its the time and the season....
Mood:  not sure
Now Playing: Taibhreamh-Jump Little Children
Friday night was the Jump Little Children concert, which I treated myself to as a birthday present. I went with Kaitlin and Rachel from first floor, and we ate dinner at the Spotted Dog Cafe across the street from Cat's Cradle before the show started.
We got to the show a little late, so we ended up having to sit separately, but Kaitlin and I found really good spots sitting near the stage. Jonathan, the bass player walked by several times, which was v.exciting. Michael Bellar and the As-Is Ensemble opened, and then Jay and Amanda came out and joined him to perform some of their old Rosebud songs before changing the stage for Jump's performance.
They played for two solid hours, and then came back for two encores. They didn't even finish playing their last song until 12:30, it was amazing. Jump is responsible for one of my all time favorite songs, "Cathedrals" and by the time they left before the encores, they still hadn't played it, which made me incredibly anxious, but when they came back out for the first encore, it was the first song they played. I have the entire song on video-it is now one of my most prized possessions. Taibhreamh was incredible, it is the very first Jump Little Children song ever written and their performance was absolutely amazing. This guy emailed me his recording of the concert, and I've been listening to it nonstop all weekend. All three of us bought tee-shirts and then after the show, I bought a poster and got Jonathan to autograph it when we went over and talked to him. We also talked to Michael Bellar for awhile, he is an incredibly talented pianist-it turns out, his mother was Rachel's music teacher in elementary school. The whole evening was just perfect, the best birthday present I ever could have given myself.
Saturday afternoon, I took my math exam, which turned out to be easier than I had expected, and then I went to a singing at the Allgood's house. Church was nice yesterday, Mrs. Armstrong made me a little birthday basket which was really cute. I worked on finishing my funerary urn for awhile in the afternoon, and then Vanessa, Stephanie, Brittany, and I went to see In Her Shoes again at the dollar fifty theatre. We ordered chinese for dinner and then I finished up the decorations on my urn. Our final critique and exam are in Ceramics this afternoon, so I spent Friday finishing all of my glaze up. I have back to back history exams on Wednesday, Western Civ at 9 and History of Costume at 1, its going to be awful. The only good thing is that I'll be home on Thursday!
Vanessa gave me her cold, so I have felt icky for the past couple of days, I stocked up on DayQuil in the bookstore this morning and sold my math textbook. I'm working until 1, then going to Ceramics for our final, and then I'm going to crawl back in bed and do some civ reading. Its absolutely gloomy outside right now, which I'm actually enjoying. Yesterday was gorgeous, it was about 70 degrees outside and sunny with a light breeze, but its back to about 50 today and its raining. I'm wearing my new Jump tee shirt and my big brown scarf from Florence with my leather jacket. I'm going to try and get a head start on my reading for Civ, we have to learn the last two chapters by ourselves, and I need to know it by Wednesday.
Jump pictures can be found at:

Webshots

More later. ~RLM

Taibhreamh

the most wonderful time of the year
Mood:  happy
Now Playing: Guster-Rocketship
Today has been absolutely glorious.
This morning I got up early for the Dean of Students Office holiday breakfast, they took to eat at the State Farmer's Market Restaurant and it was fantastic. They also gave us presents-pretty silver snowflake necklace charms. For breakfast, I had a huge bacon, ham, and cheese omelet, hot chocolate with whipped cream, and biscuits with strawberry jam. One of my favorite combinations. The day itself was beautiful, the sky is blue and everything is gorgeous. Its about 50 degrees and just chilly enough to feel like winter but not cold. Just the way I like it. After we got back from breakfast, I took a quick nap, then printed out my Herald portfolio and turned it in, and then went upstairs and helped Ashley set up her new iPod. I'm jealous, I don't get mine until next week. But I'm so excited to actually be getting one! I seriously can't wait. I ordered it yesterday, and got it engraved-it's free-and it should be at the house by the time I get home next week. Less than one week left! I have an exam on Saturday, one on Monday, and Two on Wednesday and then I'm done for the semester. I have to finish glazing all of my ceramics pieces tonight, our last glaze firing is tomorrow, so that will occupy a few hours of my time tonight. Tomorrow I am working in the morning and then studying for my math final for the rest of the day. I figured out that I only have to get a 72 on my exam to keep a B in the class, so I'm not too worried about it. Tomorrow night is the Jump, Little Children concert, I'm riding with Rachel and Kaitlyn-my friends from the first floor since it sold out before my other friend could get her ticket. I'm v.excited, I've been looking forward to this concert since September. It is my birthday present to myself. And a general treat for doing so much work this semester. Saturday night, one of the families at church is having a singing, so I'm going to that, and then I have church on Sunday morning. I can't wait until next week is over, I'm really ready to get home and start decorating for Christmas. Its going to be fun this year, plus I haven't seen any one is a really long time, so it will be good to catch up. For now, I'm going to rest for a bit, then go over to the studio to work on my ceramics stuff. ~RLM

