Brother News

Well, Christmas is over and I now have less than a week left of my break. It's quite depressing. This break has been so full so far that it has gone by far too quickly. But it's been good, so I'm okay with it ending, I guess. Life goes on. And I do miss my room mate and friends and the greenhouse. ;) And I had a really great Christmas where I got a lot of presents because my parents accidentally overbought. :D Everyone else got some money to compensate because my mom couldn't decide which of my presents she didn't want to give me. She had worked too hard finding all of them. :)

Today I went to see The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe with Andy. It was AWESOME!!! I didn't want the movie to end! I did, of course, tear up a few times (I'm a sucker whenever children cry onscreen. It doesn't work to tell myself they're actors.) and there were also times I had to grab onto Andy's hand because something was scary, but it was still an AWESOME movie! I loved it. Also, tonight Annie, Cherize, Kim, and Sally randomly showed up at our front door for some post-Christmas caroling! It was hilarious! I gave them cookies and sang along. ;)

In other, more momentous news, my brother Adam has officially joined the Marines. Wow. He's in Spokane now taking the physical trials. He has to finish his G.E.D. by June 'cause that's when he's scheduled to leave for bootcamp. :( It's kind of scary, really. But at least he's decided what he wants to do with himself. The other good thing about him joining is that the recruiter will stop hounding him at all hours of the day and night. Seriously. They must pay those guys a commission for each person they sign up or something. Adam is going to be in special ops and then is considering a career as a police officer. Pray for him, his schooling, his direction, his safety, pretty much everything.

Well, this post is pretty much just to reveal my brother's big decision. I'll most likely be signing out until I'm back at school. Happy New Year everyone.

The Serviceman's Sister

Getting Married?

Wow. What a whilrwind. What a lot of w's . . . First finals, then wedding, then Christmas. My Christmas break has been flying by already. My finals went . . . okay. We'll see how O-chem went. :\ I'm not expecting much there. Lots of preparations going on for Bethany's wedding and many things still left to be done. I'm driving up to Seattle tomorrow with Bethany to have a bachelorette party with most of her bridesmaids. It should be fun. I'm bringing my digital camera and I have a surprise for Bethany . . . ;) (It's nothing too scary, don't worry.)

I'm looking forward to everyone coming home. :D I hope to see many of you at the college/highschool comedy cafe at West Side on Sunday. It's the Panic Squad! They are hilarious! They were at YVCC last year. :)

The wedding is on Saturday and I'm so excited and so nervous and so happy for Bethany and so weirded out by this change in our family's life. It's so strange to have a sister getting married . . . I could be an aunt within the next couple years. Chloe and Charis are going to be flower girls at Bethany's wedding, which delights me. :D I'll be so distracted by them I'll forget to go up on stage. ;) I'm worried about having to make a toast to Bethany. I'm probably going to try to write it tomorrow before we go up to Seattle. Bethany's wedding is going to be gorgeous. She has such good taste. And the church is already decorated so beautifully for Christmas.

My Christmas shopping is just now winding up and I'm already running into budget problems. Isn't that always how it goes? ;) I think it'll work out just fine though.

Okay, that's all I can think of for now. My thoughts are pretty scattered at the moment. See everybody soon!

The Buoyant Bridesmaid

One-and-a-Half Weeks Remain

Just one-and-a-half weeks until I'm done with school for the quarter!!!! w00t! It's going to be hard to concentrate for the next little bit here since it feels like I should already be home for Christmas. Laura put some Christmas decorations up in our room and they look pretty good. :) My last final is on Thursday, December 8th, and it's over at 12:30, so I'll most likely be coming home when my parents are at work. ;) I'm going to send out an e-mail to all the underclassmen I know to see if they want a ride to Yakima. I think most of them have cars though . . . By the way, mom, please, please, PLEASE e-mail me to the point of spamming me to remind me to bring my bridesmaid dress home. I suppose it's not the end of the world if I don't since I have to come back up here for the bachelorette party anyway, and I've written myself a note, but still, reminders would be good.

In other news, Dr. Nelson asked me today if I'd like to continue taking care of the greenhouse next quarter. Heck yes I would! XD He figures that he already has me trained and I've been doing a good job, so why switch to someone else? I'll probably be taking care of it for the whole year, and maybe even my whole career here at SPU. I can choose whether I want to do it for credit or money next quarter, and I'm not certain yet which I'll pick. Sooo . . . that is one thing I am very excited about.

I'm worried about my organic chemistry final, but that's not surprising. It's my Thursday final. I have my theatre experience final on Wednesday, and that's going to be the presentation of our scene which is going pretty well. We're going to try to practice tomorrow night and I think almost everyone has their lines memorized. Almost . . . one girl didn't make it to class today so we don't know how she's doing on her lines. I don't have finals in my other two classes because one is the greenhouse and the other is a writing class.

Okay! I'm off to do some work!

The Distracted Deviant

A group photo of Moyer Hall Retreat minus some of the guys who left before picture-taking. 

Carpet ball. Every time we go up to retreat, people are obsessed with this game . . . There's a lane lined with carpet and a ditch at each end. The object of the game is to knock your opponent's balls into their ditch before they do the same to you. 

The girls of first Moyer who went on retreat. 

That's Susan, myself, and Adam out canoeing. Steph took this awesome picture of us. 

Some of the guys posing on the gargantuan tire swings. This thing's a monster. 

My friend Christine and I doing our "Yes!" move that we coined while playing air hockey. Mine kinda looks more like a karate kick with that camo I'm wearing . . . yes, I brought the camo. 

Busy, Busy, Busy

Well, the above statement about covers everything that's going on my life at the moment. Lots of homework, a bit of stress, and many things to get done. After I write this, I'm going to the library to isolate myself for a homework session so I can have everything done before Thanksgiving break. I'm looking forward to seeing everybody, and to the game night on Friday. :D We can have it at my house if need be, I'm sure.

Retreat went well, it was lots of fun. :) I'll post some pictures.

Last week in the library, a student from Korea or Japan who is here in the US trying to learn English came up to the front desk while I was working and asked, in very broken English, if she could ask us a few questions. We said sure she could, so she started in with a very intelligible "Whaboutinvilenz?" She repeated the question a couple times, before I was able to craftily sneak a look at the notebook on which she had the question written. Following is a transcript as close as I can get it from memory:

Girl: "Wha bou tin vilenz?"
Me and Kelsey (girl I work with): What?
Girl: "Whad boot tin billens?"
Me: Uh . . . (sneaks look at binder) Oh! What about teen violence?
Girl: (nods and smiles)
Kelsey: . . . it's bad.
Me: Well, I'd say that a lot of teen violence gets started because of gangs and gangs get started because kids are growing up without a father, or with a mother who has to work all the time to support a family. So these young kids join gangs looking for a family. (girl writes down about four or five words)
Girl: "Wha hiz ee sos?"
Me: The source? Well, I guess we kinda already talked about that with the broken families and all. Kids join gangs looking for a family.
Girl: "Famiwies?"
Kelsey: Yeah.
Girl: "Wa diz da . . . solooshun?"
Kelsey: (answers immediately, like two-year-old) Jesus.
Me: Heh. Yeah, that.
Kelsey: And community programs.
Me. Good one. (smiles)
Girl: "I sorry, I don no, wha is diz Jesus?"
Kelsey and Me: (Stare blankly) . . .
Me: (slightly unbelievingly) What is Jesus?
Girl: (nods)
Me: Well . . .
Kelsey: (poking a little fun) Do it Bonnie! Share your faith right now!
Me: Heh. You know the Christian book, the Bible?
Girl: "Bybuwl."
Me: Yeah. Well, in the Bible Jesus is believed to be the Son of God sent to die on the cross to save mankind from their sins.
Girl: "Oh owkaey. Could I have yous signachous? Hav prouf uv ansoor?"
Me: Oh sure, yeah.

And that was the end of that. I guess I was a little shocked to have someone coming to SPU who didn't know who Jesus is . . . but she may have meant that she didn't recognize the name. I'm assuming that Jesus is called different things in different languages. You never know though. All different kinds of people come to SPU.

I went to see a play Saturday night for my theatre class based on the novel Purgatory by Dante. Well, very loosely based. It was okay, but the actress overacted just a little. And having a runny nose was a little distracting too, although I do think I'm getting better from whatever I caught at retreat.

Well that's all for now, kids. I have one-and-a-half weeks of school left, then finals, then Christmas break starting the ninth! XD

The Dazed Denizen

Good Things and Bad Things

There are good things and bad things in my life right now. Shall we go with the bad things first just to get them out of the way?

I'm not doing as well in chemistry as I want to. I had another midterm today in O-Chem and I'm fairly certain I flunked it. :( I'll be filling in those people who need the details (my parents), but the rest of you can pretty much just know that I'm bummed about that. :\ Fortunately, Professor Mouser does drop the lowest midterm score for each person, and I'm hoping that this will be it. If I do any worse on another midterm, I'm in serious trouble.

That's pretty much the only bad thing right now, it's just a really big bad thing that involves lots of small little bad things. My other classes are going fine. Well, I didn't do quite so well on a midterm in Theatre Experience as I had expected to, but the rest of the class is going fine, so it's okay, I think. Guess the whole situation is kind of agrravated by some outside circumstances like Andy being stressed and me being determined to get good grades this year and foiling my own attempts . . . but enough of that. The good things.

