Archive for July, 2007

“Leave the sunshine out”

Published at July 31, 2007 in Movies, Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

I watched “The Science of Sleep” tonight, but I don’t have too much to say, because I am… well… sleepy. I think that I was expecting it to be a little different and I was fine with it all until Stéphane started acting too psychotic at the end. However, the ending of the movie was appropriate.

I just really liked the cat costumes and would like to find one to fit my boy for Halloween.

And I liked the horse just because I am a girl so it is my duty to enjoy such things.

Chris took a pretty picture of me yesterday. I think it may be my default myspace picture for all eternity.

We have six days left until our GSA training begins. Unbelievable. This has been my first summer since I graduated from high school–I have taken summer school each year so I could graduate early. For some reason, this summer did not feel like much of a break. I suppose it is due to being so busy and everything changing. Graduating college, the wedding, the honeymoon, the what-do-we-do-now?, the move to Lynchburg, getting all of our paper work straight… Grad school is going to be most excellent, but the closer we get to it happening, the more nervous I get and the less exited I am. I don’t want to sound ungrateful. Starting a new school is always difficult and we will have some big additional responsibilities. I know it will be great once we get going.

“baby asprin”

Published at July 28, 2007 in Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

Yesterday I went to the DMV in Bedford to get a new license with my new name and address. I purposely waited until after I turned 21 so it would be horizontal. Since we were in the area, we went to my aunt’s house and stayed for dinner. We tried pulling over to get a nice shot of mountains and farm area, but the good spots didn’t have anywhere to pull off to. Maybe we’ll park in a neighborhood some day soon and just walk along the road to the good views.

There, Abed-nego found a bee under a cabinet that got stuck and never found its way out.

Jacey, Chris and I walked up the mountain on the trails. Abed-nego was terrified of their great dane, Jazz, at first, but then he got over it. There are a lot of trails back there that no one really owns.

When we returned all hot and gross, I tried to look noble with their shih tzus, but Buddy was being a little camera shy. Today Chris’ parents are coming in town and I think we’re going to try to go to dinner with them. I’ve been getting awful headaches every day. They’re in the back of my neck too. I feel like a pill popper, always taking Excedrin, but it’s the only thing that works.

“I’ve got ‘Blonde on Blonde’ on my portable stereo.”

Published at July 26, 2007 in Photography and Blabber. 1 Comment

We went to Black Water Creek for a walk and photo session, but first we needed to pick up some things from Pets Mart. I suggested that we take Abed-nego with us opposed to having to stop by the apartment to pick him up before going to the park. At first Chris refused since he always barks at strangers and whines when we don’t let him play with other dogs. In the end we took him and he didn’t bark or cry at all. I was really surprised, especially when another dog in line started barking and trying to get to him.

When we got to the park, a butterfly was flying all around us. Abed-nego looks cute, but he really want to eat it. I snagged some nice shots of Christopher until we made it to the bridge that overlooks the creek. Abed-nego doesn’t like that the bridge sways, yet he remains true to his dachshund instincts and walked on.

Chris decided to wade in the creek and Abed-nego splashed in as well. Usually he doesn’t like swimming in pools so it was weird to see him jumping in the water and running along with Chris. Then out of nowhere this tennis ball floated down stream. Abed-nego just had to have it and took off swimming after it. After all the exploring and playing, Abed-nego looked like a muskrat.

On the way back Chris noticed a vine and had to swing on it.

The end.

just the modem

Published at July 25, 2007 in Politics and Blabber. 0 Comments

It has been a crazy day and it’s only 1:12 pm. Chris has been trying to set up our new internet so we can be good citizens and quit stealing our neighbor’s wi-fi. This has been going on for the past two hours, because Verizon is being a bunch of weirdos (and the Indian lady who was “helping” Chris eventually just hung up on him) and two out of our three phone jacks do not work, so he had to drag his desk top into the den. Rad. If we could just go through NTC it’d be so much easier, but in this apartment our only options are Verizon and Kinex. I wish I could help out, but at this point I have no idea what is going on.

Last Sunday evening we went down to Nags Head to spend time with his family. We went to the same place two years ago.

