish I could predict when I will and won't have energy. Then I can save things that require energy for the days I have it. That would be too convenient, of course.

I really don't feel bad about my birthday this year. I think because the last few years I've been in a negative mood for other reasons, it's made my birthday seem like a negative thing. But this year things are okay and I'm barely paying attention to the fact that it's my birthday. In fact, I feel happy today. I got an electronic card from Eytan, an email from Jon, and an Amazon gift certificate from Carol & Les (that was so nice of them). And it's early. Soon Neil, Maxine, and Abby will get here and later Paula and Harvey are coming over and then tonight is "ALLM".

Everyone came up Friday afternoon. Around 6:00, we all (Neil, Maxine, Abby, Paula, Harvey, me) gathered here for a quick dinner, and then Paula and I went to see "ALLM". The negative aspects I anticipated (Jeremy Irons, Jessica Boevers, the performers using mics) but I was pleasantly surprised with the performances of Danny Gurwin, Michele Pawk, and Marc Kudisch. And seeing the show meant understanding what this show is really about. There is quite a lot of dialogue, especially in Act II, that you completely miss from listening to the cast recording. I also enjoyed the time period (turn of the century Sweden) and of course the music (Sondheim is really unbelievable). And Paula really enjoyed it, which made me happy.

One thing Abby did on Friday that I thought was interesting was when she went over to my bookshelf filled with a variety of books and found the 2 Dr. Suess books I have and took them off the shelf. I guess she recognised the lettering on the spine of the books?

Saturday morning, Neil, Maxine, Abby, and I went to the Planetarium for a childrens show and then walked around the museum for a bit. Then we met Paula and Harvey at Norma's- yum.

Then I came home- made some phone calls and had some caffeine in hopes that I wouldn't get tired while I was out last night (guess it worked). I talked to Carol and left messages for Eytan and Jeff- Jeff called last night as I was walking to Radio City and Eytan called this morning while he was driving to Baltimore- hate when he calls me for 5 minutes while he's driving).

Then I met Katie at Radio City for the Tori concert. She was truly amazing. In her white outfit and red hair, she looked like a sprite or fairy. Jeffrey Gaines was the opening act. I remember Jeanie (from NYU used to like one of his songs in '93- I think it was called something like "Love Disappears". He didn't play that one, but he did play one song I knew and kind of liked ("Hero in Me"). He played for about 20 minutes which was just the right length. I hate when opening acts play almost as long as the headliner. Tori played for about 2 hours, I think. I wasn't really paying attention to the time. It was much longer than when I saw her in Phoenix. She only played a little over an hour there, which was disappointing. Anyway, I had a brownie (the last one) before the show, and it gave me the pefect high. I started feeling the effects just as I sat down and it lasted until about 20 minutes after it ended. It didn't make me tired at all. It made me happy and aware of things around me and I had lots of thoughts about life in general. Highlights of the show for me were "Wampum Prayer", "Little Amsterdam", "Precious Things", "Wednesday", "Horses" (which I have in my head today), and "Tear in Your Hand". Before she played "Cool On Your Island" (from her Y Kan't Tori Read album), she commented that she has read and heard "our" comments about it not being a good album and that she's grown up since then and wanted to play a song from it. It sounded richer than the studio version- I guess that came from growing up and . I tried not to pay too much attention to "I Can't See New York", but I wound up thinking about current events/media/celebrities/etc anyway. It didn't bring me down though. What did bring me down slightly on and off was when I realised how happy I was to be there. This really bothered me. Why can't I be happy and just enjoy being happy? Why does being happy seem to make me nervous? When did this happen? I tried to think about that during the concert on and off but didn't get very far. This is something I should think about but right now isn't a good time.

After the concert, Katie and I went to Connolly's (and got the last 2 seats at the bar). There was a group of people there (I think they were all cousins and friends of cousins and stuff) and none of them had been to New York before- some were from Texas and some from Fort Wayne, IN. One guy looked like Harry Potter, the one girl in the group was really cute and friendly (and pretty drunk). Two of the guys were really young and annoying. They did me a favour though. I am now happy with my age- I no longer want to be 21. They reminded me of how irritating 21 year olds can be- I don't want to go there again.

