Procrastination
It's actually winter. The leaves are gone from the tree outside my window, exposing the icy majesty of Harkness Tower. I'm supposed to be working, but the Christmas spirit is everywhere.

Things I may write about when I have time:

- Merry Christmas vs. Happy Holidays, and why I hate both sides of the debate.
- How excited I am to see Narnia and Peter Jackson's King Kong (I know Christmas without LOTR is unthinkable, but this combination may kind of help).
- How much I love Christmas!
- How sick I am of shipping stuff to Apple.

By the way, last reading week I posted a sanity test which I'm doing much better on this term than last year. But I seem to be horribly rusty at writing papers efficiently. Oh well. Back to work I go.

Don't worry, Dick: Hell is on the way.


Quite the tragedy: apparently Bush doesn't trust Cheney anymore. He's blaming the Veep and Rumsfeld for the lack of victory in Iraq.

(Wait -- I thought God was Bush's primary advisor on the war. And now he's blaming it on Cheney? Lame, W.)

But who's actually in charge here? (Hint: last I checked, it wasn't Bush.) To me this "distancing" kind of seems phony. Bush doesn't have the brains, the guts, or the morals to break away from Darth Cheney. It's quite possible they planned this together because they recognize that Cheney is even less popular than Bush, and by making it seem that Bush recognizes Cheney's badness, he might be able to win back a little credibility. All those Republicans who have finally come look upon the war and Cheney with suspicion would be relieved to see Bush "dump" Mr. Torture. It would confirm their original, hard-tested faith in the real goodness of the President. (Note that the story appears in a right-wing publication.) This may even explain why the VP had absolutely no shame about advocating torture, saying baseless things about "last throes," etc. Let's face it, Cheney's heart won't hold on much longer anyway. He could resign on health reasons in '06, and be replaced by someone like Rudy Giuliani or John McCain, who would give the GOP a much-needed injection of life -- and get himself a headstart on candidacy in 2008.

Too far fetched? I don't think so. It seems more likely to me that they negotiated this one than that Bush is really turning against Cheney. I think it's all for show, and tomorrow Cheney will be back doing Bush's homework for him again.

German archaeologist kidnapped in Iraq

It's a dangerous life.

Santa Claus is coming to town...and he's bringing me a jaguar


Apparently Santa existed in Guatemala and was bringing people gifts long before he ever knew that Jesus guy.

This little guy is the subject of my art history paper. That's not actually my thesis though. I'm not that confident.

The end of another month. Time is spinning wildly out of control. Soon I'll be 21 - yikes - and it'll be 2006.

Until then, work. Davenport has a beautiful Christmas tree in the dining hall and another one in the common room, as well as lights strung around the hedges. Joy :)

This is the first time in a while I've had high expectations going into finals season. I remember last fall I was swamped in papers by this time; this year I only have one left. A friend of mine, lamenting the brevity of Thanksgiving break over breakfast, said that she hoped next year to take all classes with no final exams, and just stay home after Thanksgiving break, skip the last week of class, and complete papers via email. Seven weeks of break!!! Wow. Tempting indeed. Alas, assuming I take Spanish I won't have such a luxury. Hmm...I may have discovered the secret to happiness.

Finally back...stupid CT Limo
There was some leftover snow on the ground today! Winter already.

Tired.

CT Limo and New York are a bad combination. I guess that's why it's called Connecticut Limo and not New York Limo.

Watched the new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on the plane. Definitely well-done and fun, and oozing with Burton. The weirdest thing was that in the middle there was this insanely sweet smell coming from the front part of the cabin and I could have sworn it was an ambiance-enhancing effect that came with the movie. Or maybe someone just went to Cinnabon beforehand.

I should have blogged over break. For some reason I only blog when I don't have time to. But if you've been watching the Daily Show and now the Colbert Report then you don't need my blathering. I at least owe everyone a Thanksgiving entry. So here goes: Thanks for reading my blog.

And now to bed.

30-24, and yet, somehow, joy?
You know, it's bad enough that Harvard has won The Game for five straight years now. Why did they have to lead us on this time? There's nothing like a 21-3 lead at halftime to lift the hearts of the crowd in blue, and nothing like a horrific second-half choke and a painfully fumbled three-overtime coda to break them.