It seems crazy that I took that photo two years ago… We spent most of the time watching The Dog Whisperer. This time there was no National Geographic to watch so instead we were able to bring Abed-nego. Chris’ mom wanted to take some family portraits at the beach so I brought my parents’ tripod and used the self-timer. I think they came out pretty well seeing as I had 10 seconds to run into the picture and self-taken family portraits don’t usually come out that impressive to begin with.

Chris, Elizabeth, and I watched the Democratic debates. I really don’t think this whole You Tube idea is as edgy as they made it out to be since they went through and chose the videos instead of selecting random ones. I understand that some of the videos were probably not worth airing, however that is the only way to truly have unscripted questions. Otherwise, the questions are censored in a sense, even if it is done so more lightly than previous times.

At the end of the debate, some reporter or someone said that Hillary clearly won. I didn’t think so at all. She always seems defensive and aggressive, which makes me suspicious, like she is trying to make up for something and so appears weak. I thought Barack did a tremendous job and always impresses me. In my opinion, he seemed to be the strongest. I don’t say that just because I support him–if I was more impressed with another person then I would support them instead. I was impressed by Edwards as well, especially when he said something along the lines of, “If you won’t vote for Barack just because he is black or Hillary just because she is a woman, then I don’t want your vote.” I would be quite happy if Obama ran for President and Edwards was his running mate. That would be nice, but I don’t know if that is probable.

There was some talk of Darfur and everyone recognized it as an issue that needed more attention.  Sometimes I am a bit too cynical and I think that people won’t come through on their promises.  I guess these are thoughts you should have with politicians.  However, I believe Barack over the others, because he was the only one who actually attended the Save Darfur rally.

I really hope that he makes the ballot. I’m not sure all that I have to do in order to vote in the primary. I think I just have to register as a Democrat, which I really don’t want to do. I wouldn’t want to register as a Republican either even though it doesn’t make much of a difference. I just prefer to be neutral on paper and so my political decisions are based on the candidate themselves, not an affiliation. Does that make sense?

We stopped by my house on the way back to Lynchburg to grab a few things. After being around only people who are much taller than me, it was a shock to stand next to a person about my height. My perception was thrown and I kept thinking that I was taller than my mom when really she is still three inches taller.

“Just call it common”

Published at July 21, 2007 in Blabber. 2 Comments

Chelse is having a boy. Come December, I’ll have a nephew. Weird. Almost the entire drive home Chris and I said every boy name that we could think of. Since Sydney and Arlington (their dog) are both named after cities, they want to go with another city name for this baby. Chris and I are pushing for Hrothgar or Odin instead since my cousin’s baby is named Thor.

I was able to get my car checked out today. False alarm… Nothing was wrong, which was a very pleasant surprise. At first they were going to charge $99 just for a diagnostic test. After some grumbling and the fact that nothing was wrong, they decided not to charge me at all. Good deal. For a while we were really considering selling my car and buying a Yaris since my car is still worth about $12,000 or so and it has been very rude the past couple of years.  Instead I think we’re just going to stick it out for the next two years and then get a second car.

Tomorrow afternoon we leave for Nags Head. Tuesday morning we’ll be going back to Lynchburg where we will set up our own internet connection, a new network set up, and “The Ugly Dachshund” waiting in our mailbox.

“On my way today”

Published at July 19, 2007 in Blabber. 0 Comments

Chris took my cousins to get Cold Stone ice cream.  I stayed back to do the dishes–we made them dinner tonight.

We went running at Black Water Creek again today in between thunder storms.  That park is amazing…  Miles and miles of trails.  The hills really take it out of me, but Chris said I’ll get used to it and then be an even better runner on flat land.  We found a bridge hanging by wires that shakes when you run over it and plan to take pictures there soon while playing in the creek.

The engine light came on in my car again…  I just got it fixed about a month ago for the engine light and it really was pretty pricey.  I’m trying to get an appointment for Saturday at the same place since hoping they will fix it for free since they must have not done it right the first time.  Arg.  At times like these it wouldn’t be such a big deal if we had two cars.  Instead I think of not being able to get around and freak out.  I shouldn’t worry, though.  I’ve gotten through worse issues than an engine light.  I love my car, but this is really getting ridiculous.  I’ve heard that Volkswagens are just like that.  Cranky and fickle.

