Quote of the Day:
"It's only when you embrace your past that you can truly move forward."
Demi Moore, Now and Then

So, here I sit in Chad's dorm room, nursing a headache. I hate driving home.

The last time I drove home was for Christmas break. The roads were bad, and then on top of that, my car's power steering was beginning to go. By the time I got home, it was shot.

At least that didn't cost $550.

Today I was driving home enjoying myself, singing my heart out to Dixie Chicks (you can laugh, but there were some good memories) and thinking about how everything in my life is going....that's an entirely separate blog topic there. After about 20 minutes, I realized my car sounded like it needed to be shifted (I drive a stick shift) but I was already in fifth gear. Hm. I thought it would be okay but as I got onto 70 I realized that it just wasn't going to work--I couldn't go any faster than 50 mph. I putted along to the next exit, which was lovely little Lewisburg, Ohio. I stop at a little Citgo, on the verge of tears, and call my dad. "It sounds like the clutch." Great. I go inside and the girl tells me there's a shop right down the road. Great. I go get in my car...and...go...no where. The clutch it completely shot and now I have to have the car towed. I go into the gas station and call. I have to say, the girl working was very nice and helpful, and didn't even look amused that I was about to cry. She looked up the number for me and dialed it, and then the garage said they'd send a car right over. I called my dad and he made sure I had enough money in my bank account to cover paying for it (yay for dads who work at banks) and then hung up. What was I going to do? I called Chad and started bawling. Being the amazing friend he is, he rushed from Miami to come pick me up.

Enter slowest mechanic in the world. Or rather, DON'T enter. Okay, I waited for about 20 minutes for the tow truck to show up, crying the whole time and calling random people to try to avoid the mean stares I was getting from the people using the gas pumps. I am sorry my car is parked in such an inconvenient place. It's not like I want it there. Finally, after about 20 minutes, he gets there. We get the car all hooked up and drive a quarter of a mile (a quarter of a mile!!! What took so long???) down the street to the garage. "Well, from this point on, your day has to get better, right?" He tries to be friendly, and I try to pretend my eyes aren't puffy and red. "I hope so!" I say, feigning appreciation for the humor. We go in to the building as he explains that they'll bring my car in later.

So, I stand and wait as this guy piddles around, talking to the mechanics, two of which look young and busy, and one named Jimbo (seriously...as I stood around waiting, I saw it on a schedule, Jimbo.) who looked so old I was afraid he might fall over any minute. He also spoke with a lisp and very, very slowly. I glanced around at the piles of tires and broken car parts, waiting for Chad. Finally he got there, and we waited a little longer, and finally mr. mechanic decides to come tell me what's going on with my car. He says it's definitely the clutch and they can fix it by tomorrow. Good--just in time to go home and see my brother/cousin/friends in their play. I ask if I can get some stuff out of it and he says sure. So I get my stuff out of the car (which is still hooked to the tow truck), take him the keys, and come back to Oxford.

God bless Chad, he saved me. I don't know what I would have done without him! He even took me to get some dinner and a sundae, which, by the way, is the only sweet food I'm allowed to have, because it's Lent--I gave up pop, chocolate, and basically everything sweet except for ice cream. I was rather distressed as I sat at that gas station, and I still didn't eat any chocolate which as any girl knows would have made the whole ordeal a little less shitty. Oh well. It's over now, and tomorrow I will have my car back. Hopefully. Ten to one, it's still sitting on that stupid wrecker.

Saranade: loren I remember the family trip to amish country!!!! I went with you remember???
LorenAnn: Yes!
Saranade: lol
LorenAnn: lol
Saranade:oh the world's biggest buggie
Saranade: only in ohio
LorenAnn: : )

I was telling this story to Cassie and we decided that it was worth sharing. It happened the summer before I entered 7th grade, so it was a while ago.

When my dad was little, his family had gone on a trip to Berlin, OH, about 45 minutes away from my house. Berlin is also commonly called "Amish Country," collectively with some of the other towns surrounding it. He remembered going to a cheese factory and seeing how cool making cheese was.

Of course, he wanted to share this with his children.

We drove to Berlin and had lunch at this place called the Chalet in the Valley, where everyone was dressed in those little Swiss (Leiderhosen?) outfits and yodeling music was playing in the background. Interesting. Then we headed for the greatly-anticipated Cheese Factory.

