I still haven't worked out all of my problems with the upgrade to Movable Type 3.12. Because of this, I haven't been able to install the anti-comment-spam plugin MT-Blacklist. I just put up with it for a while but today I have been hit by so much spam that my webhost has temporarily disabled the script that runs my comments.

Fudge. I think I may have to do a complete reinstall. Hopefully commenting will be back sometime tonight and I won't just... say... lose my entire blog. Sigh.

I used to be a lot more interested/obsessed with my website traffic and trying to get new readers and joining every link-swap device and directory available. I think I'm kind of at a point now where I'd just like to know who's reading and whether they like it.

But Buzz was recently talking about BlogExplosion and I thought I'd give it a try. You surf around other people's sites and collect "credits" that translate into page views for other people who are surfing. It encourages people to explore new blogs and I've found a few interesting ones in my surfing.

What surprises me is that so many people are blogging about BlogExplosion. You only ever see the front page with the most recent posts, so that means that people have been talking about it recently. Do these people just talk about their blog statistics all the time, or has everyone just joined, like me?

Anyway, BlogExplosion. Try it - you might like it.

Wizbang is again hosting its Weblog Awards. I actually did surprisingly well last year! Nominations have begun if there's anything you'd like to nominate me (or your favorite sites) for...

I am ranked #3846 in the Blogosphere Ecosystem, which makes me a Slithering Reptile, two categories up from last year's Flippery Fish ranking. The first place finisher in my category last year, sweetness follows..., has already evolved into a Flappy Bird, so it looks like I'll have different competition this time. Wish me luck!

I've listed all of the categories in the extension. Visit the 2004 Weblog Awards nominations category to nominate sites!

Wednesday Wednesday Wednesday... all under one roof... for one night only. It's A Very Special Tuesday Night At The McN----s' On Wednesday, starring:

• srah blah blah (me first because I live there and I'm blogging this)
• Jezblog
• So Joyful!
• Box of Styrofoam Peanuts
• Matt's Happy Adventures
• The Life of Almond

and a bunch of suckahs who ain't got no blog.

I hate Movable Type 3.12. Any volunteers to help me troubleshoot? My application interface disappeared for a while, but for some reason is back. I don't know what's happening, but I suspect witchcraft. Hey, comments seem to work again but still don't show up in the application. WTF? I hate this!

Aspects of my many comment-problems seem to have been resolved. Take that, Movable Type 3.12! You are my biaaatch!

Comment at will.

Please?

Update: I hate you, MT-3.12.

I wonder what I was doing a year ago today, thort I, Let's see, that would be the October 2003 archives... and that would be which day? Ah, the 25th.

The 25th? Of October?

Holy shit, thort I in my very delicate and ladylike manner, I've been blogging for three years.

And so I have.

I have upgraded to Movable Type 3.12. Things are fishy. I am scared. I thought I had lost all of my comments before June 2003, but this may not be the case.

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Update: Apparently I have to manually approve all comments now. I will let you know if I figure out how to turn this off but in the meantime, you should probably assume your comment's gone through. Also, none of my comments are SHOWING UP on the front page. Who the hell knows why?

Update: Now new comments are showing up but the existing ones only do if you click on them. What madness is this??? WTF?

Whenever someone mentions "blogs" in class, my head pops up and - often - several heads will turn to look at me. I'm not sure why I've become the blog-representative of the world - even among people who have their own blogs - but I have. So there's this reflexive prairie-doggish action of head-popping whenever the word comes up, and it seems to be coming up much more often now than it did last year.

Blogs are everywhere now. I've never been one to hate the word and all of its derivatives, but the more I hear it... I'm really starting to.

[Jeopardy link via A Season of Mists]

Guess who's back?
Back again?
Katie's back.
Tell a friend!
Guess who's back guess who's back guess who's back guess who's back...

Several of my latest blogspam comments (now deleted) were left by someone identifying himself as "Richard Cabeza", which I think is possibly one of the most appropriate names possible for the verminous scum that spams.

It seems like every time I visit Tequila Mockingbird, she's right in the middle of a big plagiarism affair with people nicking entire posts from her site and passing them off as their own. Usually a sharp-eyed reader comes across these posts, points them out to Julia, then it slowly comes out that the culprit has stolen several other posts from other sites.

So when I read Tequila Mockingbird, I find myself reading through all of her posts and the comments others have left and watching the drama unfold. And then I visit the malefactor's website to see if they've apologized or made any reference to the hullaballoo (which they usually haven't). I read through their archives to see if I recognize anything else as stolen.

And I never do. It's never mine. *sniffles*

Why does no one ever want to steal anything from me? Am I not good enough to plagiarize? I'm pretty sure that if I actually did find that someone had stolen my content, I would be disgusted and angry and ready to jump up and down on them like a tiny little Mr Hyde, but I'm rather insulted that no one's even tried!

In the middle of the night last night, hours after the problems began:

Argon is down for emergency repair. We will update everyone shortly when the problem is fixed.
- Jaguar PC (formerly Aletia), worst hosting company EVER (said in tone of Comic Book Guy), regarding the server my website is hosted on

7.5 hours later:

There were some problems with the server software installs and data is now being transferred over now. The data transfer is taking quite a bit longer than anticipated because of the performance issues on the old drive. Some system files also needed to be fetched from backup and we are looking into the possibility of other data missing as well from the old drive. As far as we can tell, no client data is missing. Thank you for your patience.

2 hours later:

Um... *waits*.

When I came to work yesterday, at 9am France time, the site was down. It was up for a few hours in the afternoon, then down again for the evening.

I finally got logged into the forum, where they claim, at the bottom of the page:

All times are GMT. The time now is 06:29 AM.

Yes, 6:29. As long as GMT stands for Greenwich (Connecticut) Mean Time...

This company is smoking crack.

If you were previously getting here through www.srah.net/weblog/index.html, try www.srah.net/weblog/index.php or just www.srah.net/weblog/. I changed the index page to a .php file extension. I don't know why, other than Katie told me to. Oh, and I'm taking that PHP class in the fall, so I can assume I'll eventually learn why the hell I just did that. Stupid PHP!

So... here it is. Yes, the left column is enormously long. I was in love with this design until I had completely forgotten all of the stuff that was in my right column before, including my blogroll. So I've squashed it all into the left column, occasionally putting things into little pop-up windows (which don't all work correctly yet). Once I actually figure out how, I hope to make things in that column expand and collapse so that they won't take up so much space. But you don't care, do you?

Anyway, enjoy. I am enamoured of my little comments box design, so please leave plenty!

I am very boring. I keep coming up with things that could be blog fodder, but I don't have the energy to construct an entertaining post around them. But believe me, they're great. You know the story; you've heard it before. I promise, my life will get a lot more interesting in about a week.

So while you're waiting for me to get over my block, please enjoy the Worst Romance Novel Covers of 2003.