Today Neil & Maxine left at 9:30 and since then I've felt melancholy- the way I tend to get when guests leave. The emotion is stronger though because I'm a bit tired (only slept about 4 hours last night). I also just feel kind of out of it. Wonder what SFU will be like in this mood. Guess I'll find out at 9:00. I always tape it though since each episode too much to absorb in one watching, so if my mood alters my perception of the show, I can see what I think of it the next time I watch it (one night early next week).

This morning I went to CVS to drop off 2 rolls of film and to get a birthday card for Jay (and picked up a few other things as well). It's in Spanish but had a somewhat pretty picture on the front (he'll like it- water & palm trees), so I got it. Neil got him a boring card, Paula got him a mean one, so I guess that left me to go with the Spanish one. It's even funnier since when I was putting the card in the envelope, I saw that there is a translation on the back and the card is for your brother. So I crossed out "brother" and put "uncle". Paula's going to call him on the 14th to see what his problem is. I'm sure it's the same you-all-don't-treat-Sherry-well-and-she's-uncomfortable-around-you, but that really doesn't much sense since we're all very nice to her and listen to her (boring) stories whenever we do manage to get together. Looking forward to hearing what Paula learns on Friday.

Maryland's final game tonight, against Virginia. Go Terps!

I don't like this version of the "Cellblock Tango". They don't find the humour in it and several of them sound too similar.

Anyway, I couldn't really get into SFU last night since I was still kind of out of it. But I caught enough to realise this was the "up-down" episode. In other words, it went from high-stress arguments to comical slice-of-life moments very quickly. And I liked the last scene between Ruth and her sister's friend (Kathy Bates' character). And I think I'm really going to like the direction they're taking with those two. Maybe I'll watch this episode again tomorrow night.

Question about Musician's Union strike: What about musicians who are playing in a touring production? Why aren't they striking if they're in the local 802 as well? I don't understand that much about unions, I guess.

Today was a day that people were in my way. Why aren't people more aware that people are all around them? Or are they aware and just don't care? I hate the Hunter escalators. People stop when they get to the bottom and don't move out of the way. There are TONS of people behind them waiting to get off, but instead we get a pile up. So people were in my way today on the escalators, on the sidewalks, on the subway... It was driving me crazy.

But now I'm having a light-hearted evening. It's probably a combination of the caffeine I had this afternoon so I could get a lot done this afternoon/evening and the fact that I'm almost finished everything I needed to get done today.

Dream last night: I remember little details but not the whole plot. I was in a house with a screened-in porch. I think there was snow on the ground. Andy was there. Another woman was there and invited me to something on Sunday (it was currently Saturday). Then we were both driving from somewhere on the east coast (possibly Blacksburg or Baltimore) to Minnesota (I think we were in separate cars but were able to talk to each other) and she said, "I guess you won't be going to the thing I invited you to tomorrow," and I realised I had forgotten about it. I told her this trip was last minute and I was sorry- when I originally accepted the invitation, I thought I'd be in town for it. That's all I remember.

Either I'm having a weird-eye day or my eyes are changing again. I think my right eye may be going from near-sighted to far-sighted again, but so far it hasn't hurt my vision- earlier today, things were sharper when viewing from a distance, which is a great thing. Now, I'm having a blood vessle issue in my right eye which is irritating my eye. That seems to be happening in my right eye too often recently. Maybe it's time to wear my glasses for a few days. I just need to remember to take out my contacts tonight.

I really like the West 80's. Today I went up to Drip Cafe. I've been wanting to check it out for over a year, and I'm glad I finally did. It was just what I was looking for- a quiet, comfortable place with good food and drinks to go to in the daytime. Just wish it was more convenient for me to get to it. So the West 80's is a cute area- cute shops, cute cafes, cute people. I should make myself go up there more often. Think I'll go there to study for my midterms next week.

Just realised that if I manange to do the road trip thing this summer, I should stop by Phoenix and visit Matt and Brie and check out what the area is like now.

I'm going to watch SFU tonight.

