Friday, November 23

 
did anyone else know there was so much involved in going abroad? holy crap. from international student i.d. cards to visas to electronic refund account forms to swiss army knives to big backpacks to being forced to bring cheesy american gifts for my host family, i feel like i'm going to throw up. this is absoludicrous, as my good australian mate josh would say.

josh comes home in 9 days. yay!

you know what i realized on wednesday but failed to express on this here webpage? i really love the indiana jones trilogy. i have a newfound passion for the movies since my viewing of "raiders of the lost ark" on wednesday, my first in many years. i think george lucas and harrison ford are both geniuses in their own right. i mean, how does indy always get out of those scrapes? and still get the girl? and he totally kicks nazi ass! plus, there is the sean connery factor in "indiana jones and the last crusade": "we named the dog indiana." jeshush chrisht, shean. you shlay me.


posted by from shannon at 10:40 PM

 
good news: i seem to be on a path to full recovery. it might be argued (by crazy people) that i was overreacting about my illness, and that what i probably have is just a mild case of the flu or something. regardless, i am doing quite well now, and that is something we can all be thankful for this holiday season.

so after a night full of harrison ford, nazis, a failed starbucks attempt, breaking and entering into the exposition park rose garden, and a long late cold frozen toes walk around the general neighborhood (why do i insist on wearing flip flops in any weather? what is this southern californian phenomenon?) , i slept for about five hours and then got up to drive home for all the turkeyness. but before i could make my long lost child entrance, i had to pick up my grandma, a task that i was assigned by my mother and one that i was not exactly dreading, but not quite looking forward to, either. i love the woman to death, but we have rarely spent any time alone together, and i was worried about an hour-long car ride with my domineering italian matriarch of a grandmother. what would we talk about? could she harp about my navel piercing and my "thoughtless flight to italy" for sixty whole minutes? and what about music? should i turn the radio off? do they have stations that play dean martin or something?

but it turned out to be a surprisingly wonderful and touching hour. she told me all these stories about her dad, and moving from chicago to california, and my grandpa, and our family in italy - all these things we've never really talked about. and i thought, i would have been sad if i woke up one morning and realized i never knew any of those things about her. it put me in such a "it's a wonderful life"-type mood. yay.

okay, gonna take a break to try out some new stuff with this webpage. hold onto your butts.

if you got that reference, you're the best.
posted by from shannon at 12:07 AM

Monday, November 19

 
i can hear the harry potter music out my window right now. weird! i wish an owl would come bring me a letter inviting me to hogwarts school of wizardry. i'd drop out of usc faster than you could say "overpriced".

well, i am still alive, thought not feeling so hot. but i think we can rule out brain tumor or toxic shock syndrome and assume either flu bug or minor food poisoning. not so bad.

speaking of food, i just want to share with everyone how proud i am of myself. see, as of late i have developed an unexplainable revulsion toward chicken. chicken, of all things. i mean, really. sometimes i can't even explain myself. it makes sense for people to be disgusted by red meat, but chicken? but i forced myself to eat some chicken skewers at bengal barbeque in disneyland this weekend. it was the first time i'd had the stuff in weeks, so i'm excited. i don't know if i'll ever make a full recovery, but hopefully i can avoid being that freaky girl who never eats chicken. i would really hate that.
posted by from shannon at 7:30 PM

 
i think i might be dying. i, the girl who never gets headaches, have been suffering from increasingly severe pains at the base of my skull, and today these pains have been accompanied by your friend and mine, nausea. the only conclusion i can reach is that i must have a brain tumor. or maybe food poisoning? either way i am screwed.

on a brighter note, i went to disneyland today with my two guy friends and had so much fun i almost puked. literally. i must commend my friend mike, the only person ever in my life to spin a teacup so fast (with his patented "scooping" method) that i, and our friend dom, felt ill for an hour. i think that's pretty cool. and i got to take my first trip to the first aide center so i could get tylenol for the headaches, which might sound like a bummer but i thought it was great. i am a disneyland fiend and getting to experience more of that place always makes me happy. in general, it was a nice day.

okay, i'm going to bed now to try to sleep off the cancer.
posted by from shannon at 1:46 AM

Sunday, November 18

 
i have had an amazing 56 or so hours, which is lucky, because it wasn't looking so good on friday afternoon when i had a mortifyingly embarassing run-in with my crush. but that's just me for you. girl doesn't know how to shut her mouth. ah, well, so it goes. and on the bright side, the whole thing led to an interesting conversation with a friend that put everything in perspective for me, so i feel better, even though i'm still not really happy about having made an ass of myself. sorry if this is all vague.

anyway, that was an isolated incident of not greatness for the weekend. but it has been a long weekend, so instead of recounting it play-by-play i'm going to put down some really good moments:

*learning some sign language
*bringing friends to their first jumping pushing sweating concert and having them love it
*coming home late and having a really good friend be so excited to have you there
*waking up with ears still ringing, a bruise on your arm and a bruise on your back because you went to a really great show
*getting a piggy back ride from a boy who i have been wanting to become better friends with, and receiving a phone message from same boy that was so funny i listened to it three times
*painting your bare stomach with your good friend so that together you spell out the initials of your school, then blowdrying your own stomach to make sure the paint sets
*getting hugs from boys who lift you off the ground
*screaming and cheering and laughing and yelling and losing your voice and generally being stupid with a group of your favorite friends and a whole stadium of trojans as your team dominates its cross-town rivals
*watching your school band perform a halftime show medley of michael jackson songs, mixed in with their own choreography, including a bit where half of the members bend over, putting one hand on the ground, and the other half make the motions of spanking them
*calling your little brother and gloating about the victory
*seeing a movie that makes you so ecstatic that you and your friend keep smacking each other in the arm every few minutes because something wonderful happens
*turning to your friend to talk about living in london someday, and meaning it
*finally hearing this joke played out from real people on the big screen:
"Fred, you next."
"I'm not Fred, I'm George. Honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother? Can't you tell I'm George?"
"Sorry, George, dear."
"Only joking, I am Fred."
*remembering that you are terrified to your very core to leave the country in less than two months for a whole semester, but then getting excited when you remember that's part of the game
*going to bed knowing that when you wake up, you get to go to disneyland

good night!


posted by from shannon at 2:23 AM