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Wednesday, I felt like I was walking around with a sign on that said, "Be nice to me" with an optional "or else" at the end. Three separate incidents occurred that made me feel happy:

1.) I went to Buckman to get my class registration PIN # from Dr. McMahon (my new advisor) around 1:15. He wasn't in his office, but waited around, figuring he was probably around because I know 2 things: a.) I had emailed him so he knew I was coming, and b.) he's very social and was probably somewhere on the floor. And I was right! He was down the hall next door talking to Prof. Gramm, my econ prof. So while I was standing around, looking at the comics on the outside of McMahon's door, I thought I heard my name said in their conversation, but I chalked it up to self-centeredness. When McMahon came out, he laid a hand on my shoulder and said, "Rebecca! We were just talking about you!" (Pretty good face/name recognition for a guy that's met me once.) He said that Gramm had said, "Rebecca's one of my best students; how did she end up with you [McMahon] as an advisor!?" Heh: professor jokes. But it made me happy that Gramm thinks I'm one of his best students.

2. After lunch, I went to Prof. Doyle's office to drop off the remaining páginas de reflexión (one-page "reflections" on a piece of literature that we've read in class) that I have to do for the semester. Later in the day, I received an email, saying (something in Spanish but I have translated it to English): "Thank you for dropping off your three last páginas de reflexión. Now you don't have to write any more! Well done. I want to mention also that your contributions (those in the páginas de reflexión as well as those in class) are always excellent and very sharp." *big grin*

3. I'm not a total teacher's pet. This last one actually has to do with a student. I was sitting in Olivia and Laura's room, when Tulisha passed by on her way to make some Crystal Light. She stopped in to compliment how nice my hair looks, in Search (which we have together). I usually straighten it on Tuesday/Thursdays and I like to play with it in class because it's getting kind of long and nice to play with.

I think the moral of the story is that I like to be complimented on things that I put a lot of effort into. Saying that you like my shoes or something wouldn't do it for me, but my hair or my schoolwork, yes. So I am pleased.

My boyfriend and my dog having some good times in the kitchen.

As promised...

An artsy birthday self-portrait (with new earrings).

A kind of weird-looking birthday portrait (with new earrings again).

Cake close-up.

Cake in the box. You can bet that we devoured this during the Cake Break.

This isn't from my birthday, but I felt like posting it. It's LAURA, Medium Buddy!

In an hour or so, I'll be leaving for Easter Break in St. Louis, and I'm taking my Drew with me. What that means for you: you won't hear much from me until maybe Sunday or Monday (or sometime down the line), but the bonus is that I plan on taking LOTS of pictures (and actually keeping them this time) of when we go to the zoo, Eleven Eleven Mississippi, the park, etc. So hold your horses: patience is a virtue and it won't go unrewarded. I guess.

Prof. White:
I told a friend of mine that there's going to be a partial lunar eclipse on my 21st birthday (March 14, 2006), and he told me that people react to alcohol more (so it requires less alcohol to become totally smashed) during eclipses; he said it had something to do with gravity changing the blood or alcohol flow to the brain, like the tide cycle. This sounds like complete crap to me; could it be true?

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You are right, Rebecca. This idea is complete and unadulterated crap. You'll still be able to enjoy your birthday, though! Cheers,

Jay

Sorry, dudes. I'm trying to pass college and it is hard. Something to look forward to: hmm. I took birthday pictures, so.. settle down and wait for that.

Happy birthday to me, and Albert Einstein, and Taylor Hanson!
The sad thing is that I have to go to classes today. Boo.

This evening, Olivia and I sat down and had a serious one-on-one conversation about bowel movements. It was a full 15-minute, focused discourse; it even would have made Dooce proud.

Tonight we went to Eleven Eleven Mississippi for my mom's birthday. The food was pretty good: Tyler and I had pork tenderloin over garlic mashed potatoes (Tyler's with cider syrup, mine without), Mom had bacon-wrapped duck, and Dad had mahi-mahi with arugula and couscous. During dinner, Dad told us about the terrorist drill they had at work, and I explained Calculus revolution functions to Ty. Then came dessert: my goodness. I had the Chocolate Bread Pudding (with marshmallows inside, smothered with pecan streusel, and topped with caramel ice cream) and Mom, Dad, and Ty had Crème Custard Napoleon (with carameled bananas and chocolate shavings).