When we got there, to our dismay, we found that they no longer gave tours, but you could stand in the gift shop that smelled like sour milk and look through a window at some big vats of cheesy stuff. So we poked around, and my brother found a phamplet about a chocolate factory where you can watch them make the candy. My parents say sure, and we get back in the van and when we pull up at the address, we see a huge old house with a sign on the side. We go in, and wouldn't you know it, we're in a big candy store with a small window to a room where an Amish woman is stirring a pot of chocolate.

I remember thinking, at least this place doesn't smell.

Again, someone finds a phamplet. For what? For the World's Largest Amish Buggy! How thrilling! I can't believe I've lived my whole life without knowing I lived so near such an amazing sight. We drive, and this time end up at a huge furniture and antiques store. This time, the window idea from the previous stops been eliminated, and you can walk right up to the buggy, which is, simply, and Amish buggy: a big black box with wheels. This just happens to be the largest one one Earth.

That was the end of the day; we finally gave up and went home. Well, maybe we didn't give up, maybe no one went to the phamplet display or something. I don't know. It was a weird day and definitely one of the weirdest family trips I've ever taken.

Today was room selection day for Freshman, following the lottery last week when I pulled spot 217 out of 1000. Cassie and I decided to room together again next year, so today we headed over to Shriver. We got there, and there was this really loud dj there, giving away free cd's (Cassie won one) and there was all this food (of course the kinds of food I have given up for Lent). Like choosing a new room was worth having a party over or something. So, we get there, and stand around looking at the available rooms for a while, and then we decide on about four of the rooms in Thompson. So they call my number and Cassie and I go talk to the guy at the Thompson table and he asks what we had in mind. We showed him some rooms, and we were comparing their sizes and then Cassie says, "but we don't want to be right next to the RA, so we don't want that room." Of course, the guy at the table, who turns out to be the Thompson Hall Manager, thought this was hilarious and just didn't let it go. Needless to say, Cassie was very embarrased, and I was very amused.

So yeah...our room has some good attributes. First, it's on the ground floor--room 69(don't be a sicko)--so the laundry bag I am currently killing to take up and down three flights of stairs everytime I wash my clothes might just last longer than I thought. Secondly, I'll be near Bachelor Hall, Shriver, and the CPA, which is good, not to mention all my friends right next door in McKee! And, it's about 30 sq. feet bigger than the room I have right now. So I'm excited.

Isn't mail the best thing in the world? I have gotten lots this week, so I want to say thanks to Rachel and Abby--It was so nice to hear from you girls!
Also, I have been bugging my dad that I need a doorstop for my dorm room, so he sent me one that looks like the Wicked Witch of the East's feet--you know, striped stockings and the ruby slippers. The thing was, I didn't really get it that you were supposed to stick the legs under the door so it looked like she was underneath, I thought the feet were supposed to be standing up. Cassie got a good laugh out of that one. :)

Things Said/Heard All The Time at Miami University:
"I have so much work to get done..."
"Do you have passport or diplomat?"
"How was YOUR weekend?"
"As you all know, plagiarism is academic dishonesty, per the MU Code of Conduct..."
"So, are you 21?"
"Do you have IM?"
"I have a HUGE exam coming up!"
"What time does the (fill in color of route here) bus come to (fill in the bus stop location here)?"
"This is worth a large percentage of your grade..."
"What's your major?" immediately followed by
"What are you going to do with a degree in THAT?"
"All I want to do is crawl into bed!"
"WTF?" or "DubTF, mate?"
"So-and-so was so trashed/drunk/etc. last night..."

