CRISIS ALERT

I typed timorous not entirely sure if I was using it correctly

2007-12-30T23:24:38Z

I think if I were ever a domestic goddess with a(n) magazine/home decor line/empire, à la Martha Stewart, I would promote my latest handy idea in the post-holiday section of my magazine where I share tidbits on what to do with the gifts you're not wild about. I received a kitten calendar, and it's not exactly to my taste. Not because I don't like kittens - everyone knows they're like organic, furry Prozac - and not because I don't like keeping track of time - although I don't, because it's an inconvenient reminder of my own mortality. It's just that I think a kitten calendar can never equal the real squawking, timorous glory of an iddy biddy widdle kittykins. And there's something Umbridgesque about it, too. But I wasn't about to regift it like a cheap bastard, or toss it on the garbage heap.* No, to make the calendar uniquely my own**, I drew clever little thought bubbles above the kittens' heads, and therein wrote communistic slogans, like, "You are but a screw in the revolutionary machine."*** In short, don't dream it's over.**** Everything has its own calling suited to your minuscule, not-quite-but-almost-original niche in the universe.

*Recycle, you son of a bitch
**that is not a redundant phrase
***I'm pretty sure that's the only communist slogan I know; I actually have to think of 11 more...
****My requisite Crowded House reference du jour, but you should know they have a lot of other good songs besides that, their biggest hit. Also check out the Finn brothers' previous band, Split Enz.

how apporpriate (and here an amendment: I cannae spell)

2007-11-16T12:19:18Z

I don't want to overexcite anyone but there is a real possibility that today I am going to finish that behemoth, that 1222-page monster, that obscure compendium of all the French Revolution(s)'(s) greatest hits, full of twists and turns like the 128-mile Parisian sewer; that story with beaucoup de side characters whose life histories are divulged in pages upon pages, only to learn said character has a single line; that tome, with its sentences composed of endless clauses, full of learned Greek references a 21st century reader fairly drowns in; Victor Hugo's lovesong to the word "sepulchral," LES MISERABLES.

Could you tell what I was trying to do there? No? Well I have to go to work in a few minutes so there is no time to expand that, unfortunately.

one more thing.

2007-11-08T05:23:32Z

And just so we're clear, XM25 remains the worst satellite radio station of all time.

My sorrow cannot be contained.

2007-08-06T23:42:32Z

I was going to make a post announcing my paramount revelation that Jason Bateman, George Stephanopoulos, and Jeff Tweedy look exactly alike, but when I went to Google Image I realized they actually don't look a thing alike, and now I'm disappointed.

Re bridge

2007-08-02T19:23:59Z

3rd-hand account of a conversation.

My coworker's friend: I'm just calling to let you know I'm okay. Were you wondering if I was okay?

My coworker's other friend: No.

After many phone calls last night I'm pretty sure all my family and friends are fine...and I hope you and yours are too. I don't like to say that not because I don't love you tremendously but I hate to imply it's okay if other people's family and friends die, but you know what I mean. I think.

Like I should be talking about non sequiturs

2007-07-27T22:20:33Z

I try not to be too sanctimonious a vegetarian, but if you want to piss me off really quickly, tell me that God created chickens. I had this conversation at work earlier today. One of my coworkers said, "Well, God created chickens, and that's all I have to say about that!" (Though if she had had more to say about that, it might have been something along the lines of "God created chickens for us to eat." I assume this was the general meaning of her statement, otherwise I would have slapped her in the forehead with the gold "Non Sequitur of the Day" sticker.) I figured this might be an awkward way to begin a conversation about my atheism, so instead I said, "Yes, but God didn't create industrialized farming, or stuff chickens into cages where they get like half a square foot of room, or genetically alter them so they grow twice as fast." ~~Then I splattered her with red paint for good measure.~~

And that was my Scintillating 30-Second Idealogical Tête-à-tête of the day!

I might also have begun this entry with, "I try not to be too sanctimonious an atheist, but..."

Spoilers, duh.

2007-07-26T18:12:33Z

I realize this is Not Exactly What the Book Was About, but okay. One thing that is nagging me about the Remus/Tonks relationship is Tonks' oblivious happiness, at least in the beginning of the book before she more or less drops out of sight. I'm not saying I want Tonks to be miserable, not at all. But I don't like how her happiness seems to be dependent on her marital status to Remus: she falls apart in HBP; she perks right back up in DH. And she remains more or less effervescent throughout, despite the massive bug up Remus's ass, despite how unfairly he treats her - though who knows how differently he might have acted in private. (Teddy Lupin?) Much as I might dislike/totally not get them as a couple, I wish Tonks would've given some indication that she knew she was getting the short end of the stick, and tried to straighten Remus out - no pun intended, goddamn it.