I had my recurring dream about being in a performance and having things go wrong. This one was a musical or dance performance (not sure which) and was at Sudbrook. I had trouble with the steps, trouble making my entrance, trouble getting on my costume in the dressing room, and something happened in the locker room (don't remember what happened there though).

Think I'll go watch a movie now. I think a movie will cause the least amount of eye strain besides sleeping, and it's too early to go to sleep. Now hopefully I can pick a movie that won't cause too much mental strain since I still have a bit of a headache from wearing glasses.

Ah, I found the perfect thing- PBS is showing the London revival of "Kiss Me Kate".

There was hard sleet falling from the sky on my way home this afternoon. I think it's supposed to be slightly warmer (but still rainy) the next few days though.

I got an email from Rebecca (Brian's fiancee) that since she has to be up here for work in May, that they would rather save their weekend up here for then and not come in March. Fine with me- I'd rather spread out my visitors. Neil, Maxine, and Abby were here last weekend, this weekend Rebecca and Rose will be here, and the weekend of April 4th, Paula and Harvey will be here. So if Brian and Rebecca came the weekend of the 28th, that would be a lot of visitors in a row.

Don't know what we're doing this weekend, but I need to make some time to study for my theatre midterm (there's a ridiculous amount of material that she expect us to know and she's a tough grader)- I can wait until Monday or Tuesday to study for human development.

I lost my last web design job today. Now I'll really forget all my skills. Except for a few random, quick consulting jobs here and there, I do very little work in the technology field these days.

Can someone tell me WHY the St. Patrick's Day parade is on Monday? Yes, I know that is the date of the holiday, but I thought parades were usually on Sundays. And actually, I think last year the St. Patrick's Day parade was on Saturday. So why would they make the parade on Monday? Commuters are not going to be happy. Wonder if I should leave a little early for class Monday morning.

So tomorrow, I need to head down to Chinatown to pick up Rebecca (since she still isn't supposed to carry heavy things, like luggage) and then we'll meet up with Rose later tomorrow night. I doubt I'll be writing much (if at all) tomorrow or Saturday.

Not that I have much to say.

I remember a snippet of my dream last night. Chad Brannon was in it, and I was sharing a bed with him. I have no idea why he was in my dream. I hardly ever have a dream with actors in it, and I barely know who this guy is. But that's not as strange as that one dream I had with actors from the TV show OZ in it- I've never even seen that show.

I still really love most of the music from "Jekyll & Hyde".

Yep, I really don't have anything to say right now.

I met Rebecca at Port Authority (actually found her right away, unlike what happened when meeting Andy there) and from there we went to the Pierpont Morgan Library. That place was obnoxious. They searched our bags for a while and then said we had to check them (why bother searching then?). After I paid the admission, the woman told the people behind us that most of the exhibits were closed. I didn't want to pay $8 to look at a few sketches, so Rebecca didn't pay the admission which made it $4 for each of us (still not worth it). The guard in the one room that was open was obnoxious- chased us across the room to see our admission buttons. There were scary-looking security guards in front of the shop (why?). Definitely not worth going. I don't even think I'd want to go when they re-open the exhibits in 2006.

After a quick bite to eat, we came back to my apartment since Rebecca was exhausted (one of her medications knocks her out). Rose got here about 9:00, and Rebecca fell asleep right after that. So it was a nice quiet evening at home.

Saturday we went down to Toys in Babeland since Rebecca wanted to look around there and then we went back up to midtown for Rose's audition. It turned out they gave her the wrong address, so after checking the phone book for the address of the opera company's theatre, we hurried up to 76th St. She got there just in time for her 4:00 audition. She thinks she did okay and will find out next month whether she gets to go study in Italy or not.

We were going to see a show Saturday night, but we couldn't find one that they wanted to see, so instead we went down to Java N Jazz. I liked that place a lot even though I got sick there. I guess it was eating clam chowder after eating extremely little the past 2 days (cereal Friday morning, cheese sandwich Friday afternoon, and a bagel Saturday morning). But that place is a great place to people-watch. I felt bad for Rose since I wasn't feeling great the last hour there and Rebecca was falling asleep much of the time, so I tried to ignore how I felt and keep up the conversation.