[via fujikosmurf]

Today is the one-year anniversary of my transition from the Blogger system to Movable Type. Between my year of Blogger and half-year of Blogger Pro, there were so many formatting differences that my archives didn't transfer to the new system as easily and effectively as they should have, so I have been sorting, reposting and cleaning up my archives for this whole year and there is still a lot to do! Maybe by May 2005, I will be caught up!

I've been doing a lot of working and trying to look like a Model Employee, which means Not Blogging From Work. Alas, I don't have much of a life beyond my jobs, because I often just come home and fall face-first onto the couch.

If anyone would like to buy me a laptop so that I can blog from the couch, I will not be averse. In the meantime, I'm shopping for one.

I feel like I've had a few things to blog about recently but haven't been able to write anything worthwhile about it. So... there may be posts coming soonish if I can get my act together.

It's a few weeks away, but I'll probably forget by then. I have been blogging for almost two and a half years. How do I still have things to talk about? How can one person have so many pointless memories and experiences that she doesn't eventually run out of things to talk about or just start telling the same story over and over again?

And more importantly, why are you people still here? The end will come some day, won't it? Is there a limit to memory and human experience? Do you want to be there when it all starts to go downhill?

(Starts? comes the worldwide snort of derision.)

This will not be accepted. A repugnant hijacking of the illustrious phrase that has brought so much joy to so many*?

If this were a question of miniature foam-rubber Moai heads, I might be able to stomach it. But no. The issue at hand is huge foam-rubber Moai heads. And, as you well know, srah blah blah is the Internet's number one resource for information on huge foam-rubber Moai heads. And yet here you are, trying to horn in on this market in huge foam-rubber Moai heads that I have cornered.

To blatantly steal the phrase as we approach the first anniversary of the birth of this booming industry (in huge foam-rubber Moai heads) makes you, madam, a scurvy tart. Good day to you!

-----
* "So many" being me. I am very numerous.

Oh Ann Arbor Observer. While I appreciate the publicity, did you really need to out me with my full name? I feel rather violated to be exposed publicly like this, without any warning!

I don't mind the ancient, first-semester-related quote, but the recent posts! For god's sake, the recent posts! Did you really need to read my blog on that one particular day?

I shudder to think about who is going to come to the site just to read about an ongoing battle with restrictive underwear THAT I DO NOT HAVE (for the record).

Fellow bloggers' reactions: Airbeagle, The Bunker, Seat of the Revolution.

If you are reading this because of the Observer article, please leave a comment and let me know!

[thanks to AirBeagle for the heads-up]

"Who else do you even know?"

"The best cure for writer's block is to write," says the old children's story. From the sea.

Yeah, thanks a lot there, old adage. I'll just get on that writing, you jerk. I'll just write a bunch of garbage that won't amuse or inform anyone.

And how would this be different from usual?

Thanks, brain. I'll be stabbing you later.

Yesterday I couldn't blog because I didn't have anything to blog about. Now I have things to blog about but I just don't feel like it. I don't have the energy to try to make my life interesting to other people.

So don't say I didn't warn you.

The Internet, cruel mistress that she is, sometimes conspires to bring us down and make us feel bad about ourselves.

But just once in a while, she will come up with something so uplifting that you instantly feel good about yourself as a person. Something that makes you want to take life by the horns and live again! You will forget all of her previous acts against you, basking in the warm, fuzzy, glowing feeling of pride that you get from being the #8 search result for this.

Wait, that's not a warm, fuzzy feeling. That's burning shame. Damn you, Internet!!!1

This is my favorite:

A new comment has been posted on your blog srah blah blah, on entry #5515
(Can... and will!).
http://www.srah.net/weblog/2003_09.html#005515

IP Address: 68.173.7.113
Name: Moore Tania Williamson

Email Address: pamela_woodlake@yahoo.com
URL: http://discount-prescription-drugs.drugsexperts.com

Comments:

I am a hobo in the house of the lord.

also...

A new comment has been posted on your blog srah blah blah, on entry #5246
(1000? Who are you people?).
http://www.srah.net/weblog/2003_07.html#005246

IP Address: 68.173.7.113
Name: Nardo Abby

Email Address: pamela_woodlake@yahoo.com
URL: http://loose-weight.weight-loss-central.org

Comments:

There's a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line.

It's Bloggies time again! I don't think I've any particularly stand-outish favorites in any of the categories, so... meh. We'll wait until the nominations are done and vote for whoever the other people have narrowed it down to. Just like the Democratic primary!

Yeah, I'll probably get around to redecorating around here... some time. Any suggestions*?

* Note: I probably won't pay any attention, but you just go ahead and make your little suggestions. No, really. Your futile efforts will be so cute.

Congratulations to Sweetness Follows... for winning our category!

I must have a lot of devoted readers with access to multiple computers, because I'm actually third Best Flippery Fish in the Weblog Awards. It has been suggested that what I need to compete with the current Number One in my category (the sex-blog Sweetness Follows) is sex, and lots of it.

So I bring you:

sex
sex
sex
and

Blech. Will be fixed later.

Update: About as fixed as it's gonna be. Suffer with it for another couple of weeks!

I am nominated for a 2003 Weblog Award.

By myself. Because I suck like that. Sigh...

Go support my suckiness in my vain attempt to swim with the big fish. While you're at it, vote swirlspice for Best Adorable Rodent!

Earlier this week, I checked out the Blogosphere Ecosystem site and I was a Slimy Mollusc. Today I'm a Flippery Fish. How did that happen? I am an evolutionary marvel!

Blogrolling.com appears to have been hacked. Rest assured, I have not suddenly become the stalker of some pregnant Christian-music lover.

Come baaaaack, blogroll! Come baaaaack! I can't remember my links without you!

In my group meeting today, I got to sound smart by knowing things about blogs.

Who knew?

Damned editing. My blogiversary came and went and I didn't even notice. So... two years of blogging. What the hell? How did that happen? It's been a long and exciting two years. Let's recap the thrills along the way.

Two years ago today, I was tipsy and watching Scooby Doo.

One year ago, I was in love... with flan.

Six months ago, I was fascinated by vending machine waffles.

One month ago, I was fidgeting.

And for some reason, people are interested in reading this. Well, thank ye kindly for your patronage, you crazy folkses.

I was feeling guilty about the fact that my left column is so much longer than my right (in my screen resolution, anyway), so I spent all of the brainpower I had this morning (which was very little) jotting down blog-notes. So when I have a free moment at a computer... shazam!

Jezito has been foolish kind enough to invite me as one of his guest-bloggers this week, as he makes the transition from employed exotic foreigner in France to unemployed freelance Yorkshireman translator in Yorkshire. I am the only non-Brit and, I believe, the only female in the bunch. Go on over there to see what kind of mischief we'll get up to in his absence.

Had a lovely lunch today cooked by Krista and attended by Jamelah, Alfie, Libness and Jimmy. All of these online journalers actually had things to talk about in real life! There is hope for me yet!

Today's Get Fuzzy cartoon reminds me of my own delicious headwear, which in turn reminds me of those five little words:

Huge foam-rubber Moai head.