In general, I don't like the idea that theirs is a love that conquers all,* probably because the first thing it conquered was Tonks' personality. I can't dislike her in OotP so much anymore because there, at least, she is much better than the Hair Color/Fragile Mood du Jour to which she is reduced in the last books. In the same way Remus, all his complexity, becomes filtered in the light of his relationship with Tonks. And even that is diminished; the problem of Remus's commitment and the cavalcade of issues associated with it just...evaporate. I can buy that they could be good for one another; what I don't buy is the panacea aspect of the relationship. That's probably too simple, but so is the "resolution" to their problems.

(Incidentally I keep imagining this scene between them, probably at the breakfast table. Tonks asks, Hey, how's that whole self-hatred thing going? And Remus is like, Oh, fine, fine, I think it might actually have cooled down to resigned loathing tinged with disgust.... Good! Tonks says, and pats his hand.)

*Maybe I am imagining what their relationship is supposed to signify, but I can't help but think that Rowling has afforded them some special status, especially with the way they or the mention of them keeps cropping up in the strangest places. (Sickbeds, the wake of death, tense reconnaissance missions, Death Eater board meetings, etc.)

I dunno.

A Healthy Dose of Deathly Hallows and Balderdash

2007-07-26T04:07:41Z

So I wasn't even counting on having read this by now, but by Saturday night my sheep sensibilities kicked in and I read the chapter summaries of HPB on Sparknotes in order to avoid actually reading that one again. (I had forgotten what a horcrux was, SO FUCKING WHAT). I went into it with a sparkling, spoiler-free mind (amazing what not using the Internet will do), and the Sparknotes recap was quite beneficial, so that I only had to ask "Who in God's name is THAT" a couple of times during DH.

Spoilerific stuff ahead, as one might guess.

The most exciting thing for me is that it was exciting at all, that I WANTED to drive my circadian rhythm off the edge of a cliff and read all night. DH has to be one of my favorites, second to PoA, I suppose. My powers of critical perception and analysis (and believe me, they are vast) are rather diminished right now. My reaction to the book was, shall we say, visceral (OKAY, ABSURDLY SENTIMENTAL), dictated almost entirely by what I like to call "The 'Guh' Factor." Have I mentioned I have become absurdly sentimental, in my old age? It seemed my mouth popped open almost every other page, especially in the second half of the book.

In no particular order, here are some moments and themes that spoke to the maudlin puppy in my soul:

1. Nearly any mention of Dumbledore. How much do I love that old man? It's never been about him being a saint, which he clearly wasn't, and which is not the point. I always loved his genial old grandfatherly ways but as the books progressed and he became, alternately, distant or more human or, you know, dead, he became one of the most interesting characters in the series for me. And that capricious summerlong ideology exchange with Hitler I mean Grindelwald? WOW. Life and times, indeed.

2. Nearly any mention of James, Lily, or Sirius. (Wanted more of the third, but a girl can't have everything. One of my favorite moments, however, was Lily's letter to Sirius, I like thinking of them as close, and you know what else I like is the fact that in his teenage rebellion Sirius opted for Muggle girlie pictures.) I was a mess in the Godric's Hollow chapter. The messages on their house! Halloween '81! (As I was reading that they were wandless I heard Eowyn's voice from TTT saying, "They were unarmed!" God help you when fandoms collide.) Don't even get me started on the Lily, James, Sirius and Remus Escort Harry on the Deadly Fieldtrip scene. Ooh, I was beside myself. I was covering the unread portions of the current page with my hand (I accidentally read ahead sometimes and fucking ruin it) and going, OH LORD THIS IS TERRIBLE! AND RIGHT! AND TERRIBLE! And oh so right. Was quite possibly (as I am wont to do) humming "Reunited (And It Feels So Good)" in the inappropriate corners of my mind. Note that I was reading this around 2 in the morning and I had a fever.