“My mother is a fish.”

Published at July 18, 2007 in Blabber. 0 Comments

I finally have all of my guitars after two years of separation.  I was only allowed to bring one guitar to school with me, but now I have them all once again.  We began making plans to set up the four-track and start writing and recording music again.  Two years ago we created Parade of Crocodiles and recorded one song before we had to head to Longwood and part with my instruments.  Well, we plugged in the four-track last night and it won’t turn on.  I don’t understand, because it has been sitting in a protective box all this time.  It’s pretty old, I think about five or six years, so maybe it was just time to die.  I really don’t want to have to spend a bit of money of recording equipment, but maybe I can find an expensive version of Garage Band for PC and an adapter to plug into my lap top.  I’ll see if I can get that for my birthday…

Speaking of my birthday, it looks like we’ll be spending it in Nags Head with Chris’ family.  This Friday we’re going back to Chesapeake for a couple of days for computer stuff.  Chris’ computer is a desktop that is 4 years old now.  My dad has been working to improve it for the past few years and he admits that it is time for Chris to get a new one.  So we’re going to pick up a lap top for Chris this weekend.  Then Sunday evening we’re going to Nags Head for a few days with Chris’ family.  This will be my second birthday in a row spent with them and I really hope that they don’t realize it, because I hate birthdays.  Bah.  I’ll be 21.  I still feel 19.

“This was the place Huwawa was; Huwawa’s breath is death.”

Published at July 16, 2007 in Blabber. 0 Comments

When I suggested that we put our books in Library of Congress order, I was partially joking.  Mostly joking.  After a few hours of organizing, I’m glad we did it.  Certain sections are lacking, though.  Our “German” section consists only of Franz Kafka.  For some reason I am incredibly humored when I look at the beginning of our literature section and there is Gilgamesh starting it all.

I started As I Lay Dying.  By “started” I mean that I got to page five before I was distracted by Chris trying to set our internet up.  Then we went for a run on some bike trails.  I’m not used to all the hills, but I was still able to run the full thirty minutes.  I think Abed-nego likes Lynchburg, too.  For the first time in his life, two strangers called him a “dachshund” instead of a wiener dog or a hot dog.

“Suddenly everything has changed”

Published at July 15, 2007 in Blabber. 1 Comment

I am so overwhelmed with possibilities that it is insane. I can’t believe that we don’t have to go back to Farmville tonight… This is home now and I am so happy about it. I have been used to being limited in Farmville. You could probably drive through the whole town in 10 minutes even if you hit every stop light. There is so much to do in Lynchburg and our apartment is very central, about 5-10 minutes from everything. Things are much cleaner here too. Unlike Sunchase, I can walk around and not worry about dog poop or broken beer bottles. We have a little man-made pond behind our building with ducks. Soon we’ll probably start checking out different parks to run at with Abed-nego. So many options, plus a trail at our apartment as well.

The move went smoothly with lots of help from our families. All of the big stuff is set up. We still need to hang up some of our clothes and organize things a little. Everything is coming along nicely and our apartment feels quite earthy–lots of greens, browns, and blues.

I’m glad to be around family again. My cousin is starting community college in August, which is (once again) 5 minutes from our apartment so I think he’ll be coming by a bit and my other cousin is starting high school and seems like she really would like to visit a bit as well. Maybe we can all study together.

Everything is going well and we’re about to go get some authentic Italian pizza. 16″ pizza for $9.

the carpool lane

Published at July 11, 2007 in Blabber. 0 Comments

As I have been packing, I thumbed through my old notebooks from last year.  I read several small writings that I had done while waiting in the car for Chris to get out of class.  I was impressed with what I had written; it was pretty good.  I haven’t been so creative lately.  I attribute most of it to the fact that I was in a workshop class last fall and always fighting for new ideas.  That was a successful class and good for the dreaming and all, but when it comes down to it, I’m no writer.  I just have my moments.  I’m like that with so much.  I am rather mediocre with lots of things.  Maybe I need to concentrate more in order to improve.

Today I saw something I had never seen before.  Two wild turkeys with little turkey babies!  They were walking by the water behind our apartment and I watched from the balcony.  I tried to get some pictures, but they didn’t turn out so well.  I’ll miss that nice view.