My bridesmaid dress and ballot arrived at my house and Janelle who was visiting home for the weekend was nice enough to bring them up to SPU for me the day after she arrived back in Seattle. I barely voted in time with a last-minute call to my mom for voting directions, but I did vote and left only one spot blank. :) My bridesmaid's dress is ADORABLE and fits very well :) (Good choice Bethany). There was cat hair on it when I opened the box, so either my family took a peek at it before sending it on or the J. Crew factory has a cat infestation. ;) The only downside of the bridesmaid thing is that I am now receiving very annoying J. Crew spam that I haven't really endeavored to get rid of yet. Ooh! I also have a package from my parents at the mailing center. Who knows what it contains?

The other good thing right now is the Moyer Hall retreat this weekend. It's sad to give up an opportunity to go home for a three-day weekend, but I suppose this is as good a time as any for retreat. Retreat was a great time last year and I expect this year's to be much the same (with better food). Also, as a side note, for those of you who don't regularly read my room mate's blog, you should check out the latest posts. Laura and I had way too much fun making some posters to advertise Moyer Hall sweatshirts (I still don't own one . . . >_>), and she posted the pictures we ended up with. Mine was the idea and the photography, hers was the poses and most of the execution with me helping out a bit on cutting and pasting. Anyway, follow the link on the right! -> You know you want to . . .

The Divided Disposition Dame

Reverse Trick-or-Treat! (kcirt-ro-taert!)

I have discovered yet another thing to dislike about wet climates. (Like I needed another one.) Pumpkins don't last like they do in drier climates. Pumpkins literally melt within a matter of days. My Homestar jack-o-lantern is officially toast. I took it to the trash two days ago and found that it was squishy to the touch and had left a lovely bunch of frothy white mold on the carpet beneath it. Luckily it wiped up and there isn't a stain, but still . . . jack-o-lanterns shouldn't be health hazards like that.

The CD wall continues to grow . . . the mail-in label for my battery charger still hasn't arrived . . . the greenhouse is going well but an orchid called pamphelodium is rather doomed. Sadness . . . but, in other news, I went reverse trick-or-treating around my dorm! It was lots of fun! I got a little sick from eating too much candy, but it was still a great experience. People were very surprised when we knocked on their doors and informed them that we were the ones giving out candy. ;) Pictures following . . . (and now each in their own posts since blogger is stupid)

Well that's all for now, folks. I've got a lot of homework to do. I had a test today in theatre experience where the prof gave away a remarkable number of answers. He's a little eccentric, which is only fitting for teaching theatre . . . (and he insists it be spelled that way too) Pictures of my finished bathroom stall should be up in a few weeks if everything moves along at a proper pace. That doesn't seem very likely at the moment, but if it does, you'll know. ;) Signing out,

-The Candy Chomper

Room Mate Costumes

Laura and me in our costumes. I'm an ice princess of some sort (wearing Emily's curtain decorations) and she's a dalmation. 

Group Photo

A group photo with funny faces each appropriate to our costumes. Starting on the left in the front row . . . there's Jordan as Super Loser, Christine and Susan (room mates) as hippies, and then the standing row from left to right is Emily as a school teacher me as an ice princess (or Queen Frostine from CandyLand or the evil Snow Queen from Chronicles of Narnia [I'm holding my polar bear!]), Laura as a dalmation, Amber as a magician, and Stephanie as a fancy elf-type lady to whom all these pictures are due. :D 

Tinkerbell

Our PA Amy in her tinkerbell costume. She's so cute! 

Yay! Candy!

Yay! Candy! This would be the reason I was sick that night and a little the next day. I had at least eight pieces of candy . . . Also, I was asked if I wanted to compete in Gwinn's costume contest, but I wimped out. Everybody else was ready to go anyway.

Randomness

A random guy from second named Dan in his Scottish costume. He is Scottish, and he can pull of the accent . . . but this guy's just crazy. That's acrylic paint he has on his face, a major mohawk, and his shirt says, "If is not Scottish, is crap." 

Hangin' in the Lounge

Hangin' out with the girls after trick-or-treating ourselves out. 

Maidenhair

I have maidenhair in my hair. Hee hee! :D I am going to be very regretful to leave the greenhouse . . .

I am feeling much better today. I was having some problems toward the end of the weekend, but I talked them over with my two psychiatrists, Andy and Moog, and got through it. :) Yay for having awesome people around!

I have a paper due soon. That is what I should be writing instead of this blog post. And yet, I continue to write this post. Typical.

There's not really much else going on. This weekend will hopefully involve some reverse trick-or-treating around campus (you dress up and hand out candy) and maybe even some Harvest Party helpin'. I have to go and see Grapes of Wrath this Wednesday at the Intiman Theatre. I'm not as excited about this one as I was about Last Train to Nibroc, which was really good. :)

I think the spider mites on Parry may finally be on their way out. We'll see if she can pull it off before she dies for the winter as I think she might.

It was good to see my family and friends this weekend, and especially good to see my sister. Even with a wedding shower over and done with it's still hard for me to believe that she's getting married. I even ordered my bridesmaid dress. :D They're cute and brown and strapless. Very Bethany. Well, I think that's all for now. I should finish unpacking from the weekend and clean up a bit before Laura arrives (she went home for the weekend too) and work on my paper and take a nap . . . sheesh. That's a lot for a Monday. Oh well. I'll be blogging more soon.

The Nutty Novice

I should wash my hands . . .

Guys, I should wash my hands. I have dirt under my fingernails from working in the greenhouse and my fingers are a little tingly from getting some benzoic acid on them this afternoon while taking a melting point. I am contaminated . . . I also have a broken nail from pulling books off the shelf. Looks like it's going to be a hard quarter for my poor hands . . . And also my desk corner is filthy. I need to find, as my dad would say, a "place for everything." I have less space than last year but it also seems that I brought more stuff . . . I may have to invest in some more storage-type things.

Now that I am done confessing my hygienic shortfalls, I'll tell you a bit more of the news. I am coming home for the weekend of the 22nd, but only Steve will be with me. Andy's going to stay up at the apartment so Dan can come and see him and it. :) I'm sure they'll have lots of fun.

Oh, and the big news right now is that I have TILLAMOOK CHEDDAR CHEESE! XD I'm so happy! Between me and the other five girls in my close circle, we've already eaten more than half and I just got it on Wednesday or Tuesday! :D Hooray for being able to have my favorite snack food in my room! Hooray for having an industrial strength KitchenAid cheese slicer! Freshman fifteen here I come! ;)

Mark still hasn't talked to me again since he asked me to send him my schedule. I'm thinkin' I won't be working there this quarter. But, I'm going to try to talk to him tonight at work just to make sure. I wouldn't really mind, actually as even though it was a fun job I never really felt like I was much use. :\ I'm no Andy. ;)

I haven't been attending as many CFE events as I should be . . . life in general is getting in the way. I'll have to remedy that pretty soon here. The quarter is going by more quickly than I'd like to think. Okay! I'm going back to nomenclature homework now!

The Contaminated Character

Incoherent Tales of Life

I watched When Harry Met Sally for the first time tonight. It was pretty cute, I guess. :) It was fun to watch with the other girls. And also Meg Ryan is quite adorable. We got pillow fight attacked by a couple of freshman tonight. It was quite hilarious. They knocked politely. "Come in!" we said. So they then proceed to rush in and pelt us with pillows. So glad they knocked. :P

Then after the movie was over Laura and I went out with Christine and Susan to look for some mysterious "mist" that they saw, and we ended up running around in the leaves and skipping and giggling in a particularly loud, and I'm sure obnoxious (to other people) manner. We randomly decided to visit Christy and Melissa in Hill, and we also visited Lydia in Ashton which was fun. I hadn't visited her room yet. Mine is still messy and half-complete. Boo . . . But we are working on the CD's. And I don't know what I'm going to do with the curtians. They are doing their darndest trying to get off the wall. . . . I really have no idea what that expression is honestly supposed to mean. :)

There's one plant in the greenhouse that I most particularly wish I could photograph for you all (The mailing label for sending in my batteries still hasn't arrived. I tested Steph's batteries in my camera and it worked fine.) Anyway, this plant was weird-looking enough to begin with. It resembles a cactus with fleshy spines. And the first time I saw it, it had long vines sticking off of it that ended in hollow tear-dropped shaped pods bigger than my fist. The whole plant is a kind of bluish gray-green, and just slightly furry. But . . . the plant apparently morphed into some kind of altered alien state over the weekend. The pods have bloomed open into five-pointed star flowers that are excessively hairy and white with red spots and smell like rotten fruit. (Although Dr. Nelson informs me that they are supposed to smell like rotten meat. Flies for pollinators and all that, you know.) Anyway, it freaked me out when I saw these flowers with a five-inch diameter and a hunger for human flesh. ;)

Dr. Nelson and I also transplanted the banana tree today. Well, I should say that Dr. Nelson, Dr. Bartlett, and I transplanted the banana tree today because it took all three of us. :) It was quite the endeavor, and I was pleased to learn that the whole banana plant smells like a banana. ;) (Some leaves were broken in the process.) So it all turned out fairly well and Dr. Nelson assures me that the plant will tip back to normal eventually. ;)

I have a quiz on the nomenclature of alkanes tomorrow. Shouldn't be too hard. I get to take in a notecard with whatever I want written on it. Yay for that. :) I was supposed to be at a meeting tonight, October 10th at seven PM in the CE building room number six for some information on the Harvest Party, but the doors of the building were locked (I arrived five minutes late) so I don't know what was going on there. It basically turned into a gas trip which was okay as that location is the only Arco gas station that I know of in the area and I am a cheapskate.