Rose left Sunday morning and Rebecca slept much of the morning (I really hope she either gets used to the medication or switches to something that doesn't make you exhausted). I couldn't do much while she was sleeping on the couch, so I spent some time looking through things in my closets (really need to organise them one day). I looked at a photo album from '96- everyone looked so young and those events really feel like they happened a long time ago. Eventually, Rebecca got up, packed, and I went with her to the Zen Palate on 9th to meet her brother. It was a gorgeous day yesterday, so after her brother showed up, I took a little walk down 9th before going home.

When I got home, I was exhausted so I didn't do much besides check out the NCAA Tournement selections and watch SFU. These are the comments I wrote while watching:
- I like the idea that Keith and David wouldn't automatically go to a predominantly gay resort- too bad they made the resort dull rather than show they can have a good time at a predominantely straight resort, the scene with them singing in bed was fun- it's nice to see fun on the show again (last season got way too depressing)
I knew I'd be liking the direction of Ruth and Bettina's relationship- I still think Ruth is the healthiest character on the show, not sure I like the shoplifting though
I'm so glad they gave Claire a reason to get excited about art school and I loved that her relationship with that loser ended (I hope it ended)
I like that Rico is understanding that he has weakness
And what a sweet scene with David and Keith singing in the car... until the traffic part
Oy- next week looks quite intense.

I remembered another snippet of my dream from Friday night. It involved another actor- Robert Sean Leonard. We were on Greenspring Ave. in Baltimore at some auditorium for something theatre related (I think it might have been a lecture) and he needed directions to Smith Ave. Those 2 roads really intersect in real life and they did in my dream, but the area looked different in my dream. I easily could have pointed the way to Smith Ave. but he was directionally challenged, so I walked with him to his destination. I don't remember what happened after that, but I think it was fun.

Got some information about the theatre midterm on Thursday. I doubt we'll be able to include enough information in 50 minutes that will satisfy her, but there's nothing we can do about that. Gotta start studying for that tonight.

Looks like I'll be working in Baltimore during Hunter's spring break- coincidentally good timing.

Oh, and while looking through pictures yesterday, I noticed themes. Currently, I take a lot of pictures of buildings & skylines. When I lived in Arizona, I took a lot of pictures of sunrises & sunsets. In '94, when I first started taking a lot of pictures, I took mostly people pictures.

And speaking of pictures, I barely took any over the weekend except for Saturday night when I took several in my living room of us acting goofy.

I suppose I should write about world politics at some point, but so far I haven't figured out what exactly I want to write. I guess because I haven't read enough on any of the issues to have valid points to make. And I can't afford to read too much about these issues. I already find myself not caring about things in my personal life because these issues seem more important, and if I took the time to read more of the news, I think I will become obsessed and ignore more of my personal life. I find it hard to find balance between my life and the world in general and how my world fits into the entire world.

So today I went to the UWS to do some studying. I had lunch at Good Enough to Eat and then walked up to Drip Cafe for a change of scenery. I'm still not feeling too confident about either test but hopefully the information will sink in before Thursday. I feel like I'm half paying attention to my life and half paying attention to world issues. Now I don't know how I feel about either of these things with only paying attention to them halfway. I really need to learn how to balance this kind of thing better. I don't know if it will get easier, the longer we have to do this or if it will get more difficult.

I really don't care for Matt Bogart's "Why God, Why" from "Miss Saigon". He rushes through it and doesn't have enough feeling.

Matt & Sylvia stopped by Harvey & Paula's office yesterday. Matt congratulated Harvey on his current successes- what a great situation! Matt & Sylvia are still planning their trip to Israel. British Airways cancelled their flight to Israel so they had to re-book on El Al. I normally don't freak out as much as most people about this stuff, but right now, I'd rather not go to any other country right now unless I really had to be there. And I don't understand how our country is telling us to look as unAmerican as possible when travelling overseas. I understand not wanting to draw attention to yourself by wearing a shirt with an American flag, but I don't see how you can appear unAmerican without changing your accent and/or language. Personally, I feel bad for Canadians travelling overseas, since 99.9% of people will assume they are from the US.

