sei cose per monique :)

six things for monique :)

1. I hated my middle name when I was little, and I mean absolutely hated it. Its kind of sad, because now I see it as beautiful. I was named after my mom's grandmother, who passed away right before my mom found out she was pregnant with me. So Regina went to Regan, and my name became Michelle Regan.

2. There is one thing I refuse to do at any theme park, and that is a free fall. If any ride has any thing like a free fall in it, I will sit it out. I think it goes back to when I was 10 and at Disneyland. I wasn't feeling well and my family made me go on splash mountain anyway. Granted, that isnt a huge free fall or anything, but to my 10 year old mind it was. In any case, the next day we went to the doctor and it turns out my appendix was in the process of bursting inside of me, which is what led to my feeling so poorly. So now I associate feeling sick with free falls and refuse to do them.

3. I refuse to eat fish. Mo might be afraid of them, but I just cant eat them. Its not from some noble thing like being a vegetarian, but because I picture them flopping in the air, gasping, hoping to gt back into the water, and then essentially drowning on land. I feel bad for them and just cannot eat them. Then there is the issue that when you go to the market, they still look like fish, not just meat, so there is no waaaaay I could ever eat them. Yuck.

4. I was supposed to be a boy. All the way til the day I was born my parents thought they were getting a baby boy. My name was supposed to be James Matthew I think. So I went nameless for a while while they figured everything out.

5. I am addicted to books. I does not matter if I have read them once, never, or multiple times, I just have to have them. Right now I have at least 20 books on my shelf here in DC that I have not read, and that I dont plan to read for some time. Yet, I am still planning on going to Barnes and Noble tomorrow to pick up about three books. And this does not even count the books I have back in San Diego that I have read and have yet to read. I can't go to bed at night unless I have read a chapter in a book, but it has to be a book I have read before, otherwise I will stay up all night reading it. Oh books. They are such a problem for m wallet, but such a great thing for my mind.

6. My right foot is a complete mess. I dont know why, but if anything bad is going to happen to my feet, it always happens to my right foot. In 7th grade i jumped over my dog as he got up, knocking my legs out form under me, and I fell, slamming my right foot into the tile floor. It took 2 weeks for the swelling to go down enough for the doctors to realize I had completely torn the ligament in my ankle in half. So now it is healed, but it didnt heal exactly right since I walked on it for two weeks before I was put in a cast. This past summer (June 07), I was wearing heels and biking, not such an uncommon occurence at UCSB. Unfortunately, my bike seat was broken, so when my foot slipped off the pedal I had not seat to cathc me and down I went. This time I refused to see a doctor because I wanted to walk for graduation, and I did. Then, we went straight to the doctor in SD, where the x-ray technician laughed and showed me the piece of bone sticking out from my foot. Not good. The lecture from the doctor was not welcome either. Then, in August of this year, I slid on some loose gravel while walking from a friends house. I gave myself some nasty roadburn. I literally had a hole in my right foot and I could not wear anything resembling shoes for 3 weeks. You would think a dancer would be graceful...apparently not.

There you go :)

sei cose per monique

nieve

snow!!!

today it snowed. well, it was more like little flurries, but white stuff was falling from the sky and sticking to my gloves and coat. how freaking cool. i hope i never lose my childlike appreciation for the snow, because as of now, I love it.

nieve

le carte

papers

so right now i am in the middle of my first research paper for graduate school. i suppose its going well, but to be honest, who knows? it is due on thursday and i cant even say how far i am or how much is left to do because there is no requirement. its just research and write about it. its kind of neat, but when its 50 percent of your grade, its also kind of worrisome.
in any event, i guess what i really wanted to muse about is how sometimes as i am proofreading my writing, or looking over an assignment that is handed back to me, im shocked that the words on the page came from me. its a good feeling, but weird at the same time. i just read it and go, "wow, that came from my brain, through my fingers, and on to the page? shocking!" i dont know why its so surpsing, but it is. i guess the good news is that im never like, "shit. that was terrible. what were you thinking?" so all in all, its a good thing i think. anyway, i have already had a moment of pleasant surprise on this paper, and i hope i only have a few more of those, and not any panic abou finishing or having a crappy paper.
back to work!

le carte

SO HAPPY

Obama is going to be our next president and i couldnt be happier.
I feel like our standing in the world just jumped up 110% and that we are finally on the right path.
Im so proud to be an american right now, and one who voted for the man who will be our leader. And I am so happy to say that I will be working for his government come January. Life could not be sweeter right now.

"We are and always will be the United States of America" -Obama

SO HAPPY!

le feste

the holidays

so, its coming upon that time of year that i cant decide if i love or loath.
first up is halloween. or i guess i should say was. maybe im growing up or maybe im just a lame hermit, but i was not interested in really doing anything this year. my roommate had some friends over, and by some i mean about 20. i knew maybe 5 people, so i talked with them, but im kind of shy with people i dont know, sigh. anyway, after they left i was planning on staying in, but i got convinced to go to the tombs, the college bar here in georgetown. it was a nice hour hanging out, and i didnt feel out of place or anything, but im kind of just over it all. i feel like im at the awkward stage where the keg parties are lame, but im not grown up enough to have a solid dinner/wine party, whatever that may be, lol. in any case, halloween is now over and its on the the next holiday, thanksgiving.
this will be my 3rd thanksgiving in a row away from home, and im not quite sure how i feel about that. in a way i am bummed because its a family holiday and i want to be with people i love and care about. in another way its a relief because i dont have to worry about which parent i am having it with. i almsot feel that if i had a significant other it would be easier, but i dont know. maybe i just think that bc i dont really know. sigh.
chanukkah is coming up soon too. and christmas of course. im not sure what to do for friends bc i havent been hanging out with anyone in cali, so do they expect presents? and the people here i havent known that long, so it might be a bit awkward to give them presents, and there really are not that many to give presents to here anyway, lol. plus, ive been thinking about money lately, and the fact that while i may have 2 awesome internships lined up, i wont be making any money for the next year and a half. scary thought. so while i want to give stuff, i also want to save my money too.
and that brings me to my next issue, which is housing. i have no idea what i am going to do. a lot of it hinges on lee catherine, but she hasnt told me anything yet. i am in the process of looking around, but everything is so much smaller and/or more expensive than what i have now, so i think it would be insane to move. plus, i have a list that i think it impossible to fulfill, lol. i want to be close to a market, close to a metro, in a city-like area, and be able to have a cat. im not sure that exists. so in between school and work and going through security stuff for my internships, i have to worry about this too. sigh.
ugh, so much going on. and i guess i better gear up for more, bc life is only going to get crazier.

le feste