Jez is having an imaginary dinner party and inviting five bloggers he's never met. Although he has very nicely invited me to his, I wasn't going to participate in the meme. I couldn't limit myself to five, but I can't imaginarily cook for huge numbers of people, either. So... I am having two separate imaginary dinner parties:

srah's fondue party
Jezblog
So Joyful!
methinks
Ain't it Cruel?
annicapannika blog

srah's pizza and lemon meringue pie party (I was tired after preparing all that fondue, so we've ordered out... and I suspect this is the kind of gang that will end up pie-slinging by the end of the evening)
little.red.boat
Geese Aplenty
Dave Barry's Blog
little.yellow.different
I Am the Monkey

(and luckily the MT window was already open)

I don't blog for anyone but myself. That said, I don't think I'd blog if I didn't have readers. I can't think of anything else to explain the fact that I've never been able to keep a journal for more than a month, but this has been going on for twenty-three of 'em. I am a shameless exhibitionist.

Thank you, people.

Today's new 'about srah' picture is from my little-known role in the 1982 Jim Henson film The Dark Crystal. I seem to have a lot of forehead. I rather frighten me.

Well, how about that. The old blue looked way too bright on the campus computers, so I've gone for something a bit more subdued. Please let me know what you think or if you think I need to change something to make it more legible or better-organized. I've also added a script so that expanded entries expand on the same page rather than linking to the archived version. I hope eventually to learn PHP so that I can collapse my archives and make the left column a bit more navigable. But you shall have to wait, duckies.

Do tell, too, how it looks in something other than IE 6.0 on Windows 98 at a 1024x768 resolution... because of course, that's all that I've tested it in. I will probably ignore everything you say, but at least you can make me feel guilty.

Today was at least the third time I've linked to my Social Systems & Collections class (that's four) here in my blog. I fear that I'm in danger of becoming one of those people who gets so wrapped up in what they're doing that they can't relate to anyone else outside that field anymore.

So, in order to remind my readers that I do realize there are people who don't understand/care about my Information-information-overloaded ramblings, that I do have other interests and that I can post other things on this here blog, here is a nice picture of a bunny that I drew. Enjoy.

I hope you realize that you only have two weeks to prepare. Hoist the mainsail! Step to it smartly, ye scurvy swabs!

Our friendly neighborhood commenter, (haiku) Richard, has his own blog now. I hope he won't forget the little people and that his blog won't forget to write to its mummies.

Have you ever wished someone didn't link to your site? Have you ever linked to another site and wondered if they were looking down on you for linking to them? Have you ever been linked to and felt guilty for not linking back? Have you ever been hurt when you linked to someone and they didn't link back? Are you afraid to comment on certain blogs because you feel they're so far above you? Do you think you're above other blogs? Who was the first site to link to you? How did it make you feel? Und now tell uz about your relazionship viz your fazzer.

I'm bored and no one is being very helpful. The August doldrums have hit and no one is updating. Please suggest a new blog for me to read.

Hello, friendly neighborhood commenters. Just so's you know, there will be prizes galore for the 1313th commenter. I'm not telling you how far away that is or what the prizes are (because I don't know yet myself).

Maybe you should shoot for the stars! Maybe you would be better off not winning! You'll never know until it's too late!

Just in case you wondered:

Huge foam-rubber moai head.*

* curious about HUGE FOAM-RUBBER MOAI HEADs? See previous posts on the subject. The subject of huge foam-rubber moai heads, that is.

No one realizes more than I do that I desperately need to post, if only to move my beautiful Gigli review farther down the page and out of the sight of unsuspecting visitors who might think I actually write like that.

Alas, I have writer's block today, and nothing to talk about. So please talk amongst yourselves, or leave me questions or blog-topics or inspiration or haiku. I'll see you when I recover.

I've installed a wee translation thingy in the right column. Do you think it's really worth it when it comes out with things like:

The walk of Ye' ll the board, the scurvy of ye continues!

For anniversary S to celebrate Becky ', we went to re-examine pirates of the Caribbean. By observing all the appropriations love a true member of my family, I found my to call: pirate the trainer of dialect. Not a trainer of dialect for pirates in films, naturally, nor the trainer of dialect for the pirates of Pittsburgh. I will sail the seven seas, teacher of the pirates of beginner to the more authentic noise.

Is it wrong to go back and change things in your blog because you found a funnier way of putting something?

(Note: This is a rhetorical question. I don't actually care if it is or isn't right.)

I'm guest-blogging at So Joyful! this week while Katie is off (ugh) communing with nature. Come on over if you'd like to read my series of pirate-themed posts. Arrrrrrrrrrr.

Jezebel wins with his clever me me me me me comment!

I would just like to point out that the 1000th comment on this blog since the move to MT is coming up. I had never thought to count comments before, so I have no idea how many are on the old blog, waiting the years it will take for me to be ready to import them. 1000 is unfathomable to me. Who will it be? Who will it be???

This is more of a survey than a meme, I find. Care to answer yourself?

1. Do you have a disclaimer on your blog?
No.

2. If yes, what prompted you to post one?
Haven't got one. And I don't have one... because I don't think anyone would read it anyway.

3. When you go to a new blog or read one that you've visited before, how often are you offended by the content? What do you do when this happens (email the writer privately, comment, ignore it, etc)?
Not very often. I usually ignore it, unless someone says something that's flat-out wrong, in which case I might take a moment to correct them. If they're blogging opinions, though, I leave them alone. This is their space, and if I don't like it, I leave. I am rarely offended by the content of my regular blogs, which is why they are regular blogs. If I'm regularly offended, they'll eventually drop off the blogroll.

4. On the blogs that you read, how much of the content do you think is dramatized?
If by "dramatized", you mean "made-up", I think very little is. I think many of the blogs I read are, however, expressed rather dramatically. That's what makes them fun. Things are presented in a way that makes them stand out from the everyday, even if they are everyday things.

5. Do you dramatize your own posts?
I don't make much up, but I do tend to lean to the creative. I may present things in a different way than others might see them, but I don't think I invent.

6. If you do dramatize your blog posts, why do you do it?
See question #4. I want to be interesting. I want to see my life as something exciting and unusual, and I want other people to do so too. If I get bored with life, what's the point?

7. If you do dramatize your blog posts, do you keep a separate journal (online or off) where you document events and emotions that are more realistic/accurate?
No. My life is odd because I see it that way, or vice versa. I don't think I need a separate journal at this point.

8. Have you ever blogged something that was totally made up but blogged it as though it were real?
Not intending it to be taken seriously. I probably threaten to kill people and claim to explode, but it's all hyperbole.

9. How did your blog come to be?
I had come across not.so.soft several times while doing John Hannah searches, because she mentioned him once. It seemed strange to have your life online. I think I read Annica's next, and since An was doing it, it seemed to make sense. I fiddled around with Blogger (because both of the previously mentioned blogs were done with that service) while I was in Grenoble, but didn't get into it, then it clicked for some reason in the fall of my senior year in college. The time was right, I suppose.

