Back from Epcot!!!

I had a great time on my "mini vacation" in Orlando, it was nice to have one little vacation before a full month and a half of non-stop school. Especially right after my first statistics test. It was pretty chilly when we were there. The high was in the mid-60's with low in the high 40's. But other than that pretty nice. Shabbos was over cast and off and on rain, but since we didn't leave the house that we rented that was fine. On Sunday, until about 10 it was over cast then it really clearedup and was very nice, not too hot, not too cold. Well, cold enough to wear a sweater, but not bad. We went on almost all the rides and I got 3 little souveniers (two of which were dragons, no big surprise there). Anywho, here are some of the pictures.

You thought Pink Flamingoes on the front lawn were tacky? You ain't seen nothing!

What it looked like outside this morning

So this morning when I went out it was very foggy. I happen to like it when it's foggy out because it's so rare here, so I ran inside, grabbed my camera and took a picture.

Going to Disney!

I'm really excited, I'll be going up to Orlando/ Disney for the weekend! My mother, brother and his friend are already there, and I'll be driving up tomorrow with my step-father. It'll be good, especially since it will be my last "vacation" till March. And it will be right after my first statistics test, which is REALLY good, because that's when I will need a vacation.We'll be going to Epcot, it'll be my first time there in about 11 years, the last time I went, I went with my father and brother, and we were younger and din't want to go on anything. My father swore he wouldn't take us there till I was fifteen. Even after I turned fifteen he still didn't. Actually, there have been a couple of other places he swore never to take us to again. Boomer's for one, and Parrot Jungle (now Jungle Island) was the other.

And now on a completely un-related topic, my kitten has decided she likes to hang out on top of Baby's new cage. The funny thing is, Baby doesn't seem to care at all and when I take Mittens off the cage, Baby scolds me. Here's a couple of pictures:

A Joke

For people over 40 . . . (though not necessarily)

A computer was something on TV
From a science-fiction show of note
A window was something you hated to clean
And ram was the cousin of a goat

Meg was the name of my girlfriend
And gig was a job for the nights
Now they all mean different things
And that really mega bytes.

An application was for employment
A program was a TV show
A cursor used profanity
A keyboard was a piano.

Memory was something that you lost with age
A CD was a bank account
And if you had a 3 inch Floppy
You hoped nobody found out.

Compress was something you did to the garbage
Not something you did to a file
And if you unzipped anything in public
You'd be in jail for a while.

Log on was adding wood to the fire
Hard drive was a long trip on the road
A mouse pad was where a mouse lived
And a backup happened to your commode.

Cut you did with a pocket knife
Paste you did with glue
A web was a spider's home
And a virus was the flu.

I guess I'll stick to my pad and paper
And the memory in my head
I hear nobody's been killed in a computer crash
But when it happens they wish they were dead.

Odd things my family does...

This shabbos I was telling my mother about the wedding that I went to on Thursday night. I happened to mention that they served cornish hens as the main course and he cam eup with a "brilliant" idea for MY wedding (I'm not dating yet, by the way, she just does this occasionally). Her idea was that we should have live cornish hens on everyone's plates and then the people can shecht them themselves. and for centerpieces, we have live peacocks. Never mind that she was joking, how does my family come up with these ideas? Good grief.
Some other examples of oddness in my family:
"Huff, Chuff Quill" - my brother, imitating our hedgehog at random moments.
"I'm a little bird." - also my brother, and if you look back to the first thing I posted, he sent that information to the govt. and to CAIR.
"Grrrgh?" - my father at odd moments
"It's as light as a chicken!" - my mother in a surprised tome of voice after picking up a polish chicken at the petting zoo. We've never let her forget that.
Of course I do some odd stuff too but...I think I'll just keep those to myself for now.

School, Weddings, and Stuff

I'm almost finished with the second week of school, and so far so good. I really like my psych classes. (I'm taking 2; Abnormal Psychology, and Human Development) Statistics is OK....it's annoying, but I think (hope) I'll live. I'm taking Oceanography and Oceanography Lab, because I need a lab and refuse to take Biology. It's....in some things it IS interesting, in other things it's not. Whatever, either way, I will get through it and deal.

