BINGO was his name-o.

You know how before you enter into high school or college they always tell you that once you find your niche things will fall into place, well after searching long and hard, I think I've found my niche... among the over 65 crowd. I came home this weekend to attend a conference at AOL on Friday, but afterwards I headed to the Fairfax Fire Station, for what I thought was going to be a good old fashioned game of bingo. Little did I know that I was entering the most intensely competitive bingo arena known to man. My mom and I walked in the room and right off the bat it was obvious that we were the new kids in town. Everyone already had their seats and were all set up with good luck charms and colorful dabbers surrounding them. (A dabber is the ink blotter that you use to mark your bingo cards, just to catch you up on the lingo). Once we got our cards we squeezed in across from this one guy that had 18 bingo cards laying out in front of him... we figured he knew what he was doing. Basically this guy was checking his 18 cards and my 6 cards in about a 15 second time span. I feel like thats something that should go on your resume. Anyway, the night was a blast.

I'm starting to think my life deserves its own MTV reality tv show.

Closet freak.

Ok, so I've been MIA for the past few weeks. I can't tell you exactly what I've been doing in all that time, but I can tell you where I've been for the past hour and the answer is: my closet. My public speaking class has driven me to the brink of CRAZY. I awoke around 7:30 this morning only to take my position inside my closet and rehearse my speech as if I was in front of a huge auditorium. This new practicing location stems partly from the fact that I feel bad for my roomates who have to endure the endless repetition of the same material. The only problem with this is that it's hard to gauge an audience's response by looking at a colorful array of long sleeved shirts and sweaters. I can only hope my audience tomorrow will be as bright and cheery.

The "Perfectly Good" Chair

My favorite memory of the weekend:
We are walking my brother back to his dorm after church this morning. We get to the door and sitting outside to the left of the door is an upside down chair. We all are commenting on the oddity of the situation. From what we could tell, it was a "perfectly good" chair. It didn't look broken. There wasn't any sign of the chair missing legs. Nothing appeared wrong other than the fact that it was outside and it was upside down. My mom, walks up to the "perfectly good chair" and flips it over so that only she can see the chair's seat. She immediately drops the chair back to its upside down position. "What's wrong?" I asked. My mom replies with a disgusted look on her face, "There is shit all over that chair."

Laughter ensues between me and my brother for the next 10 minutes. My mom spent those 10 minutes scrubbing her hands. I told my mom if she had taken the LSAT she would have seen the logical flaw in the situation. Who would put a "perfectly good" chair outside for no apparent reason? I think I might submit this scenario to the LSAC for consideration when they go to create future test questions.

The LSAT on me.

All in all it was quite a hilarious weekend. Well, as hilarious as a weekend can get that involves taking the LSAT. I basically didn't sleep at all on Friday night, partly because of my mom's snoring and partly because the thought "You're taking the freaking LSAT tomorrow." kept running through my head. Anyway, after a restless night, I awoke early, choked down some breakfast and headed to the W&L campus. I arrived, carrying my clear regulation ziploc bag filled with my most worldly posessions: waterbottle, #2 pencils, pencil sharpener, nature valley granola bar, tissues, tissues, and some extra tissues. I showed up to the building indicated on my admission ticket [I had scoped out the rooms the day before] and on the front door is a huge sign that says "LSAT relocated. Please head to the Science Building." GREAT! Where the heck is the Science Building? What if the rooms are horrible? Basically, I'm freaking out. After a momentary lapse, I spot a trail of other ziploc bag carrying people headed away from the building. I trailed them and found the new location. After going inside, I endured about 30 minutes of just sitting around waiting to be fingerprinted and registered. In the meantime, I easedropped on the girls sitting across from me. They both looked, well like inside people. You know, the ones who sit in the library with minimal socialization. [I realize this description also fits me, however the next detail will set us apart.] Their conversation really got juicy when they figured out that they both go to all women's colleges! This is when I tuned out. It was too much for me to handle. Finally they started letting people enter and divided us up into classrooms. My room wasn't too shabby. Everything was great other than the weird chairs that were oddly connected to the desk and swiveled on an arc. Throughout the teset I found myself drifting farther and farther away from the desk. Anyway, after the inital shock of "You may now begin." wore off, I began to appreciate the humor of the whole situation. I mean, honestly, we were all sitting there in that human torture chamber for about 6 hours. The only thing getting me through was this one guy, estimated age: 26, who kept trying to talk to this girl behind him during the breaks. She would give him that, 'are you really talking to me' look, and he never caught on. At one point he even told this joke that made me laugh out loud [obviously giving away the fact that I was blatently ease dropping]. The joke goes a little something like this:

One day a duck walks into a hardware store and askes the hardware store manager, "Hey, do you have any grapes?" And the hardware store guy says, "No we don't have any grapes! This is a hardware store." So the duck goes home. The next day the duck shows up again and asks the manager, "Do you have any grapes?" And the manager says, "No! This is a hardware store we don't have grapes. If you come in and ask me that one more time I'm going to nail your feet to the floor." So the duck goes home. The next day the duck comes back to the hardware store and asks the manager, "Do you have any nails?" The hardware store manager replies, "Nope, we just sold out about 5 mintues ago." The duck says, "Great. Do you have any grapes?"

Needless to say, I survived the LSAT.

Are you smiling at ME?

Today I was walking home from class and I had a moment where I felt all my faith in the world had been renewed. There was this person walking towards me with a huge grin on their face. I mean, they were smiling, AT me. Trust me, I did the glance from side to side to see if there was anyone else at whom this wide toothy grin could be aimed at, and no one else was there. I had no idea who this person was or why they decided to share their smile, but I thought to myself- how great.

Since I've been at UVA, I've always felt that there is specific "eye-contact" protocol that must be followed when coming upon someone walking your way. You have 2 options: 1) Avoid eye contact as much as humanly possible, but if a glance is necessary- try to time it so that you and the other person don't look at the same time OR 2) Look them square in the eye to intimdate them from the start so they feel the need to look away, which then leaves you free to look wherever you want, while the other person's view is limited to the sidewalk.

So anyway, back to Smilie. Just as I'm starting to feel that there are genuinely nice people still out there, the person slides a flyer into my hand as they passed me. Sly. Here I was thinking someone was smiling at me, and they were really just trying to lure me in so they could hand me a sheet with their stance on abortion. In hindsight this situation probably would not have even resulted if my initial stare had been more intimidating... time to brush up on my skills.

INTJ. hey.

What do I have in common with Hannibal, Susan B. Anthony, Thomas Jefferson, JFK, and Woodrow Wilson?
EVERYTHING.

According to my public speaking book, entitled "Artful Persuasion: How to command attention, change minds, and influence people," my Myers-Briggs personality is in the running with this fine bunch. We are all introverted, intuitive, thinkers, and judgers. Personally I found it hilarious that good ole' TJ is an INTJ. And who knew that Myers and Briggs were mother and daughter? CRAZY. I wonder if they had very similar personality types, which in turn allowed them to spend a LOT of quality time together talking about personalities?

I bet my teacher would be quite excited if he found out these are the things I reflect about at 2:14 AM when sleep becomes tiresome.

Creatives must go insane.

Do you ever wish all your grades were determined by your mother? I know I do. Before I turn in this first ad assignment to my professor, I'm giving myself an A for effort...

Ugly Never Looked So Good.

