I had completely forgotten I even had an account at this site. I kept wondering "Where are all these weird e-mails coming from?" So I re-found it, logged in, and was looking at some of my old journal entries. I'm not sure why I even got an account here, other than it looked interesting. I don't do much networking on it and none of my friends have an account here (Which I think makes for better blogging actually.) I suppose I'll put in the occasional entry from time to time for my own sastisfaction.

So, last semester at VCU was good. I made new friends which is a really weird thing for me because I'm a very closed up person. It was a good expirience none the less. I still have a whole extra year to finish. >_< The wallet is getting thinner and thinner. I don't know if FAFSA is going to contribute anything this year. I'm not really excited about graduation because I've been in college for four years and now and I thought I'd be freaking graduated by now. Ah well.

So to save up money I'm working at the Indian village again. I wish I could take a summer off and travel but that's for rich kids, or super-industrious ones that work while being a full-time student. I'm doing half tour guide and half graphic design there so it keeps it interesting. I drew some crappy corn for a poster they wanted and I just found out that it's going to be on banners in town. I was like " D: But it's shitty corn!" The banners are for a pow-wow we're holding to try and keep the village open. So if anybody likes Native American gatherings/pow-wows and is in or near south-western Virginia please come! It's going on for three days and it only takes $5 to get in!

I've got chickens this summer! I wanted Buff Orpingtons but we couldn't find anybody with them in the area so I settled for Rhode-Island Reds who were just a few weeks old. I got ten and have had them for a little over a month now. The runt of the group became listless and sickly a few days ago so I took it out. The second day I had it isolated it started pooping out this foul-smelling dark brown stuff that I was deadly afraid was blood. I asked my friend that had acquired the chickens for me what I should do and she called the lady that she got the chickens from for advice. I was told several things but the fastest for me to try would be to put a teaspoon of bleach into a gallon of water and give that to the bird. She said that most likely the bird had picked up some sort of parasite and needed de-worming. So I arrived home late to discover that we have no bleach and the bird is still very sick. The next morning I go to work, get bleach water, and come home to find the chicken dead. :( Very dissapointing. I'll get some picture of the healthy ones up later.

Also I just finished watching "Into the Wild" which was a great movie. (SPOILERS ahead for those who care.) I thought it was mostly a movie about the outdoors but it was more about travel and self-exploration. That sort of thing. I loved it even though it was sad and I was fine with it. Then they showed that end photograph. I BUST OUT IN TEARS! I had no freaking idea that it was based on a real person's story. I had become attatched to what I thought was a fictional character and then to find out that it had been this real and very beautiful person to die was upsetting.  Maybe I'll stick to my comic books for awhile.



Also: My garden is bigger this year but super late and sucking.

I've been reading the BBC the past few days and tonight (for reasons other than just a keen interest) I started watching and listening to the video clips showing the monks and protests that have been taking place in Burma.

The first video that I clicked on showed me all of these crazy things that are going on: rioting, gun fire, tear gas. The voice over says that the only thing the Buddhist monks do is recite prayers. I CAN NOT even begin to explain how much respect and admiration I have for these people.

I've been raised in a Christian community and I've got this "Catholic guilt" (which is really stupid because I'm not even Catholic) because I respect Buddhist monks so much more than I could ever respect any of the Christian leaders that are living today. They're totally stoic and wonderful and AMAZING! The average preacher or priest are.....lackluster and seemingly lacking in conviction.

Is this just my problem?

:| For some reason the cafeteria on the MCV campus has not had any clean dishes for over a week or clean glasses for several weeks. They've been giving us styrofoam plates, plastic utensils, and those waxy cardboard cups you get from fast food places.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU VCU?

When they did have dishes they were pretty scummy looking anyway so my best guess is that a failing dishwasher finally died and they haven't replaced it yet. This is so stupid though because of all the trash the students are making. Today I finally brought my bowl, cup, and chopsticks (which are the only things I had) to the cafeteria and used them instead of the the styrofoam stuff. (I hate that shit.)

Should I take pictures and send it to a higher-up with complaints? Because this is really stupid.

Magical light up pear lights.

(From http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/08/leds_grow_on_tr_1.php )

So today after being at work only for a short while, a man from VDOT (Virginia Department of Transportation) shows up.

"I've got a beaver." he says. My eyes widen with delight and we three docents run out to his truck, fringe flapping wildly. In the bed of the truck a mountain of brown rests on flattened cardboard boxes. We chatter excitedly and high five each other, giggeling and making other girly noises. This thoroughly confuses the VDOT man. After a bit of prodding at the unfortunate dead beaver we haul it off the truck (all thirty or so pounds) and then start to question its gender. Female is what goes down on the form but none of us being an expert at beaver anatomy (Hey, stop laughing.) we have no real idea. We then transport it to the village, via a garbage bag, and procede to skin it.