Revised Christmas List:

*Black Fleece Jacket

The Piano Tuner

Blood Done Sign My Name

The Will of the Empress ~Tamora Pierce

Mr. & Mrs. Smith dvd

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Audrey Hepburn Collector's Set

Dark Passage and To Have and Have Not

The Philadelphia Story

Rear Window

spend a lifetime in the shade
Mood:  lyrical
Now Playing: Guster-Rocketship
Spent Thanksgiving in Wilmington, which is always my favorite way to spend the holiday. Just wish the family could have been there too. Got to spend the night with Faye, and woke up to the smell of her famous apple pie baking in the oven, and the sound of a rooster crowing-the boys have pet chickens. This is the first time I've been back to Wilmington since school started, so it was really nice to see everybody and catch up with them. Maddie and Lindsey are going to come up and stay with me for a weekend in January, which will be fun. We got to help all the kids tie-dye during the afternoon, and I made a really cool looking t-shirt. The food was excellent as always, as was the company, and I got to see several people whom I haven't seen since Thanksgiving last year. Mom and Caitlin are still in South Africa, they'll be back on Sunday-Caitlin took surfing lessons and got to go on Safari, and Mom went down to the Cape of Good Hope on Wednesday morning. I have an absolute ton of work to do, classes end Wednesday and all of my professors have assigned last minute projects-much to my disappointment. I was looking forward to having a nice relaxing holiday weekend, and instead get to spend my time working on an endless stack of work. My computer got a virus on Sunday night and it took tech services until Wednesday morning to get it fixed, so I'm also trying to get caught up on stuff I couldn't turn in without my laptop.
Tonight I went and saw the new version of Pride & Prejudice with some of the girls from church, it was good, but didn't really stick to the book as closely as I had hoped. My favorite will probably always be the BBC version, just because it is so accurate. It was nice to get a break from being stuck on campus alone, the dorms are rather deserted right now.
My birthday is two weeks from tomorrow, and I'll be home in 12 days. I can't wait, I'm in dire need of a break-at this point it will be amazing if I even get out of bed on Thursday. The Jump, Little Children concert is a week from today, I wanted to go with the friends to celebrate my birthday, but its not really their thing so now I'm going with Maggie and Meredith instead. For now, I'm going to go to bed early and hope that I get a lot accomplished tomorrow since I have church on Sunday and that takes up a large chunk of my day. ~RLM

Less than 3 weeks...
Mood:  bright
Now Playing: So Long-Guster
Itinerary

12:25P Depart Raleigh/Durham-Int'l, NC (RDU)
1:18P Arrive Charlotte, NC (CLT) Dec 8 US Airways

2:50P Depart Charlotte, NC (CLT)
4:22P Arrive Indianapolis-Int'l, IN (IND) Dec 8 US Airways Express

10:15A Depart Indianapolis-Int'l, IN (IND)
11:41A Arrive Charlotte, NC (CLT) Jan 6 US Airways Express

12:30P Depart Charlotte, NC (CLT)
1:20P Arrive Raleigh/Durham-Int'l, NC (RDU) Jan 6 US Airways

Wish List
Mood:  bright
Now Playing: Death Cab for Cutie
Birthday:

30GB iPod Black with Video Screen

Moe's Gift Card


Christmas:

The Piano Tuner

Blood Done Sign My Name

Black Fleece Jacket

1/5 carat diamond studs

black Isaac Mizrahi Cashmere sweater

Camel hued scarf, hat, and gloves set

Mona Lisa Smile dvd




P.S. I'm coming home early! I will be back around noon on Thursday, December 8th.