There seem to be more and more nasty bus drivers. And now that it's the same offense harrassing them as it is harrassing police and security officials, it's even harder to deal with them. One woman got really snippy with me today when my Metrocard had a "read error". I'd say the card reader on the bus fails 1 out of every 10 times and usually they just wave you through, but the woman today yelled at me and told me I had to go get my card looked at.

And Mr. Murphy has been at work again- buses show up quickly when it's warm out (yesterday) and take forever when it's cold (today).

I was so exhausted this afternoon but forced myself to study. Not much penatrated though (maybe I know more than I think, but I'm still pretty worried). Fortunately, I seem to be getting a second wind, so I'll finish this entry and then go back to studying.

Paula and Harvey are coming up for the day on Friday, so we're doing dinner (probably at Los Dos Molinos) before they head home. Glad they're coming Friday instead of yesterday like they were going to, as I wouldn't have wanted to take the time for dinner with 2 midterms tomorrow.

So now I am giving myself a much needed break before I try to go to bed (I've actually been needing way too many breaks this week).

I don't know what to do with my break though. I don't want to read anymore newspapers- I've reached my limit for the day. Don't want to watch TV since that might wake me up too much and I need to fall asleep quickly tonight (so I'm having a bowl or two). So what do I do with my break? Guess I'll type here for a while. Don't really have anything to say though. Oh! I found a poem I wrote in the summer of '98, right before I moved to Phoenix. It was when Daniel & I moved out of our apartment in Parkville and house-sat for Jason & Caroline since Brian was driving us crazy. It was very convenient of Jason & Caroline to go away for those 2 weeks. Anyway, the poem is in my bedroom and I'm comfortable on my couch, so don't feel like going to get it right now; otherwise I'd type it here. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow.

I finally heard from Robyn the other day. Turns out she was in Vancouver for a little while, taking care of some things. We're getting together Saturday.

And now I am going to bed.

Thanks to SFU, I've had "Rocket Man" in my head all week. Maybe they'll get a different song in my head next week.

I walked by the TV on the 3rd floor of Hunter today and watched a bit of the news coverage. Tears formed before I even absorbed any of what the anchor was saying- don't know why that happened. I watched a few minutes of it before I realised that was a bad idea and I really needed to be studying for my human development test.

Speaking of the human development test, I think I got around an 84%. Some of the questions were a bit vague. This was my favourite:
In a 2 parent household where both parents work, who is most likely to change the diapers?
A. the mother
B. both equally
C. the father
D. neither, they will hire someone else to do it
I think it would depend on the household, but I chose B since that seemed the most reasonable. But I can picture some households where the other answers seem possible. Bad question.

As for the theatre test, I would give myself an A. I can't believe how much information I managed to absorb over the past few days even though it felt like nothing was sinking in. I answered every question with more information than I would normally write, just because she seems so picky about things. One of the essays had a little less information than the others, but for most professors, it would be enough. I can't believe how much we had to do in 50 minutes. There were 6 short answers and 3 essays. I took me 55 minutes, and I'm pretty quick. There's another class right after ours; I wonder how much everyone else left unfinished.

The entry is jumping all over the place.

As I was walking up to the 6th floor for my human development test, the fire alarm started going off. A few minutes later, the fire marshal (or whatever he was) took forever to tell us what was going on, and it was a good minute before he said that there was no reason to be alarmed. Couldn't he have said that first? That was scary. I was walking up to the 6th floor slightly scared that I should be walking down and out of the building.

Then I came home and heard screaming out my window. I was scared until I saw it was just a protest. Guess it's time to start living in fear again.

But tonight I will try to ignore current events and concentrate on fun things like basketball and pot and Jade Mint Iced Tea. I deserve a night of relaxing.

But one thing I did just learn. The reason I've been hearing more honking than usual is because I live right near a vehicle checkpoint.

And for the past 15 minutes, I've been watching the news. Why can't I stay away? I'm turning it off right now.

Woke up around 7:30 this morning even though I didn't get to sleep until after 3:00. Guess I was just ready to be awake.

Got an email from Roybn this morning. She's sick and had to cancel tomorrow's plans. She was worried she had the Asian flu since she just got back from Vancouver and the plane she was on had just come from Hong Kong, but fortunately she just has a regular flu or something like that. Hope she gets better soon- she has another show coming up.