10. Some blogs take on a life of their own that is totally unexpected, would you say this is true with your blog?
Only that i didn't expect to actually get into it and that I don't think I would have imagined it would have the place in my life that it has.

11. Describe, in general, what a blog is as if I had no idea what it was.
A blog. Weblog. It's like an online journal. It's like a journal, but it's online. I write about things that happen to me or things that are going on in my life. Other people sometimes just post links. What's the point? I don't know. Listen, just take a look at a few and maybe you'll get it.

12. Describe, specifically, what your blog is to you.
It's my Pensieve. It's where I put all of my thoughts so that they stop knocking around in my head. I work out a surprising lot through my blog, given the dearth of serious content. In France, it also managed to replace a lot of letters and emails and phone calls and help me keep in touch with the folks back home.

[via stuff and whatever]

I've sponsored Krista for Blogathon, since I won't be blogging myself. I've always meant to blog a thon, but the fates are agin' me agin' this year, so I'm sponsoring instead. If you'd like to do something kindly, you might do so as well.

I've never met anyone I knew through Blog before I knew them through Real. I will today, although I knew her through Elsewhere Online first and I have already met people from Elsewhere Online before so I guess it doesn't matter.

And there are crèpes at Art Fair.

I am so boring as of late. Not only have I not done anything blog-worthy, I don't have enough imagination right now to twist reality in such a way that my life sounds interesting. Yesterday, I took down wallpaper.

Your blog looks like crap on a Mac.

Which is different from crap on a stick, of course, because a Mac is not a stick. I know this because it is hard to program a stick to do anything, whereas with a Mac, I have just not tried.

Does that mean I tried to program a stick? Why did I do that? Why am I still typing? Will a dog fetch a Mac?

One year ago today I was in Copiapó, loudly speaking English.
One month ago today I was drunk in Virginia.
One week ago today I welcomed a visitor.
One day ago today I was wild about Harry.

And yourself?

I once was lost, but now am found. My BlogRoll finally works the way I wanted it to. Now I just have to figure out what the heck is going on with my columns. Want to help?

Sigh. No one got the ultra-tricky song #3 in the Musical Trivia Quiz. The song was "Up There", from South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut. Well I consider it a musical!

Well, folks, here's my mess. It's done enough for now - just don't go into the monthly archives at all because they're a mess. Someday I will get that sorted out and bring my comments over from the old system. For now, I will have to live in the present and I will have to ask you to do the same. Welcome welcome welcome and if it looks like crap in your browser, please tell me why because I suck at CSS. While you're at it, you can tell me why the Recently Updated asterisks in my BlogRoll want to live on a separate line and why BlogSnob wants to be ginormous. I can't figure them out and I'm giving up and going to sleep. Night night.

Okay, precious folkses. For the next couple days, while I work on the Big Move to MT, I will be helping Katie out by enriching her blog with CRAP. I can be found at:

http://www.sojoyful.com/weblog

It may be a bit longer than expected for the Big Move, as the phone line that my computer's modem dials through has very beautifully decided not to work, just when I was going to put last night into making the big push to MT. Oh well, I needed the sleep anyway. Hopefully I'll be converted by the end of the weekend.

...If I have to do it manually. Ho hum. There are a lot of steps here. Maybe it will take me until November.

In case anyone wondered, I have somehow managed to blog 2486 blog-posts since the beginning of time. It will be super-fun to go through all of those and fix dates and things. I half meant that, because I do like to read my own crap quite a bit.

Well, I was so frustrated at my lack o' skillz (yes, I totally spelled it that way), I went and installed Movable Type in order to prove myself. It took until 2am to get everything configured and I worked through dinner, but I did it. I don't know how I did it, but it's up there now and I may start blogging there soon. I'm not sure yet... my Blogger Pro subscription lasts until October 2003 so it seems like a waste to switch now, but MT is very lovely and tempting. I'll keep you posted.

Muchas muchas gracias to Shireen and Bob and Robin for their help and support during this difficult time.

testing... testing... 1, 2, 3...

My monkey-butler, Bruce, has been kept busy bringing me chocolate to help me deal with the fact that Jez, but not myself, is listed for the search request huge foam-rubber Moai head. Where have I gone? Is there no justice in this world? In other huge foam-rubber Moai head news, Katie has discovered that huge foam-rubber Moai heads can be used as sex toys.

Katie has confirmed it... I am finally the one and only result for this search request.

I'm so proud.

I feel like I have to make my return to Vichy with some kind of flamboyant Belgiocity, in the way that people come back from Mexico with enormous sombreros, from Scotland with kilts, from Jamaica with dreadlock wigs, or from Easter Island with huge foam-rubber Moai heads. I don't know if the huge foam-rubber Moai heads exist, but if they don't they should, and maybe if I write "huge foam-rubber Moai heads" here often enough I can become the number-one search request for "huge foam-rubber Moai heads", which would really be quite an honor.

Back to the subject at hand. I can't think of a typical Belgian hat or costume, which kind of ruins my entire plan. So instead I will have to buy the largest praline the world has ever seen and strap it to my head. It will be sufficiently insane and touristy, might be strange even for Vichy, and when my hat melts, my head will be delicious.

Huge foam-rubber Moai head.

I haven't decided yet why, but it is. It would have made a good tagline, if I'd come up with it more than 12 days before my departure...

If you are reading my blog, please make yourself known. Real-life/online crossovers freak me out and it is very odd to have someone tell you at the pizzeria that they're looking forward to Eminem's new Old MacDonald album.

No, not by the Raelians. Name That Blog quoted my blog on Saturday and someone was attracted to my site by

"You have to keep them on the head.One year ago today, I was blogging about earwax. And now I am all alone in France with no ears but my own. Plenty ".

You have to wonder about people. (And while you're wondering about them, you can wonder about the girl who wrote that in the first place.)

My Weather Pixie is a little skank-biscuit. It's spring, but it's not that springy, darling. Put some clothes on.

Eric is still conveying emotions. The Lord of the Rings has been nominated again. I still prefer paczkis to Louisiana.

Very little changes around here.

Pictures are coming... temporary lack of floppy disk space prevents me from putting them up tonight. Meanwhile, enjoy the wacky dreams...

Especially ones about diaries that I can apply to my blog. Before break, I read an English translation (yes, I am lazy) of A.O. Barnabooth: His Diary, one of the best-known works of Valéry Larbaud, namesake of my lycée, vichyssois author but perhaps best known as the translator-to-French of many a famous 20th-century anglophone writer - most notably James Joyce and William Faulkner.

