almost as bad...

...as the rattlesnake-rattle earrings you can get at the Rattlesnake Round-up in Sweetwater:

Genuine Antler Whistles

Deer, elk, caribou and moose shed their antlers
and grow a new set each year. This natural
material has been used by mankind throughout
history for tools, needles, buttons, toys and
ornamentation. These hand-crafted whistles are a
unique way to remember and pay tribute to
nature's diversity.

The key ring whistles are usually a high pitched
sound. The survival whistles, placed on suede
leather, have a loud, clear tone.

Due to their nature all whistles vary in size
and shape. The key ring whistles range in size
from 2 to 3-1/4 inches. The survival whistles
range in size from 2-1/2 to 3-1/2 inches and are
on your choice of cord color of dark brown,
blue, red, dark green or light brown.

Truly a special gift!

Retail value $7.95.
Order before June 21, 2005, and pay only $6.75
each

***

Who knew? Only in West Texas would this show up on a major public university's announcement email. Perhaps I should be shocked, but, well, you can't beat fiscal conservatism and bloodthirstiness together in harmony. (I'm sure Native Americans who use animal bladders to carry water will be proud, too).

catsup time

i really hate it when people spell "ketchup" like "catsup"--what cats? where? above us?--but it makes a rather nice pun for my post today.

anyway, for you plebeians who left lubbock for the summer, i thought i'd list a few things from my until-recently-unexciting life.

1st: i moved 3 blocks from dear old gordon hall to university trails (aka apartments i can't afford to live in unless, like now, i'm subletting).

2nd: i thought i was going home for the weekend and a belated birthday party (which i got--including 2 cakes!! 1 chocolate and 1 cheesecake). as a bonus, i got a new car!!! it's a 2002 vw passat that we found around the corner from my house...2 doors down from cassie's grandmother. you should be excited, too, because now you don't have to drive me around while my car's getting the air/starter/fuel pump/whatever replaced. get ready though, because now i want to go on road trips... :-D

3rd: the only problem with my new car is that it's a stick shift. now, i love to drive, but i got tired of driving because i took the speedy gonzales version of "how to drive a standard transmission". i learned in 3 days and drove back to lubbock. i'm still learning...slowly...but hopefully by the end of the summer i can impress everyone with my superior shifting skills. haha...assuming i remember how to get the car rolling in 1st gear.

4th: i got a job!! thanks to my connections at johnny carino's (ok, janna's rec), i'm hostessing/table tending/food running/slaving away at carino's now, 7 days a week. yay. i'm actually making money now and as soon as i get my first paycheck, my parents will be glad to know, i'll be able to support my coffee and chocolate habit.

5th (i know the list is getting long, but i'm almost done, i promise): i'm moving again, this time for real. our apartment lease couldn't start till june so all of tara's, kristen's, and my stuff is in a storage unit...in an undisclosed location so you can't steal my tv. however, after friday i'll be able, once again, to cook macaroni and cheese and cakes and other exciting delectable delights.

i'm starting summer school wednesday, too, but that doesn't merit a number because it's school, and well, in the summer we don't talk about sordid things like that.

so, after this week i'll no longer be a displaced, transportationless, hungry person. huzzah.

hope

“Let us sing alleluia here on earth, while we still live in anxiety, so that we may sing it one day in heaven in full security.” -St. Augustine

For the Moments I Feel Faint
Relient K

Am I at the point of no improvement?
What of the death I still dwell in?
I try to excel, but I feel no movement.
Can I be free of this unreleasable sin?

[Chorus:]
Never underestimate my Jesus.
You're telling me that there's no hope.
I'm telling you your wrong.

Never underestimate my Jesus
When the world around you crumbles
He will be strong, He will be strong

I throw up my hands
"Oh, the impossibilities"
Frustrated and tired
Where do I go from here?
Now I'm searching for the confidence I've lost so willingly
Overcoming these obstacles is overcoming my fear

[Chorus]

I think I can't, I think I can't
But I think you can, I think you can
I think I can't, I think I can't
But I think you can, I think you can
Gather my insufficiencies and
place them in your hands, place them in your hands, place them in your hands

predicament

The other day Amanda and I were discussing scary strangers in the Gordon parking lot--the kind that sit under trees in the dark, then stumble across the parking lot, untucked shirt and all, while you glance nervously in your rearview mirror.

