Hey guys,
I haven't written in a while, mostly because I've been busy and partly because I'm lazy. I have a new "blog" just for Morocco this summer at http://www.levagabond21.blogspot.com, along with a link to my flickr.com account for to see my pictures I upload. You guys should leave a comment on the blog so that I know you can get to it. Thanks, and talk to you all soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So summer classes are over. Finally. And I've been dabbling in Italian music ever since I got back from Toronto. My Italian, however, has greatly interfered with my French, and I now intermingle to two. In my Italian assignments, I kept switching words. It should make French this fall and from now on fairly exciting, as I will probably have to pay more attention to spelling. Anyways, my first Italian CD was found in a store there by accident, and it was hiding under a particularly colorful CD that just caught my eye. If you haven't ever, you should check out Nek, even if you don't understand Italian, the music is great (and not just the music, either. You'll see...). I was also shocked to find out that Eiffel 65 is Italian. They're songs are actually just as good as the English ones that they have put out. Here are some lyrics from one song in particular that I love. It's about growing up (The little boy in the movie looks and has the same innocent expressions as my brother Riece).




Italian:
Viaggia insieme a me
Io te guideró
Tutto ciò che so te l’insegnieró
Finché arriverà il giorno in cui
Tu rischerai a fare a meno di me.

Io ti porteró dove non sei stato mai
E ti monstreró le meraviglie del mondo
E quando arriverai il momento in cui andrai
Tu guiderai
Tu lo insegnierai ad un altro
Un altro comme te.

French:
Voyages ensemble avec moi
Je te guiderai
Tout ce que je sais je te l'ensignerai
Jusqu'a ce que le jour arrive dans lequel
Tu reussiras a faire moins que moi.

Je te porterai où tu n’été jamais
Et je te montrerai les merveilles du monde
Et quand l'instant arrive dans lequel tu iras
Tu guideras
Tu l’enseingeras à un autre
Un autre comme toi.

English:
Travel with me
I will guide you
Everything that I know I will teach you
Until that day
You will succeed in doing less than me.

I will take you to where you have never been
And I will show you the marvels of the world
And when the moment arrives for you to go
You will guide
You will teach it to someone else
Someone just like you.


Check out "La Vita E" by Nek also. It's hot.


So good music aside, I'm going nuts. I don't work until tomorrow, and then I'm off for another week. I was planning on moving my stuff to our new apartment, but that seems unlikely to happen in the near future. I just have to wait for Billy to send me rent and his lease by Monday. I am also having a hard time getting things straightened out for writing a thesis next year, as no one at U of M thinks it's cool to answer emails. Ever. And I declared another major, this one in Political Science, the other day. I decided that I enjoy those far more than Arabic class, which I still will take however. I still expect to graduate on time, or maybe a semester over. But I won't know until I get some answers back.

In other news, I hope to go home this weekend, but I'm not sure how that's going to work out. I'm hopeful though, as I haven't been home all summer. I still get homesick sometimes, but I fades.

I was thinking the other day at how much I've grown in the past year or two. Just last summer I was prepared to go to Egypt this past winter semester, but I didn't. I decided to slow down. I met Ben. Now that I think about it, I'm glad I didn't go. It's also interesting to reflect on what I've let go. It's alright that one of my best friends and I grew apart. The more I think about it, I'm not really sure (and I don't think the world is either) why we were so close. I think about the great times we all had, before college of course. The cabins, the bonfires, the beach, card games, trouble with family, all that stuff that you really take for granted but miss like hell when it's gone. I spent so much time trying to get out of that place and never really savored what would become things that I ache for sometimes. What I do realize now isn't that I'm miserable because of it, but that I haven't really given a good look on what's going on right now in life. That's the trick. To realize that it's just going to happen again and again to you, that you can't stop change, and you can't stop from moving forward. However difficult it is to let your memories to be just that, you have to be able to realize that the present should be savored so you don't look back and wish you had. It took me 20 years to figure that out. The past is a beautiful thing that should be kept close to your heart, but it can't be dwelled upon, or you're just wasting what is.

I can't wait to go home, even for just a weekend.

Ever feel like your life will just spiral out of control until you hit the Big Nothing?

I do.

I need a hug.