So for some reason I signed up for public speaking this semester, and since the first day it has caused me an absurd amount of anxiety, which we then proceeded to have a whole lesson on. I think being so cognizant of every facet of public speaking anxiety has somehow uxacerbated the whole situation. Anyway, my next speech, that I will be delivering on Tuesday, is required to be in the commemorative genre. I'm still rather unsure of what exactly a "commemorative" speech is, but after much ado I decided to write mine on Betty Suarez. The infamous, "ugly" Betty. Now, keep in mind that choosing Betty as my topic was a painstakingly long, drawn-out process that didn't really end until I had tried out at least 3 other topics and finally reverted back to this idea. Anyway, after about 3-4 drafts I was actually feeling a lot better about the speech itself... that was until the following conversation with another guy in my class:

Me: Hey! So how's your speech coming?
Guy: Well, I haven't actually written it, but I did finally decide on a topic.
Me: Yeah, that took me awhile too. What did you pick?
Guy: I have this friend who has recently been battling cancer, so I'm going to write about him and his struggle. How about you?
Me: ... I'm doing mine on Ugly Betty.
Guy: Oh. [pause] That'll be good.


This scenerio somehow seems like a reoccuring theme in my life. I'm feeling more like Ugly Betty by the second.

When life gives you lemons. Watch Felicity.

For those of you who don't know, Felicity was a television show that was on the air from 1998-2002, and I've decided that it basically explains my life. I mean there's the obvious similarity: the hair. Its not often you find a frizzy haired character on TV these days now that we're in the era of the flat iron. This fact alone probably prompted me to buy all four seasons on DVD, a chronicle of her college years. Little did I know at the time the true value of this investment [If you are laughing at me right now/pitying my existence, I'm ok with that].

Anyway tonight, overtaken by nostalgia/feeling like a soggy noodle, I decided to turn again to my trusty friend. I of course had to start with the pilot episode when Felicity, in a moment of complete confidence, finally gets the courage to ask her long time crush, Ben, to sign her yearbook. It gets me everytime. Ben writes:

"Dear Felicity,
Here it goes. I've watched you for four years. Always wondered what you were like... what was going on in your mind all the time that you were so quiet, just thinking, drawing in your notebook. I should have just asked you, but I never asked you. So now, four years later, I don't even know you, but I admire you. Well, this makes me sound crazy, but I'm okay with that. So take care of yourself.
Love,
Ben
P.S. I would have said "keep in touch", but unfortunately we never were in touch."


After reading this, Felicity promptly changes her college plans of attending Stanford and follows Ben to NYU. Now, just for the sake of thought, I wonder how many people would ever actually do something like this. I know that whenever I am faced with an important decision there are always 2 choices: A) The practical, more logical choice or B) The choice that resonates with me (for reasons that I usually can't put into words). In these situations I am as predictable as a rock. I always choose A. Always. In this highly fictional/dramatized situation, Felicity, goes with B. While her choice was probably misguided, it represents something that I admire. [Yes, I did just say I admire a fictional character, but lets move past that.] She takes a chance. She ventures off from what she "should" do and does what she wants to do. This then brings up the question: Wouldn't it be nice to live your life as if you were a fictional character? I mean if I take a chance on life, will it be as kind as this nicely scripted drama? Probably not. However, if I were famous I would answer this question with a quotable quote saying, "There comes a time when you just have to decide to take off the training wheels and ride the bike."

So since I just made up my own quotable quote, I believe its time to put an end to this pointless circle of thought.

Brain Dump.

I for some reason can't form a coherent blog entry anymore because all of my thoughts seem fragmented and unrelated. So instead of conforming to some 'one theme wonder,' I guess I should just tell it like it is.

1. I feel fake most of the time.
2. I'm still fuming/laughing hysterically about the acapella auditions that were taking place in the room next door to where I was taking my LSAT diagnostic test last night. Not to mention, one of the songs was the Fugee's "Killing Me Softly," which ever since seeing the movie 'About a Boy,' I just can't take seriously.
3. I keep telling myself to drink less soda, but yet I continue to drink it, despite the fact that it causes me to think about 'how badly I have to go to the bathroom' during the whole second half of class rather than whatever important higher learning is going on in the meantime.
4. My women's weight training class is ridiculous. And I have no idea how to use the machines. The only reason I took the class is because I'm too embarassed to even enter the weight room when there are boys in there. I'm so seventh grade.
5. I recently started a book about a guy that interviews all these celebrities, mostly famous musicians, however I don't know who half of them are. But I feel like reading it makes me feel a little cooler. I now know a little something about Metallica.
6. Why the heck is everyone at UVA so intellectual? Why am I not?
7. I'm in a public speaking class, and I have this hope that it will turn me into an amazing crowd pleaser. As highly unlikely as this is, I'm going to continue to live in this fantasy.
8. I find myself looking down on people who can only talk about alcohol related things. I mean overall, who cares about what embarassing thing you did last night. Chances are, we've all done it too.
9. If I get another email telling me to submit my resume, I might scream.
10. Afternoon tea solves all problems.

"It matters not what road we take but rather what we become on the journey."

If only I could put pictures on my resume.

Due to Popular Demand...

OK OK OK if you insist! I will bring back the blog. I will do a full camping update later, but I've just spent 12 hours in a car & my brain is dead [as evidence, when I just typed that last part, I typed 'bread' instead of 'brain is dead' TWICE.] After a week of camping with the family, I think I techinically deserve a vacation from my vacation. Our trip home today, however, ended up taking FOREVER due to some unforeseen traffic in NYC. At one point during the ride I decided to take a nap before which I looked at the GPS lady to get an updated ETA: 4:53 min. I wake up an hour later and look at the GPS lady only to see an ETA of 4:52. SERIOUSLY? yes.
I have two theories as to why this horrendous traffic was put in our path:
1) My brother's stupid new belief, "Don't let spare change go to waste." He decided it was worth it to pick up that unlucky penny back at one of the rest stations. He really should have listened to his older & WISER sister at this point.
2) The GPS woman is still mad that she doesn't have a name and is getting sick and tired of being referred to as 'GPS lady,' so she took revenge. 'Quick' route my ___.

My favorite part of the day, however, was sitting in a New Jersey rest station and seeing this macho police man walk in and drag a fancy pants guy [slicked back hair & sunglasses] out through the side door, frisk him, and walk him back to his BMW for further questioning. I guess that goes to show my day could have been worse.

All in all, it's good to be home.

Jesus Christ SUPERSTAR.

I have become a frequenter of Wolf Trap. Tonight was visit #2 within the week to see Jesus Christ Superstar. This time we had actual seats, however mine was more like half-a-seat. The woman seated to my left decided to put her body at an angle that somehow slid half her thigh under the arm rest and into my bubble. Let me tell you, I am not a fan of thigh touching thigh seating. I kept akwardly trying to scoot away, however it was so hot out that I kept sticking to the seat. Luckily I scared her and her husband away during the second act, and they moved across the aisle to some abandoned seats. However, I think my favorite part of the evening was the sprint to the car as they are rising Jesus on to the cross. While my mom and I were at a brisk walk jog [the Jesus Christ Superstar music in the background] I was asking all the details as to what happened in the final scene. My mom's response, "Go read the Bible." Amen.

PS: I am leaving for camp bright and early tomorrow morning! I'll update the blog as soon as I get my hands on some internet :)

The Triple Woo.