It's not as if most Yalies really cared that much about winning The Game before it started. Surely the football team did, and the seniors, and the most devoted of fans and H-haters. But The Game is not really about football. It's about the cameraderie. The tailgates, more anticipated by some than that background noise of the action itself, were not dampened this year by the new restrictions; they were intensified. Beer was flowing, and -- for the sugar-craving, holiday-minded among us (read: me) --hard cider and hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps. And BBQ chicken and popcorn and apples and pie, and lots of mingling with those you scarcely see, and ogling the alumni tailgates (with their fine cheeses, champagne and rich desserts) from afar. The search across the stands for that beacon of belonging in the sea of windbitten faces, the Flag of Davenport, where your loyal friends, acquaintances, and people that today automatically become your friends and acquaintances have gathered in a huddle of black, white, and maroon - but Blue above all.

A word about D'port: We had the best flag waving. I have a friend in Saybrook who can attest to this. I got to take a turn waving the D'port flag, and it was great, though most of the credit goes to the boys. The Calhounies behind us were kind of annoyed because they were trying to see The Game and all they could se was the D'port flag. Hee hee. And we burst into so many rounds of our we-don't-need-no-stinkin'-cheer that people in the Silliman section in front turned around to look at how cool we were. (Though on a Harry Potter tangent, the YDN seems to think we're Slytherin. In the words of David Shieh, "It's so true, though.")

But back to the point. The Game is about having Fun and being Happy. Since Harvard doesn't know about Fun and Happy, they foolishly think The Game is about football. Which is why they decided it would be cool to come from behind and beat us. This was mean. If we had begun The Game behind and finished behind, we would have just kept on having Fun the whole time. But Harvard in its infinte Unfunness decided to make all of us, just for a minute, think it was about football. So we payed attention. We got SUPER into it. We talked about how we were totally going to win. We lost. Poo on you, Harvard. That's not Fun. That's crushing. Fortunately, I'm a Dodger fan, so I had a high tolerance for such disappointments.

But I had a great time today. We all did. Why? Maybe if you are from Harvard you wouldn't understand this: The Game is about feeling the D'port pride and the Yale spirit. Because no matter how much we insult Pierson, we're all Elis when the Crimson Cantabs (...need I say more?) show up claiming they're the best just because they've been around longer and live in a real city and have beaten us four years in a row. Um, no. News flash to Harvard: You're only better at football. You've got a misogynistic president, a ridiculous mascot, an evil color, lame parties, and annoying accents. And a ridiculous mascot. And most of all, school on Monday.

Signing out, from the Have'. Happy Thanksgiving break to Yale and to all a good night.

This is really last week's news, but I had to post it. Apparently several pro-life groups are attempting to boycott American Girl because of the company's links with a because of its affiliation with Girls Inc., a national organization dedicated "inspiring girls to be strong, smart and bold." The group's work includes drug prevention programs and education, but its pro-choice stance has landed it onthe conservatives' hit list.


I don't know. I think about the most conservative thing I ever did was play with American Girl dolls. Just look at the name: American Girl. Those stories taught girls to love not only fancy petticoats and authentic trundle beds, but also their country. How can you argue with that?

To me, American Girl takes me back to the golden days of Christmas. Back when you knew you were going to get something really, really wonderful you'd been staring at for months in catalogue pages. When you saw that burgundy and white packaging, that was it. Something you would spend more time setting up than you would using it - because dressing dolls and arranging the furniture is half the fun. I also think that was my most domestic, most traditionally feminine phase. And the part of me that loves those dolls really wants to get married and have a daughter so I can relive that indescribable joy.

So in a way, American Girl has influenced me to uphold the institution of marriage and embody the traditional aspects of womanhood. The conservatives should be satisfied.

My Results on the "Impossibly High Standards Test!"

Way Too Good Wowsa! You scored 74%!

Woah. Your feet don't even touch the ground, do they? I'm trying to think of funny things to say, but frankly, I'm pretty intimidated right now. Jesus.

My test tracked 1 variable How you compared to other people your age and gender : You scored higher than 86% on superiority

Link: The Impossibly High Standards Test written by blcfilms on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

One month to go (with bonus NYT snippets)
The semester is drawing to a close. One more paper to touch up and turn in before The Game and Thanksgiving break. Then a week of relaxation, festive food, and preparing for another paper with museum visits. The last week of classes follows, ushering in the most beloved and dreaded time of all, Reading Week. A finished paper, a take-home final, a dance competition and a Christmas pageant later, the exam week attacks in full force. But I will be ready. In 33 days the fall term will be over and I'll be snug in my bed, with visions of Christmas and stuff in my head.

Here are some tasty morsels from the Times.

-An optimistic profile of the women of Air America, Randi Rhodes and Rachel Maddow.

-Paul McCartney, who my mother and I have decided should be the first cloned human, sang to the space station crew, marking the first time live music has been broadcasted into space.

-Finally, an interesting article on the history of controversy behind Narnia and the implications for the upcoming film series. I'll write more about this later I think.