First day of school thoughts

I'm a senior?!?

I am one of three seniors in this class ... how weird.

Oh god, he's going to call my name soon, will anyone snicker when my last name is said??

I love new notebooks!

My apartment. Is so. Far away.

Yep, the Richmond dress-up-for-class stereotype lives on. (Was I exempt from this? Hell, of course not!)

Hmm, probably the only time all year the libs will be so empty.

Wait, I'm still a senior?

When will I ever go to the gym??!!

I hate walking outside to go to the laundry machines.

I feel so old, but since when have all the underclassmen boys been so cute!!

Yeah seniors, can I get a woop woop?

Greetings, lovelies.

I came to the conclusion today that I have a major concentration problem.

(Insert joke about getting distracted).

I mean, I always kind of knew this. But today I was working on a newspaper story and getting surriously distracted. Not even by anything in particular. My mind just didn't want to concentrate. This is a problem, no?

So one of my school year goals is to stop letting my mind wander quite so much. Also, to stop chewing ice, but since I haven't been using ice in the three days I've lived in my new apartment I think I'm good on that one.

Peace.

Bugz

Wait. The hell. This has just been a day of bugs a plenty and I am SICK OF IT.

First, there was the cricket in our bathroom. Which I managed to trap after it leaped at me, angry bug, but couldn't get the nerve to bring it outside. Oopie. Would snap a pic of the ridiculous situation but my camera is deadddd and I am lazy.

And then there was cricket numero two. Who has since disappeared. But he doesn't like me either, since I threw a sneaker at him. He's probably lurking, ready to sneak attack me.

So later, I'm in my car coming back from the grocery and there is some unidentifable bug (probably a hornet but am not certain), hanging out on the front of the car. He stayed there for awhile - I watched. Thank goodness I didn't get into an accident because I really probably watched him more than I watched the road.

And just now there was a teeny gnat on my shorts. Ewwww.

This isn't counting the big ol' ants in our kitchen. Which I actually can mostly handle, since I only ever see one at a time and then I squish 'em. It's just a hassle, is all.

I HATE BUGS. 'Cept for ladybugs. What I would give for a ladybug infestation right now!

This has been a weird day. Have also had strange encounters with rednecks, among other things. Maybe I'll recount that later.

Summer Reading List

OK, so am biggest nerd ever. But I'm OK with that because reading is fun!

This summer one of my goals was to get through part of the big stack o' books sitting in my room. And I think I did a pretty decent job! So now I'm going to show off and tell you all about them. Be jealous. Or not.

1. The Pact: A Love Story by Jodi Picoult

I'd heard good things, and this book did not disapoint. I started it over Beach Week, and I was pretty much entranced until I finished it. Twist ending, if you're into that sort of thing. I also learned some things about law trials, which was kind of cool.

2. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffengger

So this book gained a lot of popularity because of the somewhat recent movie (which I haven't seen), and I know a lot of girls who had read it and enjoyed it (and one who did not but oh well). So I decided to give it a shot! I remember really liking it at the start, and then I felt like it was starting to get old, and I just wanted to hurry up and finish it. But I'm glad that I did, because in the end it was a good read! Not sure if I would want to watch the movie but maybe. Also - time travel is pretty fascinating, albeit confusing!

3. Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner

I've read one other book by her (Good in Bed), which I really liked, so I picked this one up figuring I'd like it. Plus it's been on a bunch of bestseller lists recently, so how could it not be good? I hate the title, but really it was not as cheesy as you would think with a title like that. Also more dramatic than I was counting on, but again it worked.

4. Some Like it Hot (A-List series) by Zoey Dean.

This is a relic from my high school days when I read a lot of Gossip Girl-esque books. You know, very simple, lots of high fashion name-dropping, rich kids, etc. I guess I never got around to reading it because it was in the stack. And you know what? I enjoyed it. Thoroughly. Guess that makes me a simple high schooler but I don't care. It had more heart than I previously remembered from the series. Plus what beats a book you can breeze through and enjoy? Not much.

5. American Beauty (A-List series) by Zoey Dean

See above.

6. Hissy Fit by Mary Kay Andrews

This is an example of Southern chick lit (honestly, so many sub-genres, who would have thought!) And at first I was like bahhh I cannot take so many southern stereotypes. But then I realized that hello I like southern things so I got really into this very long book with the bright yellow and pink cover and I'm glad I did. It was fun. Not very thought-provoking, but fun!

7. Baby Proof by Emily Giffen

LOVED this book. I really, really like this author and I liked this one even more than other things I've read by her. Also totally not as cutesy as the cutesy cover made it out to be, but I read this one relatively quickly. Because I loved it so much. One of those books that you just want to laze around and read until it's over, and then you get upset because the last chapter is quickly coming to a close.

8. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark

This has been sitting around forever, and it's a "classic" or so I believe so I felt compelled to read it. Save yourself the trouble. It's very short but somehow took me awhile to read sadly. I guess I only finished it because I was dying to know who betrayed Miss Brodie, as the back cover hints at. Eh. Not that exciting.

9. Eat, Pray, Love by Liz Gilbert

I feel like such a poser, reading this just because a movie was coming out. I mean, I'd been interested for awhile, but just never got around to it and it was now or never right? And it was just OK. Toward the end some juicy stuff happened. I didn't hate it, far from it, but it wasn't the life-changing book it was made out to be. Will I see the movie? Probably, and I say probably only because I'm at school and rarely make it out to the theater. If I was at home, it would be a definite.

10. One For the Money by Janet Evancovich

First in a long series of books about Stephanie Plum, bounty hunter! Which has intrigued me a lot I admit, so when I saw the first four books at the Tennis Club's "library" I snatched them up. I guess just to show how much I enjoyed it, I started it before Eat, Pray, Love but EPL got finished first. Also, I borrowed that one so had to return it ... but anyway, Stephanie Plum, you weren't as compelling as I hoped! That is, until the very end when things got good. So now the dilemma : do I spend any more time reading these books? I guess I can give the second one a chance. How sad, that I consider this a dilemma.

And the final one (which is still a work in progress so shouldn't technically be on this list but who cares?):
11. I Did (But I Wouldn't Now) by Cara Lockwood

Agreed. Stupid title. But I can't pass up a stupid chick lit book!!! And actually I like the story, stupid as it is (divorced wife of rock star goes to London, craziness ensues ...). My only gripe - how did this book get published?? What is with the grammatical errors? I don't entirely get it. But can't wait to see if she ends up with her best guy friend!

And there you have it, my summer reading list. Can't wait til winter break when I can read more for fun! For now, it'll just be a lot of texting reading ... thrills.

It's a miracle ...

... almost.

At New York Deli with my momma. I don't get carded. Victory for strict Richmond! Three minutes later.

Waiter: (Trying to be cute and sitting down next to my mom on the bench) I'll have to ask to see both of y'all's IDs.

Bahhhhh. So close.

Also, my mom refused to be carded, but chardonnay for all!

In other back-at-school news, I love my handicapped apartment! And no, none of my roommates are handicapped. We're just lucky like that. If you call this lucky. But really, I truly believe that almost anything will work out for the best. At first, I was alll whiny about it because it wasn't the apartment block we wanted to live in. But you know, it's not that far away, and it's bigger.

Vegetarian musings

This whole no meat thing isn't so bad, really. Who needs beef? Not this girl. I'm just a little worried I'm going to end up at a dinner party where someone is cooking chicken and I appear rude when I don't eat it.

I'm also worried that I'm going to drunkenly eat debris fries or something at Bruno's. Because that's the kind of idiot I am. I mean, I guess saving the animals isn't that important to me if I eat pepperoni after drinking a Long Island Iced Tea. Also, I guess I need to figure out my stance on chicken broth and the like. As of yet, I don't really care/think about these kinds of things, but I don't want to be called out on being a "bad" vegetarian. Pescatarian. Mmm shrimp.

Also! News, people. I had an oyster po-boy FINALLY. From Domilise's if you're curious.

Also - I just addressed the people. As if more than three people will ever see this.

And if you want to hear more innane dribble about stuff, follow me on twitter! elizhyman, yo. I got an account way back when (like sophomore year, whoa!) but only tweeted about three times. But as I updated two nights ago - I'm back in the game! And I think everyone should get an account and tweet because I'm not going to lie I think it'd be really fun if we all followed each other and got constant life updates and thoughts!!

Why I am contradicting myself: Vegetarianism

I'm kind of an everything-in-moderation person. I eat meat, but try not to eat too much of it, and instead more natural "real" foods (like what Michael Pollan preaches), even though I have a horrific sweet tooth and really like vodka. Mr. Pollan probably wouldn't approve of the fact that I ate cookie cake for breakfast this morning, but everything in moderation?

So awhile back I wrote about my thoughts on the food industry, vegetarianism, etc. And that's pretty much how I felt up until I read this this afternoon (while eating chicken, no less).

I love animals, how could I not? But I really didn't have a problem with eating meat, because it's just the way life is. But if animals actually have a lot more intellectually going on than we thought, isn't it kind of weird?

I don't know how long this will last, but for now I feel a lil' funny eating meat - except fish and seafood. I refuse to believe that shrimp have thought processes. But maybe science will prove me wrong and eventually shrimp will rise up and take over the planet.