The "Triple Woo" was a little something I picked up from a man we know only as 'tequila guy.' Last night the fam went to the Steely Dan concert at Wolf Trap. For those of you who have never been to a concert with the 40-50 yr old crowd, you are really missing out. We were lucky enough to grab a spot on the lawn next to the best tailgate in town, 'tequila guy' & friends, and boy did we learn a lot. First of all, I am planning on incorporating the "Triple Woo" into all aspects of my life. It is simply a call out consisting of two fast short woos followed by a longer drawn out third woo. This can sometimes be confused with the quadruple woo, which tries to squeeze in another quick woo...it's not quite as effective. Anyway, this was tequila guy's favorite cheer during the concert. Not only were we impressed with his woo'ing, but he also introduced us to the one handed egyptian dance [probably due to the drink glued to his other hand] which included a flip of the palm to make up for the lack of a back hand move. I think we have the new dance move of the summer on our hands here. Woo Woo Woooooooooooo.

Just His Luck.

Last night around 7:45 PM we got a phone call from Tyler informing us that he was on his way to the emergency room. He got hit in the eye during a game of basketball. My Mom had been hoping he would phone to tell us why he missed dinner... I guess he got off the hook. Anyway, I volunteered to go to the ER with my mom, which turned out to be an all night event. When we pulled up to the hospital, there is Tyler standing outside the doors of the ER holding ice on his swollen shut black eye that was also bleeding... Let me repeat STANDING OUTSIDE. For future ER visits Rule #1: Always go INSIDE and get your name on the list immediately. Anyway, I jumped out of the car while my mom parked and ushered him in to start the paperwork. My mom joined us and we all sat in the waiting room. First of all, this experience alone kind of made me want to volunteer in the ER. It was completely out of control. There was a woman behind us who was moaning as if she was going to have childbirth, and yet no one was doing anything for her [my mom eventually went over to her to ask if there was anything she needed]. Then there is a guy who comes in and while he is trying to sign in, he falls to his hands and knees and is throwing up, while the receptionists did nothing... Again, my mom goes up to the desk and asks them to get a wheelchair for him...? Something is wrong with this picture. Eventually, we got called into the back room and Tyler was getting the normal blood pressure check and then the guy had him look at the seeing chart. The guy asked Tyler the number of the line that he could read...to which Tyler replied, "I can't even read the numbers." Obviously the kid couldn't read anything on the chart and the guy was sitting there laughing saying, "Who is this guy, Dr. Mcdoogle?" or something cheesy like that because he thought Tyler was joking around with him. WHO JOKES AROUND IN AN EMERGENCY ROOM?
Anyway after we got done with that paperwork, we were sent back out into the waiting room, and then about an hour later we were called back to wait in a room that had a small board inside saying "The Fast Track Team". We later decided this team should be renamed to "The Slowskies." We ended up spending about 4 hours in this room, waiting on Bob, the physician's assistant on duty. Poor Bob, I feel bad for the guy, he was the only one working back there [He later informed us he thinks it might be time for him to retire.] Anyway, while Tyler laid there, my mom and I kept watch outside the window. We were particularly entertained by the racoon look of the nurse at the desk outside our window. Apparently she plays tennis and walks everyday... however, my mom recommended she get some smaller sunglasses. At about 1 o'clock we were FINALLY cleared to leave, and everything turned out OK. Tyler later blamed the whole incident on the Lindsay Lohan movie, "Just My Luck" that I made him watch earlier that day... apparently her bad luck rubbed off on him. That Lohan girl is just causing trouble everywhere.

Dentist Speak.

About a year ago, I graduated from my childhood dentist/orthodontist. I wasn't quite ready to leave, but one day as I was sitting in the chair [surrounded by pre-schoolers playing with the prizes from the prize box], the dental hygenist who looked not much older than me said, "Hey there sweetie, how old are you?" As the number 20 came out of my mouth, I knew it was time to move on. So today was second appointment at my new dentist. She's actually very nice and even remembered that I had spent a semester in England. However I think the reason I like her so much is that when she asks me questions, instead of me having to try to speak with three different gadgets in my mouth, she actually removes her tools, allowing for a coherent response. A common courtesy that is rare in the dentistry world. Anyway, after she had checked out my teeth, I was left with another woman to do some polishing & cleaning. Again, very nice, however she had on one of those things that cover your mouth, and for the life of me I could not understand what she was saying. I tried to smile and nod in between her sentances, but my lips were so dry from the air sucky tool that even that was hard to do. However, I was able to catch one key sentance before she moved on to the flossing. She said, "You have such beautiful eyes." I'm sitting there in my reclined chair with this woman's hands in my mouth, and all she can comment on is my eyes? Great, my eyes are beautiful, but what about my TEETH? I thought there was some sort of unwritten rule that when in the dentist chair, at least one person must tell you what beautiful teeth you have... At least I got a free toothbrush out of this deal.

Are you a real person?

I was given my first assignment as a fourth year today: secure rooms in Charlottesville for graduation. My mom left specific instructions for me to call the hotel at exactly 10AM. She said all I had to do was leave my name and phone number on an answering machine and then the hotel would call me back. It sounded easy enough. This morning I set an alarm for 9:45 AM to make sure I'm all dialed up and ready to go at exactly 10. I gave it a test run around 9:55 AM to see if I could cheat the system and get in early, but all I got were endless rings. I now realize this was a good sign. I called at exactly 10, and got the "I'm sorry all lines are busy at this time. Please try calling back later." I heard this lovely message about 25 times in a row, then decided it was time to call in reinforcements. I handed Tyler the house phone, and we both pushed redial all through breakfast. No luck. So finally around 10:40 I get a ring. YES. However, it just kept ringing and ringing until I was about to hang up. Then I heard a voice A REAL VOICE. "Hello Courtyard Marriot." I quickly blabbered out, "Hi, I'm calling to make reservations for next years graduation." Instantly, I hear rings again. Lots of em'. After this round of rings, again I hear, "Hello Courtyard Marriot." Great, this time I talk a little louder, "Hi yes, I'd like to reserve rooms for UVA graduation next year." BAM. Rings. Finally I hear the voice again, this time a take a new approach:
Me: "Hi IS THIS A REAL PERSON?"
Lady: "Yes..."
Me: "Ok, I've been calling and I keep hearing your voice, and then BAM it start ringing again. What am I doing wrong?"
Lady: "Its a lottery system, you just have to keep waiting until you get through."
Me: "Thanks."

Then back to the ringing... THEN wait, I immediately got through to the answering machine! I think that woman must have been either amused or annoyed, but whatever it was, SHE SENT ME THROUGH! YAY! So now, the rest of my day is going to consist of sitting idly by my phone waiting to hear back from my new found friends at the Courtyard Marriot.

Katie Chapin II.

This morning I awoke for the 7AM mass (my mom's doing) and I decided to check my email right before we were about to leave. Horrible decision. The only email in my inbox read: "Katie Chapin has sent you a message on Facebook." So, I'm sitting there thinking, "Ok I know I write on my own wall all the time, but GEEZ how did I manage to send myself a message!" So I humor myself and click on the link. There it is, sitting in my inbox...this lovely message:

"I exsisted before you, I think you legally change your name to katie chapin the second."

Great, I am now aware of the fact that there is another Katie Chapin roaming around somewhere in Lincoln, Nebraska. My life feels totally unoriginal now. I think the only person who really can understand what I'm feeling right now is John Proctor himself.

"How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!"

My only comfort in this whole fiasco is that I don't fancy ever finding myself in the corn district. So, Katie Chapin II, lets make a deal. You get the Mid-West. I get everything else. Great.

... and then I found 20 dollars.

