Today's rambling: People and things
Written on Monday, Feb. 03, 2003 at 12:58 p.m.
while feeling a bit

As much as I like having class with Jess, there's a superficiality to her personality that I don't much care for. And it's not that I completely dislike her, it's just that I could never actually be close friends with her. Today before class started, she was talking about this one movie she'd just seen and all I heard was "like" and "Oh my gawd", and it was a little grating on the nerves. Not that I've never said 'like' before--I'm sure I use it more than I should--but I guess it was just the way she was saying it that kinda got to me. She's not even really a teenybopper sort of person, either...in fact, she's all into goth stuff (though if you saw her on campus, you wouldn't really know), so I don't think of her as being all bubbly and shallow and such.

I dunno. I think it was after reading her latest two diary entries that I kinda got hmm-ish about her. "Hmm-ish", by the way, is my special word for when I don't actually HAVE a word to describe my feelings. :-P Sort of a dubious, doubtful kind of feel. :P

One of my Health teachers is a condescending biznatch and I'm not fond of her at all. She has this attitude that all high school health teachers are stupid...in fact, she seems to have this belief that just about everyone except her is stupid. Today at the beginning of class she had a transparency up with information in case any of us want a tutor. "If your health class in high school wasn't very good, you'll want to use these sessions," she announced to us. "Your SAT scores are a good indication of whether you need to go, too. If you got anything below a 900, you should probably go." And then she had the audacity to tell us that if our QPA was low, we should use the tutoring! As if getting tutored in Health is going to significantly raise our grade point average. It was an insult to our intelligence, and I really would have liked to snort derisively at her. But instead I just silently quirked an eyebrow in a "What, are you the most intelligent being on the planet?" sort of way.

Kristen just complained about how she hates it when kids go into a test without having studied or really put any effort into things, and they get a better grade than she did. On the one hand, I can understand her point of view. I mean, it would certainly tick me off if I spent hours studying and then some kid who did absolutely nothing gets a higher score than me. But then, there are those people who just don't need to study. Kristen is the sort whose grades come from hours of studying and reviewing and things like that, but others are blessed with those photographic memories (or whatever) that allow them to memorize facts the first time they hear them. I like to review a little bit, but for the most part I got lucky enough that I don't need to spend excessive amounts of time studying (except when it comes to French, hehe). So while yes, it probably does seem unfair to her that some people put in less effort and get better grades, the way in which she says it sounds kind of insulting. Why do I deserve a lower grade than her if I knew the material better? Effort involved should definitely play a part in someone's grade, but it doesn't always. That's just the way things go.

Anyway, I'm sitting here waiting for 1:40 to roll around so I can head off to French. I have this feeling that we were probably supposed to have read something, but at the same time I don't remember her specifically telling us to read anything. Just tried to call Miranda and ask, but she wasn't home. : Isn't that always the way? Maybe I'll just read the next few pages in this chapter anyway, in case maybe we were supposed to read them. Our first test should be coming up fairly soon, I think...how scary!

While I wait, I'm downloading the music video to Queen's song "Breakthru". No lie: I have wanted to see this video for nearly 10 years. How pathetic is that?? But it doesn't exist on any tape that I've ever seen in stores, and of course the music television stations would never play it. When I went to Europe in...what was it, 10th grade or something? Anyway, when I went there, I'd been hoping that when I got to England I might be able to find the video in a store there. I actually envisioned some kind of store on a London street that had a plethora of Queen memorabilia for sale (this was quite some time ago, so I wasn't quite as realistic, hehe). But I never made it as far as England before returning home a week early. I did get to see their video for "Innuendo" while sitting up late in my hosts' friend's Paris apartment, but that was it. So yeah, this video is like the culmination of a little girl's dream. :P

After French today, I'm wandering down to the post office where I shall send off this wee parcel to Geoff! Wheeee! *giggles* I'm very proud of myself for holding out this weekend. It's as bad as wanting drugs, this need to call him. So I stuck to my self-made promise (which was, "Don't call him! Give it a couple of weeks, then randomly send him this CD and see if he calls you or emails you!"), and I feel I deserve some kind of reward...which I guess would just be sending this parcel off! :P Now I have the anticipation of "Ooo, in a few days it'll be in his mailbox...!" I also need to stop by the drugstore to get new pens, because my favorite blue one just ran out of ink during Intro to Mass Media (aka COM 100). I hate it when that happens! I still have black, red, and green, but I like my blue one!!

I got to talk to Kirsten a couple of nights ago. The store she was transferred to sounds terrible! It's dirty and gross, and apparently the police are almost always there because people shoplift and stuff all the time...There were other stories she told me, but I was like, "Awww! Kick Nazi Barb out and come back to us!" Later on in the conversation (which was on IM), she asked me if I would call her when I came back home so that we could go out. She gave me her number and everything, so I guess this isn't one of those times she SAID we'd have a big get-together and then never went through with it...*chuckles* Poor Kirsten.

There is this really sad little alien occupying the banner at the bottom of KaZaA. He looks first at you, and then at this can of fuel...and then to the left it says "Click the credit card...to help the alien buy fuel for his ship"...So today I clicked it, and he got this big happy grin and flew off on his spaceship. That was my altruistic deed for the day. *giggles* Our Health professor told us today that doing one altruistic thing a day would help us spiritually. So there you go. I helped an alien go home.

There was also something she talked about...shoot, I forget which thingie it fell under but she was talking about how some people are unable to form intimate relationships with friends. I actually looked up at that point, since it sort of echoed something I'd written in here a few days ago. But then Janette and I had talked about it, and she pointed out that quieter people like us don't tend to have a lot of close friends...something to that effect, anyway. *grins at Jam* I'm kind of torn, because on the one hand I'd like to have more close friends, but at the same time I'm glad to be solitary. Whenever I invite a group of people together, I feel like I'm being torn in all directions because I'm afraid of not giving enough attention to each person. And half the time, my friends don't get along with each other so it's not as if they could converse amongst themselves while I was chatting with someone else. That's another stressful thing about friends, and another reason why I'd rather just keep the number of friends down to a small number. Of course, if I tried to argue with the professor and give that as an example, she'd say there was something wrong with me and that I needed to go through "cognitive therapy" or whatever so that I could learn to form closer bonds with people.

Fie on thee, professor!

Okay, I'm going to go read a few pages in my French book now. I'm actually almost intrigued by The Killer Angels, finally! Haven't gotten very far into it--I just reached the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg (the other chapters were talking about the days before it)--but I like the character Armistead thus far, hehe...and I feel a sort of sympathy for him and Longstreet. I think this summer, I'll probably have the urge to travel down to Gettysburg or some historic battlefields down south (since I'm more favorable to the Southern folks, hehe). The Civil War was the only one I really had any interest learning about.

Anyway, I'm going! I really am!