3. The redemptions and the occasional revelation of somewhat squishy edges. Who knew Big D had a soul?! I was smiling so hard when they shook hands. And I never really gave a damn one way or the other about the Malfoys and their sundry, unsavory deeds and traits, but I was really happy to see that at the end of the day they just wanted to be Mama and Papa Bear with their wee cub Draco. I don't suppose it should warm my heart that that's what they got in the end, considering the families torn apart (that of the title character's, for a start!) by their actions and those of others like them. But fuck it! It made me happy.

And Snape. I guess I should have seen THAT one coming - I mean, I fully expected that Dumbledore arranged his own death, and that Snape really was trying to mitigate things through his role as Voldemort's righthand man. (I had one or two doubts along the way about this latter one, not big ones though.) I never anticipated the Lily thing, despite its being a pet theory of many distinguished authors on ff.net (OKAY SORRY, I'm sure there has been plenty of quality fic about this as well). I just never expected it to become canon as anything. When Harry said Snape was the bravest man he knew? Okay, that got to me.

And poor Petunia!

4. Any time anyone stood up, had beneficial change of heart, displayed loyalty, bravery, went proverbial extra mile, decapitated evil death snake, etc. They feel like such easy moments, like, I know I'm supposed to cheer wildly, and so the protesting harpie within says not to cheer precisely because I'm supposed to, but I can't help it and cheer wildly anyway. When Ron came back. When no one (who matters, ha ha) turned Harry in. The battle at Hogwarts. I love the other Gryffindors - McGonagall (v. v. happy she made it), Neville, and Luna, especially.

I think Luna is a goddess, by the way.

5. The Weasleys. Oh god. Sometimes I go back and forth on Molly but grieving mothers will win me back every time. I don't know if I feel sorrier for her or George.

6. Potterwatch was one of my absolute favorite moments from any of the books. Long live the irreverent resistance! That is powerful.

Other stuff:

1. So, romance. The odd hunk of banana dotted through the Death and Destruction cereal that was Deathly Hallows. Right away, chapter 1, I expected to be annoyed by Remus and Tonks, but I wasn't. I still don't like them as a couple, which could be sparked by throbs from my OTP asunder (which, as has been said many times before, shouldn't logically have anything to do with it). But I find I don't like a lot of the romance in the series. Ron and Hermione? They're sweet, I laughed aloud at the whole rescue-the-house-elves ploy because that's some good shit, but honestly, I just...didn't care terribly. I'm glad they're together but I wouldn't have cared if it were otherwise. As for Harry and Ginny, I don't know. I like Ginny, I like the idea of Harry and Ginny but every time I read about how Ginny's hair smelled like red Froot Loops and Harry Wanted Her Oh So Much I just went kind of glazey-eyed. I felt like every romantically-inclined line had been written off in a dash to replace what might have previously said "[Insert romance here]," which is basically how I felt every time Remus revealed some aspect of his relationship with Tonks, as well.

I really thought those two were going to survive, by the way. Then when I saw Dolohov's name pop up when/where it did, I was like, Oh, shit, they're dead aren't they. Their poor kid is coming into this world 1. parentless, 2. with the name TEDDY REMUS. THAT POOR CHILD. Couldn't they at least have gone with "Theodore"?!

2. Wizard metaphysics is fucking crazy!

3. Bathilda Bagshot. "JESUS! THEY SHOULD NOT LET CHILDREN READ THIS!!!" That was my reactionary reaction to her being dead and the whole snake-leaping-out-of-neck incident.

4. Can I just say I love the idea of Dumbledore submitting papers to the relevant technical journals of this and that. I wonder about the concept of science in the wizard world, if they would ever think of it as such or if it's some other obscure Muggle pastime they had to invent to get through the daily grind of having to summon things MANUALLY.

5. The tying up of ends that were never really loose to begin with, e.g. Bloody Baron killed the Grey Lady. I eat that stuff up. I have always liked that about the series, trying to anticipate which person, which note in passing will come back later, and to what extent, and for the most part I have been hilariously wrong in all my predictions. It's been excellent fun, though.

ETA 6. HEDWIG. You know what makes me especially sad about that? Harry and his damn bird were not at one when Hedwig died. I'm not kidding.

7. That epilogue has to have been the cheesiest thing I have ever read in my life. I wish it hadn't been there.

I am going to stop trying to put sentences together now.