Here's a heads-up for the Yakima folk. I'll be coming home for the weekend of the 21st, 22nd, and 23rd. My sister's wedding shower is that weekend. XD Still doesn't seem like this should be happening . . . I will be dragging Steve along with me, and possibly Andy depending on homework.

The two group presentations I had today went fairly well. We had one presentation in my theatre class where we had to analyze a children's book. Our group chose The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss. It's a story with an evironmentally-minded moral. We decided to do the presentation in rhyme. Jessica rhymed the other parts that people sent in, but I rhymed my own. It was fun and the presentation was cool. :) I was slightly disappointed when the part that Jessica had written wasn't entirely in iambic pentameter, but it was good.

The second presentation was on the play Last Train to Nibroc which our class will be seeing on Wednesday night. We all sat in a train configuration and it worked out nicely. It was kind of stressful trying to get two group presentations together at once, but it's also nice to have them both over and done with.

The other things that I would like to take pictures of are my binders. We had a decopauge (sp?) night the other night and I made a science notebook for O-Chem (mostly plants with what few science-like things I could find in the girly magazines thrown in) and a theatre notebook (formal, but slightly funky. It has books, a balcony, a little girl in a boa and a wishbone on it.) :D

Okay, that was a really long, incoherent post. I should do this in short spurts, but I guess I'm still getting back into the swing of things.

The Overflowing Orator

~Sleepy Smile~

I am invincible! Bwa ha! Heh. I guess the advertisers just don't like me. Or they haven't found my blog yet. We'll see which it is eventually. I'm going to resist turning on the word verification until they strike first. Guess I'm being a pacifist. ;)

Anyway, school's been going well. I hit my head in the greenhouse today, but other than that it was fun times as I spruced the place up. It's actually looking rather spiffy at the moment as I just shopvac-ed it. :) I am also very sleepy today, so we'll see how my shift at the library goes.

I got my curtains up last night. They look okay, but they still need some fluffing. I would be up doing it right now if I wasn't so sleepy. I almost killed myself putting them up last night. :) Stepping on binders and jumping off counters . . .

I still have leftovers in the fridge from Red Robin. I should probably eat those soon . . . I guess that's one of the hazards of having a fridge. :) Andy and I had a nice visit this weekend. I don't know if we're going to be able to have one this weekend.

My room is messy and disorganized, I need to do laundry, I have sewing to do and the CD's still haven't been put up on the wall. School has been keeping me too busy/distracted (with the busy part being the less fun parts and the distracted part being those more fun).

I'm going to be getting a mailing label from Energizer so I can send my batteries and charger in for "assessment". So we'll see how that goes.

Parry is struggling with the spidermites again. I think I'm going to take her on a visit to the greenhouse tomorrow and spray her with some water to get them off. If that doesn't do it, I may have to ask to use some of Dr. Nelson's horticultural oil. It's supposed to work pretty well and the stuff that I have obviously doesn't . . . I also need to ask what his policy on tours of the greenhouse is. I suspect that his policy is that he has to be present, which would be sad. :\ My friend Susan really wants to see it.

Laura and I put up a quote board in our hall. They are fun things. As it says on the board, it's "A place to write silly things that people say out of context." Someone misunderstood and put up a movie quote, but there are some good ones up too. My favorites are me saying, "What are you doing? Where is your loincloth?!" and my room mate Laura saying, "This is like masochist popcorn."

Well, until later silly things. I hope my camera is functional soon so I can take pictures for you.

The Sleepy Stumbler

First Day of School

It liiiiiiiiiivvves!!!! My blog retuuuurrrrrns!!!! ;) It was my first day of school today, and man, was it an easy day. I only had one class today and no work, (although I have yet to talk to Mark about a possible work schedule) so I had a day that was quite remarkably free. This pattern will most likely continue for the rest of the quarter because I have two classes that do not take place in a classroom. I'm taking care of the science building greenhouse for practicum credit (joy!) and the English class I have is independent study. I'll write four essays over the quarter and go over them with the professor one-on-one and rewrite each one once. I'm not sure that this class format will work with my personality, and I'm kinda scared that the grade for the entire class will be based on eight entries (four essays, four rewrites) . . . but we'll see. I am determined to do very well in all my classes this year, and so far I'm doing a pretty good job of being organized. Maturity and all that, I suppose. ;)

My theater experience class is looking promising. It started out with a bit of overconfidence, but I got the class laughing twice, and everyone seems mature and fun, so I'm excited. The overconfidence came from me waltzing out of Moyer with the approximate attitude of "Oh, I'm a sophomore now, I ought to know where Beagle hall is." But when I got to the building I thought it was, it was Alexander Hall. Oops. So I walked back to Moyer real quick-like and ashamedly checked the map posted for freshman and overconfident sophomores like me, and easily found my building. So I was a bit late to my first class of the year! But it was all good other than that. :)

I think something may be wrong with either a) my rechargable batteries, b) my battery charger, or c) my digital camerra. My batteries were in the charger for at least ten hours (it's supposed to take eight to charge them) and lasted just about long enough for me to take a picture of one rose . . . :( So . . . they're charging right now and I'm going to leave them in there for a good long time and see if anything happens.

I'm definitely going to be posting my more artsy pictures to my deviantART website, and I'll be posting the more informal pictures here, so you guys should have a good inside view of my year. ;) As soon as my batteries are charged ~crosses fingers, knocks on wood and attempts to find some salt to throw over shoulder~ I'm going to take some pictures of my room. Well, maybe after we get the CD wall and curtains set up. :) That's all for now, folks. Welcome back the Bonnie Blog.

-The Purposeful Pupil

Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Yar-har me mateys! It be talk like a pirate day! So swash t'ose buckles, shiver t'ose timbers, and jolly yer rogers! Arr . . . I do be lovin' t'at they made t'is day into a holiday entirely fer t'ose of ta pirate speak . . . 'Tis one of the best holidays of ta whole year, yo-ho! Until me next time postin' mateys,

Yar!

The Perorating Pirate

Crazy for Photography

Hey guys. Sorry it's been so long. I've been leading a mostly boring life of work and such around here. However . . . I do have . . . a digital camera! Yay! So I've been taking pictures like crazy and would be taking even more pictures like crazy if my memory card would get here soon . . . if you want to see some of the pictures I've been taking, you can go to www.bemusedbonnie.deviantart.com and check them out. Be warned, however that I need to figure out how to re-size them before I post them. Full-view is no good. Okey-dokey! Talk to you all later!

The Phanatic Photographer

At Long Last

As I was passing through the Valley Mall parking lot as a shortcut on the way back to the office from another dealership delivery run, I was pleased to note three sports cars placed in a very quirky, yet happenstance matter. A red was followed by a yellow which was next to a green. Hee hee. :D

Oopsie. Heh. I should probably be being a little more general right now since I haven't posted for over a month. My job is going fine. I screwed up today with a license plate, but it doesn't seem to have been that big of a deal. I was upset for a little while, but I got over it. ;) Everything else is going fine. I am THOROUGHLY enjoying the sunshiney weather.

I got to go and visit Margaret this past weekend. Annie went with me and we managed to avoid getting lost more than four or so times. :) We bought a bunch of fireworks and had some fun being silly. My favorites were all the ones I remember from my childhood. The ground blooms and tanks and spinny-buzzy ones and the sparklers. There was one especially cool kind of sparkler that emitted actual little eight-pointed stars and didn't let off any smoke. It was fun prancing around with that one. :)

I also went to my first cooking night last Friday and it was a blast. We made crepes. :) I've already made my own recipe at home. The response was mixed at best as my dad called them "funky" while at the same time consuming three. ;)

I have a lot of time to just sit and think when I'm driving around on my delivery rounds for work and the strangest things come across my mind. I do a lot of cloud watching and I've become determined that I need to send in a pilot to Nature for a documentary on clouds. I even came up with an introduction. "The wind and water both perform wonders of erosion on the earthly plane [shots of water-formed canyons and wind-driven dunes], but it is when these two artists combine in the heavenly plane that they become true masters [dramatic shots of clouds]. Then the rest of the documentary would be all about clouds and would probably include such words as cumulus and sirrus and elevation. :) Heh. I know, I know. Waaaaay too much time on my hands. :P

Yyyyyep. So that's pretty much all I've been up to. Andy is coming over to watch Space Balls with me since I've never seen it so I should probably go and clean up. Oh, and twenty doesn't feel much different than 19, for those of you that were curious. Also, my favorite kind of moon is a golden one that I have only seen occur once in my life. I am currently writing a poem about it. Feel free to recommend books to me for summer reading. ;)

The Belated Blogger

Mucus Be Gone!