Tomorrow night I have a wedding to go to, one of my BYM classmates, and I have another wedding to go to in February, also a BYM classmate. Lots of fun, and as an added bonus, both times I'm missing statistics. Yay!

Next Friday, I might be going up to Orlando and going to Disney, which I really hope I end up doing, but we'll see if ends up happening. Let's see, what else has been happening....oh! On Sunday I went up with my father, his wife, my step sister and my brother to Del Ray for a birthday party for my Grandma, it was her 79th B-day, and we went to a restraunt, my brother and i ate before hand, and went to my aunt's house after and took some pictures at my grandmother's inssitence. Everyone else was a bit reluctant...but it was her birthday, so we did it to make her happy.

We got Little Bird a new cage on Monday night and gave Baby Bird Little Bird's old cage. The problem was that Baby's old cage was pretty small and not very steady, it was knocked over twice by the cats, and Baby escaped both times, it was fortunate I was in the room both times, otherwise he would have been lunch! So we finally got that taken care and now don't have to worry about that again.

That's about it...for now until the next time I can update.

A New School Term

Started the new term today and I've already dropped a class. Why? Because the teacher was, to be quite frank, downright SCARY. And I didn't even MEET her. How did I know she was scary? The way her syllabus was written really gave over the idea that she was looking to fail people rather than pass them. So, i dropped the class, then tomorrow I shall go in and see if I can take the same class, but with a different teacher. But, on the upside, I think I am really going to like at least one of my classes this semester. It's always good to have at least one class you like, otherwise the entire four months are like living hell. This semester I have 5 classes, and I have only had 2 of them so far, so we shall see whether I like 2 of the others tomorrow. Now, I think I shall go to bed, read, and just try to unwind. That syllabus was very stressful!!

My Week in NYC

Okay, so I haven't been here quite a week, i'm leaving tomorrow, but I figured why not update? I actually didn't do much this past week. I saw a movie with my aunt the day after I came into NY, the movie was Sweeney Todd. No idea WHY I agreed to see that, I hate horror movies and I was afraid I would end up with nightmares after that. I didn't thank g-d, but I have had some very srange dreams this week. The next day I went to B&N to meet a friend, who I saw for all of 10 minutes because she was busy researching for a paper. After that I went to the Museum of Natural History with my friend CJ (who I'm staying by) and the museum has an exhibit with DRAGONS!!!!!! That made me very happy as you can imagine, and I bought a book on Dinosaurs for my dad. The next day we went to see a Broaday show (we saw Chicago). Actually we went out to lunch with a couple of other friends first, after we got the tickets for the show. Lots of fun! Next day was Friday, hung out in the apartment and watched a movie until we left for my aunts for shabbos. Shabbos was nice and relaxing, after shabbos we went to another friends and watched a movie and then went back to the apartnment. Today, we just hung out and relaxed,which was very nice. Actually, currently not relaxing at all. CJ's roomie is acting crazy and I'm having fun watching her torment CJ. Will post more after I get home.

New York, Here I Come!!

Okay, so I mentioned in a previous post that I'm going to NY for a week. My flight is tomorrow afternoon. In any case, I'm not sure whether or not I'll be blogging while I'm there. I can try, but no guarantees. I'm very much looking forward to it, but not so much to the cold, I prefer warm weather, one of the reasons I like living in Florida. But, anyways, I get to see some friends and have fun, and am really looking forward to it.

Favorite Authors

Since I really have absolutley NOTHING to blog about at the moment, I decided that instead, I'll make a list of some of my favorite author's and their books (or series)

1. Terry Pratchett - Discworld Series - it is, in my opinion at least, one of the BEST series out there. Incredibly funny, yet thought provoking as well. Satire on almost anything that you can imagine. Some of my favorite books in the series: Thud!, Going Postal, Moving Pictures, Jingo, Weird Sisters, and Reaper Man. Another book I like that is a collaboration between him and Neil Gaiman is Good Omens.