Hm, what to say...I can't wait until the semester starts, and I'm really excited about taking 3 classes and working more. I think I'm going to see a career counselor for getting a job this summer doing SOMETHING that pertains to my major. It shouldn't be that difficult, especially considering where I live. Anyway...

Last night I went to dinner with Benny, Andy, and Ryan to Aut Bar. I actually had a whole mushroom without flinching, it was really good! We went back to Andy's house to have some wine and play Cranium. I lenrd i cn't drw wkrth crp. It's alright, as long as it wasn't chess...ugh, chess...

Need to check my schedule. Oh goody.

Christmas season made me realize a lot of things. I realized the traits, good and bad, about me that I never saw before, and some that I said that I would never show. I don't know why they surface, but I'm glad they did. Now I can work on them. I need to before I seriously regret it.
It also reminded me of other people's unfortunate decisions and cowardice. I don't understand people sometimes, especially when they work behind others. Seriously, dear you, I was going to apologize over break, because it's silly, all of this, but i realized why i was mad, irritated, and done in the first place: your vindictiveness hidden behind your little proxy warriors. Stick and drown. seriously. i can't believe you would sink so low. I am no saint, but you make forgiveness impossible, and you really know how to network your bitter, jealous, overbearing heart. If you had something to say, my number was in your phone, and I'm sure it STILL is. Thank you for reminding me why I made my decision.

God, so much unwanted drama. I wish you'd stop making it. This IS growing up. so, as Nike would say, Just Do It.

Why do all good things come to an end?

"So afraid of what people might say, but that OK, 'cuz you're only human."

It's almost like I just don't have a voice these days. What a pity, really.

Now all i need is my eyes taped and my ears gummed and then I can join those monkies in denouncing Evil.

Christmas is coming so soon this year. It's a shame that i'm not excited.

I need to go to the NCRB to work out or run or something. I don't feel well this days. Speak no Evil.

I wish dad wouldn't try to pretend to care and call me once every year to salt the wound. Hear no Evil.

This Christmas tree is mesmerizing, it makes me think of happy times when we were all still a family. See no Evil.

Those papers will hopefully write themselves, because I'm not doing it any time soon.

i really didn't think people could be so mean! the kind of mean from Mean Girls, c'mon, you know the type. it just shows what a nieve outlook i have about some things. i would never be that rude to someone who is making my delicious coffee-like beverage. did i want to cry? no, i died a little inside though. it's okay though, her drink was heavily "modified". sweet revenge.

i'm stoked to be going home next wednesday for thanksgiving with lauren, i can't wait to see everyone again. i might take the bus back home cuz i don't really want to stay until sunday, but i guess i'll see how things are up there.

i bought the Goo Goo Dolls's new CD; well i guess it's new to me. i'm slow as far as current events.

my 6 page paper is due tomorrow for that anthro law class. that's the last time i sign up for a class by looking at the title and not knowing what anthropology was exactly.

ooooookay.

I find it perfectly ludicrous and convnient that i was a reason for him moving out of his apartment. things were great until he started to snear at me, i could actually cut the hatred and bitterness with the knife of discomfort. terrible analogy, but seriously now, i don't talk to people from whom you can feel the tension and hate seep. on top of that i think it's rude to not give someone enough time to find a replacement roomate. "I'll be out on the 10th" being said on the 2nd is hardly enough time to get off on a bad porn, let alone find a new roomate. it's really considerate, don't you think?

don't get a decaf latte. just drink the regular one earlier to stave off sleep deprevation. i think it's actually making me sick. coffee. making me sick. go figure.

i think i'm dying. no, not really. exciting way to start a paragraph, though, isn't it? or: "my life is over." that's good stuff right there.

i have to say i'm suprised; with the frequency at which i eat at a restaurant, i haven't gained a pudge. actually, i've lost a pudge. i think it's because i'm not eating dorm food. honestly.

i should call my professor to see if i have a paper due on thursday.
my dishes need to be done. i need to vacuum. i have to do laundry and call home sometime this year.