Well, I don't have UFDN today, so I have a minute to post. Of course, I've had several minutes to post throughout the past week, but haven't actually gotten around to taking advantage of them. ;)

Yesterday I went to a library student ice cream social thing to honor the graduating library workers. ~Sniff, sniff Lavonne and Pat~ It was fun and there were even cheesy puppet skits, so I enjoyed it. :)

My two twin bean plants, Gretchen and Gertrude continue to flourish, each having produced one very large, kind of sticky bean (not edible, dang it. It would be really fun to just reach over and yank something off of a plant and begin to gnaw on it while talking to someone. :D Especially while talking to someone who doesn't know me very well. XD Hee hee hee hee hee!

There is a renaissance fair in Port Angeles the weekend after I'm done with finals. I am soooo tempted. But, as it's right before I start work, it probably wouldn't be a good idea to be driving for ten hours within two days. Doesn't make the greatest first impression if you come in to work as a zombie. However, I will be watching throughout the summer. If we don't get a chance to go to Disneyland, at least we should at least go to a renaissance fair somewhere, girls, don't you think? We definitely wouldn't go to any that require period costumes. That's way too pricey.

Chemistry continues to go swimmingly (sarcasm here folks) but we'll see how everything turns out in the end. I was up early this morning because I randomly woke up and so kind of scared my room mate when she found me in my bathrobe in the study lounge workin' away at that awful chemistry . . . :) My finals are both on Wednesday. Biology at eight, a half-an-hour break after that one's over, and then the chemistry final. My UFDN final is a paper/project which I'm having a tough time getting to come out not like crap. But, I'm sure I'll eventually figure it out once I actually try to write it in a room not full of laughing, screaming people. ;) That's where I was last night and it was lots of fun. Stephanie and Emily had two preview students in their room, and I think we thoroughly scared them with our collective nerdiness. It was AMAZING. :) We had fun. Teasing Laura about playing Chuzzle was especially fun. She's so going to buy it . . . We also decided that there's something about Canada, Mormons, and the Midwest that is inherently funny to any student at SPU.

Stephanie was initiated as Moyer Hall's treasurer this morning. Heh. Poor preview students in her room . . . She got woken up early and had to wear a sign and a crown made by Matt (whose stars look like someone's particularly messy initials, or the scratchings of a rather talented chicken) and carry around a broom. Now the only positions we're missing are Moyer Hall vice president and senator, and nobody really cares about those. ;)

Can't wait to be back in Yakima, kids. My employer is interested in getting me on the work study program (which means he gets reimbursed for my wages) so I have a bit more job security there since I'll be such cheap labor. ;)

And most importantly of all, my mommy's birthday is coming up! Yay Mom! :D I have no idea what to get her and it's only a couple of day's away so all you guys in Yakima ~cough, cough, Annie, cough!~ have to give her lots of hugs from me on Sunday. which I believe will be the day before her birthday, right mom? I'll be getting you something in Yakima once finals and craziness (Seattle craziness anyway) are over. I love you very much, mommy. :) Happy Birthday.

Moogle's birthday is coming up too. Hopefully she'll come home that weekend so we can celebrate it with her. :) I have to find the combination for my bike lock by midnight so I can move my bike out of storage before they clear it for summer. Or else I could see if any of the guys on first has a blow torch . . . And I am feeling almost all better. Still a bit mucusy, but the germs are now on the losing end of things. Sorry to put you and mucus in the same paragraph Moog. ;)

And that's all for now. Pray for my chemistry final please. A good grade on that is very necessary.

The Tittering Tottering Toiler

Chuzzle!

Blarg. I am having all the earmarks of an allergic reaction, but I don't know what I could possibly be reacting to. I didn't put on any perfume. I'm afraid it might be my Tinkerbell shirt because the symptoms started shortly after I put it on . . . So now my head is full of snot and my eyes are itching like crazy.

Which of course made for a great phone interview with Bill Cox who will be my employer this summer. Hooray for answered prayer! My parents were amazing at working to get me a job! :D Thank you parents! My hours will be from about 10:00 to 5:00 on weekdays (occaisionally 9:00 to 5:00 or 10:00 to 5:30, and I'll work the occaisional Saturday from 10:00 to 4:00. I start the 13th of June. I'll basically be a go-for and just an around-the-office helper. Mostly I'll be delivering documents to various locations around Yakima, so look out roads, here comes Bonnie. :D

I stayed up 'til three last night talking with Christine and playing Crazy Eights while listening to classical music. We're such uber nerds. ;) Lydia came in later as well. Christine is pretty much my only close friend who didn't go home for the weekend, so we've been spending a lot of time together. Hooray for that. :)

Finally, it is now official. I am most totally and efficiently addicted to a game from PopCap called Chuzzle. I downloaded it from at least four different sites to get the free one hour trial as many times as I could, but then I ran out of individual threads and I couldn't trick any of the new downloads into thinking that I still had the free trial left, so I bought it. Sad, strange little Bonnie. It's a lot like Bejewled except you move whole rows instead of simply swapping gems and instead of gems you have little creatures that look like koosh balls that explode when you line up three or more. :D It's lots of fun.

Okay. Now I am going to go change my shirt, take a nap, clean my room, and study. Hooray for the life of a college student . . .

The Congested Chuzzle Challenger

Future Plans and Future Plants

Today is the most beautiful I have ever seen in Seattle. I'm going to wear capris today. :D Yay! Capris! I sincerely hope that Seattle doesn't ruin everything by misting all over tomorrow. ;)

First off, there is reason for much rejoicing! Andy has gotten himself a new blog for the summer! :D Hooray! Now we can all read his creative stories and comment to our heart's content and his utter annoyance. ;) (Just kidding Andy.) So go and check it out. :) I'm sure it will be awesome though it will probably contain a fair amount about cherries. ;) There's a link to his blog over with the others now.

I am not working today. One reason is that the Honors Convocation is going on, so the library is closed. The other is that my boss is in a bad mood. :\ He didn't want to come up to the door and get me. :( He has some stressfull stuff going on right now and the new image we're making for next year is kicking him in the pants.

My room mate and I are going to try to cover an entire wall of our dorm next year with CD's. :D So far we have about 60, and need about 600 more. (I did the calculations.) It would be quite the look if we could pull it off. ;) I mean come on, when else in my life would I get to have a wall covered in CD's? Never that's when. So I'm gonna try to go for it! This means that I may have to start a used CD drive amongst my family and friends. ;) We'll see what actually ends up happening. We might do butcher paper instead. Or cover the door with CD's. Whatev. :)

I have two new additions to my happy little family here in my room. Gertrude and Gretchen are the bean plants that we were doing experiments on in biology. I rescued them so they wouldn't just be thrown out afterwards. They are not extremely pretty, nor are they edible, and you have to watch out for the sticky synthetic cytokinin still smeared over some of their lower buds, but they're already fitting right in. I bought a bigger pot to put them in, and I am determined to make a trellis for them out of chopsticks, tape, and rubber bands. :D The second addition is my algal pet. :) It's a tradition of Dr. Nelson's to give out alga in little bottles of nutrient-rich water to all his students (he is a phycologist after all). I've heard they're extremely hard to keep alive for very long, so I'm already eager to attempt it. ;) I named my algal pet Fyki after the Greek word for alga, "fyki." ;) I am strangely delighted with this name. It fits little Fyki so well, seeing as he is a mass of cute little round balls. The most astonishing thing about Fyki is that those balls you can see are single cells. Very BIG cells. Neat-o . . .

I also registered for a major last week. Three cheers for plant biology!!! :D I'm pretty much in since my biology gpa is above a 2.5 (pfft! You'd think the requirements would be a little more stringent . . . ) I am considering a minor in Spanish, but we'll see how that works out. I'll probably contact someone in the Spanish department next year to find out which classes I would have to take for the minor.

Okay . . . what else is of note? Group last night (worship night with speaker) was pretty cool. We had some of the people who worked on Halo come in and talk. One guy wrote the music, which I sadly still have memorized from watching Adam play it all the time, another lady was some sort of art consultant, and the third person I have no idea about. I think he's some sort of business manager or something . . . Anyway, it was fun and they were all interesting to listen to.

I'm really starting to become eager to head home. I only have two actual final finals since one of my classes will be substituting a final paper in as the final. (Hooray!) So, I should probably figure out when my finals are to see if I can have my parents pick me up any sooner. ;)

Chemistry is going . . . okay. I'm pretty certain I'll pass if only because I have an extreme aversion to the idea of taking this class again. I'm not smart enough mathematcially. He expects us to draw conclusions that I don't even come close to understanding. This class is for people far more seriously studious than I. However, I will continue to do the best I can and I hope this will be enough.

Next year, I am taking an English class, Organic Chemistry (which is supposedly the most evil class in the whole biology major, but I don't really see how it can beat inorganic chem), an O-Chem lab, of course, a class called "The Theater Experience" which promises to be wholly boring but will fulfill a humanities credit, and most importantly, some biology practicum credit. :D I get to work in the greenhouse ten hours a week! Yayayayayayayayay! Plus, it's upper-division credit, so ya can't get too much of that. :)

The Plant Pal

Relay For Life

I'm so sore that I'm waddling like a duck and so tired that caffeine isn't helping to alleive my urge to avoid being awake for more than two hours at a time, but I am quite thoroughly happy. :D Relay for Life was a blast. It was a fun-filled 20 hours. :) I spent the majority of my time goofing off with Stephanie and Lydia and Kristen and Emily. We enjoyed being the most annoying people walking on the track and even dared to get into tricycle crashes and sing loudly and skip happily.