I was walking my dog with the 'rents yesterday. Yes, you can oooh and awww now, we do walk the dog as a family. Cute. Anyway, we were rounding the corner and Taz (my dog [see the picture], sometimes also referred to as Princess Tuzu) was pulling me over to sniff something. Usually she's trying to capture fallen apples, sticks, squirrels, you name it. So there I am yanking on the lease, so we can continue our walk, and then I look over. My dog has sniffed out a lonely $20 bill just lying there on the sidewalk. I picked it up, yet instead of being excited for having $20 in my hand, I was thinking about how great it is that I can now end my pointless ramblings with "...and then I found $20." I think I might need to change the title of my blog to something more like: Representing the Loser in All of Us. Oh, and to add to your excitement, I'm almost done with "How to Win Friends and Influence People" and I've just placed an order with Amazon for 2 great additions to my motivational library: 1) How to Be Your Own Best Friend 2) It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want to Be. While sending myself a package at camp may be lame, I'm obviously going to be voted most popular when I show off those bad boys in the Feedbag. In case that fails, I've preordered Harry Potter so as to bridge the gap.

"To bee or not to bee."

Last night was perhaps my favorite TV event of the year: the 2007 Scripps National Spelling Bee. If you've never watched, then you are missing out. What could be better than watching the culmination of years of parents breeding their middle school children into talking dictionaries? Obviously nothing. My favorite contestant this year was Joseph Henares. He walked up to the microphone and was read his word: punaise, meaning bed bug. After a few, "oh my gosh"es under his breath, he then asked if he could spell bed bug instead. It was the only sign of a real kid within all of these little spelling machines. The best part was that the parents are just as in to it as the kids. Their eyes are shut tight with anticipation as the kids frantically search their brains for any recollection of the most obscure words in the English Dictionary. I'm thinking this competition is right up my alley. Maybe I should save money and instead of buying children's books, I'll just let my kids read the dictionary.

Oh wait, I don't know you.

So today I think I took facebook stalking to a whole new level. I was walking with my mom through the commissary on the military base, and I saw a familiar face. It was a guy named Preston. I literally opened my mouth to say hello and then I realized: 1. I was staring at him and he was looking at me like I was a crazy person 2. I had never actually met this person before in my life... I had just seen him on facebook. Apparently I forgot that Preston is actually Caitlin's friend, not mine. Mindless clicking through other people's pictures is starting to have physical effects on my life... it's like I'm living the six degrees of Kevin Bacon.

Oh my goth! I hope you didn't pay for that.

Yesterday I went to get a mani/pedi with some friends. Wow, that is a sentance I would never say in real life, but it is fun to type it and pretend like I would. Anyway, in the spirit of trying new things, I decided to get a different color on my hands than the normal pink that I am prone to. I know...how adventurous of me. So I thought, what could be trendier than BLACK. I mean, yes its a little scary at first glance, but a second glance its like WOW, sweet nails. My parents however were stuck at first glance. The minute I walked in the door, my dad said to me, "So what are you goth now?" My mom then proceeded to tell me it looked like my nails got hit with a hammer. Personally, I think it has a very slimming effect on my fingers.

Dubyanell

Today I had the pleasure of driving my brother back to school. Yes, now usually when asked to drive 3 hours to take one's younger sibling to college there would be a lot of arguing, pleading, bargaining...anything to get out of such a predicament. I, on the other hand VOLUNTEERED. For those of you who don't know, Washington and Lee University is my dream school. I think my brother went there just to spite me. I for some reason decided to go to UVA instead...mostly because of the price tag, but I think I will always wonder what life at Washington and Lee would have been like... Hence, why I love driving Tyler back to school. Usually I wear some sort of W&L paraphernalia so as to pretend like I actually attend. My collection now includes a sweatshirt, and two hats (one of which is pink & green- prep me out) I also now know my way around the bookstorek, library, and can even find a bathroom. Obviously, I fit right in. I love Lexington.

Why be less when you can BMORE?

Currently I am relaxing in my hotel room in Baltimore, enjoying the luxury of wireless internet and a TV. The fam is here this weekend to see the Men's College Lacrosse Tournament. So far it has been HOT HOT and HOTTER. I love it. I also love the mass congregation of lacrosse boys all in one location. Anyway, yesterday I apparently left minutes before an amazing finish to the Duke vs. Cornell game... AHHH. I'll have to re-watch the game when I get home... we were sitting behind the bench on the 50 yard line so maybe I was even on TV! Anyway instead, me and Lucy cruised around Bmore to some quality music (and by that I mean: Fergie, Gym Class Heros, and a song entitled "This is why I'm hot."- an instant classic). We met up with Peyton and then went out to dinner at CPK without any awkwardness...well minus the awkwardness when I ordered a strawberry margarita from the waiter while giggling like a school girl. Meanwhile my family was at the hotel that somehow mixed up our restervation and then gave away our room... I'm very glad that I missed out on that drama mama.

Now sit back, relax, and ENJOY the flight.

Yesterday was just amazing. Let me just say that again, YESTERDAY WAS JUST AMAZING. Not only did I get to come home to home sweet America, but I had the best flight experience of my life. Once I finally made it to Heathrow with my 2 huge bags (of which one guy asked me, "What do you have in there, a body?"... he said this with a serious face, which kind of creeped me out), I checked those suckers and headed to the lounge. Thats right, business class people get to hang out in their own fully stocked lounge! Anyway, I made myself a nice cup of tea and read my newest book, "How to Win Friends and Influence People" until the plane was ready to board. So when I finally get on the plane, this man comes and sits down next to me. And to fully understand the weirdness of this encounter you must have a little preview of our first conversation:

Chris: "Hi my name is Chris."
Me: "Hi my name is Katie."
Chris: "Wow, my sister's name is Katie. I'm actually finally coming home from being deployed in Pakistan and going to visit her in Baltimore this weekend."
Me: "Thats funny, my dad's name is Chris and I'm going to Baltimore this weekend too."
Chris: "Yeah, I'm excited I'm meeting up with all my family and friends and we're going to see the NCAA lacrosse championships."
Me: "What a coincidence, we are too! So where are you going to live now that you are back from Pakistan?"
Chris: "Well, I'm heading down to Georgia for a few months and then I'm actually headed back out to Japan."
Me: "I WAS BORN IN JAPAN. Both of my parents were in the Air Force."
Chris: "Alright so did you live on Yokota Air Force Base?"
Me: "YES."
Chris: "Yeah, I lived there for 8 years actually. From 1992-1999."
Me: "WE LIVED THERE AT THE SAME TIME... Alright Chris, this is just starting to get creepy!"

Anyway, this conversation took place within minutes of sitting down and already I had made a friend for the flight. We both enjoyed our welcome on board beverages and made mimosas from the little champagne orange juices they were handing out. Everything was downhill from there. I had my wine glass filled everytime it got below some imaginary line... the flight attendant would just show up out of nowhere! I indulged in my 3 course meal, and even had afternoon tea and sandwiches. AND I got to watch 2 amazing chick flicks: Music and Lyrics & Catch and Release. I could not have asked for a better flight. We touched down in the land of the free, and a huge smile seem to be plastered on my face. It feels great to be home!

Cheerio! Cheers! Ta!