The book is the diary of an invented character named Archibald Barnabooth, a South American millionaire who has inherited his money from his father and wanders around Europe trying to figure out what one should do with such a vast fortune. It's rather amusing, but anyway, the point was to share this quote Barnabooth writes about his diary, which reminds me in many ways of my own blog:

I re-read my Italian diary in the inn at Finja on a rainy day when the tarnished lake was suffering and restless between its mist-drenched banks. It was painful reading and it often made me blush. So many sentences that - already! - I would not write now... Exaggerations, naïvetés, little useless lies, little scraps of malice sewn together with a white thread! And yet I tried not to deceive myself: to see my life directly and not through books I had read: and to leave a matter unexplained rather than admit an explanation drawn from literary memories. Often I have been near to striking out a sentence which did not ring true, a ready-made expression which did not correspond with my real thought. I needed courage not to alter anything and to leave the document intact with all its puerilities, its too intimate confidences, its confessions of weakness: my only consolation has indeed come from it. I was beginning to disown my diary: I saw into it clearly: I criticized it; sham feelings, the last traces of the ungrateful age. I noted all these things and in that way measured the distance I have gone. I was no longer the young man who had written those pages: I had laid all that aside: "a sadder and a wiser man." But how far had I yet to go?

The Bloggies are here again. I want to win, so that people will come and visit my weblog and love me. Unfortunately, I don't think it's very likely that I would win anything I'm eligible for, so I guess you'll have to nominate me for Best Canadian Weblog or Best Weblog About Politics. Ha!

I've decided I don't get nearly enough search requests from people who want to learn about English assistants, or what it's like to be an English assistant, or assistante d'anglais, as I like to call myself. Neither are there searches for my masculine counterparts, the assistants d'anglais. This is the time of year when young men and women's fancy turns to applying for jobs as English assistants in France, so I have decided to pad this blog-post with excessive mentions of English assistants, English language teaching assistants in France, assistants d'anglais and the like, in an attempt to get Google to notice me. Come! Read! Share the experience! Or whatever!

While we're at it, Lycée Valéry Larbaud Cusset Vichy Allier Auvergne. Come discover me.

I bought a bag of papillotes, a French Christmas candy. They are lovely chocolates in fancy wrappers that are supposed to resemble papillons but look rather like British Christmas crackers. The chocolate is yummy and delicious, but my favorite part is that each papillote has a quote wrapped around the chocolate. I have found one that I think should become my motto or something like it, because it is exactly what I strive for in my blog and everywhere else:

"Le talent consiste à dire les mêmes bêtises que les autres, mais plus élégamment..."
- Philippe Bouvard

And I ain't too proud to beg.

Please leave a comment and tell me what your favorite word, ice cream flavor, color, or travel destination is. Or all of the above. Or just write "boo". I'm lonely.

I'll probably have to pay for Internet access during our week-and-a-half long vacation, which begins tomorrow, so I'll have to announce my blogiversary early. Happy blogiversary to me on the 25th! I will have been blogging for one year. That's one year of clever posts like:

10.25.01
I had a dream last night that Alex, John Turturro and I were outlaws. We took over these people's house while they were out and locked/blocked all the doors. Just before I woke up, I was panicking because we hadn't closed the blinds.

What a valuable use of webspace.

And while I'm at it, happy 13-monthiversary (today) to the wee Chilean. Hee.

As my train arrived in Lyon, I remembered that it's the home of Rebeca, whose blog I read from time to time. In this, the second-largest city in France, I found myself imagining that I would run into her at the Lyon Part-Dieu train station and I would have my first accidental Blogmeet. I don't care how ridiculous it is - I'm going to cling to my pathetic, lonely fantasy... and now I've decided that she's going to Grenoble, too.

Anyone know what's in 8 days?

No time to blog, but I am alive and do have things to blog when I get a chance...

I realized no one's seen the new site yet because it's 7:30am on a Monday in the US. Never mind my loneliness.

Don't forget to watch this on Wednesday!

Is anybody there? Does anybody care?...

Would you mind leaving a blah blah, just to reassure me that you've made it to the new address and that the blah blahs are still working? Sniff sniff.

I think it's finally working. Hello there.

See you soon at the new location...

My domain name has finally resolved (communication problems with Aletia, then with the company that bought Aletia...) anyway, I hope to have the blog moved there soon!

All done with those posts. Pardon the Qs where there should be As and Zs where there should be Ws - the French keyboard is arranged differently and it will take me a while to get used to it.

I'm here in Grenoble for the weekend, then I'll be off apartment hunting in Cusset/Vichy next week. Hopefully I can find somewhere there to blog!

Have you noticed that my blog hasn't had much actual content recently? Sigh. I should blog about something, as soon as I find something to blog about. Maybe I will get some stories on the way to Paris.

(Recently?, exclaim the multitudes.)

I hate you, Aletia/NIC. You are incredibly unhelpful, but so cheap. And so, because I am so very cheap, I will stick with you, hating you all the while.

Anyone notice how I don't have a domain name yet? Yeah, that would not be my fault. Grr and rarrrr.

I am honored - no, disturbed is more the word I was looking for - to be the only result for this search. Thank you, freaky-deaky Star Wars fan. While we're at it, this one is pretty odd, too.

I know BlogBack is down at the moment, but it seems to be contagious. Either that or I have too many windows open, so it's causing some kind of error that prevents everyone's comments from loading. Anyway, I would like to leave comments for you and you and you and you.

But I can't. So come and get 'em here. Or I'll just keep them here for you until I can give 'em to you proper. Something. Going to stop talking now. Typing, that is.

I'm tired and my head hurts. But I like to play on the computer. I'm transferring files from my Albion webspace to my Aletia webspace. I'm still not going to tell you the new URL... until I get the word that it's been set up all right and is working. So there. You'll have to stew a bit longer.

I'm so excited to have my own domain name. I'm such a freak.

Blogger, why are you being crap today?

I was reading through old letters I had typed up on the computer. It's the closest thing I have to a journal from that time. They are just as boring and pointless as my blog. Let's clip out some of the fun lines and see what I was up to four years ago...

June 7, 1998

Humanities Graduation: Dan Zaret did our speech. Actually, he sang a song. It was about how he had the Leaving Humanities Blues or something. Like:
“We all should have gotten A’s in Vogel’s class,
but we didn’t, because he’s got a stick up his --- Jon Wenk, did you write this?”

and

“Mr. Wolff has a really strong larynx
But we wish he’d stop bitching about his parents.”

August 22, 1998

I think I have a headache, but I'm not sure. It doesn't feel like it's my head.

SLeicher has a roommate with a self-esteem problem. I don't know the details. "I like to get to know people, but they don't like to know me" or something like that. Oh boy!

At the Io, I saw several of the guys I'd seen earlier…Doogie Howser; the Mysterious Kurt, who I've seen somewhere before but I don't know where; Lewis, who Doogie and a yucky guy named Tom (Jim?) had to pick up during one of our activities; Carl, my RA, who is cute in a red-headed sort of way; The Guy in the Orange Shirt; The Guy in the Green Shirt [Neither is related to The Man in the Iron Mask]; Rusty-with-the-interesting-socks-who-isn't-at-all-attractive-but-I-am-attracted-to-his-socks; and of course, the beauteous David C0mfort Look-Alike.

I need to bring a stepstool. This room is teeming with short people (2).