There was even a period of time during which we were tent rescuers. We were camping in Husky stadium which is astroturf, so we weren't allowed to use tent pegs. This made more than one tent unsteady. We saw a tent falling over and it didn't look like anyone was around who had any claim to it, so we ran over and tied it to a hurdle. :) It was fun watching the people come back and see their tent standing up. By the end of the event, I believe a total of three hurdles had been utilized. Everyone was experiencing tent problems. It was raining hard and extremely gusty. Both Lydia and I were almost murdered by tent awnings. You know, the kinds without walls that are extremely susceptable to wind gusts. Anyway, Lydia was almost killed by an awning when we were rescuing the anonymous tent. It flew up over the tent behind us and almost landed on top of her. I was almost killed during the time that I spent as a tent prop. Our tent had a big rain cover on it which was catching the wind like a sail. The rain had stopped, so eventually we got smart enough to remove and just let the wind blow completely through the tent. Anyway, I was almost killed when another awning took flight and smashed half of the tent. I screamed, of course, thinking the tent was blowing over, and was rather surprised at the apparent bend in the laws of physics when the tent popped right back up again. Emily ran in to see if I was fine, and I was, so she went off to secure the renegade awning. Overall a smashing time.

Then, there was the Luminaria. It didn't start out extremely well. The Luminaria is a time to remember those loved ones who have passed away because of cancer. The idea is that the lights in the stadium are turned out and candles in paper bags with the names, and sometimes pictures, of the loved ones put on them. I made one for my Grandma Burke. The only problem was, it was still rather gusty. I stomped out more than one burning bag as they were tipped over. It was kind of funny and more than a little of a detractment from the intended mood to watch hesitant people trying to blow out the fires. Very few suceeded and by the end there were more piles of ash than bags left of the momentos in the areas where the bags were exposed to the wind. At first, I thought that my little remembrance of Grandma Burke had burned before I had gotten a chance to see it, which upset me just a little, but then Alisha told me she had seen it up in the bleachers which I hadn't even known held luminarias. So, I made my way up there, and found this small token, and I cried. I don't cry out loud when I'm in public or really even when I'm around people at all, but there were tears running down my face. Even so long after her death it's hard to acknowledge that she's gone. It was a moving time and I'm very glad I got to participate.

My whole weekend consisted of mainly Relay for Life. Other than sleeping and studying for my biology test tomorrow I have done little else. Oh, I almost forgot to mention a few stats on Relay for Life. The UW Relay for Life was the highest grossing online campaign. This means that though we didn't raise the most money of any campaign in the U.S., the largest portion of our proceeds came from online donations. Hooray for a computerized generation. ;) Total, we raised a little over $181,000, no small sum. :) I heartily encourage anyone who ever has the opportunity to particapate in Relay for Life to do so. You won't regret it. Most likely . . . you can't be feeling sick or it's not much fun. Poor Stephanie was feeling sick. She went home early.

And on a final note to clear up some confusion, I did not mean to imply that having a goodly amount of rain is what makes a city a "real" city. I meant to say that a city is a real city when it does something wholeheartedly. Take Yakima for example. When it's hot in Yakima, MAN it's hot. So that's what I meant about Seattle. I wish it would be either hot or cold, not any of this stealthy mist stuff. Although, I'm not entirely certain I shouldn't have kept my mouth shut. We had quite the tempest while we were at Relay for Life . . .

The Exhausted Emphatic Entity

All stand for Brownies!

It is raining HARD outside the window right now. The trees are shaking around from being hit with such force. I have to say that this is the first times I've seen Seattle actually go all the way and fully RAIN, not this wish-washy mist stuff. Ah well, it's already turned to mist again. You were a real city for a second there Seattle . . . you were there . . .

Anyway, I've got Catholicism on the brain today because I had my UFDN presentation on the Catholic church we attended today. It's been in my thoughts so much today, that when Emily had just sat down with her brownie and Stephanie and Lydia were about to leave, instead of saying somehing like, "Wait for Emily to finish" or, "We can let her eat that before we go" I instead commanded, "All sit for brownies!" Hee. It was pretty funny. I was walking around all dressed up for my presentation and noticed just a few more doors opened for me. Dang shallow school . . . grml grml. ;) Ah well. Oh, did I mention, by the way, that the inflammatory anti-Christian atheist in our group showed up to our presentation this morning drunk and hung over? :D (fakey smile) It was awesome how she almost ranted her way through her portrayal of the catholic church history, saying how judgemental they were and how stiff. In spite of SPU's lifestyle expectations, she was talking all about her experiences on the previous night before the class started, all because she's "transferring anyway and doesn't care" All I can say is that I can't believe how stupid some people can be. She's going to need some major help in the next few years. Emily is definitely on my prayer list. Not because she's particularly easy to love, but because she needs prayer right now. She's kicking against God because of the hypocrisy she sees in the church. I pray that somehow she won't end up kicking so hard that she falls on her face, but I think that might be the only thing to wake her up. Other than Emily, our presentation went fairly well except for a slight disorder of slides in the art section.

I'm registering for my classes for next fall soon and it could be . . . interesting. I met with my factualy advisor (now Dr. Nelson, lucky man) and we went over what I might want to take. I might be doing a practicum credit next year, which would be good because it would get me some upper division biology credits. :D We shall see.

I really, really want to see Star Wars but probably won't get the chance until I go back to Yakima. Things are getting busy up here with finals coming up. I need to talk to my parents about more job opportunities . . . we're still working on that . . . this could be a bad situation. I would definitely have to take out another loan if I don't get a job.

Anyways, I'm off to hang out and avoid studying for my biology test on Monday.

-The Prideful Presenter

Geekette (That's what Moog just called me)

Well, I've finally decided to take a break from my homework and start up the ol' blog machine again. . . . What sound does a blog machine make? "Whine whine whine!"? ;)

Speaking of whining . . . gah . . . chemistry . . . gah . . . math . . . there is currently a message on my dry erase board that reads, "Yar . . . math be the devil's plaything." And that about sums it up. I don't like math, I never have, and I never will. This chemistry class seems so over my head and it's not the last complicated math class I'll have to take. I'm planning on taking statistics next year. Statistics . . . Well, enough of the whining. Just pray that I'll get through my chemistry class with a good enough grade to qualify for a biology major. We're apparently being given the opportunity to apply for a major in next week's lab section . . . wow . . . scary.

Anyways, as some of you may already know, I was in California this weekend for my sister's graduation. It was great to see her. :D You know what else was great? The weather! It didn't rain! Not at all! You know what it did in Seattle on Monday? Rained! You know what it did in Seattle on Tuesday? Rained! Can you even guess what it did in Seattle on Wednesday? Well, it was sunny, but that's beside the point! The weather in California was beautiful! Hot and sunny, just the way I like it! I have summer fever coming out of my ears after this visit! I was able to swim! Swim, people! I was never cold except in excessive air conditioning! It was so great! I was so happy just to be in the SUN!!!! ~falls over gasping~ . . . Man, I miss Yakima and the people in it. I'm ready to be home.

Other than the weather, which I thought was great but my grandmother didn't, there are a few other things of interest that occured this weekend. The first of which is . . . my sister is getting married in Washington! She wasn't going to originally, but she changed her mind. :) I'm excited. The second occurence is that I got to fly in first class for the first time in my life! It was amazingly fun! :D They served us drinks in glasses that were actually made of glass! Then, they handed out cups of warmed nuts including almonds and walnuts. When dinner was being served, they first laid cloth napkins over everyone's trays like a tablecloth. Then, dinner was brought out on a tray that contained separate plates. My tray had a plate of salmon salad, a slice of chocolate cheeescake, a roll, and a napkin with silverware rolled up in it, including a plastic butter knife (you know those terrorists and their dangerous butter knives). I was surprised they didn't wash our hands for us! Oh oh, and on top of the very spacious seats, the gadgets are a little bit cooler up front. They have music stations that actually play something besides elevator music and the tray folds out from your armrest, not down from the seat in front of you (it's really awesome and comes out in like six steps!) ;) Anyways, the Schilperoort family was taking pictures and being goofy the whole time probably annoying the regular first class flyers. Oh, by the way, we didn't actually know we were in first class until we boarded the plane. When my dad bought the tickets for us to go back to Washington, all the coach seats were apparently sold out, so they upgraded us to first class for free! :D Yay!

Aaaand what else is new? Oh yeah! Relay for Life is this weekend and I'm very excited. I leave at 11:00 on Saturday and come back at 12:00 on Sunday. It will be tons of fun! We get to stay in tents and eat junk food and take long midnight walks. :) Thanks so much to all of you who supported me in the fight against cancer! I raised quite a bit of money compared to many on my team. ;)

Bonnelia Schilpaceae (yes that is indeed my own scientific order and family, don't ask)

A cute/slightly weird picture of Andy and me. My shoulders stick up soooo far. :) 

Emily and room mate Laura. There was a theme that night apparently . . . (it's sparkling cider) 

Emily and the view of Seattle from the balcony at Salty's. 