So that's it folks. Today is my last official night in England. It's weird to think that at this time tomorrow I will be back in good ole' Northern Virginia. I never thought I'd say it, but I'm a little sad to leave. I almost feel like things were actually just starting to click here... But then again, thats how life is. Just when you start to get the hang of things it throws something new your way. I will say that my life has turned into quite an adventure. No, maybe not one of those thrilling Indiana Jones adventures, or Paris Hilton party girl adventures, but my very own Katie Chapin adventure. I just hope that I can keep it going. That I find entertainment in my life wherever it takes me... (HELLO Bath County, Virginia- I'm heading your way!) Goodbye Bath, England: thanks for everything...especially my brilliant British accent!

"That girl has a lot of wishes."

Man looks at wife holding a single penny. Man then points to me and says jokingly, "That girl has A LOT of wishes."

It all started last weekend when I was complaining to my accounting group that pennies (or in the UK, pence) are so worthless. Instead of carrying around hundreds of 1 pence coins in my purse, I've been throwing them into some makeshift coin holders I made out of plasic candy containers. So literally I had about 2 pounds of 1 pence and 2 pence coins saved up and nothing to use them for...and no, I prefered to spare myself the embarassment of handing over a massive pile of change at the cash register. So anyway, I'm describing the problem to my group [it was on the topic of money problems, so I figured it was accounting related] and one guys says, "You should throw them in a wishing well!" I'm thinking in my head, "Ok great idea...minus the fact we are in Bath and I haven't seen any wishing wells just lying around." Meanwhile hes thinking and then suddenly exclaims, "THE ROMAN BATHS!" Now, I'm pretty sure my group was joking, and didn't actually expect me to take this rather eccentric advice... but they might not know me well enough. That was it, it was decided. I was going to dump a big chunk of change into the Roman Baths wishing well.

Today was the day. Bored with studying, all packed up to go home, and 2 full canisters of international change sitting on my desk, I decided it was time. I grabbed my purse, loaded up and headed for the Roman Baths museum. After sifting through the crowds of tourists I finally made it to the wishing pool and set up camp. At first I started to throw my coins in one by one, actually making wishes. Then after missing on one throw and having a whole class of what looked to be 5th graders start laughing at me, I started to throw them in quick succession. I wished for everything and everyone I know. Then I kind of ran out of wishes, so I was trying to offer my coins to other people around me. The first lady I offered a coin to, declined... WHO declines free money? or better yet a FREE wish. Anyway, second person I offered it to didn't speak english, so she took it and said "grazi" because I don't think she knew how to decline politely in english. I figured I should probably target non-english speakers from there on out. Anyway, I am proud to say that all my coins are now resting safely on the bottom of the wishing pool :) In terms of them coming true... I'd say my odds are looking pretty good!

One day I'll get a real life. Until then...

Today, in all my spare time not studying, I came up with my personal Summer 2007 theme: "The Pursuit of Interesting." For some reason I am just a theme person. I like to go through all types of phases and try them on for size. Last summer was the granola mixed with SAT word prep phase [don't ask why I had an SAT word book still in my possession at age 20]. Anyway, lately I have pondered often how TO BECOME interesting. I read a blog (http://russelldavies.typepad.com/planning/2006/11/how_to_be_ inter.html) that laid out how to be interesting in 10 steps...therefore sparking my inspiration to create my own list. Now, I figured since I am a camp counselor, aka supreme ruler of the universe (and by universe I mean my cabin), we could journey down this path towards interestingness together. So, I came up with an Interesting list of 50 things to do or discuss during devotions that will hopefully shape us into more interesting (weird) people. [If you are thinking in your head right now: "This girl has way too much time on her hands, I'd have to agree.] Drum roll please:

PURSUIT OF INTERESTING 2007
1. You have just released a CD soundtrack of your life. What are the top three songs and why?
2. Write a love letter. Make it as passionate/cheesy as possible. Send it off to a friend.
3. Come up with a jingle for a person, product, or place.
4. Write a haiku and leave it for someone anonymously. (5-7-5)
5. Talk to someone you’ve never talked to before. Jump right into a deep conversation, skip the small talk.
6. Take a picture of someone else. Try to capture the essence of them.
7. Put something subtle on your face/ tape toilet paper to your shoe/ leave some conditioner in your ear. Count how
many people actually tell you about it.
8. Everyone pick an object. Swap with the person next to you. Come up with a completely new use and name for this
object.
9. Come up with your own hand symbol/ gesture. It can be for anything.
10. What is your favorite word? Why?
11. If you had to pick a song to describe today, what would it be?
12. Describe an object using 5 words.
13. Read a page/poem/excerpt from a magazine out loud in the most expressive voice possible. Think DRAMATIC.
14. What was the funniest thing you overheard today?
15. Draw a picture of the person to your left. [creative embellishments encouraged]
16. If your life was turned into a TV show, what would it be called? Would it be a drama, sitcom, reality tv, sci-fi, cartoon?
Give us a basic plot.
17. What is your favorite 'bored' game [pun intended]. When is the last time you played it?
18. Pair up. Name one thing you wish you had that your partner has.
19. Write a note to yourself. Don’t open it until the end of the summer. Say anything.
20. Write out your name. Scramble the letters to say something else. Spelling can be an interpretation.
21. If you could bring back any fad, what would it be?
22. You’ve just won an award [of your choice]. Write an acceptance speech.
23. Make a list of why you are cool. Don’t ask the person next to you.
24. If you were to pick your own name, what would it be? ex. Princess Consuela Bananahammock.
25. Make up the name of a new rollercoaster.
26. Give a sales pitch for a product in your general vicinity. [toothpaste, crocs, shampoo]
27. What does, “Bring the funk.” mean to you?
28. If you were trapped in a library for the night, what would you do?
29. What is the most random useless fact you know?
30. Write the first letter of your name in LARGE print on a piece of paper. Now draw a picture that incorporates the letter.
31. Name your most irrational fear.
32. Share your favorite facial expression. Now let everyone imitate it.
33. Make up your own quotable quote.
34. What TV/book/cartoon character do you most resemble? [can be in terms of looks, lifestyle, humor, mindset, etc.]
35. Make a suggestion about anything in life.
36. You have 5 words on a napkin to convince McDreamy YOU are the one. What are they?
37. Make a top 5 list. It can be about your life goals, most awkward moments, favorite The Office scenes, hilarious jokes,
weird people you know, highest hit count songs on your ipod. SURPRISE ME.
38. Make a list of guidelines on how to survive awkward situations. [on a date, public transportation, interactions with
teachers, parties etc.]
39. If you had a tag line, what would it be?
40. If you could have any .com name, what would it be?
41. Make a list of all the people you talk to in one day.
42. Come up with your own greeting card.
43. Make up your own word. MAKE it happen.
44. What is the most overrated thing you can think of?
45. What is the best advice you’ve ever gotten? Who gave it to you? Did you take it?
46. What is your biggest regret? Did you learn anything from it?
47. Give us your best motivational speech or pep talk.
48. Have you ever started a trend? If so, what was it? If not, make one up.
49. Define confidence. [Don’t limit yourself to words.]
50. Reenact your favorite scene in a movie.
51. What are two words that should never be used in the same sentence?


If you are wondering why I stopped at 51 items instead of an even 50, its because I want the list to keep growing. Stopping at 50 was just too perfect a number, so I went ahead and added 51 so that in moments of inspiration I can add to the list without feeling the need to fill a quota. [Feel free to throw in any suggestions!] If you think I'm a complete loser at this point... wait till I make a t-shirt.

Shoo fly, don't bother me!