OH, I AM SO MAD.
Please forgive me for the expletives that may follow.
First of all, last semester I sign up for BMZ 115, which is the equivalent of Biology 101. It also has a lab. We're doing things like throwing a frisbee and counting the clover underneath it and dissecting dried-up clams and Kroger squid. (Yes! From KROGER! I may just be a college freshman but even I know that there are special companies that take care of dissectable animals. That squid was disgusting and even my TA admitted that it was a waste of time to be looking at it.) But it was pointless--the things we were doing in lab came about three weeks before they came in lecture, so no one was really getting a whole lot out of it. Just a lot of stupid busy work.
So we get to BMZ 116, (Again, about like Bio 102) and I'm thinking, maybe this will be different. Well, I was wrong. It is, I think, worse. We took like, half a lab to make this stuff called Kim-chee and evidently its pH got lower over the next week, but we never had to study WHY or even do a lab write-up for it. Another time, we watched a video about Meiosis and Mitosis. Talk about a fun way to spend a Wednesday morning. Especially since I'm sure everyone in my class has been doing Meiosis and Mitosis since high school Biology.
Then last Wednesday we had a "discussion" about genetically engineered crops, which wasn't really a discussion, it was my TA telling us about how her allergies have been awful since she came to MU because of all of the farming of genetically engineered crops around here. And how a genetically engineered food allergy can be FATAL. So now we have to research and evaluate (because, you know, this is a class about understanding the internet...) this list of internet websites that deal with g. e. crops. They gave us about 20...and I could only get about five to work. About half that were left "no longer exist," and the rest "could not be displayed."

So I guess what I really want to say is, wtf Dr. Steinly (the "scary" guy in charge of BMZ 115 and 116 labs)? Why can't you put together some decent, APPLICABLE, timely labs for us? This is crap.

Thanks for listening, I feel better now.

Me: Chad, it's cool that you have that magnetic place behind your desk to hang stuff up.
Chad: Well, that's the only cool thing about my room.

hehe. the worst part is he's right.

Last night Cassie and I decided to move our furniture around, which included unbunking our beds. We decided to get some ideas and went roaming around the building. We met the girls that live below us, and apologized for making so much noise. (We assume that they have wonderful names for us, like "those noisy bitches upstairs" or something.) So, with Chad and Malia's help, we got everything rearranged. Of course, it turned out that my closet ended up on Cassie's side of the room, and hers on mine, so we had to switch closets too, and during the course of this whole ordeal, I decided I have way too much stuff and this morning during the closet switch, I cleared about three of four huge shopping bags of stuff out of my room. I'm enjoying the new set up and I think Cassie is too, although she is still cleaning and she is also going to hook up the dvd player and 64 later. Thank you, Cassie :)

Well. Today was the last day in what was about the longest week and a half of the semester. I successfully switched majors, which included meeting with lots of people and getting some signatures. But I am now an English major (yes, I know, you all "knew it was going to happen" and that "it was only a matter of time.") with a concentration in technical and scientific writing. I also get to choose between a specialty in Medical or Environmental writing, but I haven't decided that yet.

Also, I got 217 (out of 1000!) in the housing lottery. Not bad. I'm definitely happy about that one, even though I'm not really sure where the choiciest dorms are. Let me know if you have an opinion for me.

Christina: I'm really good at driving with my knees. In the summer, I can make 90-degree turns.
Loren: Why only in the summer?
Christina: Because in the summer my legs are sweaty and they stick to the leather steering wheel.

Today I learned two things:
First, don't wear swishy pants to the library, it's rather loud and obnoxious.

Second, you shouldn't share your blog with people who don't understand the beauty of writing in it. Sometimes you can tell who these people are by the kind of slippers they wear.

Having a car at school...it's like, always being the designated driver.

On the other hand, drunk people give nice compliments.

What a wonderful weekend I had! I decided that since I had a long weekend, I would drive down to Portsmouth, Ohio, to visit my friend Monica at Shawnee State University. So, on Friday afternoon I hopped in my car and started driving. I learned two things on this drive. The first is that mapquest.com is not always right. The second is that it is a proven fact that it is not a driving trip with Loren unless at some point in time you are going the wrong way. Because the map said get onto 72 south (which makes no sense anyway, since even numbered roads don't GO south, they go east or west), I drove right past 73--taking note that it was there, but making sure that 72 wasn't right down the road or something. It wasn't.
However, at this point in time, the roads have become hilly and secluded--we're talking, the edge of the mountain range you know. It was a very pretty drive and I'm sure it would have been even better if it were any other season. So I drove about ten more miles and decided that I might run out of gas if I didn't turn around and a) get to portsmouth and b)get to some sort of civilized place where they had cell phone reception. Of course, when I finally got back to the 73 intersection, no one I called felt like answering the phone to give me any advice, so down 73 I drove. Finally my sister answered the phone at my house, and *click* there goes my phone service. I was heading down this forest- and hill-lined road all alone and with 1/4 tank of gas. Soon, I began to see houses, and then a ball park, and I thought, good--phone service! But no. Evidently from the intersection of 32 and 73 untill Portsmouth no one uses Verizon phones. I had happened upon the town of Ramden, and decided to get some gas from McAllister's Quick Stop. I pulled up to the pump, and I can safely say that that was the oldest gas pump I have ever used, and I'm sure anyone who saw me standing there, trying to figure out how to get this thing to give me gas was laughing so hard they were crying. I finally figured it out and went inside to pay and ask for directions. Yes, I was on the right road. I finally got there, about 45 minutes later than I should have. But oh well. At least I made the right decision about turning onto 73.
The rest of the weekend was lots of fun, meeting all of Monica's wonderful friends, including half of the boys from 9 next door and most of the cross country team. I had a pretty non-conventional Valentine's Day, which I spent with Monica, Todd, and Will at the mall. On the way back, we played pediddle. I think that Monica and I lost, but those people down there seemed to keep their headlights in pretty good condition so it wasn't TOO bad. Besides, I am not one to lose that game. I can spot 'em a mile away.
So, now I'm back in Oxford, writing papers and studying for the week ahead. It's looking to be a busy one so this will either be the last post for a while or one of many that I write while I try to avoid studying etc. Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Think of a classic movie. Don't read anymore until you do.