Absolut Absolution

2007-07-16T00:50:21Z

The Way of a Pilgrim and Pilgrim's Progress are not the same book. Let's just get that one out of the way right now. I meant to read the former after I found out it was NOT something J. D. Salinger had made up in Franny and Zooey. But when I went to the library to look it up, I became confused, and took home the latter book, never mind that the former was mentioned BY NAME in Franny and Zooey. Now that I've realized my blunder, I am considering permananetly slamming shut Pilgrim's Progress and exchanging it for the correct book, but as I have mentioned here before, I have an unremitting hangup about quitting books once I've begun them. It doesn't matter how terrible, boring, hackneyed, illiterate, unpractically time-consuming, or otherwise undesirable they are. When I give one up I have a feeling like I have left some vulnerable orphans alone in a room with a gas leak.

True story!

Let us pause for a brief moment and remember the books of the last few months that, once begun, never benefited from the warm sunshine of my having completed them:

A Redbird Christmas, Fannie Flagg
The Republic, Plato
This Wheel's on Fire, Levon Helm
Why Intelligent Design Fails: A Scientific Critique of the New Creationism, Matt Young and Taner Edis
De Anima, Aristotle
The Philosophy of History, Hegel

While I'm at it, here's a brief list of the books I have begun and subsequently quit 86 times apiece, but nonetheless vow to finish someday as they are all sitting on my shelves and which, as they communicate to one another by idly ruffling their own pages, are no doubt plotting the details of my death:

White Teeth, Zadie Smith
A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway
The Inferno, Dante
The Return of the King, J. R. R. Tolkien

IT TEARS ME UP INSIDE.

Eine Symphonie des Grauens!

2007-07-15T04:39:42Z

So there's some Potter shit going on! That's wonderful. I haven't seen it. In fact, I haven't seen Goblet of Fire, either. And I'm not entirely sure when I'm going to read the 7th book, because I still don't own the 6th book, it is furthest from my heart, and I have forgotten entirely what a horcrux is. So basically, nothing in this space can spoil you, the well-familiar, alert and topical fan! All the secrets from my books and movies have long been spilled - unless you are from 1922 and you have not seen Nosferatu, in which case ignore the next sentence.

VAMPIRES DIE WHEN THEY ARE EXPOSED TO SUNLIGHT.

According to the film historian on the DVD commentary of Nosferatu, this movie was the introduction of that particular piece of vampire lore. He also says the entire thing is a sexual allegory full of impotent, repressed men, unfilfilled women, and nights of homoerotic zeal. He makes a pretty case for it, but I found myself really annoyed by the single-minded "this is all sex" interpretation of it. And I am a Liberal, whose attitude toward sex is that everyone - men, women, the eldery, especially sentient aquatic life - need to engage in more of it. Now.

Maybe I am a puritan in disguise. I will just be getting into my pantaloons, now.

(I don't know what Puritans wear.)

I guess you can call me granola butt from now on...?

2007-07-14T04:05:50Z

I'm in one of those moods where I recite song lyrics or insert their titles quite earnestly in my everyday speech. "Well, you know, Jan, every rose has its thorn."

Come on baby, make it hurt so good.

I love you, honey piiiie.

Oh Boji.

2007-07-09T01:35:16Z

Spent weekened in the Okoboji area. The Iowegians have the cojones to brand the area as the Great Lakes of Iowa, though I think the Only Lakes in Iowa is more accurate. The ~~fish fly-laden puddles~~ lakes have made them hardened mariners or something and as such, by Iowa State Law, 95% of the merchandise in the tourist shops must be nautically-themed. Arnold's Park is nothing but tropical Santas, flip-flop bracelet charms, sand dollars, toy boats whittled from bigger toy boats, etc. I say this all with loving kindness. The trip was fun, even in Arnold's Park, where the shining zenith of our visit involved assembling a puzzle in the maritime museum, while actual children looked on wistfully.

On the trip I reflected on how I loved Minnesota with a blind, nearly jingoistic passion that is probably very funny to anyone who sees the Midwest as a homogeneous blend of blonds slithering in and out of the corn. That's fine. But let me tell you. Outside one of the Arnold's Park shops I saw a metal wall hanging of the University of Minnesota's mascot, Goldy Gopher. I may or may not have pet him while groaning sadly.

That is all I have to say about that.

PS. Lake Wobegone is cooler than the University of Okoboji.
PPS. I now like Wisconsin better than Iowa.
PPPS. You don't know what it costs me to say that.

So it's come to this.

