there are currently 600 reported cases of mumps in iowa this year. usually, there are only about 300 in a whole year for the whole country. most of the people with mumps are college students who did have their mumps shots when they were little. weird.

i watched yet another documentary on china tonight. this one was a whole hour just about ( shanghai )

my nephew has written a letter to george lucas. he'll mail it tomorrow. i made up the first two sentences, and he did the rest, including physically writing it. the first two sentences are "my name is micah. i'm five years old." from there, he says lucas should be making more action figures, then lists all the ones he thinks should be made/sent to ( Read more... )

so i just went outside to help my dad mow the lawn. it's pretty cool out today, so he told me to make sure to wear a coat and gloves. i grabbed the coat my mom wore when she was in high school to do chores out on the farm where she grew up. my mom's the type of person who can keep an article of clothing in mint condition for 40 years, apparently. i ( Read more... )

today i cleaned my apartment from 12:30 to 8:00 with only one short break, to start movies for my class. and after 7 and a half hours of cleaning? i'd say it's presentable. not spotless. but certainly presentable. i can't believe it took my that long just to make this place good enough. i spent an hour this afternoon on my hands and knees, with ( Read more... )

why did i wait until the day my account expired to renew it? ah well. at least it's done now. and only another month till i have to pay for the extra user icons ( Read more... )

wow. busy busy busy. i'm taking this christmas eve morning and afternoon to catch up on things like email and --hold on, going out to eat. will finish later--

( talkin about gifts from chinese students )

well. six days till i get on a plane. and only a million things to do between now and then. excellent. i alternate between feeling overwhelmed at the thought that in less than a week, i leave behind everything that's familiar to me for an entire year, and feeling like a year isn't really all that long and it's silly to feel intimidated ( Read more... )

so... i'm at my brother's house in milwaukee. i wasn't even going to check my email again before i get home tuesday, but i needed pamalama26's phone number, and i was watching coverage of hurricane charlie in florida and was worried about my lj friends from fl ( Read more... )

the other day, when i was talking to sandy about family, i got this really sad feeling of loss. the kind of loss that can't be made up. i really wish i could've met/remembered my grandparents. i love seeing the way people talk about my grandma. and i'd have loved to see how my grandma and grandpa fit together, since they seem so different when ( Read more... )

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