Got it? Okay. If you thought of something older than you are, you can keep reading. If not, please stop here or forgive me for ripping on you.

So, I am taking Honors Great Ideas in Western Music. It is an interesting group of people. There are some nice people, and some people with really good personalities, and then there are some other people that I just don't understand. For example, when I passed this one girl on the sidewalk the other day, I thought I would say hi. She, however, did not pay any attention to me and kept walking right by. I was a little offended. So then the next day in class, she shows up with these highlights that look like she colored her hair with a red marker.

It gets better.

So, we're talking about classical music today in class, and my prof says, "What do you think of when you hear the word 'classic?'" She got answers like classic cars, classic rock, classic novels, and then anti-social highlight girl goes, "Classic movies." And my prof says, "yes, that's good. Can you give an example?"

She says, "Yeah. Wayne's World is definitely a classic for our generation."

She looked around the room for us to...I don't know, agree with her or something. We all just sat there and looked at her like she was nuts. Don't get me wrong, I think Wayne's World is a great movie. When talking about classic cars and classic clothing....I don't know. I'm just not seeing Wayne and Garth up there with 1965 Mustangs, War and Peace, and The Beatles. Then someone said, "And, you know, Casablanca is too..." After that, everyone started nodding.

So, in short, don't be that guy. Know your classics, and know your audience.

In the past three days, I have taken two tests, written one paper, prepared to change my major, and decided to drop a class. Now all that stands between me and a stress-free life is a trip to the office of the College of Arts and Science and a discussion with my Chem profs, a BMZ exam, and the infamous Ethnomusicology paper. Things are looking up.

From the English essay I got back today in class:
"Loren: Wow. The voice of this piece is impressive and, seemingly, wholly you. The mechanics and grammar are clean and concise, the organization produces a flow that carries the reader straight through to the end, and your reflections come across as genuine and sincere. I look forward to reading more of your work. Grade: A"

Yeah...my BMZ profs/TA's never have anything that nice to say about me. I'm switching majors.

Well, today turned out much better than it looked like it would. I got an A on my English paper, found the *perfect* major, got okays on both of my paper ideas (for Music and English), did okay on my quiz, and basically understood the gist of the things we talked about in the Chem review. And, after a little mishap with my folder (i.e. me having one serious blonde moment), my day is happy and all is good. Now I just have to make it through the rest of the week and I can go to Portsmouth and have a wonderful weekend!

A little bit of advice I saw in some random blog this morning: "If at first you don't succeed, sky diving is not for you."
Kinda makes you think, doesn't it?