The problem: Tech has conveniently provided us (especially those of us who haven't taken self-defense courses) with blue lights where you can call for help, but the one in the Gordon lot is at least 100 yards away from the door--although convenient to the football practice field. If you get mugged, you're left with predicament: do you run away from the door to the emergency blue light or do you run toward the door and hope you can find your ID? I suppose you could sprint to the blue light, call emergency and yell, "ok, the guy's chasing me with a knife, I'll call you when I find the next blue light" but this seems ill-planned.

Should Tech parking re-evaluate their plan to save us from parking predators or should we just learn to run faster?

odd

Your True Birth Month Is May

Restless Spendthrift Hardworking High spirited Deep feelings Understanding Easily angered Sharp thoughts Loves traveling Easily consoled Loves to dream Weak breathing Firm standpoint Easily influenced Strong physically Good imagination Strong clairvoyance Good debating skills Needs no motivation Dislike being at home Systematic (left brain) Not having many children Stubborn and hard-hearted Loves literature and the arts Beautiful physically and mentally Attracts others and loves attention Strong-willed and highly motivated Prone to sickness usually in the ear and neck

What's Your True Birth Month?

serendipity

Odd how God's sense of humor is so...finely tuned. Yesterday I dropped by Carino's to pick up a job application and my car definitely would not start as I tried to leave. I looked out my windshield with chagrin just in time to see Janna pull into the parking lot. Odd that a) she would be there at 2pm and b) she would be the only person I know whose dad is a mechanic.

She got one of the guys at Carino's to try to jump my car and then called her dad when it didn't work. He looked at my car, got it started, and fixed it that afternoon.

Two hours and a couple of hundred bucks later, I'm struck by God's grace: how He doesn't have to take care of me, but He does anyway--even when I'm not looking for it. Cool.

nightmare

I don't normally have off-the-wall dreams like most people (you know, getting chased by green Blow-Pops as you swim across the Atlantic Ocean while a liner passes by and your entire kindergarten class stands at the rail waving at you...). However, last night I think I had what can safely be called "Laurie's Worst Fears 101".

They include:

-SETTING: Basement of the TTU library: Government Docs (I knew I should have quit that job sooner...no windows, no sound, you could hide a body down there for months).

-CHARACTERS: Frat guys with braces sitting around a table asking me to tutor them in history (noooooooo!). The rubber bands on their braces matched too--orange and blue (sorry Cassie, but I must have a subconscious aversion to those colors).
At one point they asked me out because, apparently, they were running short on sorority girls. AAAAAH.

-PLOT: After the gap-toothed polo-clad Greeks had finished their conversation with me, I vaguely remember running towards Current Periodicals in a desperate attempt to escape. Somewhere between TM and TX (those are engineering and technology journals) I tripped over Cassie, who quickly fainted or died.

After Cassie died, I woke up...which I suppose means that I died too or something. Ummm...and now I don't know what else to write, so I guess this is my non sequitur for the day.

good ol' a-town

I would roll my eyes at this list, except that they're all true...although they did forget to list Tech as where "90% of your class that DOES manage to leave Abilene goes".

You know you're from Abilene if:

-You have ever taken a girl to "look" at the blue lights by the airport.

-Meeting a "celebrity" means standing in line at the Olive Garden next to the local weatherman.

-Your idea of a traffic jam is ten cars waiting to pass a camper on the Winters Freeway.

-"Vacation" means driving to Dallas.

-You have seen the "Anson Lights" and they scared the hell out of you!

-You think one of the major food groups is Taco Bueno.

-You think that opening weekend for dove and deer seasons are national holidays.

-You find 98 degrees "a little warm," and 60 degrees downright freezing.

-You think the only seasons are hot, damn hot, and winter.

-You know if another person is from out of town the second he or she walks in the door.

-"Overachievers" go to A&M or UT. The rest must choose from Hardin-Simmons, ACU, McMurry, or Cisco Junior College.

-You've had several friends move off and move back within a couple of months.

-You have a friend that lives near a pumpjack.

-The West Texas Fair and Rodeo is the major event for the whole year.

-The town mascot is a B-1 Bomber.

-Honeymoon means "San Antonio."

i guess i can't help having la vie en rose...

Your Inner European is French!

Smart and sophisticated. You have the best of everything - at least, *you* think so.

Who's Your Inner European?