The Men of First Moyer and Andy. :) 

Adorable Katie who lives next door to me and Tim from downstairs (he's a raver). 

Two more friends, Stephanie and Lydia (Yay biology/chem buddies!) 

Two of my friends, Melissa and Christy. (Lifestyle Expectation?) 

Our PA Ann in her lovely duct tape ensemble. 

The Lovely Ladies of First Moyer 

Homestar on NPR

Hahahaha! So, Janelle and I were listening to NPR on the way up to Seattle, and who do they feature on NPR but the Brothers Chaps and their popular creation!? It was so amazing!! They had quotes from Strongbad e-mails and the Brothers made some comments, it was great! They even featured the part of the Strongbad e-mail that talks about public radio! :D I was stoked!

Anyway, for those of you who don't know, I went home for the weekend to surprise my mother for Mother's Day. :) It was awesome. The look on my mom's face was priceless and so was Adam's double take when I said, "Hey Adam" as he walked in the door and he replied "Hey Bonnie" took a couple more steps and said, "Whoa!" It was great to be home. 'Cept seeing everyone home gave me a summer break jones like no other! I want so badly to be done with school but I still have a half a quarter left . . . :\ Anyway, I got home thanks to the generosity of Andy's dad who was coming up to pick up Andy, but also drove Andy to and from Moyer so he could go to the Moyer Hall banquet with me AND he drove me home. He's so nice. :D Thanks Pastor Rick!

The banquet on Friday was a BLAST. At least I had fun. I hope Andy tolerated it too. ;) I basically just danced around like a silly goose while he just smiled and shook his head. They played the Romanian pop song that's been going around "Numa Numa." That was hilarious. :D I got made fun of for putting too much cream and sugar in my coffee (A point on which I'm very sensitive. I'm sure most of you have heard my chocolate argument by now. I swear I'm going to hand Andy a piece of baking chocolate one day and tell him it's dark chocolate just to prove my point . . . ;) Heh. Just kidding Andy. . . . Maybe.) We also had fun playing around with the sword one of the "pirates" from first Moy-arr had brought. :) Sword discussions are always fun. ;) We took lots of pictures, acted goofy, and made memories. This dance was better than high school dances by about a factor of a bajillion. Nobody was worried about being cool although some people still aren't very comfortable with dancing ~cough, cough-Laura-and-Andy-cough~. I will definitely be doing this again next year. :D

And Annie, there's a letter coming soon. I just have to write it . . . I'm sure it will be filled with delightful/creepy art work. ;) Until next time,

The Haggard yet Happy Home-Goer

Kinda Forgot I Have a Blog

Sorry that I kinda forgot that I have a blog, but I've been pretty swamped recently. But now, I'm going to take Annie's advice and tell about my awesome weekend with her and Sally. :D

It started out on Friday when the chicas came to SPU. They dropped off Sally's stuff and then we hit the town. :) We went down to the pier and ate at Ivar's (which Sally had never eaten at) then came back to the dorm after a little more exploring of shops in the area. Annie's parents went out to see a movie, and we stayed in and drew amazing creatures and watched a girly movie. :D Then Annie's parents picked her up to stay in the hotel with them, and Sally went to bed while I went out mermaiding!

Yes, I broke the law. Two, actually. The first law broken was trespassing because we were in a park after it was closed, and the second was yes, indecent exposure. Mermaiding is skinnydipping. I am now officially a member of the Mermaiding Club. :D Man, that was crazy stuff. A group of about thirty girls decided to go. At first, we didn't think we would be able to do it the night that we had planned because when we got to the park, it was full of GUYS! Hispanic males to be precise. I don't know if there was some sort of shading dealin's goin' on in the park, but what other kinds of dealin's go on in a park at the hour of two in the morning? I mean, we were there for shady dealin's. ;) Anyway, after freaking out for about ten minutes, eventually the people left, and we went for it. Man, that water was cold. But now, if I'm ever playing that game "I Have Never" and someone says, "I have never been skinny-dipping," I would have to put down a finger. ;) That would get some fun looks. :P

Anyway, after we returned to SPU, I crashed into bed and didn't regain consciousness until about fifteen minutes before Annie called the next morning. We had planned to meet at Pike Place Market the next morning (because Sally had never been there) so she was calling to let us know that she and her mom were there. So, leaving them with instructions to check for us at the front under the sign every fifteen minutes, Sally and I got ready for the day and road the earliest bus we could. We arrived at Pike Place Market, watched fish-chucking for a few minutes, and then Annie and her mom found us. :) We spent several hours wandering the market, savoring all the classics including "Hands of the World" which I have great memories of from the Back to School Bash, the magic store, where we got to witness a demonstration because a tour group came in while we were there, and one of the little knick-knacky type stores where Sally bought a toy dog for her father because she knew he would hate to add it to his collection. Silly Pickle. After that, we hung out at Elliot Books for quite some time while Annie's mom went shoe shopping. Man, you start doing some weird things after being in a book shop for more than two hours. ;)

And to close the evening, we went to The Spaghetti Factory (which I had never eaten at before, and I don't know if Sally had). Other highlights of this week included me getting my own food nickname. Bon Bon Scalloped potatoes. Yup. Sally already had hers "Salad Graham Cracker" and Annie made hers up on the way over "Banana Roll". Personally, I think food nicknames are awesome. Everyone should have one. :)

Alright, I think that's enough blogging to satisfy the masses. Pray that I'll be able to find a summer job, everybody. Could be rough tryin' to find one that will let me start so late. And of course, keep praying for the Kroll and Schilperoort extended families.

The Busy Bon Bon Scalloped potatoe (Do you guys spell potatoe with an "e"? I always have.)

Previous Engagement? Sooooo cute!

Yay! I told you (Laura!) that Shay would be updating with details of the proposal! :D Go to www.shaycam.com now to read all about it! It's sooooooo cute! :D :D :D

Also, visit my new deviantART site, www.bemusedbonnie.deviantart.com. It is going to be a funny place. :) I had a cool journal entry, but it got baleted . . . :( I've been having far too much fun tonight for a girl who's behind in school. :
The Delighted Doodler

Contest Winner Right Here

Oh yes. A scan of the original artwork.

I think it should win, don't you? ;) Of course, it wasn't done in paint, but it was done about nine years before this contest was even started, so that's gotta give it some major props for originality, huh? :D Anyway, if you can't tell from the scan, that's Mr. Sour Lemon on the left. He's the big boss. He has three thugs, Tom Ato with the knife there, Marco Jalapeno with the revolver, and Mel Mushroom with some kinda rope thingy. Anyway, they're threatening Sherry Cherry and Super Cherry is flyin' in there to rescue her. I guess only two of the characters are actually vegetables . . . the others are fruit. :) Done in Crayola crayons on sketchpad paper. Man, I was a weird kid. Still am. ;)

P.S. Don't you like the sound effects? And check out Super Cherry's majesty. ;)

The Dastardly Drawer (the artist kind not the furniture kind)

Tears of Sadness and Screams of Happiness

The service for my granddad today was very good. We played the song by Steven Curtis Chapman "With Hope" and showed the DVD slideshow of pictures of him, and shared memories and cried together and laughed together. It's hard to say good-bye, but we can "say good-bye with hope." We're all still hurting, but the service helped to give a sense of closure at least.

That was the source of the tears, but as to the source of the screams? That is due to the fact that my sister Bethany's boyfriend Shay is now Bethany's fiance! :D And guess what else??? I'm going to be her maid of honor! :D :D :D I was too excited at this point to ask for details of the proposal, but I'm sure there will be details on www.shaycam.com eventually, 'cause that's Shay's website.

I'm goin' to bed. I'm going to have some catching up to do as concerns my schoolwork.

The Merry Maid of Honor

Prayer Please

Hey guys. I haven't been posting much recently due to some turmoil in my family. My grandad passed away as of 11:16 am this morning. He had a heart attack on Friday, after which he was oxygen-deprived for several minutes. He was rushed to the nearest hospital, but was already in a coma and never came out of it. Prayer for my family, especially for my mom and grandmother, would be appreciated. I'm leaving tomorrow for Yakima and won't be back in Seattle until Monday. The funeral is on Sunday. Once again, please pray for my mother and grandmother especially. My mom is losing her dad and my grandmother is losing her husband. I can't even imagine how hard it must be for them.

We do have the comfort of knowing that my grandfather was a strong Christian, and we'll all see him again in heaven someday.

Simply Bonnie

Blargle gee dibbins biff indeed

Blargle gee dibbins biff . . . (translation: my brain is fried after studying for chemistry for five hours) I also picked up a random book of Russian fairy tales off the shelf to read whenever my brain started to feel like exploding. I'm not sure if it was a good, or a bad choice to read that particular book, because most of the stories had no moral meaning with the bad guy (at least from my point of view) oftentimes winning. So, I actually didn't end up reading much of that and mostly focused on studying. I think it might've helped too 'cause I actually understand the approximation method for solving equilibrium equations . . . w00t. Chemistry tests make my head go blargle gee dibbins biff indeed.