So today at around 10:45 I decided that I needed to go to mass at the Abbey one last time for the sake of closure. I hurriedly threw on a some slacks and sadly a wrinkled shirt due to the fact that I still have yet to fold the laundry I did a few days ago... [one day I will learn] Anyway, I was sitting in church in awe of the choir when all the sudden this fly starts to distract me. It was flying around the row ahead of me, and for some reason it slowly started to consume all of my attention. It was hovering around the two ladies in front of me, who seemed to be unaffected by its scatterbrained nose dives. I give them credit, because they were able to stay completely still in spite of this annoying little bugger. SO STILL in fact that the fly decided to land on the head of the woman directly in front of me. At this point I have lost all track of what is going on in the mass and my eyes are glued to the tiny black specimen seated in the mass of shiny grey hair in front of me. Finally when the woman lowered her head in prayer, the fly lept off... only to JOIN my row. This was something I hadn't counted on. For the first 10 minutes of its visit, I attempted to be the sensible, mature young girl who could sit quietly and not let it bother her. However, at about minute 11, I started to break down. I did not want to be the one with a fly sitting in my hair. As subtly as possible, I started to nod my head after every sentance the minister said in hopes that at least this would protect my hair. However, the bobble head approach only lasted so long due to the fact that I realized I must look like an idiot. Then I caved and went with the full out SWAT approach. While everyone else was seated with their heads down reverently, I was swatting away at a fly that seemed to be magnitized to me. It had a whole church with some of the highest ceilings in town, and it decided to pick on the poor American in the crowd. The only thing that made me feel better about myself was when this touristy looking lady, wearing jeans and some fake D&G sunglasses on her head, had her cell phone go off in the middle of the choir's main song. It echoed throughout the whole church... she promptly left the mass- stilettos clanking and all. At least I stuck in there :)

The Pen Pal Experiment

Last semester one of my friends and I decided to be 'pen pals,' well I guess you couldn't call us real pen pals because we email and don't actually use pens, but same concept. Anyway, I've decided that I should enact a pen pal experiment with my brother. First, I should probably tell you that the other night, instead of cramming for my 2 exams the next day, I decided to enlighten my mind and actually read my YES! Attitude book [if you don't know what I am referring to, go back a few posts.] Yes, I know what you're thinking, two self-help books in one week, this girl has gone bonkers. Well, yes I probably have, but in a good way. So I was thinking about some of the negative things I'm always saying, and one of them is that me and my brother NEVER talk apart from when we are trapped in the same house. I don't know how many countless people I've told this to, but I realize now that I've never actually done anything about this understood silence that somehow exists when me and Tyler go our separate ways. So now I'm on a mission to break the barrier. Today I am going to write my first email, and hope that I'm lucky enough to get a response. [Sidenote: My mom writes us all a morning email, and doesn't get any response, so I won't be easily discouraged.] PERSEVERANCE is the name of the game.

PS: I just had to google my own brother to get a picture of him. How sad is that.

Whatever you think, think the opposite.

I am in love with this book.

So I've been meaning to read this book for awhile now, and I just got around to it. I looked all over the bookstore today to find it and eventually stumbled over it in the "Popular Psychology" section. I think popular psychology is code word for "Self-Help," but hey I wasn't embarassed, I'm always in need of a little self-help.

Anyway, Paul Arden, who is a former creative director in British Advertising, basically compiled some great life advice [complete with pictures, and for some reason British people always feel the need to stick in a few naked people... I don't know how he figured out how to connect naked people to life advice, but he did]. My favorite advice came from his comparison of the phrases "I wish" and "I want." The distinction describes my constant inner conflict perfectly.

Here's an exerpt for you:
"I wish means: wouldn't it be nice if...
If you always make the right decison, the safe decision, the one most people make, you will be the same as everyone else. Always wishing life was different.

I want means: if I want it enough, I will get it.
Getting what you want means making the decisons you need to make to get what you want. Not the decisions those around you think you should make. Making the safe decision is dull, predictable and leads nowhere new."

The book then goes on to describe ME on each and every page as it refers to the "average" person, "most" people, "steady eddie." Obviously I need to work on breaking the mold and avoiding the herd. Baa.

Way better than an ice cream truck...

So today I was out wandering around Bath *surprise surprise, yes I left my room* in search of my next big read. I finished The Shining, thank goodness. Anyway as I was coming back from the book store, I laid my eyes on the most amazing vehicle I've ever seen: A MOBILE LIBRARY. It was like I was walking in a dream. A library on four wheels that not only is stocked with amazing books, but it COMES TO YOU! Amazing. I actually recall my mom telling me that these actually existed in her childhood days. But being that I never lived in the 'good ole days' I didn't really believe it. Now, I know the truth. They DID exist. They DO exist.

Stranded... in my room.

I am embarassed by my current existence. For starters I am beginning to look like Tom Hanks in Castaway. During exam time I always seem to get into this weird state of living where I feel the need to confine myself to my room to study [or not study] or else I am overcome by a sense of guilt. This morning I woke up, rolled out of bed, traveled the the kitchen [the farthest I've been from my bedroom all day] to get my cereal, and then managed to make it back to sit down in front of my computer... At which point instead of opening my books, I managed to check all three of my email accounts, facebook, and then get hooked on this bubble game widget that has become almost a drug. Here I am in this little room with no TV, and I managed to waste a whole day with about 3 total hours of good solid studying. All motivation has been drained from my body. Seriously, I am thinking right now in my head, "You have nothing better to do with your time, you SHOULD study" but nothing happens. I just go back to mindless mouse clicking. I think if I stay in this room much longer I might go crazy. My eyes keep glancing to the countdown on my dashboard that reads: 8 days, 6 hours, 38 mins, 24 secs. I feel like I'm in my own episode of 24. Now I just need Jack Bauer to show up and save me.

Eurovision, Helsinki.

Last night was the world airing of "Eurovision" a song contest that spans all of Europe. All of the contries have competitions to select a band to send to the Eurovision finals, so think: American Idol but make it Euro Idol with bands. Anyway, so since I've been deprived of TV for the last few weeks, last night I find myself sitting in a hotel room watching Eurovision, completely sucked in. I have been listening to BBC radio 1 for the past week and apparently tons of people across Europe throw Eurovision parties to celebrate this show... With all the hype, I'm sure we'll be hosting an Americanvision in no time. Anyway, the acts were completely hilarious, not in a good way. Most of them were so bad, they were good. The best part was that the British guy who was narrating on our channel was the most cynical guy you've ever met. It was like all the things I was thinking in my head, were coming out of his mouth. A scantily clad girl would come on stage and he'd say something like, "Would someone please tell her to pull her knickers up?" I wish that man could narrate all TV shows. Anyway, my favorite band was the Ukraine, singing "Dancing Lasha Tumbai." The main singer was a cross dresser and the British narrator described him as a "christmas tree wrapped in tin foil." He was great. The whole band was ridiculous. I'm praying that they put up that music video on YouTube, because it was possibly the most hilarious thing I've ever seen. They should have won...

Highland Cattle [aka Hairy Coo]

This is my favorite new animal. Yes, I did take this picture of Hairy. No, it is not a coincidence that Hairy is sticking his tongue out at me. To be honest, I think he was mocking me. Despite his mockery, I am in love with this weird Scottish breed of cattle that somehow seems like some modern day Wooley Mammoth. They have great hairdos, and their horns appeared to be the perfect back scratcher. Not to mention they stand around all day and eat grass. You would think they would be quite boring to watch, however I assure you, with some side commentary and interpretations of their mundane activities, Highland cattle can be quite an entertaining spectacle.