2. Tamora Pierce - She has several series: Song of the Lioness (4 books), The Immortals (4 books), Protector of the Small (4 books), Trickster's Choice & Trickster's Queen, Beka Cooper (3 books). These series are all set in Tortall. And the other set of series is The Circle of Magic, The Circle Opens, and The Circle Reforged. I love all her books, both series.

3. Jim Butcher - The Dresden Files- wizardry in the real world, solving mysteries and using magic. Now that's my kind of thing!

4. Robert Asprin - Myth Adventures and Phule's Company. Myth adventures is pure fantasty, while Phule's Company is Pure Science Fiction. He is incredibly funny, with lovable characters. He also collaborates for some of his Myth Adventures books with Jody Lynne Nye.

5. Anne McCaffrey - The Dragon Riders of Pern - while this is completely Science Fiction, it includes dragons, so as you can guess, I absolutely love it. Faves: All the Weyrs of Pern, Dragon Flight, Dragon Quest, the White Dragon.

6. Eoin Colfer - Artemis Fowl - a mix of fantasy and science fiction, it's a nice balance, while it's written for kids and is in the children's section, it's still immensly enjoyable. A criminal mastermind (who is only 12 years old) gets one over the fairies so he can get their gold.

7. Mercedes Lackey - Valdemar and Dragon Qaurtet (Joust, Alta, Sanctuary, Aerie) - Fantasy that includes talking horses and magic, the dragon books, I think are self explanatory. I am so there. Faves: All four dragon books, Arrows of the Queen, Take a Thief, Exile's Valor, Exile's Honor.

8. Diana Wynne Jones - a lot of books - complete fantasy writer, her books are very often confusing, until the end when everything becomes clear, and if everything isn't clear, you should read the book again. Even if you DID understand it, read it again, and you'll see things you missed the first time.

9. Eric Flint - 1632 and the books after that - I've only read the first book, but I have the others and really like it so far. Basically: send a town of West Virginia from the 21st Century to Germany in the middle of the 30 Year War. Like it says on the back "Freedom and Justice - American Style"

10. JRR Tolkien - The Lord of the Rings - I love those books, though wasn't thrilled with the movies.

11. Alexander Dumas - The Three Musketeers - One of the best books of all time. Definetly deserved to become a classic.

12. H.G. Wells - The Time Machine, War of the Worlds - both excellent books, though Time Machine was a bit depressing at the end.

13. Jules Verne - Around the World in Eighty Days, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - Also two very good books

14. Isaac Asimov - I, Robot - incredible book, loved it the first time I read it.

Ooops

Er...I did say I would be updating more frequently didin't I? Heh, oops. Well, there hasn't been much to say in all honesty. I went to two wedding showers on Sunday for girls from my BY class and then I went and spent two days by my grandmother. I have a very close relationship with my Grandma since I am her oldest grandchild, and the only who can come up really frequently to stay overnight. Not to mention that I like to go up also because she buys me books or clothes, but it's enjoyable to spend time with her. Even if some of that time is spent trying to explain to her why religious Jews do certain things. Oh well.
Basically, what I'm trying to say is that nothing has really come up for me to talk about. Except that I'm going to NY in less than a week and I'll be there for a week. YAY!!!

Black and White

There are some people that see situations, things and people, only in black and white, good or bad. Most of us, I believe, see everything in shades of gray. Those who see in only black and white are at the one and same time both limited and free. While they might not see the reason for a "necessary evil" or they might not see another person's point of view in a conflict, they also see clearer in a way. But when a perso sees all the shades of gray, how people can be good and bad at the same time, it's a bit more confusing. Take me and my brother for example. My brother is one of those people who sees everything in black and white, it's either good or it's bad, there is no grey area, no overlapping. If this person did something bad, then they're bad all the way through. Whereas I see it, that yes, this person did something bad, but that doesn't mean that there is no good him.

