im at debate camp now, at UT Austin. i dont like this place, but im slowly feeling better (have been feeling down since, oh, thursday or so). the dorm food is H-O-R-R-I-B-L-E, possibly the WORST dorm food i've ever had in mi life (and i've had dorm food at LMU, UK Lexington, U of Tulane, and various dining halls at Stanford). im actually making this post from mi roomie's laptop, as mine is not connected to the internet here. thus, this post will not be too thoughtful or anything.

a brief summary of mi state:

headache
have been feeling hungry almost continuously (dorm food is HORRIBLE, as i've stated above, and the raw fruit is the main thing that i can safely eat. it's not very filling.)
down
tired
sick of goldfish crackers (i brought them from home and have been using them to keep me alive and to quiet mi stomach's grumblings)
almost broke (i have $20.50 to mi name and it's all going to go to making copies, so im effectively broke in that i have no money to spend on other stuff, such as basic human maintenance - i.e. getting me real food that has edible vegetables, calcium, more than 2 of the main food groups in it, etc.)
have been soaked a few times (how'm i supposed to know that it rains during the summer in austin? hence, no umbrella. hence, got soaked today)
starving while i type this
feeling semi-loved :-)
hungry

wow...i'm hungry. but if i eat more goldfish crackers, i think i'm going to end up tossing the rest of the bag outta the window. and that would not be good. you see, at UT, for every item that you throw out of the window, the Castilian Dormitory staff (our local non-debate-affiliated UT representatives, i suppose) will charge $200. a bag of goldfish would then be oh, say, 100 goldfish x $200 + 1 bag x $200 = $20200.

ROK lost against turkey in the 3rd-place match this morning. i didnt get to watch it. world cup finals is tonight at 2 a.m. and i wont be able to watch that either. for anyone who taped either match, and especially the ROK v. Turkey match, i'll pay you to let me borrow that tape. if you have to mail it to me, i'll pay the mailing fees for you. mi dad didn't get to watch either of the matches, either, unless mi other parent taped them at home, which i rather doubt.

ah, well...back to studying greek derivatives (hey, im preparing for njcl. and it's also a break from lab, lab, lecture, and cutting cards).

today's greek derivative: from ainos, meaning fable or riddle, comes the english words enigma, enigmatic, enigmatical.

one of mi bookmarks has a description of what mi personality should be, according to mi zodiac sign. how well dyalls think that it fits me?

Scorpio: You are the proverbial still water that runs deep. You have a remarkable reserve of energy and are capable of deep, incisive and analytical thought. You can be secretive. You are emotional, forceful, sincere, and make a good marriage partner and wonderful lover. You can be extremely jealous in your relationships and of the progress of other people. This may inspire you to excel. You have the Fixed quality which gives you stability.

characteristics: powerful, passionate, determined, jealous, obsessive, intuitive

planet: Pluto

colors: red, black

element: fixed Water (water is emotional, but the Fixed, as opposed to Mutable, nature of it makes me more stable, supposedly)

So how well do you think that the tendencies of a Scorpio match mi actual personality?

every day i learn a little something

Lesson Three
how to make a proper entrance.

how i made an entrance:

seIReneA signed on at 8:05:00 PM.
siren9: welcome online!
student: hi!
student: greetings to all mi devoted crowds ::throws kisses::
student: thank you, thank you, it's an honor to be here this evening
siren9: arrogance 101...did you get that off your beloved debate partner?
siren9: dear, dear, that's not how we make entrances
student: hmm. how do we make entrances then?
siren9: must be more humble, more smooth. more subtle.
siren9: you gotta let people notice you first
siren9: *enters quietly, smiling sweetly, but not too wide*
siren9: *says hello to one person*
student: *knowing that everyone will notice u...you don't notice them; is other way around, huh?*
siren9: *laughs sweetly*
siren9: *half of room turns around to see whose sweet laugh that was*
siren9: *start talking to half of room sweetly*
siren9: *other half of room turns around too*

now...so, that is how to make a proper entrance: don't announce your presence, just be assured that people will notice you. the fact that you have to announce your presence says that you a) are not worthy of being known; b) have no style. however, the student was revolted by all the 'sweetly' and brought that up with the teacher (siren9).

student: what's with all this 'sweetly' business?
siren9: lol
siren9: its called facade
siren9: its just like "O:-)"
student: sounds sugar-wimpy-yuck-sweet
siren9: you gotta carry around a thin halo
student: thin?
siren9: well, a thick halo would be too fake
student: Lol
siren9: but you don't wanna overwhelm people with your horns
siren9: so you need a thin halo
siren9: its a nice touch
siren9: i have them in silver and gold so they match my earrings
siren9: it can be a cute accessory

so the student now understands - sweetness and laughing sweetly doesn't imply wimpiness. The sweetness is a facade, and one can think of the behaving 'sweetly' business as similar to velvet gloves over steel claws. Hence, the thin halo to complement the devil's horns. :-)

after some traumatic experiences* i had some conversations with mi friends. the upshot of it was mi introduction to Significant Other Theory 101, an advanced class at Meg's Grad School.

Lesson One
the Goal: to find a Significant Other who is sweet, cute, polite, and intelligent
[[at this point, a fellow student raised an objection and said that the Goal lacked one key characteristic; it should also include 'available.' the wise teacher's response:

siren9: available is one that can be achieved
siren9: the others [characteristics; e.g. sweet, intelligent] are there or they're not

the fellow student agreed with the teacher.]]

Lesson Two
Lest we, the students, misunderstand her comment that 'available is one that can be achieved,' our wise teacher clarified it in the second day of class.

siren9: not that i advocate stealing people's boyfriends**
siren9: O:-)
siren9: because if you can steal him from someone, chances are that he can be stolen from you
siren9: so stealable ones tend to be junk

* seeing pictures of a CUTE, sweet, polite, and intelligent Russian and realizing once again that i know no one like him

**the author of this page does not mean to be heterosexist (is that a word?) in her choice of language (i.e. she doesn't mean to imply that the only form of a Significant Other for a girl is a male); however, she is directly quoting her teacher's words. And the subject matter at the time was specifically regarding boyfriends, as the teacher was talking to a heterosexual girl.