So we had this thing last night called Playfair where we played all these getting-to-know-as-many-people-as-you-can-in-as-short-a-time-as-you-can games. I'm sure you're looking forward to these sorts of things. So I came in with Stephanie and they divided all the people into two lines, but we ended up right next to each other in the same line. Then the lines went running and snaking all around the gym. Then we sat down and played games where you talked to the two people closest to you…Stephanie and some girl I forgot. Then they had us divide up by birth month. Stephanie and I were still together. We were together, like the whole night and completely missed the point: "you won't stay with the people you came in with." I kept trying to get into groups with the guy in the green shirt, but it was not to be. [Hi, this is 2002 srah popping in for a moment here... I have no idea who the guy in the green shirt is. Wish I did.] My favorite game was when he had our 12-person groups break into 3s where the 3s had never met before today. I was with Doogie Howser (whose name is Ian, but it doesn't matter because he looks like DH) and that Tom/Jim guy. I think it's Tom. I'm almost positive. I must've met someone else named Jim. I'm so confused. Anyway, so these groups of 3 were a submarine, sailing ship, and ocean liner. I was the sailing ship. Each ship had to take turns being the Admiral. The Admiral sent his/her 2 first mates out to do things to make people smile. Tom/Jim liked to have us pick people up. DH went first and had no idea what he was doing. I made them give people hi-fives and shake hands and pat people on the head. It was fun. Even when I had to pat tall people on the head and give complete strangers back rubs.

August 23, 1998

Every time I wash my hands, I remember Mr. Van talking about how people get sick a lot in college and how when you wash your hands, you should wash long enough to sing "Yankee Doodle." EVERY TIME. Every time I wash my hands, I get Yankee Doodle in my head. Help me God.

So far, it's been really boring. I actually put all the transactions in my checkbook into Microsoft Money today, just to have something to do. I also alphabetized my reference books, then reordered them in terms of usefulness, and put my books in chronological order by when my first class is, then each book in a class in alphabetical order. Isn't this fascinating?

I just want to go to sleep. But I can't sleep, because it's too hot. AAAAAAAAAAAAH! I gotta find a nice big refrigerator to sleep in. Or go down to the basement "The Pit" where it's cool(er) and sleep with a football player. Or not.

Anyway, French or Foe? is really cool. It's about how the French are different culturally - like French people don't smile unless they have a reason to smile. They don't just smile at you on the street or if they're selling you something like Americans do. We read about smiling so far. French people find it hard to go back to France from the U.S. because it just feels less friendly and open. If you go around smiling at French people in France, they think you're retarded. I love this book!

My Anthropology professor smiles a lot. She smiles all hour. All I could think about was how French people would think she was retarded. Ha ha! But I like her.

I got a birthday package this weekend from a friend I haven't seen in a year and a half and haven't communicated with for a year. She sent me a letter along with it, so now I'll be writing her back and letting her know what I've been up to for the past year-to-year-and-a-half.

I have no idea what to say.

A year is a long time to catch up on. So many things have happened since the last time we were in touch. I think it would be mean to send her the blog URL and make her read my archives. Tempting, but mean.

How would you summarize the past year of your life?

I would like to have site skins. That would be fun, but beyond my own talents. Do you have to have Movable Type to do that? I love Blogger, but having skins and my comments saved into my page is very tempting.

As soon as I feel comfortable enough in my finances to shell out the cash, I shall be moving to a new host and getting a domain name. You may have been following this drama for months.

It seems like such a commitment, choosing a domain name. I don't want to be constantly changing and sending my readers different places, but I can't seem to settle on anything. I feel like as soon as I reserve one, I'll come up with something better. So I'm not going to share the rather boring one I'm thinking of with you until I've already paid. Sorry.

What do you think it should be?

Ann Arbor sucks.

If you have a blog, check out this blog directory: Eatonweb Portal.

Take a look at my blogging pedigree! Add your own! Unfortunately, I can only clearly remember one parent blog. I feel like blogging just appeared out of the mist and can't remember who inspired me.

(later) Reading that first month's posts, I came up with another one!

Google! DayPop! This is my blogchalk: English, United States, Michigan, Ann Arbor, srah, Female, 21-25!

Did you know that Globe of Blogs has undergone a redesign? I don't know how long ago that happened. If you were in it before, you should look yourself up and, if necessary, reregister. There are many fascinating new features coming soon.

Apparently I am quite self-centered, often forced to take trips with the fam, and have a strange obsession with vegetables. I am Bob's Blog Parody of the day!

I am a poor, selfish and generally unpleasant person so I shall be neither blogging nor sponsoring in the Blogathon. Good causes and all, but I'm afraid I've been looking over the accounts and the time is not right. Must save money for France, especially seeing as the plane ticket is going to cost more than expected. What good is a student discount, anyway? Anyway, I'm digressing.

If you would like to donate money to a good cause, please sponsor my fellow Albionite Krista, who's blogging for Médecins Sans Frontières, or sponsor another blogger of your choosing.

Hurray for Blogathon! If only I weren't such a jerk!

Ardent fans have bemoaned my absence, but never fear - I have returned. We just got back from an incredibly boring conference in the Upper Peninsula that my mother organized. We spent a lot of time learning about MINES. I never want to hear anything about MINES again as long as I live. So please fill the blahblahs with stories about MINES. Heh.

Anyway, I'll try to rejoin the land of the blogging bientôt and get my rear in gear on finishing the Chile-trip. Whew!

I want more friends. Please sign!

Sorry, wasn't near a computer over the weekend, so I've gotten a bit behind on my blog. Hopefully I'll be able to catch up this week. Nice to know you're concerned about me, denz! No banditos, just oceans and casinos and deserts and things to see. More coming soon! Enjoy Days 9 through 11 in the meantime...

Sigh. Working 40 hours a week and having a slow connection at home (and I finally got my computer set up last night), I'm going to have to blog during my afternoon breaks or something...

Well anyway, here I am. Summer is here, although you couldn’t tell it from the weather. I’ve barely started unpacking. I haven’t been keeping up with my daily blogs, but maybe I’ll catch up later.

Did you notice that I have new little buttons for my daily (or weekly, depending on how you look at it) memes? Yessir. I made one for every day of the week - even the Friday Five, which already had one. That way I can link to the meme without doing it in the title. You'll just have to be patient and wait for the rest of them to be revealed.

Blogger hates me and keeps eating my posts. I have a headache and have spend the whole evening crying because I'm frustrated at the world. Console me?

All of my search requests lately have been on Ian McKellen's boyfriend. Yes, that's right, Ian McKellen's boyfriend. I'm sure I really haven't written enough about Ian McKellen's boyfriend to attract people who might be looking for information on Ian McKellen's boyfriend, or Ian McKellen holding hands with his boyfriend or Ian McKellen at the Oscars with his boyfriend. Welcome to the site! I have no pictures of Ian McKellen's boyfriend, but you might find something interesting to read anyway.

Heh heh.

(I don't know what that means, but all of the other bloggers say it and I want to be one of the Cool Kids too...)

Krista made me a button! Now I'm cool! Bow down and link to me!

Maybe if I make a little money this summer I'll shell some out and get my own domain and upgrade to BloggerPro. Including the price of the John Hannah site, that'll probably get me up to at least $25 a month. Yow. Of course, I'm the girl who doesn't like to spend $50 on pants, so maybe I'm just cheap.