Okay, random bit of writing up there to tell about how the morning of my last day of work at Wolf Creek went. Then we had ice cream cake! :D   (PS: Please don't think I'm a crazy bitch for skinning animals, its part of my job and it was already dead, if VDOT brought it in that means it was hit by a car. What the hell were you doing on the road beaver!!!??!)

Tomorrow I move into a dorm room! Crap!

(PPS: My cornlings got knocked upside down while I was at work today and some of them got mangled. GOD, WHY DON'T YOU WANT ME TO HAVE CORN?!)

At the village we were soaking corn so that we could use them as beads for corn necklaces. Some of the corn got soaked and then left out for about two days, when we went to use them we found out that rather than being mouldy, they had sprouted!

SO NOW I AM GROWING CORNLINGS. IN LATE AUGUST.

Perhaps this wouldn't present issue if I were in South America but I live in Virginia, so...they're probably going to die. But I'm going to try and save them, I figure if I plant them in a garbage can full of dirt they may make it. I'm not really hoping for corn (since I seem to have bad corn karma) but I can't stand to give up on them and just let them die in the mountain weather, so I'll be taking them to college with me.

And does anybody have any advice on keeping plants in aquariums? (Besides "keep it moist".) I've tried it before with plants from outside that like shade and moisture (moss, etc) and didn't really have any success. I didn't do well last year with the lack of greenery in the city so I'm stocking up on potted plants for my room at college. (Except this damn cactus that somebody gave me, I'm leaving that at home. Dad can remember to water it once in awhile.)
I stopped by the library today to get some movies (Little Miss Sunshine, Man of the Year, and My Super Ex-Girlfriend, don't watch the last one, it sucked pretty bad.) and I stopped and had a talk with the mom of one of my high-school friends. (She works at the library.) We had an interesting converstion about 4-H Club and she printed me off some information that has to do with their programs that allow you to visit other countries and stay with families. I very much want to do this since it will probably be my only chance to leave the United States. I regret that I still have this year of college to go and then next summer will be work and then I'll still have atleast one more semester of college if not a whole year.

I talked to a lady that says I have a high enough GPA to get into the honors program at VCU. I really need to call and talk to somebody about that but I am reeeeallly tired right now.


I SLEEP NOW.

A very brief overview of the past few months done in Opencanvas. Things included are:

1) My excitement at returning to my previous summer job
2) My first experience at a Jehovah's Witness's wedding (no offense ment)
3) Winning a greased pig catching contest
4) Mom having heart trouble again
5) Me getting my first, though rather unwanted, kiss
6) Reading The Deathly Hallows and crying like a wee babe




I'm rather dreading returning to college. Hopefully my networking skills will have appeared.

SOLAR CELLS ARE BRINGING SEXY BACK!

By far am I professional gardener. I have however, managed to get some red corn, peppers, nasturtium, sunflowers, and birdhouse gourds to sprout. (Purdy red flower is a nasturtium) This morning I'm standing in the backyard with my mom when I hear a stomping (which I at first took for deer running away) and then I saw a swish of black hair from behind a tree in the front yard. So either a lost horse or a cow has wandered into the front yard and I had missed it up until this point. I tell Mom and she asks me to get a picture for her co-workers in Richmond because they would get a kick out of this. I find a camera and as I start filming the guy who has lost his cows shows up and they start running around (it turns out there was atleast seven or eight of them.) The cows leave and this is all very amusing UNTIL I FIND MY GARDEN AND DISCOVER THE DAMN COWS HAVE EATEN MY CORN. DAMN YOU COOOOOWWWSSSS! :(

First statement: I love my job.


Really. I've got a good job, the pay is less than desirable but it's not like I'm making house payments, I'm just saving for college this fall. I get up, eat breakfast, get to work by 8:30 (most of the time the gate is still closed), tidy up the gift shop, and then get dressed and run to the village to give tours when the first customer shows up. When the day is over I go back up top and change out and leave. VERY LOW STRESS. I like. I have a great resume now thanks to this job (Photoshop AND flint knapping, say what?!) And I really like all the people that I work with (with the exception of one but he's such a black sheep he's just very pitiful.)

I get to meet crazy people (mostly from Ohio, Florida, or West Virginia but some from other countries). Take for example yesterday: We had some people come in that looked like they were Natives and/or hippies. The guides were all in the back room when we hear this piercing flute music. There is a four second pause where we all look at each other and then simultaneously stand up and run into the gift shop. One of the visitors is playing a flute from the gift shop (we're all like " :O " because none of us can play those worth crap) and he then gives a brief lesson on flute playing and tells the legend of how the indians learned music. A synopsis would be like this: "Woodpecker asked Grandfather Cedar for a branch to make a flute to get this poor guy laid because this chick didn't want anything to do with him."

And then after that we had a bunch of people come in and we sat and talked FOREVER because some people are really chatty. After that there was an impromptu clay-fight and before that was Gourd-ball.

That's why my job kicks ass.