But the thing I am excited about is coming up tomorrow! I'm goin' to Blakely Island!!!! I will have some internet access, but I will probably be very busy drawing things and using the microscopes as often as I want, so I'll be kinda outta touch. I shall have to update with some stories and maybe even pictures on Sunday or Monday. :)

Speaking of out of touch, I should call my parents . . . I haven't called them since I started this quarter. ~slaps hand~ Seriously parents, if I'm not calling you, you should call me! I'm not ignoring you, I'm just absent-minded! And there's one more reason I should call my parents. :D They donated to Relay for Life!!!! Go and look!!! (I'm rather proud of getting that link to work like I wanted it to. ;) )

I am feeling mostly all better from my sickness. I'm still kinda phlegmy, and my ear is still plugged so I may have an ear infection, but other than, we're headed for higher ground, thank heaven!

And finally, pray for me as I start a very important project. I ordered some books from Summit today and I'll be starting my research tomorrow.

The Mucky Mess Maiden

What A Day

I started out this morning by sleeping until 8:15. My first class starts at eight. My alarm volume had accidentally gotten pushed off when I moved my alarm last night. Shoot. Sadly, this was one of the days that Dr. Nelson decided to give a freebie pop quiz. Dang nab it. Stephanie and Lydia are going to stop by my room from now on when they're going to breakfast to make sure I'm up.

Okay, I am also kinda sick at the moment. My head is full of mucus and I cough periodically. My left ear has been plugged for the last four days and it's starting to bug me . . . I think being half deaf has made me even louder. ;) I don't feel too bad, but I think I'm going to go to bed early tonight and I've been drinking lots of fluids.

Speaking of fluids . . . I've been forgetting to water poor Ted. :( He's very wilted at the moment and I'm very afraid that he might die . . . I really hope he doesn't . . . I've gotten attached to the little guy.

Work today with Mark was cleaning out junk. We're finally going to be straightening out the mess left by Aaron, the previous Microsystems Manager. Aaron seems like a bit of a klepto at this point . . . he also liked to play video games and DOS programs . . . there's a lot of junk in that place. I went through the tools today and discovered about 35 allan wrenches of the exact same size!! It was spooky.

The Stress Less Fest was today. (Say that ten times fast) and I couldn't go because of work so Laura brought me back a bendy rubber stick with a wire inside and some bubble wrap to pop. :) Thanks Laura! I also wanted to post and say that, thanks to Anna Elizabeth Kroll, my Relay for Life total is now up to $65!!!! :D:D:D Thanks so much Annie!!!! You rock!!! :D

We vote for ASSP officials tomorrow. I'm pretty certain I have who I'm going to vote for down. People have been making a lot of campaign visits recently. :)

The Inattentive Invalid

Mostly Unremarkable Blather

I got left at church today by accident. Margo asked me to work in the nursery since they were a little short-handed because of the women's retreat. So, I worked down there like usual. But then, the other lady had to leave after the first few kids had been picked up (which is when I usually leave so as not to miss the shuttle) so I had to stay until all the kids were gone. So, when I finally made it upstairs, the shuttle had left. I called Laura and eventually got a hold of her after about a half-an-hour of calling every two minutes, and she and Emily came and picked me up after getting lost only once or so. :) So, I arrived back home safe and sound.

I have talked on this blog before, I believe, about a book store in Fremont called "Twice Sold Tales." They used to have a cat named Ophelia who sucked on the end of her tail. Annie met her. :) She kneaded my stomach like Tiger does. Well, Ophelia got run over a while back and now they've renamed the store after her. "Ophelia's Books"

This weekend with Andy, I spent a little bit of time with him at Digipen while he worked on his robot. I do not think I am used to be around that much testosterone. SPU is very largely feminine. I surfed the net and played Matt's trick-or-treating game while Andy worked. :) It was a good day.

The weekends are starting to feel quite separate from the rest of my week. It almost seems as if every weekend I leave behind all remnants of reality (except for some homework). This distancing is especially true of those weekends when I get to visit Andy. Then, the weekend's over and it's back to the daily grind of work and school. I think I am ready for summer break. I hope I get a job.

Tana just came in and gave me a cookie. Yay! Cookie! :D I heard from a comic I read that Cookie Monster, instead of singing his classic, "C is for Cookie" song, is going to begin singing that "Cookies are a Sometimes Food." Gah . . . That's it. It's final. Sesame Street is officially ruined.

Weeeelll, until next time,

The Saddened Sesame Street Spectator (x4 "S" plus 1000 xp points!!!)

It's a Beautiful Day!

Not just a U2 song, my blog title pretty much summarizes this day. It was GORGEOUS! It was so pretty outside that I had to take a walk. I went up Third Avenue to the park by SPU's soccer field. I hadn't been there before. It is AMAZING! It's the most beautiful park I've ever been in. It's full of very steep slopes, but it's awesomeness still ranks far above that of Franklin, Randall, Esbach, and Linkin Parks together! ;) I soaked up the sun and examined the plants and hiked around in the trees and swung on the swings and generally had myself a wonderful time.

Chemistry is still a bit scary, but we had a group session today that helped. Lydia was our group's teacher. :D Lydia is very smart. I'm thinking about organizing a study group with me, Lydia, and Stephanie in it. I have a chemistry test a week from today. Ha.

I continue to enjoy my UFND with Dr. Koenig very much. I sincerely respect this man as a wise and honest person. It's been the best of the required courses I've had to take my freshman year.

Here's something else cool I haven't mentioned yet. Each biology lab section is going to visit Blakely Island Field Station sometime during this quarter! Blakely is SPU's own private island that it uses for scientific research into ecology, biology, botany, marine biology, etc. I am so stoked! We're going to be hiking and exploring and drawing and sampling! :D The only bummer is that I'll be gone the weekend of Andy's birthday. :(

Anyway . . . I'm visiting Andy this weekend. :) Laura's sister is also coming up for a visit. Exciting times. And you know what exciting times call for . . . that's right. Silly measures. :P

The Madcap Meanderer

The Cobfather

Cabbage or brussel sprout I know not, I only know that he scares me.

This cannot be entered in the contest, since I did it in PowerPoint, but it amuses me exceedingly. :D Enjoy! I wish I could show it a little bigger . . . the shrinking was not kind to it.

The Punny Painter

Little Ups and Downs

Wow. Haven't blogged in a while. I should now care to remedy that situation, if you would allow. ;) (I've been reading Jane Eyre. It's slipping into my language, especially the written.)

I must admit that the boast I left as a comment on Steve's blog must remain unfounded. I have discovered that the drawing to which I referred, a drawing of the hero who has to rescue the girl (Sherry Cherry) from the clutches of the evil Mel Mushroom and his flunkies Tom Ato and Jose Jalapeno, that drawing of ten years of age, is in another sketchbook . . . Ah, those were the days . . . I was such an eccentric in those days, I still have my eccentricities, and I will cherish them until the day I die. ;)

I have now changed my blog password, so I won't be pranked again in that way unless the l337 l-l4XX0R Moogle can weedle it out of me. ;) I'm sorry if my l337 5P34l< offends, I am not very good at it.

Today was busy. I slept in because I stayed up late last night reading Jane Eyre. I don't even recall Laura getting up, dressing, or even trying to rouse me. So, I missed most of work today, which wasn't that big of a deal to Mark, but is sad because I don't get the money for it. :( Aaaw . . . actually, I much preferred the sleeping-in. Anyway, as you can probably also see, I got the blog back to its normal format which was even easier than I had anticipated because the template had been changed a little to include a pre-made links section that I had but to modify. ;) As for the rest of this day it needs to be spent in doing work for I have three chemistry problems, three journals entrys, and a floor rep meeting to complete tonight. I also might be going to a forum on Christians and popular music. (Gotta get those CFE hours in) So we'll see how I hold up. I was pretty shaky this morning.

My biology lab today was WONDERFUL!!!! We drew!!!! :D It was very, very cool just being able to look at specimens under the microscope and draw them very neatly and nicely labeled on an entire page of my lab book. I even got a compliment from my TA. ;) I'm going to buy some colored pencils so that I can color them next time. My favorites from today's lab were probably the euglenas and the glaucocystis blue-green algae. They were both cute. :) The euglenas had sweet little noses and eyespots and the blue-green algae were little round cells encapsulated so that they looked like they were snuggled in a blanket. :) This year's biology lab promises to be splendid. This year's chemistry lab I'm a little afraid of. Mr. Gulberg is not the most scrupulously orderly of men, and with his slight abstraction and my downright disorganization. We'll make a mess of it between us.

This quarter is starting off quickly in a tumble and tumult that could end either in joyful giggling as at the bottom of a steep, grassy hill, or in the deathly silence that follows the destruction of an avalanche. I hope not to be avalanched. Let's hope I can keep up with all the work.

The Lily-Livered Lab Lackey

April Fools!!!

You have been pwned by the lethal combination of Moog and Beav. Have a nice day, nOOb ;)

At Long Last

Well, after my long absence, I think it is finally about time that I start blogging again. I'm away from home, back at school, and people won't know what I'm doing otherwise. :)

Tonight I went to an outdoor worship service that was totally awesome. :) I'm very glad I came to SPU. You aren't always able to find such cool experiences elsewhere. This whole week is full of cool CFE stuff. It's celebration week. Also I was kind of hyper at the beginning, so I was having fun with Lydia and Christine. We made up our own PBS show. ;) We're the stars and we'd be awesome. Like human Teletubbies. Six-year-old Britains would love us.