Tottering out of Eleven Eleven (which should be exalted, if only for its Rufus Wainwright connotations), I complained about my Music of Latin America exam: how fair is it to ask me to identify whether a piece of music consisting only of a rattle shaking and a man's moaning comes from the Warao, Guarani, Suyá, etc. culture?????? NOT FAIR AT ALL. I described the hebu mataro rattle: a hollowed-out gourd/calabash, which, because it represents a head spirits, has slits cuts out of it to symbolize eyes, ears, nose, mouth; has quartz pebbles inside which grind up the inside of the gourd to make dust, and grind against each other to make sparks, and when the dust ignites, it makes a glow that leaks out of the slits, creating a supernatural-seeming effect which corresponds to its healing purpose in the Warao culture. In the car, I described the hoarotu shaman, which is pretty interesting, and told the story of the hoarotu shaman singing and killing the tape recorder, which you can read about on that link.

After all that talking, we came home and Mom opened her presents and liked them (except for receiving two copies of Kermit Ruffins; this sort of thing always happens, because the rest of us don't communicate with eachother.) And I gave Ty his Captain Awesome shirt, and he liked that.

Happiness ensues.

P.S. My midterm grades were as follows:
         Spanish Literature... A.
         Econonomics 101 ... A-.
         Astronomy ... A.
         Astronomy Lab ... A.
         Music of Latin America ... A.
         Search 202 ... A-.

I've got a headcold or something, and it's messing me up. I got severely confused on the phone several times yesterday, sneezed about 12 times in a row at Radioshack (much to the alarm of the guy at the counter trying to assist me in my search for a phone charger), and proclaimed that "anything is funnier if you add 'Tim' at the end of it" (which Tim Himself--Timself?--didn't think was funny, it's like my brother explained it: you can't tickle yourself.)

This morning I woke up because I was dreaming that someone was giving me a raspberry (or "zerbert" as Drew sometimes calls them) and I couldn't make them stop; I woke up in Zombie Position (sitting up with my back rigid, with my arms straight out in front of me, hair standing on end). Since waking up, I have watched 1.5 episodes of ER, eaten half a lunch of old pizza (which needs to be thrown out because I wanted to vomit after eating it.. but also before eating it, so maybe it's just me), watched Goodfellas (long, violent, too much cursing), picked my brother up from school (where I saw Miss Kehr and Miss Dueker and Mr Wisdom, all of whom remembered me and said hello fondly), watched Stir of Echoes (short, stupid even for a horror movie), saw my dog fall off the foot of my bed and laughed hard until I fell into a coughing fit and then a sneezing fit, watched Stigmata (long, stupid, violent), ate dinner with Mom and Ty, and watched The Usual Suspects (very good, saw both possible endings coming, loved it except for stupid Stephen Baldwin). Now I have taken my Nyquil and I am planning on watching Pulp Fiction or About a Boy, depending on my mood.

And this is how I am spending my time, when I can summon enough energy to walk from my room to the bathroom. Here I am experimenting with Lush.com's Mask of Magnaminty. It smells good.

Notice the rings under my eyes. All this means is that my cold is FORCING ME TO RELAX. I am being FORCED to kick back and enjoy this break, instead of doing all my homework the first second I am home. Lovely.

March 1, 2005; 2:32 PM.
"Hello, I am writing to ask if anyone has seen the tiger head to DePauw's mascot uniform. Rhodes College was privileged to host the SCAC Basketball Championships this past weekend. While the DePauw women took home the second place trophy, their mascot left its head behind. The Tiger head disappeared after halftime of the Southwestern/Sewanee game on Saturday night. A member of their pep band wore the head at halftime-that was the last time it was seen. If anyone knows of its whereabouts, please let me know-the head is valued at $700.00. -Dean Stackman"

March 2, 2005; 10:49 AM.
"Hello. It is with pleasure that I write to inform you that the tiger head magically appeared late last night on top of the Dr. Diehl statue in front of Burrows Library. I must say that the former Rhodes College President looked quite stunning. Thank you. -Dean Stackman"

...

:)