Also, I learned today that many people train dachshunds and falcons to team up for hunts.  What smart dogs.  I think getting a dachshund was the best choice and Abed-nego has grown to be a very good dog.  He’s the kind of dog that will follow you everywhere, even into the bathroom.

finally approved

Published at July 10, 2007 in Photography and Blabber. 2 Comments

We finally have gotten approved for the apartment and are signing the lease on Friday.  Then Saturday we’re moving everything in.

We’ve spent the past couple of days at my parents’ house packing things and getting all of our wedding presents together and ready to go.  It’s a really nice place and Lynchburg is great, so super excited to get the heck out of Farmville and move on.

Yesterday Chelse was supposed to find out the gender of the baby.  As they were getting ready to go to the appointment, Derek started feeling awful pains and they had to go to the emergency room.  It turned out to be kidney stones and he is okay now.  I’m not sure when we’ll find out what the baby is, but instead I got some nice photos of Sydney.

She is walking a little bit now, but only when you can trick her into it.  She walked toward me twice yesterday.

We’ll be heading back to Farmville in a few hours and I am happy to say that it will only be a few days longer.  I love the campus, but Wal Mart drives me insane and it’ll be nice to be closer than 45 miles to the closest Target and PetsMart and all those things.

“I thought I saw an eagle, but it might have been a vulture. I never could decide.”

Published at July 7, 2007 in Movies and Blabber. 0 Comments

Chris: You’ve used that line for a blog before.
Katie: Yes, but I like it.
Chris: You do. It’s like your favorite line, but it’s so true, except it’s usually a hawk that actually turns out to be a turkey vulture. They’re everywhere. They want our animals.
Katie: “You caaaan’t have it.” Do you know where that is from?
Chris: No.
Kati: “Tooo much magic bus.”
Chris: No way. I don’t believe you, but you’re probably right….

Need I say more?

We came back to Chesapeake for a couple of days. I don’t know how insanely busy we’ll be when the school year starts and we’ll take some of our wedding presents back with us and start moving in on Thursday or Friday.

Creative writers have a new academic level to complete. From my understanding, previously a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (a little larger than a regular Masters of Arts) was recognized as the highest level of education for writing and so teaching at a university with just an MFA was accepted. This all might be completely untrue, but that is what I had been led to believe. Virginia Tech is starting a Ph.D. in writing and rhetoric program beginning this fall. I also noticed a few other universities offering this degree as a new program. I suppose this may become a new expectation for writing scholars.

I found this, because Chris and I were looking at information on English Ph.D. programs. We may be dreaming; I don’t know what is realistic. There aren’t many programs in Virginia, mostly just UVA for literature. At least we’re headed in the right direction. I never know what really will happen until I’m right there. No plans are solid until they are happening, no matter how much I plan or try to prepare. That is all a couple years away, so for now I’m just really excited (and terrified) to start grad school in August.

I’m not sure what I’ll be doing tomorrow, but for tonight I’m just sitting here watching “Pan’s Labyrinth” with my parents, Chris, the puppies, and the bunny. I’m trying not to watch to see if I can pick up on the Spanish without the subtitles. It’s not working too well. I can read Spanish so much better than picking up on it audibly.

Later: I don’t think my parents enjoyed “Pan’s Labyrinth” very much. My dad doesn’t like foreign films too much, nor does he like subtitles, which quite often accompany foreign films. He’d prefer they be dubbed. Not me. I like it a bit, but I felt so sad afterward. Plus it was a little graphic…. the guy with the eyes on his hands, and the captain’s mouth. I’m quite squeamish. I did like it, though I probably wouldn’t watch it again since it had such a depressing feel to it.

“You said we needed time. I’m already there.”

