well, this is my last post stateside. hmmm.

i'll change the blog's title when i get around to updating it after my arrival. my great thanks to everyone who came out on friday and saturday - i can't express how touched i was to have you all with me. seriously.

i guess, if anyone wants a postcard, email me your snail mail address and i'll do my best to get one to you promptly.

other than that - keep an eye out here for new stuff, enjoy the start of the school year, and... i suppose i oughta start packing... =)
posted by kat thompson at 2:26 PM

hah! i fit into my sister's bikini!

for those of you who have seen my sister gini, you know that this is an unimaginable feat - but it happened last night, i swear.

football countdown: less than six hours...

anyone who's reading this and is in town: i'm having dinner at maarten's on friday night (that's tomorrow) at seven pm. come one, come all, drink beer with me!
posted by kat thompson at 1:46 PM

i have sinned and i must repent: i have seen the epitome of all that is evil and soulless in america today. fox, shame on thyself!

well, well. one week until this blog changes over into my travel journal. indeedy-do.

wine festival last weekend was good, sleeping in till 2 the next day was better, and conquering traffic at 8 am from arlington to germantown in 35 minutes was best. riding was pretty swell too - no sunburn this time. w00t!

i spent today bonding - er, shopping - with mom, which as usual involved a bit of a guilt complex and a staunch reminder why i stay out of malls these days. i honestly thought my head was going to explode while browsing the racks in hecht's - i heard, in the span of five minutes, horrid counseling on a relationship gone sour (awwww, summer love!), gushings over how cute those low pants would look like with the clogs that had just been bought, dismay over mommy not giving her child the credit card for the day (where is this woman so i can hug her, and then smack her for raising something that can barely speak intelligible english?).... it goes on. all in all, a good deal was accomplished and found, although as i'm realizing still how much there is to do and finalize and arrange (did i mention i still don't have my visa yet?), the more i panic, just a little bit. hmmm.

brighter note: less than 48 hours until the kickoff of college football. and i'll be there! =)
posted by kat thompson at 10:33 PM

oh yeah. i'd read about this while away last week, and it makes me sick - but i've found a pretty decent counterpoint as well. let me not mask my contempt for bowden as a person; i don't care if he says silly little things all the time - this is ridiculous. i'm tempted to say that he's only getting away with this because he's the coach of a nationally recognized college football program, but i don't quite want to take that leap. at the very least, it confirms my suspicions that the florida sun really does rot one's brain. an awful lot.

and: i want to know who was responsible for the changes made here. ack!

'i'm interesting, the best thing since wrestling/investing in your kid's ears and nesting' - eminem [heh heh]


posted by kat thompson at 11:08 PM

hmmm... well, three and a half out of four isn't so bad...

wisconsin: gorgeous weather, the rain that kept us from coming home on schedule on monday night notwithstanding (silly storms in chicago!). oh, the food - the sweet corn's just coming in, and boy is it good. more ice cream than should be legally consumed in four days. no bottles of wine; it was beer this time, and quite a bit of it, whether at my first pat show on union terrace or playing many rounds of darts. church on sunday was more tired than hungover, although coffee was still necessary.

generally it was a very relaxing weekend - i did some cd shopping on state street and found a gem of an album by this group whose name means 'hands up!' their site's all in russian, so it's not likely to do you much good if you can't read it, but go ahead and type in some random letters when they give you the cursor anyways and see where it takes you. what else... had some great haddock at a restaurant right outside town... met greg's mythical girlfriend [sidenote: amy's observation that everyone seems to have coupled off and is now antisocial seems to be quite true. it's odd, to only see a couple of people when a year ago it would've been a big ol' wine party or similar bar outing - although, to be fair, a lot of them have moved out to the east coast... but still]... finally saw the inside of and the view from the top of the state capitol, which was lovely... somehow missed the cheese curds, but came home with enough cookies to make up for it... did i mention i've prolly gained about ten pounds on this trip? oy. =) i'm glad i got to see brian's parents before i leave, since it'll be some time before i see them again.

one other thing: amy let brian borrow this book, but i decided to steal it for the week and read it first. i'm about halfway through it, and all i have to say is - yoiks. it makes me never want to eat fast food again. arby's is still safe, as far as i know, but - ugh. everyone should read it, because it's thought-provoking, and because i said so. [wink]

currently on repeat in my cd player: synthesizer goodness.

oh yeah: happy birthday to my wonderful sister gini. i spose i should give her a call at a more reasonable hour... [grin]
posted by kat thompson at 12:22 AM

i'm sorry, i can't resist. but if this is indicative of the future of america, then i want out indefinitely. i'm speechless. although, angst is funny, in retrospect.

two interesting snippets off the web: one, about the koran controversy at good ol' unc. someone tell me again why bill o'reilly has been given any press, period?