What brings this whole topic up? I found out something very personal that really affected me, but I can never tell my brother, because of his "black and white" view. He would lose all respect for the person involved. So, it's a little hard for me, but I don't think I ever will tell him.

Finished the Semester!

Yay!!!!! I took my last final this morning and I am now DONE for the semester! Woot! I have a three week break before my next semester begins. I'm going to NY for a week to visit some friends,and I get lots of relaxing time.
On a completely unrelated note, I am having a blast watching my kitten try to eat her collar while she's wearing it. I got her a new colla and made it a little loose on her so she could grow into it. The thing is that now she can see the little pink tag on it, as well a s the bell and she keeps trying to eat them, its really funny to watch.
Let's see, what else....I'm going to a chanukah party tonight at my high school principle's house and a lot of my highschool classmates will be there. Well maybe not a lot, but a few. And on Sunday I have two bridal showers to go to, both in the same area thankfully and are an hour apart. One at 10:30, the other at 11:30, like I said, thank goodness they're in the same area.
Um...anything else? Not really...anyways, hopefully more updates more frequently...for the next three weeks at least.

Here's a very good way to get exercise...

Chase the dog for six or seven blocks on a Friday afternoon. That's what I did on Friday anyway. See, I took him to the groomer and then when I cam eback to pick him up, he DID NOT want to go in the car. Since his collar was a little bit loose, when he backed up, it just went over his head, and off he went. I went after him, managing to keep him in sight, but every time I got close he would run. (He was stopping at every bush to "mark" it.) Finally, I got him cornered be hind a house and got the collar on, and tightened it, so he couldn't slip out, and then I had to walk back all six blocks. Fortunately, once the dog had started running,i had called my mother and she was on the main street, so I picked him up and shoved him in her car, went back home and put up my feet. They HURT. I was not wearing shoes for any kind of running and I don't ususally do that kind of sprinting. My shins hurt all day yesterday, but Baruch Hash-m I am doing much better today. Soooo, yeah, I had LOTS of fun on Friday.

And Now...

For a lecture on Florida Weather. Typically, in most of the US of A, there are four seasons, yes?

Well, in Florida there are three. These are: Wet Season, Dry Season, and Hurricane Season. The Wet Season begins around April and continues till mid October, during this time there are many thunderstorms, quick pouring showers that go off and on throught the afternoon, and general humidity. Then after the Wet Season the Dry season begins. All the grass becomes withered, and the broadcasters start predicting a drought (they do this EVERY year by the way, you'd think they'd learn better by now). And finally, there is Hurricane Season, which starts June 1 and ends November 31. Fortunately, the last couple of years there have been no hurricanes that hit Florida, from either coast, and it would be nice to think that that trend would continue, though I sincerely doubt that.

So, JDJ, when you come down to Miami, I really don't think you'll encounter much rain....unless you go the Everglades, then you might.

This post brought to you by: NOT WANTING TO STUDY FOR FINALS

Mittens: Then and Now

Well, my kitten is growing up. She was so little when we first brought her in! The picture on top was taken when she was proabably 5-6 weeks old, and the bottom picture was taken today. Right after I took the picture she went and bopped Boots (her mother) on the nose and then chased behind the table. Like most adolescents, she doesn't get along with her mother.

Basically this is a filler post until I come up with something real (probably after I finish my finals) My first final is tonight. Wish me luck!

Fun Stuff

This will certainly make you feel like an idiot in no time. I got 2/6 right...which just goes to show how demented I am, but we already knew that, didn't we?
And this is oh so true, at least for me.

Paving Paradise

But don't it always seem to go
You don't know what you got till it's gone
They paved paradise to put in a parking lot
Paved paradise to put in a parking lot

I don't know who sings that, but it was playing on the radio today as I was driving back from dropping off my brother from work. And it's certainly true... You never really appreciate what you have until after the fact. Until after it's gone....
Don't mind me, I'm in a depressed mood, I have two papers due, and finals coming up. UGH.
I can't WAIT until the semester is over.

Happy Turkey Day!

Hamster Video

This video made me laugh and brightened up my day!