Father Daughter Pub Crawl

One night last semester, a myself along with a few other girls in the house decided to indulge in our cheesy side and we got out lots of markers to make "life lists." You know, a list of all your goals and dreams written out in a multicolored check list that in all honesty you write knowing you probably won't do half of them. Well, my mother got a hold of this list when I was moving my stuff home in December, and since then she has had it posted on the refrigerator for the whole family and vistors to see. A little embarassing, yes. Anyway, she has decided to keep me to this list, and checks items off for me. Her most recent endeavor has been to check off: "Have a beer with my Dad." I secretly think she was jealous that I didn't write, "Have a beer with my Mom." But, whatever the motive, I think she must have sent my Dad over here to England to make sure this item was carried out. With thousands of pubs over here, this was easy cheesy. We actually eneded up going on our own little father/daughter pub crawl. I think the names were just so entertaining that we just wanted to go to all the pubs we saw. Some of the good ones we hit inlcluded: The Huntsman, the Sheep's Heid, the Mitre, the World's End, and the Fox. My Mom would be proud. Sidenote: I am definitely going to frame this picture. Classic.

From hostel to HOTEL. The journey.

I just spent the past week driving around England and Scotland with my Dad, and boy was it an experience. We departed from Bath in our little black Ford rental car complete with a GPS system. In case you were wondering, yes, the GPS lady did have a British accent. My Dad was actually quite good at driving on the other side of the road, which took me by surprise. I had no idea that for 3 years of my life he had driven on the other side of the road. Apparently they drive on the other side of the road in Japan and I was just an obilvious child. Anyway, after a six hour drive up north we arrived at our first destination was Edinburgh, Scotland. My Dad had made a reservation at this hotel called Prestonfield because he had memories of going there with his family when he was a kid. It turns out that since he was last there, some 40 years ago, they have redone the place and it is now a 5 star luxury hotel that is "dangerously decadent" (as stated in their brochure). If you don't believe me, you can ask the cast of the 2003 MTV Music Awards, they've been there along with Joan Collins, Minnie Driver, Billy Boyd and Vin Diesel... the A list goes on.

Anyway, so here we are pulling up in front of this fancy hotel with peacocks roaming freely (interesting note: peacocks make noises that sound like an alarm AND they sleep in trees) , and all I can think about as I walk into the entrance is that this place is the CREEPIEST place I have ever been in my life. The inside literally looked exactly like the Disney World ride "Tower of Terror" in the Twilight Zone Hollywood Tower Hotel (the only thing missing was a floating candelabra). Everything inside the hotel was dressed in red and black: black candles, black flowers, plush red curtains blocking out the sun. The lighting was dim throughout the whole place, which appeared to be empty the whole time we were there... scary? I think so. The lady at the front desk showed us to our room, and we got in there and there was only one bed... She looked at us and said, "Do you like your room?" And we looked at each other and said, "Where is the other bed?" The lady looked kind of embarassed, and apologized. Eventually after a lot of awkwardness, she agreed to give me my own room down the hall, no extra charge. So now, up to this point, my Dad's room had been upgraded to a suite, I got my own room, and we were still only paying the price for the advertised twin bed room they had online. Quite a steal. I wish I could describe the rooms for you, but I don't think even my description would do it justice. They were so ornate, but in that haunted mansion sort of way. I honestly thought I might not live through the two nights we stayed there. It didn't help that I was in the middle of reading The Shining at this time. I think The Shining could have easily taken place at Prestonfield. I actually was curious and asked my favorite Scottish bell hop, Barry, if he knew any good ghost stories about the place. He said he'd done a few night shifts and the only thing he found was a few doors that opened on their own. But then he said (without me mentioning I was reading the book), "The place does kind of remind you of The Shining doesn't it?" AHHHH. I almost went running out the front door.

Best snuggle buddy ever.

I want to start off by apologizing to those of you who may have read the title of this entry and thought that I had FINALLY found a cute british boy to gallivant around England with for the rest of the semester. The prospect of that actually happening before I come home is becoming slim, especially since I will be traveling around this coming week with good ole' Dad. But, despite the obstalces, I have found a lovely snuggle buddy: [please don't laugh, this is my real life] my laundry bag. Ok, now before you judge, today I was doing my laundry in preparation for my Scottish adventure. I went down to take all my clothes out of the dryer, which is located in the building next door. Of course, I went down there with a t-shirt on, and I was instantly freezing as I stepped out of the building. Anyway, I made it to the laundry room, and I loaded my clothes into my laundry bag, steaming hot. I actually had to pause for a little break because the skin on my palms were burning. By the time I made it up to my room, I collapsed on my bed with my huge bag of laundry. It didn't matter that my head was at the wrong end of my bed, or that my feet were dangerously close to my pillow, with my arms wrapped around the warmth of my laundry bag, I was genuinely happy. I ended up taking a nice nap and woke up thinking that if anyone had walked in the room with me tightly hugging my laundry bag, they probably would have died laughing. Luckily, I'm in Bath, and theres not much to do, so everyone else was probably taking a nap too.

The Slug and Lettuce

This is perhaps the best name for a bar I have ever encountered. We were studying outside in a lovely park today, unfortunately the weather wasn't so lovely. As much as we tried to ignore it with our sunglasses and flip flops, the wind was cold and kept rustling all our papers. So, when someone mentioned hot chocolate, it was hard to recover any sort of productiveness. After about 50 minutes, we decided that we had ALMOST been studying for an hour, so we deserved a break. This is when I was introduced to the Slug and Lettuce. We went inside and in the front of the bar was a room with that relaxed coffee house atmosphere that I have always dreamed of spending hours in having intellectual conversations. [However, I must point out: 1. I don't like coffee and 2. The most intellectual claim I have is "I read the Washington Post," which really means "I read the comics section"...yes, at age 21. So, I don't know if I will ever graduate to that intellectual level of conversation. Anyway, we decided to order our hot chocolates in shifts to guard our coveted seating. Two of the girls went up to the bar to order their hot chocolates, and came back with barely any whipped cream or marshmellows...as well as a pocket full of coins since they had apparently run out of bills. They sat down, a little disappointed, while we went up to order ours. I felt bad [but not too bad] when we came back with the most delicious looking hot chocolates I have ever seen. I'm talking a mountain of whipped cream & marshmellows, drizzled with cocoa powder. And not only that, but somehow miraculously, they gave me back bills as my change. I think that I will have to go back to the good ole' Slug and Lettuce, and maybe wear my glasses next time so I can maybe at least look intellectual while drinking my 'oh so grown up' hot chocolate with marshmellows :)

Which is cooler, rocks or balloons?

Today I went on a field trip to Stonehenge. I don' t really know what I was expecting, but when I got there, there was um Stonehenge. Rocks. I think I took about 20 pictures because I wasn't really sure what else to do. The best part about Stonehenge is that they actually have an audio guide to explain the ROCKS. I'm sorry that just made me laugh. I barely made it through the first track on the audio guide because it said something like "The corner stone is the one to the left, in the far back, however, you might not be able to see it from this angle..." I couldn't figure out which stone they were even talking about, since the formation is a circle... so I gave up, but I would really like to meet the person who made up that audio tour. I bet they have about as much of a life as me. We would probably have a lot in common. I think the best part of the day was actually when we returned home from our field trip. We saw all these hot air balloons taking off from a rugby field in Bath from the window of the bus, so when we got off we all immediately ran over there & whipped out our cameras. Sadly, I think I have more pictures of hot air balloons than I do of Stonehenge.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Last year, my brother graduated from high school and brought home all of his books from his senior year English class. I hadn't read any of them and started to freak out that I wasn't well educated. This is when my read-a-thon began. My first task was to conquer the classics. I think I would have to say that reading Crime and Punishment during camp last summer was my biggest hurdle, but after that it was smooth sailing through: Mrs. Dalloway, Jane Eyre, Pride & Prejudice, The Invisible Man, The Good Earth, The Mandarins, Wuthering Heights...