I have discovered that I left several items of great import back in Yakima. Among the most vital . . . my pillow. Sleeping last night was interesting. But hopefully, Shannon, who is visiting Yakima this weekend, will be able to retrieve the things I forgot from my house, and bring them back up to me. That would certainly be nice . . .

And finally and most importantly of all, I have an announcement. I am participating in the UW Relay for Life in May! :D It's a walk-a-thon to raise money for cancer research. If you would like to donate money to support me and the cause of cancer research, or if you're just curious, you can go to this website Bonnie's Donation Page. Click on "Sponsor Participant" and enter my first and last name. :) I'll be sending out e-mails to try to find those people interested in donating funds. I'm excited to see what the Moyer ladies can accomplish in the fight against cancer. :D

The Fund-Raising Female

P.S. Annie, I am so writing you a letter soon. ;) I am extremely far behind.

Scrounge!

This whole week has been pretty busy in this last blitz leading up to finals. I was studying and working for a large part of Saturday and will be doing the same today. Saturday wasn't all work, however. I took at least one break as you can see. ;)


Blowing Bubbles 

There was also a fun late-night activity put on by Moyer that night. Scrounge! A city-wide scavenger hunt. :) It was pretty exciting. Laura was the driver for our team. Melissa and I wore our labcoats and goggles and Laura and Christy were the "lab mice" with little whiskers and noses painted on their faces. (Teams got extra points for dressing up.) We didn't win, but we didn't get lost, so we ended up at least even in the end. :) Laura has a picture of our group on her blog if you want to see it.

The power also went out for a little bit yesterday. Not as cool as it could have been, since Moyer's emergency lights were working, unlike Hill's. ;) The power was back on by the time we came home from Scrounge.

I also just got on something called The Facebook. It's basically a giant white pages of all the college students in the state of Washington. Well, not all of them. Digipen's not in there. ;) But guess who I found on there? My cousin Kelly! :) She's living in Queen Anne (close to SPU) and I didn't even know it! It was great. :D

I worked in the toddler's room today and it was a lot of fun for the most part. These kids were the first cuddlers I've come across . . . I haven't realized how much I've missed cuddler kids. These are the kids that plunk down in your lap without a second thought when you're reading them a book and push up next to your legs when they're afraid and hold on to you when they're crying. I guess the groups I've been working with have all been too old for that kind of thing. Anyway, so today in toddlers we had Sam, who at two-and-a-half can read "big brown bear" without any prompting! O_O He is freakishly smart. We also had the story of Jesus dying on the cross as our story this week, and when asked what the cross in the picture was, Sam promptly replied, "T!" ;) Then we had little Julian who was very sweet and unassuming. Then there was adventurous Shaun. He enjoyed finding the path of quickest descent from the top of the slide which usually meant skipping the slide altogether. It was hilarious to watch him throwing himself in the general direction of the slide and not caring whether he actually hit it, or just went straight to the floor. Last of all we had Mimi. Poor little Mimi. While using a chair as support for standing up, her hand slipped, and she bonked nose-first onto the corner of the chair. There was wailing, there was blood, but she was a brave little girl. She was okay by the end of the service.

Okay, now I had better get to studying. My first final (biology) is on Monday at one. My second (UCOR) is at eight on Tuesday, and my third (chemistry) is on Wednesday at three-thirty. I'll see some of you during spring break. :) I'm looking forward to it.

The Studious

The Adventures of Loopy Laura and Batty Bonnie

Hee! Laura and I were attempting to fix her computer tonight. I was being very helpful dancing around to the soundtrack of That Thing You Do and blowing bubbles out the window. But anyway, Laura's computer was a mess. To quote Annie quoting Strong bad, "It was diagnosed with serious problems" ;) She had absolutely a TON of spyware on her computer and it was making her online experience a pop-up minefield. So we had fun trying to install the original programs (the programs that Laura was supposed to have installed at the beginning of the year, bad Laura! Bad!) so that we could use the one of the two that she didn't have. The one spyware removing program she did have was being defeated by a particularly smart piece of spyware. Every time Laura tried to run a check on her comp, it would shut down the computer. O_o Fortunately, the other program blocked the one spyware program that was blocking Ad-Aware, so things are all good now. I hope Laura has learned her lesson and will now perform regular check-ups. ;)

One might be wondering what could be making me so hyper as to blow bubbles out the window? Well, the girls at dinner were getting a little crazy. There were some Moyer guys at another table making a tower out of paper tri-fold advertisements, so we decided to make one out of cups. It was very noisy when it fell and we were all cracking up. :) Then, Lydia and I decided to go co-op undercover to take out the guys' tower. We rolled up napkins and hid behind a pillar. Lydia on the left, 'cause she's left handed, and me on the right. The only thing missing from our stealth plan was actual stealth. The guys totally saw us coming. Oh, that and aim. Neither Lydia nor I hit it, although I was close. ;) Sad, I know. Anyway, the guys just laughed at us and we didn't attempt to knock down their tower again. We were loud all the way back to Moyer. It was nice just to laugh. :)

I got my biology test back today and did not do as well as I had hoped. Sadness . . . that's never good when it happens in the class that is your major. :( But, I've done well on everything else and the biology class has a remedial assignment that you can do for one test, so I'll do it on this one. Disappointing . . .

I now have my work schedule for next quarter and I have one heck of a crappy shift. I get the shift from five to eight on Wednesdays which means no Gwinn dinner that night unless I order a sack dinner. Sack dinners are the same thing . . . every week . . . So we'll see how that works out. :-\ My other shift is closing on Monday, which I enjoy because it's pretty quiet.

I dressed a little too cool for the weather today, but it wasn't too bad. I think I'm just being optimistic, as usual. ;)

I need to do some laundry. Pray for my finals next week, guys.

The Wry Worker

The People on the Bus Go Up and Down

Last night I went to Andy's house at the last minute for the second weekend in a row, 'cept this time was even more last minute. We had both had kinda crappy days the last couple of days (me for chemistry reasons) so it was nice to just relax for a bit. Since Andy and I both have class on Fridays, I arrived in the evening and left that same evening after a few hours. Still, the trip was free because I had a bus pass (not left or late this time ;) Hurrah!) so it wasn't that big of a deal to just pop over. I was, however, about a half-an-hour later than the bus schedule said I would be because of traffic. Poor Andy was outside for forty-five minutes waiting for me. :( He looked so worried looking at the two busses that had just arrived, wondering whether or not I was going to get off of one of them, that I ran off the bus without paying! Fortunately, the bus driver had seen that I have a card that's good for a month when I tried to pay while getting on the bus, and so he decided to just drive away. :)

Andy and I went to 7-11 to get some dinner, and on the way there Andy found a five dollar bill by the side of the road! Thus ensued a large number of jokes about rich people in Redmond driving around in Redmond in convertibles with bundles of money in their hands. ;)

My bus trips all involved some fun people. :) It was great. On the trip to Andy's apartment, I was sitting across the way from a lady who reminded me a little of my mom. We didn't even really look at each other until this teenager with his pants sagging about to his knees walked on and stood between us. I looked at the lady across the way with a sort of, "Kids these days . . . what are they thinking?" And she rolled her eyes and smiled in a humorous way. Later when she got off a older gentleman boarded. He reminded me of my Grandpa Stan. He talked to me about the water shortage they're expecting this summer and of the snow pack and a guy in Arizona in the 1900's who payed five dollars for one bucket of water. ;) He was great. On the way back to SPU, there was a guy sitting behind me with his headphones on. He was obviously into the melancholy tunes he was listening to because he was singing along to such great lyrics as "I'm not bringing you candy" and "I can't fly anymore" It was especially humorous because I don't think he realized how loud he was singing, nor how off-key. ;)

And that was my Friday. My Saturday will be all about writing a paper and doing chemistry homework. And possibly going to Fred Meyer's. Have fun next week all you lucky spring breakers!

The Tickled Transit-Taker

Chemistry Test of Death

Gah . . . my online chemistry test is KILLING ME!!! Want to see one of the problems? Hmm?!? . . . Well that's too bad! You're gonna see it anyway!

For the reaction:

C2H5I (l) + KOH (aq) -> C2H5OH (l) + KI (aq)

formula needed: k=Ae^-Ea÷RT

Ethyl iodide (l) + hydroxide ion (aq) yields ethanol (l) + iodide ion (aq)1) Calculate the rate constant for the reaction at 35C if the value of A is 2.10E10 and the activation energy is 68.8 kJ/mol.

2) Write a pseudo reaction rate expression for this reaction.

formula needed: rate=k[C2H5I]^m × [KOH]^n

3) A solution of potassium hydroxide is made by dissolving 0.500 grams of potassium hydroxide into 200.0 mL of solution. Next, 1.500 g of ethyl iodide is dissolved into 150.0 mL of solution. If equal volumes of the two chemicals are mixed, and the pseudo rate law from #2 holds true, what is the initial rate?

Hooray for the entire second question on the test . . . so freakin' hard . . . I'ma work on it as much as I can tomorrow. It's due Friday at five. Wish me luck.