Mood:  happy
I had yet another amazing experience tonight, and I love the fact that these keep happening. Tonight was Tim Tyson's dialogue on his book Blood Done Sign My Name, and it was absolutely incredible. He is a native of North Carolina and has an intense history dealing with the racial issues that have plagued this state. His talk was so inspiring, and so awakening, I really wish he could have spent more time discussing his experiences. After he finished his prepared talk, he opened the floor for questions and had these really in-depth and incredible answers. Afterwards, I got in line to meet him, and since I haven't had a chance to buy the book, I got him to autograph my notes. During his presentation, he mentioned that he had spent several years living in Wilmington during his youth, and that he had co-written a project about the 1898 race riots, which are actually something I've been interested in for a long time. When i was in the eigth grade, Wilmington observed the centenial anniversary of the riots, and our school created these relief sculptures inspired by Rodin to commemorate the event. I was one of the people who helped design the relief tiles, and got to do a lot of research about the whole incident and the history of North Carolina during that time period-its very fascinating to read about what all our state government was going through, one of my favorite books is Cape Fear Rising, a history of the riots. I got to talk about the whole experience with him, and it was really interesting, he said his next project is probably going to be a book about the Wilmington riots, which will be incredibly interesting. Gotta go, Philongie needs something. ~RLM

Some quotes from Tim Tyson's lecture:

"I was produced by this history-I am a product of this history."

"Who we are is so much a product of who we have been."

"If we had remembered it was possible to turn to each other instead of on each other, maybe some of this wouldn't have happened."

"as we march forward through stereotypes"

"We're making history together, we're going forward, yet we're trapped in the river (the flow) of history."

in college "I hope you'll learn not just how to make a living, but how to make a life."

"she's going to change the world"
Tonight, Meredith hosted a Global Simulation Workshop from o.s. Earth, and it was quite possibly one of the most amazing experiences I have ever encountered. As a group of about 40 students and a few faculty members, we were divided into categories of Organizations, Corporations, and Regions-the powerful forces who have control of the world. Each person or team of people was given certain wealth and responsibilities, the goal of Corporations and Organizations was to provide services and 'solutions', while the goal of each Region was to move up the ladder of development by gaining these services and regions, each categorie used their wealth to conduct trade and facilitate progression. I was on the Education Organization team, my partner and I were working to provide educational solutions to each region, while also managing the fiscal side of such an operation. As an organization, we could only buy more solution cards with money, yet we could sell solutions for both money and Regional resources to gain wealth; it was an interesting balance between trying to provide a fair deal to each region depending on their status, yet also maintaining some level of competetive wealth. The major obstacle we faced as a world was the crisis phase, in which we were all responsible for donating enough money, resources, and solutions to prevent a disaster. We missed the donation mark by two points, yet our group was the first in the history of the Simulations to have donations from every single sector. One girl commented, "Welcome to Meredith" which is truly indicative of this school, on the whole we are a generous and benevolent group of women who are committed to the act of giving, in whatever form possible. Meredith's goal of creating responsible world citizens is something I am incredibly grateful for, I just wish that more people could adopt this attitude, as it is so important for our lives in the future. My new mantra has become: Get involved, make a difference.

I'm exhausted, but in a good way. Its different than feeling tired and being in a bad mood, I'm still extremely tired, but I've accomplished so much in the past few days. My project got finished, thankfully, and I got a 95 on it! The bad news is that Carol moved up the deadline on our wheel project so that it is due next Tuesday instead of after Thanksgiving break which means this weekend I not only have to write my 7 page research paper, do my 30 page style journal, but I also have to throw two pieces on the wheel. I'm very tempted to just not turn it in. I have an A in that class and at this point I don't care. I may try and persuade my History of Costume professor to give me an extension on my journal though, that would help a lot. We went to the NCMA this afternoon in Ceramics after our critique and got to look at two really amazing exhibits, one of North Carolina pottery and the other was called Cross Currents and was an exhibit featuring artists from all over the state who worked in various media. They had some really incredibly pieces in both shows, one woman had built this huge serpentine wall out of salt blocks that had been eroded by ocean waves-it was really cool. This day seems like it started forever ago, I can' t wait for next week, Tuesday night I'm going to just crash and probably not move until Rachel picks me up on Wednesday to go to Wilmington. CAN'T WAIT.

~Rachel

Now Playing: One Tree Hill
Okay, so change of plans.

Schedule for 2006:

Spring Semester
HIS 103 The World in the 20th Century
MAT 141 College Algebra
ART 222 Survey of Western Art: High Renaissance-Modern
ART 260 Ceramics II
PED 148 Yoga
PED 143 Golf
?Independent Study in Ceramics?