Ah, the expenses of being an adult. I suppose I'll have to wait until I get to France, make sure I can survive, and then worry about luxuries like webbiness. Plus, I need to find out what happens to my space on the Albion server after graduation.

Never mind me, I'm thinking out loud.

Hey, lurkers! Who's reading and not blah blahing? I know there are several of you. Come out of the woodwork - we want to see your shining faces.

Anyone who can identify the quote gets a gold star.

Dictionary.com is very useful. I use it when I'm not completely sure of the meaning or spelling of a word. Then I link to the entry, to punish myself for not being sure by showing the world my ignorance.

Just in case you wondered why I kept doing that.

It's always sad to see a blog die. I hope you'll come back again, because I really enjoyed reading your stuff.

some woman is using the computer that's hooked up to the scanner but she's not scanning but she seems to be in the middle of something so i haven't said anything to her and it's too late now even if she did leave and her kid is getting antsy and wants to leave but she's not leaving so here i am getting nothing done and wasting several hours sitting in the computer lab and my computer science lab doesn't work for some reason so i can't even do that and i love my sand dunes song and i'm lonely because it's just me and the woman on the computer and the lab assistant and there are 32 computers in this lab so why did she have to pick this one and she has a pack of pictures sitting next to her so i figured when i came in that she was scanning but i haven't heard a single brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr out of that scanner in the hour that i've been here and the lab is going to close in an hour but i'm sitting here hoping she'll go home before then and her sprog is making the most disgusting snot-noises i have ever heard in my life and why aren't there more scanners on campus i can use maybe there are and i just don't know it i wonder if anyone is going to bother to read this this is what punctuation was invented for don't you think that if you were using the scanning computer and someone came in lugging three photo albums you might think they wanted to use the scanner and if you were a nice person you might give up the computer to them realizing that instead the poor person was going to have to lug them home and then back to the library to try again i like to scan but it's rare that i find a big chunk of free time to do it in hey that's ligia i want to borrow a digital camera but not for educational ack there's the sprog snorting again get that boy a tissue purposes i can't believe it's possible that i of all people would get bored in a computer lab but i am why haven't i gotten any comments all day it makes me sad i wish that someone would at least take a guess at the olympics question but maybe you're all busy because it's the weekend after all and some people have better things to do than sitting in a computer lab with nothing to do the woman is making leaving noises but i think it's just wishful thinking on my part someone has new comment systems but i can't remember who it is oh yeah it's anna so you should leave comments i like comment systems better than guestbooks because the comments stay with the post they refer to where is the lab assistant going there are no witnesses i could kill her he just walked away is he allowed to do that i want this job you don't do anything and you can just walk away never mind he went to the bathroom it's right next to the exit i guess you ought to be allowed bathroom breaks flushhhhhhhhh boys are lucky because they can go faster than girls and so they never have lines to wait in i think that at joe louis arena there are more women's bathrooms than men's which is strange for a hockey arena but very sensible hey google has some funky bear on it they like to decorate for holidays but what does the bear have to do with anything i thought the symbol of the salt lake city games was a rabbit or something i thought i saw a picture speaking of salt lake city jell-o is pretty good i would like to try some new flavors of jell-o i also like jell-o pudding every once in a while butterscotch is a good flavor of pudding oh here it is there are three mascots but the rabbit is the cutest what on earth do these pins mean other than that americans like to eat junk food which the whole world knew already apparently a banana split is a "desert" i think i am smarter than a lot of people in the world which scares me because i don't like having to deal with people who don't use their brains or don't have much to start with perhaps i am insane but the idea of eating jell-o with coke makes my stomach turn who buys this crap anyway speaking of which who would buy that which is via xkot although he says on his site that his name is pronounced scott i always think of it as ex-kot which is silly i know but i can't help it i like his site it is very amusing and he has a forum i wonder if he has ever been here if he comes here now i'm sure he will be turned off because sprog-snorting sprog-snorting sprog-snorting this post is going to be annoying and difficult to read if anyone tries it well now it's 9:00 and the lab closes in 45 minutes so i will try to stop dwelling on the fact that this woman is wasting my time and i am too much of a doormat to do anything about it and see if there is anything i can get done instead of torturing my beloved beloved readers with any more of this spew remember slappy and skippy squirrel on animaniacs slappy offered skippy some buttermilk and he said speeeeeeeeeeeeeeew which i think is a cool expression of disgust okay i'm really going now.

After looking the two over, I have decided that Moby and Wil are exactly as cool as each other.

Makes me wish I had money: Blogger Pro™

By the time I'm grown up and have money, I will have missed out on the early-signup bonus. Life isn't fair.

My Psycho Ex-Roommate has been here! Hooray! Hello, Stephipoo.

It's not just Wil Wheaton anymore... which other interesting celebrity has a weblog?

I finally got around to submitting my nominations for the Bloggies. Nine hours to go...

Mommy has visited the blog and says "Such language!" Bah. I am reading through the index page and count 3 swear words, one of which is in the title of a page I linked to. Bah. Mummy is easily shocked.

If you have something important to comment, you can sign the guestbook instead. Ho hum. If 'taint Blogger, it's BlogBack.

After one reading, bouillabaisse for the soul has joined the Blogs of Note.

Linguistics student blogging. Glaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. <-- drool

Blogstickers are fun.

I've never had poutine, but it sounds like something I'd like to try sometime. Something to do with french fries, gravy, and cottage cheese. Mmmm. Good foods, why not put them together?

Why is publishing temporarily available, Blogger? Why were you just fine for months and now you have all of these problems? Is it because of the unfortunate hack? Blogger Blogger Blogger. *shakes head*

Over 3000 hits. Wow. Thanks, Blogger. And thanks, people who link to me.

Ah, Blogger is fixed. Sad.

I have things to say, but they will wait until I get home and have more time to write the blognovel that is to come.

One of my biggest fans wants stories. So here's a story for you, B.L.

The Story Of What I Did Yesterday
by srah

Yesterday I woke up and still had a sore throat. In fact, I couldn't even talk. But I had a cup of tea and then I could talk again. Ooh ahh. I wrapped myself up in a blanket, didn't shower or get dressed, and watched movies all day, including Mr Roberts, which was very disappointing because I expect zaniness and humor in my Jack Lemmon movies, and the extras on the Monty Python and the Holy Grail Special Edition DVD, which is one of the greatest DVDs ever created, if you ask me. Which you didn't. Then I went to bed and didn't fall asleep for several hours because all I could think about was how I'll soon have to begin my Real Life and do things like Pay Insurance and Be Independent.

There. That was a story. Now don't complain.

Definition of a blog.

Off I go to bed (it's about time!) When you're finished here, why not check out one of my Blogs of Note?

Boa noite. <-- I am becoming a regular Portuguese expert! Or not!

Blogger's really having issues these days. Once again, I'm typing my posts up in Notepad so I can post them all later, when the system's back up again.

