Garden Woes

Well, as if the terrifying approach of the new school year wasn't a sign enough of the end of summer, my garden is also signifying the season change. Almost everything in my plot is dying. I don't think it's my fault as much as it is the unpredictability of the weather lately in Bloomington, or just the end of the growing season. It's very sad, though. The few remnants of my prolific crops are bountiful cherry tomatoes, sacred basil, and peppers (I predict that in two weeks I'll have about 10 bell peppers and 10 jalapenos to look forward to).

It's sad to walk around the park and look at everyone's dying plots. 7-foot tall sunflowers are almost all wilting, tomatoes plants are sagging and turning brown, and the vine crops are all grayish. It looks like most people are tearing up the plants to get ready to evacuate for fall, but I'm planting a few new crops before I lose reign of my 10x10 patch in October. I tore up the radishes and planted carrots and turnips a few weeks ago. In fact, the hunt for turnip seeds turned out to be a wild goose chase around Bloomington, but ended successfully.

I'm awfully sad to see the garden wither away. It was such a huge part of my summer... But it's nice that the few things that are left are doing very well and I can still use them in my kitchen tonight!

On Cynicism

The guy sitting next to me in the library has tuberculosis.  I'm sure of it...

You know, the past two weeks have been really great for me.  Despite a lot of problems and stress and what not, I feel like I'm finally getting over a lot of that baseline bah-humbugness I described a while ago.  I have to admit, most of it has to do with the goings-on in Kansas City and how they renewed my faith in me and, well, guys.  That's a good thing.

God, I need to stop reading Twilight, or at least need to stop having the author write my blog entries...

But seriously, today has been REALLY great!  It's my first full day back since the fam's trip to Michigan, and I feel like I have a newer, more positive take on things.  I got stuff squared away for my recital, had a great talk and dinner with Lizbee, the weather's great... blah blah blah...

I stopped by Brian's on my way to the library tonight to pic up the newest Twilight book from his wife and we had a great conversation, which was much less cynical than usual.  Something's in the water.  Maybe that "something" can get me a job...

Blast from the Past!

Having a great, quick trip to Kansas City this week. My cynicism seems to have been cured... But more on that as it progresses.

The real reason for this post is that I've been in Danny's house today, stealing pictures from his computer. I'd like to post them here for your pleasure:

Danny in the Bratz tee we bought Brandon. Brandon refused to wear it. So Danny did.

A gross picture of our NATS roadtrip senior year to Illinois. Danny bought all the girls spider rings from the gas station. Amelia had been eating cheese puffs...

Danny and Brandon in a time of crisis. This is the day after the ninja and the crackhead story.

Danny trying on everything he could at Walmart. Over his suit. Me being a babe in the background.

We find a spooky house in Illinois.

Me being a crackhead in the restaurant at the beginning of our Illinois roadtrip. There's a long story to this, having to do with somehow involving the whole restaurant in a picture-storytelling game...

Me and my Grandma, one of our last pictures, after my senior recital. One of my favorites--on my piano!

Rachel and I after my senior recital. This is our first performance together, with the Mahler set. Rachel, I live for singing Mahler with you.

Tetris Party

I just got back from a whirwind two weeks and despite CRAZY car troubles, I'm feeling very refreshed and ready to tackle this next year.

So instead of unpacking my two suitcases worth of dirty clothes or throwing out the dead flowers from Whitney's wedding, I've been glued to my wii, playing Tetris Party.

Brian and Amanda bought Tetris Party at the beginning of the summer, and they've been OBSESSED. Every time we break out the wii, we inevitably play Tetris Party. They're so obsessed that they practice all the time, and they've gotten really good! So all of our group of friends has been downloading Tetris Party on their own wiis so we can try to be as good as them... Since my internet has been gone all summer I never had a chance to download my own copy...UNTIL I brought my wii to Matt's place a few weeks ago. And you KNOW that's all I've been doing in my spare time.

There's a game in Tetris Party called "Field Climber." Basically it's this guy (specifically "The Guy") about the size of a Tetris block, and he's in the Tetris game, and he really needs to get out of the game by climbing up Tetris blocks. My job in playing the game is to provide him with one-block steps to climb out, occassionly providing a path to goals along the way. Sounds simple. Even FUN. But today I played it for HOURS and just couldn't seem to get the hang of it.

There’s a few things I don’t really understand about field climber. First of all, I’m not really sure why sometimes I squish The Guy, and other times I don’t. I have theories about what constitutes a game-terminating squish. But honestly, in the moment of field climber, I lose all rational thought, logic, and forsight and I inevitably squish The Guy.

I also don’t know what the items on field climber do. And because I don’t know what they do, I tend to ignore them. It’s typical in a game of field climber for me to rack up several items on the side of the screen. I suppose they’re all beneficial but I'm too afraid to try...

What I also don’t understand is why The Guy is so erratic. I’ll be waiting to put a block down, and he’ll run underneath it and stand there, and I know in my elementary knowledge of the game that if I place the block on him, I will squish him. You know, it almost seems like The Guy is just as confused about field climber as I am. I don’t think The Guy realizes that if he would just calm the f**k down, he wouldn’t get trapped or squished and I would be better able to help him climb the blocks. The Guy and I are in this together, and when The Guy doesn’t cooperate he screws my game up.

But when I succeed in helping The Guy to his final destination, I feel a lot better about myself. I feel like somehow I've commited kindness along the level of ending poverty or war. It's a good feeling.

Bizarre Weather, Bizzarre Moods

Well, I'm sitting in Matt's sunroom here in Ann Arbor. The weather has been really weird-- malicious rainstorms all day long, with patches of bright sun and a cool breeze, then a rain storm two seconds later. My hair hates it, so I'm tempted to hate it as well.

I'm in a really weird mood. I have been for quite some time. I don't know if I can chalk it up to my failure to keep up with my thyroid pills, or lack of sufficient funds for anything, or missing Mark, or what. I've been crafting a lot, gardening perfect veggies, exercising, eating brown rice, straightening my hair, doing all the things that usually make me happy, but there's this lingering base-line "bah-humbug" feeling creeping into everything I do. And it's driving me nuts.

There's a busy next two weeks on the horizon. Stressful and exciting at the same time. Next weekend Whitney and Neil are getting married, which isn't particularly stressful for me, but stressful for me to think of everything that goes in to a wedding. The morning after the wedding I drive back to Bloomington and pack up for my newest endeavor, a small chamber choir tour lead by Dr. Crabb, and a reunion of sorts for some of my favorite singers from MU. The tour, August 4-9, is gearing up to be an exciting week with wonderful music. I'm excited and nervous to work with Crabb again, hoping I can sing through some allergy problems I've been having.

Rather annoyedly, though, I'm going through a strong "anti-relationship" phase. It's come at the complete worst time as everyone is either beginning new relationships, or getting married, or something. It kind of sucks to be cynical when everyone else is so happy. I suppose that might be a good reason for the mood...

At least my garden is doing well. HUGE cucumbers every few days, beautiful green beans, round tomatoes almost ready to harvest, peppers!, tiny radishes, all of which make it the bright spot of my day. Here's some more pictures if you care to look. And you should care, because they're awfully cute.

Welcome to the Earring Party!

We made these.

And why is everyone in the library at 9:45 pm a crazy face?

Scenes from a garden

Presenting a huge cucumber and some very cute harvests.