Anyway, recently I've tried to broaden my scope to start covering the MUST READs. Lately I've read some easy cheesies: The Bell Jar, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Angela's Ashes, Angels & Demons... Today I decided it was time for a bold, gutsy choice: THE SHINING. My Dad has actually been telling me to read this book for years, but he was also the one that recommended 'Salem's Lot' to me, my first Stephen King experience...that I still haven't quite gotten over. Obviously if I'm afraid of a book, I am the biggest scaredy-cat alive, but I feel like I need to conquer my fear and just 'git 'er done'. I took the first step today by actually purchasing it, but I can't say I've gotten much further than that. I tried to start reading it..TWICE, but I kept thinking that if I read too far then I would surely reach something scary. Then I decided I couldn't read it because I was alone in my room, so I went outside to the local park and gave it another shot, no such luck. For everyone else, the first chapter or so of a horror book is all fine and dandy, but for ME, my mind starts thinking of the worst possible scenarios and then freaks me out before I even get to the bad parts. Anyway, its almost midnight now and I'm thinking the third try's a charm. What better than a creepy nightime setting to set the mood. Nightmare central here I come.

Giving Miss Cleo a run for her money.

Ok, I am a natural born skeptic, but I think whoever puts together www.quotationspage.com has some weird psychic ability. I started checking the website's Daily Motivational Quotes page about a week ago so that I could put some quotes in my email messages to the madre. For the past 4 days, the first quote listed has had some connection to my life. Obviously anyone can have a connection to a quote, but REALLY 4 days in a row? I mean couldn't they just write a quote about a giraffe or something, just to throw me off? Anyway, enough chatter, lets get down to the cold hard evidence:

May 2, 2007: "It is not enough to aim; you must hit." -Italian Proverb
*Katie Chapin Life Translation: Obviously, this is telling me to PICK a damn career path already.

May 1, 2007: "Whenever it is in any way possible, every boy and girl should choose as his life work some occupation which he should like to do anyhow, even if he did not need the money." -William Lyon Phelps
*Katie Chapin Life Translation: Do what you LOVE... thus fueling my whole law school vs. no law school inner conflict.

April 30, 2007: "Don't try to solve serious matters in the middle of the night." -Philip K. Dick
*Katie Chapin Life Translation: Go back to being a GRANDMA... your life isn't going anywhere at 2AM anyhow.

April 29, 2007: "[Water is] the only drink for a wise man." -Henry David Thoreau
*Katie Chapin Life Translation: So the quote tells me to drink water and then later that day I win back my money from a walking tour by dueling the tour guide in a water drinking trick he tried to play on me...Needless to say, I was wise and beat him at his own game.


I hope tomorrow's quote provides some criptic guidence motivating me to study for my final exams.

I'm a lost sheep.

It's officially 1:37AM (WAY past my bedtime) and I've already attempted to go to sleep once tonight. However, there is a problem. I don't know what I want to do with my life. For some reason, instead of putting off this question and enjoying a carefree existence like every other third year student, I think about it every waking moment. This question burns in the back of my mind, distracting me from everything including my beloved sleep. The other day I decided that I wanted to go to law school. It sounded like such a great decision, so definite. Then tonight I'm lying in my bed thinking, law school? That is so not me. For the past year of my life I have had my heart set on the world of advertising, a land far away from the stress of the law library. I mean we are talking a place where you can wear jeans to work. Now, I dont' know what spurred this sudden turn around, but whatever it was I think it had something to do with fear. We are entering into the part of our lives where decisions seem so LIFE CHANGING. I play out "what if" scenarios in my head like I've got nothing better to do... which might not be too far from the truth. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you all, loud and clear, that I, Katie Chapin, have absolutely no clue what I want to do with my life, so if ever at any point I tell you I do know, then you know I'm lying.

Big Daddy duck & his little ducklings too.

I found it impossible to sit within the confines of the library today. Instead, I took advantage of the beautiful weather and made my way down to the lake area on campus. There were students scattered in different areas, so I picked the least populated patch of grass that was slightly in the shade, and claimed my spot. I opened my book, and lay down with my head on my highly uncomfortable substitute for a pillow, my backpack. As I'm lying there trying to work out the logistics of holding my book at just the right height to block out the sun, I see a mother duck and her ducklings coming my way. I inwardly 'ooooed' and 'ahhhhed' as they passed by me, waddling towards a nearby tree. How adorable, I thought. Then, out of nowhere comes Big Daddy Duck. Big Daddy isn't quite as hesitant towards people, and makes a B line right towards me. He gets an inch away from my hand, and I start to check out the size of his beak. It's pretty big. I've never even considered being afraid of a duck before, but here it was staring at me straight in the eye, and it sensed my fear. My fight or flight reaction kicked in and I jumped up and grabbed my backpack and started to walk away to a nearby rock. I was kind of mad about having to get up and move because of a DUCK, but I mean, at least I wouldn't be known as 'the girl who got attacked by a duck' for the rest of the semester. However, I turn around and Big Daddy is still on my tail. BD must have had it out for me. Here I am in the middle of a nice grassy area, zigging and zagging trying to get BD off my tail. After a few bob-and-weave manuevers, BD got bored with me. Thank goodness. I was starting to look like an idiot.

Oh by the way, I decided yesterday that I want to go to law school. This has nothing to do with ducks, but I thought if I threw it in after talking about Big Daddy, it would make my decision seem less real and scary.

Ode to Tyler Davis

Miss Tyler Davis
She likes to teach in school
Thats why the little kiddies
Think shes pretty cool.

If they saw her at Foxfields
She'd go straight to timeout
Too bad shes getting old
And starting to gain clout.

This ode to Tyler Davis
Is way long overdue
She's my #1 reader
Without her my blog is poo.

*Happy Birthday Tyler*

Feminine Nachos.

I have been in search of Mexican food since being in England, and have been quite unsuccessful. The other day there was a spark of hope as I eyed the menu in a pub that had "Macho Nachos" listed under its appetizers. The fact that I haven't seen REAL tortilla chips since I've been here made me a little skeptical, but I decided I was obligated to order them to prove I was fully dedicated to my search. Now, I don't know how many of you have actually ever ordered MACHO nachos off of a menu before, but my experience has been that this menu item is usually a large, heaping, unusually massive pile of tortilla chips covered in salsa, cheese, guacamole, beans, sour cream, and sometimes a few other toppings if you're lucky. So, here I was patiently awaiting this appetizer, almost salivating because I'm so hungry, and I am greeted with what I can only now label a foe order of "Feminine Nachos." The waitress approached the table carrying a plate with about 7 imitation doritos covered in some cheese with a piece of lettuce on top of the cheese that acted as a pallet for a drop of salsa, guacamole, and sour cream. I offered her a half-hearted 'thank you' as she left the plate sitting sadly in front of me. It wasn't the real deal, but it was as close as I've gotten, so I made myself enjoy them, while laughing hysterically on the inside. Needless to say, my search is still on.