As of this morning, I'm in first place in Brian's pool. Of course it's early and I'll most likely not win the thing (I've only come close to winning any pool- never wound up in first place). What got me in first place was picking Tulsa. Brian's doing 1 point for each correct pick in round 1, 2 points in round 2, then 4 points, 8 points, etc. and then you multiply the number of points per round by the seed number, so since I picked Tulsa, I got 1 x 13 for that game. My only problem right now (and of course I'll have many more problems by the end of the weekend) is that I had Weber St. going to the Sweet 16 and then losing to Kentucky. My other probable mistakes was picking Michigan St. over Colorado and picking Butler to go too far (what is my obsession with #12 seeds?). Wish I could see everyone else's picks. I love March Madness!

Jon has high stakes for his pool. There are only 2 people, Jon and Michelle. Whoever wins gets to pick where they're going on their vacation, sans Steven, in the summer of '04. Michelle wants to go to a beach and Jon would rather do a beach vacation with Steven and do a sightseeing vacation by themselves since the beach is easier with a 2 year old than a sightseeing trip. I actually agree with Jon on this one.

I know this doesn't make any sense, but my right eye blood vessle issue feels better since I took my left contact out of my eye. Okay, the whole story. This afternoon, my eye had enough of dealing with blood vessel/contact irritation, so I went to take them out. I took a while, but I finally got the left one out. Still can't get the right one out though- don't know why I'm having so much trouble. After a few hours of dizziness from wearing one contact, I've mostly gotten used to it. Actually, I can see better like this since I can see a small amount out of my left eye when I don't have the left contact in or am wearing glasses (I know that makes very little sense, but that's how it's always been). And I can barely see anything without the prescription in my right eye, but with glasses or contacts, I can see fairly well. So anyway, since I took out my left contact a few hours ago, the blood vessel in my right eye isn't irritating it. I'll still try to take out the right contact later and wear glasses for a week even though it hurts my eyes and gives me a headache. If it's still bothering me in a few weeks, I'll make an appointment with Dr. Billig for when I'm down in Baltimore in the middle of April.

Did some research at the PF today and then later had dinner at Teodora (it was easy) with Paula and Harvey (who are now on their way home).

Tomorrow is clean/deal-with-mail/watch-basketball/pick-theatre-research-paper-topic day.

But first I wanted to say how happy I am that Michigan State won tonight! My reason for picking them to win was that they always seem to do well in the tournement even if they didn't have the best season, and it looks like I was right (tonight). Ha, Brian! You said my picks looked good except for picking Michigan St. Now if only Butler could win as well, then I'd feel really confident about staying in first place through the weekend. Of course, I don't know what everyone else picked.

Lots of close games last night. I was so excited when Butler won by one point! Tres exciting! What was more exciting though (for me, anyway) was the Maryland game. That 3-point shot Blake made in the last few seconds was incredible enough, but with 5 seconds to go, Drew Nicholas dribbled the entire length of the court and with .5 seconds left, he made a 3-point shot for a 75-73 finish! It may not have been pretty, but a win's a win.

Watched Illinois' sloppy playing at the end of their game. I expected better from them.

Ran errands today- it's nice out. Today I also answered a ton of email (finally) and tried to find a research topic for my theatre paper (didn't pick anything yet though- I can't figure out a point of view for anything). Now I just need to clean and deal with the mail.

Right now though, I'm going to watch the end of the Marquette/Missouri game (which is about to go into overtime). I should go through the mail while I watch.

They're into the second overtime now. I have a feeling Arizona will win this one.

What an amazing, fast-paced game. And Arizona advances to the Sweet Sixteen (and keeps my Final Four picks intact).

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about the point of life. What an exhausting topic. I seem to be in a "why bother?" phase. Why bother trying to accomplish anything major? Why bother caring about little things? Why bother being upset about anything? What's the point of all of it anyway?

I did a little cleaning tonight. I stopped when I went to take out a bag of trash and the shute was closed. I really wish they would remember to open it again after they take all the trash out. So since I couldn't do the trash until tomorrow, I left some straightening for tomorrow as well. At least I got a start. Plus I dealt with the entire pile of mail. I love when I don't procrastinate on Saturday; it leaves more of Sunday free to relax.