two, about the potential rise of advanced placement and international baccalaureate exams to replace the sat's as a measure of college preparation. ah, what a can of worms this opens... will classes be 'dumbed down' to let in, say, c-average students? if this whole thing does happen, how many 4's and 5's do you have to get to get into certain colleges (ie where's the cutoff, and how many tests is enough? what if your school doesn't offer ap or ib courses, or doesn't have teachers capable of handling that material)? and how long before the ap and ib test prep courses start, and we're back where we started when the more affluent kids gain an advantage over the less affluent because they have the resources to improve their scores? that's just the surface, in my opinion. i wonder how far all this will go.

oh yeah, no blogging for about a week or so, as brian and i are visiting his parents in wisconsin for the weekend. i think i can reasonably predict better weather, excellent food, a couple of bottles of wine, and the hungover church experience on sunday morning. until later...
posted by kat thompson at 10:13 AM

ahhh, outback leftovers. yum.

tnn is on my shit list right now, for changing american gladiators from 2 pm to 1 pm without notifying me first. argh!

today's sort of a special personal anniversary for me, this year even more so since it's specifically to the day of the week. it's amazing how six years can change a person - thank god i'm not the same character i was at sixteen. oy. [wink]

that's enough o' that...
posted by kat thompson at 7:25 PM

oy vey. let me say that first, i love my job - we spent the better part of friday afternoon playing grand theft auto 3, which i knew i shouldn't have gotten into but did anyways. now i desperately want to drive a tank around town... heh heh.

i'm ashamed to admit that on friday night i went to see the second episode of this show. you know, i should've known something was up when one of the cast members asked emory, laura and i why we were there. god, what a buzzkill. that jon moore kid is coming to uva in the fall, so if anyone sees him around, please kick his ass for me on a regular basis. these kids should be out doing drugs or something.

i'm not ashamed and in fact rather pleased to admit that on saturday afternoon i went to see one of the last performances of this show. it was amazing - the second act left me breathless, even though i already knew what was going to happen. it far outdid the version i saw in dc several years ago with stacy keach - this one was very stripped down, leaving a lot to the audience's imagination, and just overall so well done. anyone who can see it before it closes, go do so. tomorrow. [grin]

last night was nate's last performance, which kinda saddens me. however, we all went out for pizza afterwards, which was, to say the least, entertaining. ben's going to cameroon for a semester and rheva ended up lecturing sebastian on love thunderbolts and why drugs are good for you - yikes! i'm gonna miss these kids.

today i slept in rather than going to strike, which ended up being a good decision since it enabled me to have lunch with marshall, who was randomly stopping through town. from that conversation (well, seanmike was there too), i was referred here. the disclaimer alone is worth reading, but the rest of the site is actually rather funny. there is some nudity on there, but it's not your run-of-the-mill porn site. very tongue-in-cheek and thoughtful. really.

i'm hoping to see eric today while he's in town. until then, here's some food for thought on the culture of victimization and kids applying to college.

'as surely as the blade's course is run/maybe my kingdom's finally come' - nin
posted by kat thompson at 3:44 PM

file this under the 'things we just knew were going to happen' department:

apparently sometime thursday afternoon the supervisor who handled my accident got a phone call from the husband of the woman i hit, who was perfectly nice at the time of the accident. he's turned mean, as i was told that he's now threatening to sue university transit because our insurance company doesn't cover his wife's visit to the chiropractor because the chiro's not a doctor - he's just a chiropractor. i have to laugh at this - this guy can do whatever he want, since he'll have no case whatsoever. idiot. now i actually wish i'd been doing something like 35 when i hit this woman, so maybe i'd have knocked some sense into her head.

brian and i went clubbing last night, which was totally needed on both of our parts. the drinks were strong, the people-watching was prime (hooray for misplaced yuppies!), the music was great, and the dancing was even better. this is one of the things i'm gonna miss while away, although i suspect i might be able to find a haunt or two in the city. [if only i were going to germany instead - then i'd be in business!]

oh yeah, kevin's got a blog. i don't know if he wants me to link to it or not, but if he doesn't, he better speak up soon. [grin]
posted by kat thompson at 5:23 PM

fucking blogger keeps eating my posts. bastards, i hope you enjoyed your meal.

anyways, i'm not going to repost what i'd written, since it took far too much energy out of me. i will, however, re-echo the following sentiment: august 1. holy fuck. big things happening soon: scary. exciting, but scary.

'into this night i wander, it's morning that i dread
another day not knowing of the path i fear to tread
into the sea of waking dreams i follow without pride
'cos nothing stands between us here, and i won't be denied' - sarah mclachlan


posted by kat thompson at 12:31 AM