March 8-11 Spring Break
NCECA Conference in Portland Oregon

May 8-May 26 Spring Term
Art History in Prague, Vienna, and Berlin

May 27-June 7
?ART/HIS 910 Independent study in Florence?

June 7-July 17 Summer Session
Odyssey in Athens program
PSCI 480 Philosophy/History/Politics of the Olympics
PHIL 201 Ethics
CORE 200

August 7-12
Reflection Leader Training

Fall Semester
GEO 200 & 240 Earth Science
ITA 101 Elementary Italian I
ART 105 Basic 2D Design
HIS 308 20th Century Europe
PED 129 Pilates

Spring Semester 2007
Study Abroad in Rome, Italy

shuckin' time
Mood:  silly
Now Playing: X-Ray Eyes-Guster

Cornhuskin' 2005 is in full swing!

This tradition fully proves the theory that Meredith is like a girly cult. Last night was the President's Raid, and everyone went in costume before heading off to Franklin Street. Unfortunately my ride decided that she had too much homework to do, so we didn't get to go, which was really disappointing because I had worked all weekend and all afternoon to get my work done, and then she decided not to go. Tonight is the bonfire and scavenger hunt, and then we have an evens hall raid at 11pm. I have a rough draft due tomorrow for History of Costume, but it won't take very long to get done, my topic is Marie Antoinette's influence on fashion. As much fun as all of the Cornhuskin' stuff is, I really will be glad when this week is over. Everyone is going crazy trying to make everything perfect and the competitiveness is getting out of hand. We get to pick up our packages tonight which is exciting, our stuff is really cute this year. I've got pictures from Halloween/President's Raid so I'll post a link below. More later. ~RLM

Photos

the countdown will begin
Mood:  happy
Now Playing: guster-getting even
So, tonight turned out not to be so bad after all even though I didn't get to go to the Death Cab show. Steph and I walked over to Blue Ridge and I picked up my prescription at Eckerds and then we walked to Whole Foods and I treated myself to a container of fresh pineapple and a Berry Burst Naked Juice along with the chapstick I had intended to pick up. The walk was nice, its not cold enough outside to need a coat and the air smelled faintly of smoke. I love walking outdoors during fall, there's something about the quality of cold air that is irresistable to me. We got back around 8:30, so instead of watching the last half of Alias and being confused, I just let it finish taping and decided to hang up my dress clothes-I still hadn't done it and for some odd reason felt compelled to do so tonight. Everwood was fantastic, as usual, and I drank my Naked Juice while I watched it.

I talked to the madre after the episode ended, and found out that her friend Kate is going to be teaching a Spring Term class at UINDY next year that will take place at the home campus for one week and then in Greece for the remainder of the session. She actually suggested that I take it even though it has nothing to do with my major and won't really count towards any gen ed credits, but I'm not going to argue with her-last week I could barely get her to support the idea of me going back and now she's encouraging me to double the length of my stay. If I ended up taking the class, the Indy portion would start on Monday, May 8 and then we would leave for Athens after a week of class and spend two to three weeks traveling around Greece studying the origins of drama and theatre. It would involve a four day cruise and and a trip to Crete! The class would probably end about two weeks before summer session starts on June 8, so I would have to arrange housing and something to occupy my time, but if it works out I would be in Greece from about May 12th until July 17th!!!!! I really hope I can get it all worked out, I would have to rearrange my exam schedule at Meredith to be back in Indy when the course starts, and I would probably have to take out a three or four thousand dollar loan, but it would be worth it-to spend over two months in Greece, I would be ecstatic.

After I talked to Mom, I watched my tape of Alias and worked on revising the Reflection Leader application since we have to start recruiting asap. I got a lot of work on that done and am now headed to bed-I have work in the morning and an open notes test in History of Costume at 12, but overall my day is going to be fairly nice. Ashley and I are going to walk back over to Eckerds around 2 to pick up my Allegra and then hopefully I will be able to walk over to the costume shop on Hillsborough and find something for Halloween. Vintage dress is looking like a more and more likely option. ~RLM

Going to bed smiling:

*Naked Juice Antioxidant Berry Blast

*Greece in 197 days

*My 20th Birthday in 44 days

*Jump, Little Children in 36 days

*Halloween in 3 days! (its my favorite holiday)

CORNHUSKIN' next week-the greatest week to be an Angel ~evens rock~

*the weekend...today!