Tomorrow will be a TV Sunday- basketball and SFU. And maybe I'll check out the Academy Awards show for a minute or 2, but I really don't want to watch too much of Hollywoods' views on politics, and that's what the show will be focusing on. And they'll all have to say something- if a celebrity didn't mention the war during their speech, they will be considered uncaring and/or unaware.

I'm really routing for Michigan St. & Butler today since those are my highest seeds I have advancing to the Sweet Sixteen. So, if no one else in Brian's pool picked them (I doubt many people had Butler, if any), I should still be in first place at the end of the weekend.

Not much else to say today.

Now Maryland is off to a good start against Xavier. 32-20 with 6:27 left in the 1st half.

Organised the last 2 months of pictures. Now I just need to put them up on my pictures page. Maybe I'll do that next weekend if I don't have to go down to Baltimore. Oh, I don't think I wrote about that yet. There's about a 50% chance I'll need to work in Baltimore next Friday and Saturday. I'll know by Wednesday.

Decided to wait until 10:00 to watch SFU since I was still in the middle of a few things at 9:00.

I decided not to go to human development today since I needed to finish up some stuff before meeting David this evening. He's driving up to Boston to switch cars with Rebecca (so Rebecca can drive an automatic- she can't drive a manual with her illness) and he's stopping here in both directions. Tonight we're going to see Jesse Harris at the Living Room and on his way back next week, we're seeing Adam Levy at (I think) the Living Room as well.

Oscars? Predictable. Not thrilled Eminem won for best song.

Why don't I like women's college hoops? Not having any upsets is boring.

As for my men's tourney pool, I am in first place but one guy is not so far behind me. The Sweet Sixteen is usually where I get screwed, so we'll see. I'd love to know who everyone else picked.

I got home, read the news, and one of the articles I read made me realise why I've been congested for the past few days and why my eyes have been bothering me. I have allergies. I haven't had seasonal allergies since around '98, so I didn't put together the symptoms. So I took some drowsy formula since that was all I had in my medicine cabinet (think I'll look for better stuff tomorrow). Between the few drinks I had in the middle of the day and the allergy medicine, I was knocked out. I slept around 10 hours and missed my theatre class today (at least it wasn't a bad one to miss since nothing big was happening).

I've realised I'm becoming less conventional than I have been in recent years. I wrote a little about that yesterday but didn't have too many details. I've just noticed a few signs. It's easier to look back at your life to notice trends/patterns, so it's odd noticing a trend happening while it's happening.

Oh, and since I didn't write an entry yesterday, I haven't yet mentioned seeing Jesse Harris at the Living Room. David and I got there around 9:00 and stood in the back until the previous band finished (they were pretty good but don't remember their name- I could check, but it's not really worth it). I liked Jesse Harris' blues and Latin-based tunes but everything else was either too country-sounding or too generic. By the middle of the second set, it all sounded the same to me, so I left a little early. It was already 12:30 and I had to get up early yesterday morning. David stayed and got back here around 2:30. I stayed up to let him in, so I got a little bit of work done at that point and didn't have to get up quite as early yesterday. The crowd at the Living Room was less pretentious than I thought they would be. It was actually an interesting, diverse group of people, and I actually felt like I fit in (something I don't feel too often). Nora Jones was at the show- David went to talk to her for a few minutes. Anyway, it was a fun, laid-back night and I get to do it again when Adam Levy's playing there on April 3rd.

Still don't know if I need to be in Baltimore this weekend. I should call and find out now so I know whether or not I need to pack tonight and find out the train schedule.

I finally picked a topic for my theatre paper- Audiences in Restoration England.

Now I'm resting for a few hours before bed. I haven't packed yet, so I'll have to come home and do that in between classes. I just couldn't be anymore productive tonight.

There is some noise outside that sort of sounds like bombs (maybe it just sounds like that because I've been watching the news too much- actually, I haven't been watching too much at all). I guess it's either thunder (but it sounds way too loud and irregular to be thunder) or construction (but isn't it too late for construction to be going on?). It's been going on for several hours. Hopefully it will stop soon.

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