"There's a radiant darkness upon us"
1. Well, I'm finally back at college, settled in my new dorm room, with classes starting tomorrow. My parents, sister, and I came up on Friday, and after we had an excellent dinner at the town's Indian restaurant (which sort of made me feel horrible about how little I know about India, Indian culture and mythology, and Hinduism), we all stayed overnight at the Middlebury Inn, where I got very little sleep. :/ Saturday was move-in day; it was at this time that I discovered the advantages and disadvantages of having a dorm room on the first floor:
Advantages:
--not having to carry lots of stuff up stairs
--being able to get stuff into the room via the window -- XD
--same floor as the laundry room (and the kitchen, should I ever need to use it)
Disadvantages:
--seeing people and cars pass by your window, and getting paranoid that they'll look in
--increased risk of someone breaking into the room and stealing something (e.g. the laptop)
.....though my room is sort of on the edge of campus/out of the way, so I'm not too worried about the disadvantages, but I'm still taking precautions just in case.
Anyway, my dad had to leave to go back home early Saturday afternoon -- long story short, my mentally ill grandmother who lives with us (my mom's mom) had some Issues, and we didn't feel confident that she would be able to take care of herself like we have in the past. After he left, my mom, sister, and I had lunch (spicy tortellini FTW), then they went shopping in town while I set up my new laptop (I still need to get used to it, but I love it so far!) and finished my unpacking. Then we met up again to have dinner (at a restaurant that gave us a patio table really quickly without a reservation, when reservations were required 8DDDDDDDDDDDDDDD) before we went our separate ways.
Not much has been going on today -- there's not much to do around here right now, and I've been feeling antisocial anyway (though mostly because I'm trying to transition back into college-student mode), so I've been chilling in my room, doing some reading for one of my classes tomorrow (which I may or may not be taking after all -- we'll see what happens after this week), avoiding uploading my music to my laptop (it's going to be this long, tedious thing -- looking forward to it! :P) only going out to meet with my mom and sister for breakfast before they left and for my hall meeting. Normally when you're an upperclassman who lives in the dorms, you don't interact much with the people living on your hall (if you live in a suite or a house, that's a different story), but those who live on my floor this year seem like pretty cool guys (including the guy who liked to praise my sideburns a lot last year XD).
I think this is going to be a good year. Even though May 22 can't come soon enough.
2. F-list, I need your advice:
Thanks a lot! :D
3. I have a new Dreamwidth account:
quadruplify. Unlike my other DW account (which I'll be deleting soon), I will be using that one in the near future, mostly for cross-posting purposes. If you have a DW account, feel free to add me there!
This is not to say that I'll be leaving LJ anytime soon -- the recent drama, while bothersome, isn't enough to get me to leave. However, I've set up that account because at least two people on my f-list have jumped ship recently. Plus, as I've explained to character_bleed, DW is this shiny new thing, and who am I to resist shiny new things? ^_^;
(And as for people saying that there's not much going on DW, and that it therefore somehow makes it "less cool" than LJ -- well, the number of active members over there still hasn't reached critical mass, and it usually takes a couple of years before sites like DW really take off. I don't know about any of you, but I'm willing to wait and see if and when it does.)
I don't have any invite codes at this time, but if you want a DW account, try
dw_codesharing.
EDIT: Which one of you is
reverence? Never mind, figured it out.
4. Things That Are/May Be Interesting:
--Dan Rather talking about the ever-growing problem of corporate-owned media and its consequences. This has always been a big concern for me, and seeing one of the MSM's biggest figures become one of its biggest critics is heartening. ( The post on
is pretty good too.)
--madlori has started doing an episode-by-episode commentary of A:tLA from the perspective of a fandom newbie (kinda like, y'know, me XD). It looks really cool so far, and I can't wait for more installments! :D
--This A:tLA AMV, with clips from every episode:
Obviously it contains spoilers for the whole series, but honestly, if you've never seen the show, it's not like any major plot points are gonna get spoiled for you. (I'd advise against seeing this if you're in the middle of watching it for the first time, though.)
.......Yeah, I know this journal has been "all Avatar, all the time" as of late. Y'all just gonna have to
(And I found it on DW, too. See, it's good for something!)
Advantages:
--not having to carry lots of stuff up stairs
--being able to get stuff into the room via the window -- XD
--same floor as the laundry room (and the kitchen, should I ever need to use it)
Disadvantages:
--seeing people and cars pass by your window, and getting paranoid that they'll look in
--increased risk of someone breaking into the room and stealing something (e.g. the laptop)
.....though my room is sort of on the edge of campus/out of the way, so I'm not too worried about the disadvantages, but I'm still taking precautions just in case.