2007-07-02T20:39:29Z

It's been so long since I've been on vacation that I am really excited about spending a long weekend in...Iowa.

they are trying to take my gpa away from me

2007-05-21T01:41:49Z

"A film adaptation of [Brideshead Revisited] is currently in pre-production, scheduled for release in 2008, which will concentrate solely on the relationship between Charles and Julia."

Are you kidding me?

I would have thought the events preceding Charles' and Julia's relationship were kind of important.

In similarly pressing news, I have listened to Purple Rain and more specifically "Darling Nikki" for the first time and I cannot help but feel that Tipper Gore is a Puritan. The song is not all that obscene. Maybe I am not the best person to judge, though.

kolackytown usa

2007-05-15T05:18:27Z

It's not that I dislike Ulysses, but mother of God, don't put that thing down for more than a week and then expect to know your (its) ass from your (its) elbow when you pick it up again. Oh Mr. JOYCE. What have you done! This will surprise no one, but I have been thinking of it as a 768-page Irish Bob Dylan song. Don't laugh. Desolation Row is already half that, lengthwise.

I will like the book if for no other reason than, in one passage, it asks "Where is fancy bread?", which is how I thought the poem really went because I had only ever heard an auditory fragment from Mr. Wonka. I could not put the pieces together. Then one day I saw it in print, and I was very sad. "Where is fancy bred?" vs. "Where is fancy bread?" Which is the pertinent question? Which would you rather know the location of? Think about it.

I tried to bake this evening and I am still picking dough out of my hair.

...yes.

A Photo Essay on Avian Tragedy

2007-05-09T19:09:06Z

IN A MAGAZINE

UNDER MY WINDOW

Same bird?

I don't know why I felt compelled to share that.

News from Lake Wobegone

2007-05-09T04:54:48Z

1. Obscure Goal No. 2349: If I ever make it to grad school I will write my dissertation on the declining quality of the Simpsons in latter seasons. You can do that. I know you can.

If nothing else I am going to write a very long entry about it someday.

2. The School o' Biological Sciences said no, I cannot be admitted, because I don't have the proper prereqs. I said screw you you ewe of a U o' M, I am at least 88 times smarter than anyone up there so wots it to you if I didn't take chemistry in high school. I am still waiting to hear back from the College o' Liberal Arts. I fear they will say the same.

3. (Re the sad results described in the above point:) This is what happens when you sit around doing nothing at a vague, artsy fartsy high school that is in shambles and that doesn't offer classes in science. Or anything, really, as a matter o' fact.

4. I don't think I'll ever stop wanting to be Irish.

5. ...

6. I really like the word "regress"!

Here are some other words I enjoy: myriad, abiogenesis, horticulture, unfortunately, phantasmagoria, sundry, whirligig, apoplectic, cilia, shambles, dregs, itadakimasu, lawsy, chinois...

Obscure Goal No. 325

2007-04-30T03:05:49Z

I think my life would be better if I learned to belly dance.

lykaios @ 2007-04-28T21:17:00

2007-04-29T02:27:41Z

Hm. I just don't get the appeal of soap operas*, romance novels, Hollywood endings, etc. because they are boring, cliché, uniform, etc. etc. etc. And yet I love Bollywood. Every time I watch one my jaw drops and I squeal and I say "HIS SUICIDE WAS PROMPTED BY FEELINGS OF GUILT OVER THE SELFLESS ACTIONS OF HIS WIFE WHO TOOK IN THE ILLEGITIMATE DAUGHTER FROM ONE OF HIS AFFAIRS AND RAISED THE GIRL AS IF SHE WERE HER BIOLOGICAL DAUGHTER WHEN EVEN THE BIOLOGICAL MOTHER WOULDN'T DO IT?!?!?! NO WAAAAAAAAAAAY! THIS IS THE BEST MOVIE EVER!"

*Passions doesn't count. I actually wrote a paper about Theresa's motivation using Maslow's hierarchy of needs. I is intellekshul.

I have decided to become a vegetarian again. Kind of.

Whales are scary.

2007-04-22T02:20:06Z

One of the kids I judged at the science fair came up to me when I was between assignments and asked me if I had a cellphone and could he use it because he needed to call his dad and tell him to give him his ipod back.

Kids these days etc.

Sing it: AGAROSE GEL ELECTROPHORESIS WILL NOT BE ON THE TEST. Testify. Amen. Etc.