Published at July 5, 2007 in Blabber. 4 Comments

I don’t know how many times I have said, “I wish we could watch Star Wars, but we don’t have them at school or on dvd.”  So today we decided to fix that.  We made what was meant to be a quick trip to Wal Mart and were extremely disheartened at first.  We couldn’t find them anywhere.  There is no other place to buy movies really.  No Best Buy or Target or anything like that in Farmville.  We wandered around and eventually found them on the bargain rack, yet they were out of order.  I suppose Roman Numerals are just beyond Wal Mart employees in Farmville, because first there was “A New Hope” followed by “The Return of the Jedi” and then lastly “The Empire Strikes Back.”  That makes it sound like the Empire wins if you only read the titles.  I still don’t understand why they didn’t have a box set.  They had Indiana Jones and Jurassic Park.  Why no Star Wars?

Man, there are some awful lines in that movie, yet I excuse it all and still enjoy it.  I do the same thing with musicians.  I allow them to play awful guitar solos and shut it out until it gets better again.

“They’ll only sing if it’s raining hard”

Published at July 4, 2007 in Movies and Blabber. 0 Comments

Yesterday was one month of marriage for Christopher and I. Time is going so fast already. Chris still is entertained by pretending his wedding band is the one ring of power.

Since we spent most of the day in Lynchburg yesterday, we were rather tired when dinner time rolled around. I still had to fight Chris in order to get him to let me cook dinner alone and he kept popping in to give me hints. I wanted to make a surprise experiment. I made coconut chicken with roasted pecans and some cuoscuos. Not the most nutritious meal since we were running out of food.

After dinner we watched “Little Miss Sunshine.” I really enjoyed it and it takes a lot for me to enjoy the movie. Usually I am easily annoyed by kids in movies when they try to make them cute, but I didn’t mind Olive. It might have been because the movie wasn’t totally centered around her. Or it may have been that I kind of looked like her as a kid. A little. Also, I was surprised that the mom had come a long way in her acting career from this:

Today we spent most of the day packing, organizing, and cleaning. Then we went to Wal Mart (oh the insanity) for typical fourth of July food. Hot dogs, mac and cheese, and baked beans. All that was missing were the various salads (watergate salad, chicken salad, and so on). We offered Abed-nego half of a hot dog, partially just because everyone always yells “Hot dog!” or “Weiner dog!” when they see him.

Of course, he accepted.

Now that I looked back on it, that is a really disgusting photo. Anyway, we had banana-coconut smoothies for dessert. Chris has gotten really good at making smoothies. Then we headed to Wilck’s Lake for a run. I’m still at 30 minutes, but my pace has increased some.

The End. How boring.

“Can the prey be taken from the mighty, or the captives of a tyrant be rescued?”

Published at July 3, 2007 in Blabber. 2 Comments

So maybe we won’t be moving this Saturday. Despite the fact that the approval process is supposed to take at the most 3 days and we dropped off our application on Friday, the apartment complex has not yet begun the background check and all that. Thanks, guys. Moving out this weekend won’t be happening and we need to do it over a weekend in order to receive help from my parents, so now we’ve pushed it all back a week to July 14th. That is my sister’s birthday. In about six days we’ll know if Chelse is having a boy or a girl. I can’t imagine her having a boy just because Sydney is a girl. I’m reminded of Continental Drift when Bob’s wife was amazed that her third child was a boy and that something male could arise from a female. I think I’ve said all of this before…

I’m going to miss being around to watch Sydney grow up, though I have been away at Longwood for most of her life and she still gives me kisses. She changes so much every time I see her.

Christopher’s parents bought him the Reformation Study Bible for graduation, the English Standard Version. He got really excited about it and I’m pretty sure he is going to put unboxing pictures on his blog. Weirdo. He bought a smaller, prettier one for me.

“conversations like mine fields”

Published at July 1, 2007 in Photography and Blabber. 0 Comments

The plan is to move into the new apartment this Saturday. This means lots of packing to do and I am not too certain that we have enough boxes. With less than a week left in town, we want to take as many pictures as possible. Today the weather was too perfect to just spend inside packing, so we took Abed-nego for a walk around the lake. While we were back there, we did an experiment. We let Abed-nego walk without his leash. This was perfectly safe, because to the right of the path was the lake and to the left of the path was a swamp, so there was only but so much dashing he could do. He did very well, though, and did not run off once.

Here are some of my favorite shots of the day.

Now, Abed-nego only ran away from me like this, because Chris called him over.

More photos can be found on our photography site. My camera’s batteries went to sleep in the process of uploading the photos, so I’ll add more later.