Anyway, my dad had to leave to go back home early Saturday afternoon -- long story short, my mentally ill grandmother who lives with us (my mom's mom) had some Issues, and we didn't feel confident that she would be able to take care of herself like we have in the past. After he left, my mom, sister, and I had lunch (spicy tortellini FTW), then they went shopping in town while I set up my new laptop (I still need to get used to it, but I love it so far!) and finished my unpacking. Then we met up again to have dinner (at a restaurant that gave us a patio table really quickly without a reservation, when reservations were required 8DDDDDDDDDDDDDDD) before we went our separate ways.
Not much has been going on today -- there's not much to do around here right now, and I've been feeling antisocial anyway (though mostly because I'm trying to transition back into college-student mode), so I've been chilling in my room, doing some reading for one of my classes tomorrow (which I may or may not be taking after all -- we'll see what happens after this week), avoiding uploading my music to my laptop (it's going to be this long, tedious thing -- looking forward to it! :P) only going out to meet with my mom and sister for breakfast before they left and for my hall meeting. Normally when you're an upperclassman who lives in the dorms, you don't interact much with the people living on your hall (if you live in a suite or a house, that's a different story), but those who live on my floor this year seem like pretty cool guys (including the guy who liked to praise my sideburns a lot last year XD).
I think this is going to be a good year. Even though May 22 can't come soon enough.
2. F-list, I need your advice:
- What are some good ways to start an exercise regimen? Because I seriously do not have one. At all. And I'm in desperate need of one. D: I know I want to start taking yoga again (and I see they're offering tai chi too, which I've always wanted to try), and I'm planning on doing some long walks while the weather's nice, but I know that's not enough. (I also know I can get my hands on a pair of 5-lb. barbells when my parents come visit me in a little over a month.) I know the college has a gym/fitness center, and I really want to use it as much as I can this year. At this point, I really don't care about how I look -- I just care about getting fit, gaining enough energy, and getting to the point where physical exercise energizes instead of fatigues me. So, to any of you with exercise regimens, what do you do, how long have you been doing it, and what have your experiences been? And do you mind giving an exercise n00b some advice/pointers?
- What are some ways in which you have been eating healthier? Because good food makes you feel good, right? I have some ideas of what to do (Weybridge dinners, farmer's market) and what not to do (pizza and ice cream on a daily basis), but some advice in this department wouldn't hurt either, please. (I still can't cook, and I don't have many resources at my disposal in which I can, so that's out of the question right now.)
Thanks a lot! :D
3. I have a new Dreamwidth account:
quadruplify. Unlike my other DW account (which I'll be deleting soon), I will be using that one in the near future, mostly for cross-posting purposes. If you have a DW account, feel free to add me there!
This is not to say that I'll be leaving LJ anytime soon -- the recent drama, while bothersome, isn't enough to get me to leave. However, I've set up that account because at least two people on my f-list have jumped ship recently. Plus, as I've explained to character_bleed, DW is this shiny new thing, and who am I to resist shiny new things? ^_^;
(And as for people saying that there's not much going on DW, and that it therefore somehow makes it "less cool" than LJ -- well, the number of active members over there still hasn't reached critical mass, and it usually takes a couple of years before sites like DW really take off. I don't know about any of you, but I'm willing to wait and see if and when it does.)
I don't have any invite codes at this time, but if you want a DW account, try
dw_codesharing.
EDIT: Which one of you is
reverence? Never mind, figured it out.
4. Things That Are/May Be Interesting:
--Dan Rather talking about the ever-growing problem of corporate-owned media and its consequences. This has always been a big concern for me, and seeing one of the MSM's biggest figures become one of its biggest critics is heartening. ( The post on
is pretty good too.)
--madlori has started doing an episode-by-episode commentary of A:tLA from the perspective of a fandom newbie (kinda like, y'know, me XD). It looks really cool so far, and I can't wait for more installments! :D
--This A:tLA AMV, with clips from every episode:
Click to viewObviously it contains spoilers for the whole series, but honestly, if you've never seen the show, it's not like any major plot points are gonna get spoiled for you. (I'd advise against seeing this if you're in the middle of watching it for the first time, though.)
.......Yeah, I know this journal has been "all Avatar, all the time" as of late. Y'all just gonna have to
(And I found it on DW, too. See, it's good for something!)