2007-04-12T17:28:25Z

I have to study for a biology exam (Mendelian genetics!), finish/begin/begin to think about my English critique (Darwin's philosophy), my lab report (plasmid isolation), my political science oral report (global warming policy), and my philosophy paper (the philosophy of science). I ought to meet with my advisor at MSU in case I am spurned at the U of M. I need to put more money in my printing account at school. There is a father with bronchitis, cat allergies, fluid in the lungs and three cracked ribs. There is a cat with a mucus-filled eye in constant need of wiping. I might also think about making a birthday card, and belated Thank You and Easter cards. There is a cake to be baked. There are scholarship essays to be written. (Apparently I am a finalist in some scholarship contest: go team? I hope they are not a scam. If they are at least I did not spend any money.) There are five overdue library books, four of which I checked out two days ago. TWO DAYS AGO! I ASK YOU!

I have decided to watch Passions today. I can do this now, thanks to a couple of strange accidents related to some items in the above paragraph as well as the divine benevolence of Dish Network in returning NBC to us (when was that? I only just discovered it!).

I am very excited.

As it turns out, Chad was having gay sex after all. And here I thought that was just internet crazytalk.

je m'appelle!!!

2007-04-11T02:38:19Z

Okay, I reached this pivotal decision only a moment ago in a comment to le_brouillard but I've decided I have lived too long outside of the warm loving glow of the Russian patronymic and from now on I am only answering to the name Sarya Kevinovna. Furthermore I will be consuming twice as much potatoes, vodka, and potato vodka as I did before.

I adopted the name Kristy Michelle, once. My friend and I thought Kristy Yamaguchi and Michelle Kwan were fabulous so I was going to be Kristy Michelle and she was going to be Michelle Kristy, but it didn't go any further than me signing my math homework as Kristy Michelle one day. Our student teacher handed the homework back to us, calling each name, and when she reached "Kristy Michelle" it inspired murmured, second-grader equivalents of "What the fuck?" I was embarrassed, because my friend did NOT sign her paper Michelle Kristy; I was the sole figure-skater hypothetical hybrid loser. And there was a big red note to me on my paper about how I had to sign my real name.

I AM SO MISUNDERSTOOD.

Oh lord.

2007-03-23T00:28:49Z

My 85-year-old grandma - who was married to my granpda for 50 years, whom she met at a wedding when she was 12 (and to whom she was practically engaged from that point on) and loved and called "Daddy" - MY GRANDMA, who was just this little old devout Lutheran pastor's wife for like, you know, forever, is very possibly marrying a 90-year-old man in her assisted living home, a man whose wife only just kicked the bucket in January.

Life is so fucking grand sometimes I just gotta smile and violently suppress the urge to bellow (a really unwarranted and awful rendition of) I Love The Nightlife or some such thing.

IT'S SPRING FEVER I TELL YOU! SPRING! SPRING! I LOVE SPRING! I don't have any particular reason to feel happy but what the hell, I am. INSENSIBLY SO.

I lost my book.

2007-03-02T00:20:47Z

We are SNOWED THE FUCK IN and classes are cancelled, unbelievably CANCELLED on the one day I don't even have class.

Where is God?!

Dash it all

2007-01-15T02:10:45Z

I've been in this mood to throw away everything I own lately. By lately I mean the last six months. But the point is, I'll be in my room, listening to music, sorting through terrible things I wrote in ninth grade, and before I know it I'm distracted by the impeccable music I've just put on and I'll just start dancing and dancing. I hurt my back dancing particularly vigorously to Sunday Bloody Sunday. I don't know what it is about that song.

I'm going back to school in a few days and I'm nervous. I am taking

Biology 105, General Biology I
Political Science 106, Politics World Community
Music 112, Symphonic Band

and maybe, if a spot opens up, and it might, because the section I would like to join begins at eight o'clock in the early, early morning, and you know how lazy people are, anyway I might take

English 101, The Difference Between It's and Its

But if I can't get into that class, it'll be something else I've yet to decide on. Everything I want is taken or conflicting with work, or other classes. There was next to nothing left by the time my registration window finally opened up on Friday afternoon, which was my official first year orientation. That's when you pay them $40 to tell you it's okay that you're still undecided. It was strange being back on MSU. It's been six months. They're phasing out apostrophes on campus. All the bathrooms say Mens and Womens. It reminded me of St. Marys in Rochester. I slit my wrists in protest. No, I didn't. But I thought about some thoughtful vandalism.