(note: Obviously it's back up now that I'm posting...)

It makes me happy to be reading someone's blog and discover my own BlogSnob ad there.

I've added a Blog of Note: my old friend Annica. I haven't kept in touch with her in a while, but I visited her site and noticed she had a blog, so there it goes. I've put the title down as Skittles?, but in the page source, the title is:

But the only thing that scares me is Keyser Soze.

Hee hee, An and her Usual Suspects. Here is a handy phrase from the phrasebook just for you, An: Jag talar inte svenska.

Darned Blogger is down, so I'm typing all of this into Word while waiting. La la la.

Where's my cookie?

Why do I get so many hits on Monday and not the rest of the week? Do you think you've missed something important over the weekend? You probably haven't. Last night I saw The Piano and Rush Hour 2. What a combination.

I'm just going to keep posting and when Blogger feels like cooperating, the posts will appear. Argh.

I finally got through and saw Wil Wheaton's site for the first time. Nothing spectacular in the blog world, but it's nice to know that he's quite down to earth and not all Hollywoodized.

JDay and Becky, I have added you to the characters list just because you complained enough. Congratulations.

Mr Enlow is playing a game where you try to come up with a the largest group possible of people who have been in movies together. At least that's how I've understood the rules. This is one I've come up with:

Bernard Hill was in Madagascar Skin with John Hannah, Dirty Something with Rachel Weisz, and Titanic with Jonathan Hyde. John Hannah, Rachel Weisz, and Jonathan Hyde were all in The Mummy.

After four it gets really complicated. I give up. Damned Andy Serkis got my hopes up.

Hello, Blog. Nice to see you again.

I am a bit giddy because I've been linked to! One of my "Blogs of Note", I am Frequently Asked Questions, has linked to me... and people who neither my roommate nor I know have visited the blog. Hooray! Welcome!

I wrote a lot on the 19th. I think I spent 1.5 hours in the Kellogg Centre and lost track of time. I need a life.

I leave this evening for an extended (extremely extended, actually...) weekend at home. Hopefully the Internet's working, or I'll have to go live at the library in order to keep up my insane unhealthy blogging lifestyle.

See you if I see you...

I'm very disappointed that Cheryl wasn't in French class today. Where is my Tea and Linguistic Conversation?

Do I blog too much? Is it a pain to read it all? Sorry, but I don't think your opinion would make much of a difference on me pouring out my heart and soul to you.

I think I have always wanted to write a book, but I've never had anything to write about. I think my mind is kind of like a butterfly - it flits quickly from topic to topic and never really settles on one thing. If I came up with an idea for a book, I would forget it or no longer be interested in the subject ten minutes later.

I think the whole book idea just appeals to my thirst for celebrity, which is the reason behind this blog being wildly more successful than any journal I've tried to keep in the past. I like to write to an audience.

Please pardon our dust. I am being an HTML geek.

Eventually, I will probably have some original thoughts to share. Or else I'll have to steal some.

Yay! I think my blog is finally under control again! And yes, this is how I was trying to make it look...

I have wasted my afternoon away, pretending I know how to do HTML. Sigh...

ON NE BOUGE PAS PENDANT LE JINGLE.

I should have had a blog while I was in France last year. I'm sure I had some interesting observations that should have been recorded for posterity. It probably wouldn't have been as excessively updated as it is here and now.

Or maybe it would have been. I did live @ Neptune. I miss Gilles.

Sorry, readers. I have nothing interesting to say.

We had an RHA meeting last night and I wanted to slap Hans because he doesn't listen to anything anyone else has to say. Diana Ariza, Director of Multicultural Affairs, has the biggest dog I have seen in my life. I think it's half Newfoundland and half walrus.

Vocabulary from my weblog is slowly creeping into everyday speech. Yay! Triumph! Gotta spread it around campus now, as the only people using it so far are those reading the blog.

Blog blog blog, Jen Dively. :)

If you are ever frightened by the world's pharmaceutical companies and fear that they spend all day trying to come up with new ways to poison us, make us dependent on their product, or just generally take over the world...

Be not afraid, little readers. Pfizer is not spending all day plotting to take over the world. Pfizer is spending all day reading my weblog. Or at least Jackie Day is.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I am just doing my part to prevent another Evil Empire from coming to power. All in a day's work.

My goal in life is to get everyone I know reading my weblog on a regular basis so I never have to talk to anyone ever again.

You know who should have a blog? Molly Manvel. Where you at, Molly?

I picked the tape off again! What is wrong with me? Where is my in-room shrink when I need her?

One blog not enough to keep you occupied? Check out some of my favorites:

words mean things
On the Go
Alex's Journal
god bless humanity

Seems like there were others, but I've lost them.

Weblog feedback from loyal reader Jackie Day: "You ARE very funny, but as my husband says, looks aren't everything."

Yay! I have readers! Roommate's advertising strategies work!

I have promised "yummy yummy" treats for ISU tonight. Whatever am I going to provide?

I lied. Have not gone to nap yet. Followed my link to Roommate's online journal and started reading it the way I always do - looking for mention of me. Mwah ha. Not that I am in the least egocentric. She says "Yesterday my roomie went to zoo." I wonder if this lack of article is a typo or if it is in the English style, à la "My mum had to go to hospital."

She was also talking about thinking, which I didn't read in-depth because it wasn't about me, but it reminded me of the thought I came up with the other day, that I REALLY like to think things over and look at them from all the angles, but I REALLY don't like to come to conclusions. I think I seriously have a problem with it. I'm never going to get a job at this rate.

Why don't we call this journal "Srah talks about words and whines about how she's never going to get a job"?

Yay me. I have four hits. And only half of them are from me. I am so popular. Possibly... not.

Bravenet is down, so I can't find out if I'm popular or not. Probably for the best, as have not yet gotten hits from anyone who doesn't live in the room.

Erin Lewis has new freshman boyfriend by name of Nick. Yay freshman boys.

Yay. 1 hit.

I added a counter so I *can* be like my roommate and go insane over who's reading my weblog. That is... if anyone ever reads it.

I don't think this Blogger thing is going to last long, because I'm so all-out about it on the first day. I will eventually forget it's there.

The Internet is fostering a disturbing trend of self-promotion. That's all it's really about, anyway. Everyone has their own personal website advertising themselves and their interests (hey, me too). Why? Who actually cares about half the stuff that's on their website? Maybe it's all in the hopes that someone will come along and say "Hey, I like Star Wars and Buffy the Vampire Slayer too. We must be soulmates" and they will find love and live happily ever after. Maybe everything we do is in some way caused by our need to be loved and appreciated. Or maybe not. I want some Chex Mix.

Sometimes I think the world has gone completely mad. And then I think, "Aw, who cares?" And then I think, "Hey, what's for supper?"
- Deep Thoughts, by Jack Handey

You know, I'm just doing this because I want to be just like my roommate... then I too can be insane and paranoid and start freaking out - "Who has been looking at my online journal? Who? Who? Who?" and pull my hair out.

And you wondered why she wears hats...