"aunt becky goes in for surgery tomorrow morning, call me back at this number."
thanks for letting me know so soon.
"she has cancer."
"i know, i found out from the other side, dad. thank you for letting me know. don't worry, the kids already know,and they're not happy about not being told."

i worked on the bar at starbucks today, preparing drinks, which is suprisingly easier than using the cash register. some girl told me she couldn't taste the vanilla syrup. i offered to remake her drink, adn she said don't worry about it. that always bothered me. why tell the chef that he's made a mistake and not allow him to fix it? does he really care if he slipped up if you don't want him to do anything about it? does she think that it's going to help me not "mess up" next time. it's called a mistake for a reason. it was unforseeable, otherwise it would be called an "on purpose". i think people just like to be bitchy to people that are serving them.

still have to call my prof and write une lettre de motivation pour l'adjouter a mon CV pour demain pour que je ne ratte pas a cette classe.

barbara walters is on the wall across from me, telling me to READ. that's so like her. where would i be without ya, barb?

i can't believe it's already november. the time's been flying by so fast, with everything swirling into a dysfunctionally beautiful mess. my 2 classes-anthrocult law and iran-us crisis-have been disappointing so far, with neither being what i signed up for. i really don't care for studying anthropological methods for studying AMERICAN legal PROBLEMS...it's funny how i thought i'd be studying systems of law, not their problems, and i could have sworn the United States was considered "western". o well, a month and a half left of that class. the other one is more like a discussion of what we don't read, and whatever my prof decides to "tangentize" (yes, i think i'll make that a word, thank you, Tom O'Donnell). The ironic thing is that he reminds me of how i would teach a class. he gets excited when he makes a point, and either beats it to death with every single detail that one would never want to hear, or he will talk about some obscure event and connect it to other and make huge, sweeping statements of an event and then fill in the gaps with his own personal opinions and uptakes. it's interesting to see ourselves in others, and for once be the one who critiques one's own behavior.

Starbucks is going well so far, it actually brings me back to the fun that i had working at mcdonalds, except with respect from managers and coworkers. no one yells, but the "inform". i really do not care for gay bitch Michael, though. one girl told me that she thinks he wants to be a woman, and then corrected herself and said that actually, he's bitchier than a woman and he's nothing but a dramatic liar. he called me "kiddo" as i was leaving. please. dude, you're like 2 years older than me, but i suppose he's older than me in bitch years, so i guess i can see that. tomorrow i get to work on the register. i'm excited to be working with coffee, it's gonna be worth doing that and getting paid SO much more than any job like that in the sault pays. they thought my $6 something at mcdonalds was criminal for my experience and time put into there.

my arabic teacher is annoyed with me, but then again i don't really care for her. i always hope she doesn't call on to answer because she always corrects my grammar, right down to the optional case ending that is, once again, optional. if it's not grammar,it's pronunciation. if it's not that, then she repeats what i had just said except she emphasizes it, as if she was correcting my intination or as if i had missed a word. ugh, it's more annoying than anything. it's alright though, i'll switch out next semester, i'm nto too worried about that. it's not like my grade is suffering.

Things seem a bit out of focus right now, i thought i knew exactly what path i wanted to take, but this fall threw a monkey wrench in my plans. i'm thankful that it did. only 4 more classes until my major reqs are fulfilled, 3 more for french. i dropped my international studies minor, it's too close to my MENAS major, so i'm thinking something like Poli Sci, for which i only need to take 5 classes. i really like my ps class last year, so i think i might do that, depending on study abroad and internships in france, which i might consider and which could be advantageous to anything that i do. thank God for monkey wrenches.

Lent starts in Feb this year, that makes me sad. at least it'll be over the day before my b-day. i think i'll go home for thanksgiving this year to break from here.

i though ann arbor was pretentious. no. if you want to see that, go to Novi. god, it was an ugg boot, spandex, gucci-prada, stuck up, self-loving fest. put me in a rotten mood to travel 30 minutes to get scoffed at in my sweatshirt and jeans.

Hinder is a good band, and should be explored further.

So is the Great Expectations soundtrack.
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Annoyance of the day: two faced people. yeah, they're great fun to listen to, until they do it to you. i also think passive aggressive certains should go on this list. haha, you know who you are, even if you don't think i know...i really do, and i love playing this delightful game with you, it never gets old, and i think it should be a contest. yes. lets make it fun. who can be the phoniest! crazy? yeah, a bit, actually lost my mind between p.10-18 in Accident nocturne, took a left on Creepy Street and went down the wrong way near Passive Aggressive Junction. so my dear, misled friend, cheers to you, and i'll see you at the finish line!