I was up at 5:10 this morning, thought, "well, my alarm will go off at 5:50" and fell back asleep until 6:07, at which time I found that my phone charger was not working, my phone was dead, and Christina had already left for the rec without me. This means that I'm either going to have to forego swimming today or forego studying for the Chem exam tomorrow. I should just drop that class anyway, but sometimes it is just so satisfying to be oblivious to your problems and go about life as though things like chemistry and ethnomusicology papers don't exist. I mean, you pay for it eventually, but everything is going to come out alright in the end. I think. Sorry Mr. Smucker, you're going to have to give that scholarship of mine to someone else...Chemistry is going to keep this girl from the 4.0 she needs to maintain it. :(

Had a fun-filled family weekend. We started out with a hockey game, which Erin loved, and then went to Fairfield, where, to my surprise, we pulled up at the very same hotel where we'd had band formal. It was a little bit different scenario this time around, but still fun. On Saturday we went to the Cincinnati History Museum and saw lots of fun stuff (Erin says,"Hey, there's an audio exhibit, I'm going to go watch it!"), including a collection of art, etc. from the Vatican. Of course, this exhibit ended in a gift store where everything had THE VATICAN plastered all over it. There were some nice things, like gregorian chant cd's and rosaries, etc. but then there were some totally wacko things like Vatican aprons. Like, for cooking. I'm not Catholic and I hope I am not offending anyone who is, but I think that the apron thing was a little weird. This morning we went to Jungle Jim's and I looked high and low for these cookies I had in Italy but I didn't find them. I did find some baby swiss cheese, made by those dear Amish who live only about a half an hour away from me but are not my relatives (silly MU librarians). It was a fun place. Erin had some Coldstone and I think she may have been in Heaven. Then I was back to the dorm, working on my papers. Yuck. It was lots of fun to see my family. Even Jimmy said he had fun, so obviously it was a pretty good weekend.

I'm avoiding writing the two essays that I know are going to be a pain to write. The first one is about this poem for english. I wanted to parallel it with A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, but I wasn't allowed, because it's been so long since my teacher read the book. I could just go ahead and parallel it to my life, I'm allowed to do that, but then, my teacher doesn't really know about my life so I don't understand why I can't just write what I want to write about. Then there's this "ethnomusicology" paper that I have to write for Music class. I don't even know what that word means. Grr...school sucks.

So in order to improve myself and prepare for my lifeguarding class, I started going swimming at the rec this semester. Although I usually go with Christina, last night I was given the wonderful opportunity to go with my roommate, Cassie. This was fun, as Cassie has never, as I found out, had swimming lessons or been to a swim meet. So she made fun of me and my goggles, swim cap ("hee hee, you have one of those little hats. Are you really going to wear it?"), and funny strokes (as in, breaststroke and butterfly). To make the night even more entertaining, we had to walk through the snow and over the icy sidewalks in pouring rain. I don't get that but it sure made for some fun adventures. Luckily, no one was hurt or much more than drenched when we got back to our warm cozy room. And now, it's off to prepare for my family's visit...they're coming early because today my alma mater received its 7th snow day. Sucks to be them in June, making up all those days, when I have been home for a month already. Again, I feel the wonderful feeling of being a high school graduate.

I updated my links (over there to the left) and some of them are pretty fun. The classic Duck Hunt is just as addicting as it was when I was about 6 trying to hit those stupid ducks with the NES gun, and the Best Week Ever website is almost as entertaining as the show it goes along with, which is almost as entertaining as "I Love the 80's" was. ("I wanna know what love is..." :) Ha ha, Evan!) So check them out. And let me know if you have any suggestions.

I saw this and had to put it in here...

U.S. Holidays Celebrated/Observed in February
2 Groundhog Day
3 National Carrot Cake Day
6 National Compliment Day
7 National Hangover Awareness Day
8 Clean out your computer day
World marriage day
9 Start of Random Acts of Kindness Week
11 Inventors day
White Shirt day
16 President's Day (US)
19 Chocolate Mint day
22 National Margarita Day
23 Banana Bread Day
24 Pancake Tuesday

So don't forget....Seeing as how Saturday is the hangover holiday, I'm sure I'll have a few friends celebrating
something on this list. :) Oh, and Happy National Carrot Cake day, I guess...

You know how your mom is always right? I hate that. I figured I would never be able to always know what's going on, but I have come to think that it's an acquired ability. Maybe by the time I have kids, I'll be ready, but I finally had my first breakthrough. I have always told my sister that she should cut her hair, and she finally did. This is the conversation we had yesterday:
littlelink608: i got my hair cut
littlelink608: it's above my shoulders
littlelink608: it looks really good short
LorenAnn03: i know
LorenAnn03: i TOLD you
littlelink608: well, it's not like i actually listen to you!

yep...I guess that's what it's like to be a mom. Of course, for right now, being an older sister will definitely suffice.