Princess Sparklefists

Ever played "Money Card"? It's this old board game where you travel around running out of money, wishing you had the cardboard American Express card, and trying not to end up in Majorca. Meanwhile, you have to collect the keys to seven cities, which is damn near impossible. The game takes a long time, and what's more, it's boring.

"Risk" may just top "Money Card." (Actually, it's a more intense version in a way. Forget collecting the key to the city, just conquer the city.) It takes ridiculously long. You keep rolling the dice over and over again, trying to invade take down Greenland so you can roll into Quebec for some poutine. An hour later, you're army's in North America, but you can't remember why, and the game's no closer to being finished. I'm competitive though, so even in hour four, I still want to win. (Also, it's fun with alcohol.) Sometime we're going to develop rules for "Riskopoly." It will be the longest board game ever.

We're one week into the New Year, which I think means it's about time I started formulating a plan for the the portion of my life. As enjoyable as it is to spend my hiatus from school to lounge around the house reading books or watching TV, I can't realistically keep that up for the next nine months. Even if I didn't need an income, I get bored when I have no purpose. I'd love it if I could find a library job, specifically as a library assistant, or reference assistant, or whatever a particular system calls the position. (Really, I want to be employed in a Hemingway novel, but with less angst. It's not the sparse prose I want either; I really just want the "job" of living in Europe and doing, well, nothing.)

I'm not usually one for resolutions, but with the New Year and this new page of my life in mind, I decided I should set some goals for myself. There's nothing Earth-shaking about these, but here goes. This year I'd like to:
- travel somewhere new (see above, re: Europe)
- read some non-fiction (novels are great, but so is branching out)
- become more organized (I'm starting with my room, but I'd like to be more organized in general, particularly with my time)
- brush up on Spanish (languages are good)
- eat vegetables (I adore bread, but it's not brimful of vitamins and minerals)
- sleep more, and go to bed earlier (1am doesn't count as "early)

I'd also like to try what d4ni is doing and record all the books I read this year. I'm curious to see what the tally is. And of course, I want to get back into grad school so I can finish my MLIS.

When I haven't been watching Torchwood or Blackpool or Battlestar Galactica or... way too much TV this week, I've been listening to bits of CD101's Top 2008 Countdown. CD101 is my favorite Columbus radio station, and each year they begin the year by playing the top requests since the station's inception. It's a great week to hear old favorites that you haven't heard for a long time, or discover new favorites. For anyone interested, the entire list can be found at the CD101 website. Completely separate from the list, there are three songs that've been running around in my head the past few days:
"Relax, Take it Easy" by Mika - Like, "Grace Kelly," which was one of my favorites last year, it's a song that I heard once and immediately wanted to listen to again. Plus, relaxing is a pretty good idea for me right now.
"I Can't Decide" by The Scissor Sisters - The melody seems much too happy for the lyrics, which I think is part of the appeal. I'm not that familiar with the band, but this song at least reminds me a bit of Abba. I mean that in a good way, too, because I used to really enjoy listening to my mom's old Abba albums. Oh, shut up.
"Love Song" by Sara Bareilles - Yes, it's a Top 40 type pop song. An infectiously catchy one. I have a particular weakness for pop songs with piano, and Sara Bareilles has a nice voice. Apparently I'm currently going for catchy tunes and upbeat rhythms. Nothing wrong with that, though.

ETA: Wouldn't want to forget, the National Championship game is tonight! OSU-LSU in New Orleans. Go Bucks!

This evening I was observing some very important procrastination time, and I saw this public service announcement:


At first I thought it was the trailer for Prince Caspian, which would have been awesome, but it turned out to be a PSA for the Library of Congress. Since I think promoting literacy is a great idea, and I loved the Narnia books when I was a kid, it still turned out to be okay. It's definitely something I can get behind. Plus, the whole idea of the Library of Congress having a television commercial is pretty wicked.

The cataloging exam is over! I don't think I've ever waffled back and forth about punctuation on any exam I've ever taken. We got to use our books and our notes, but for some questions I think I actually found conflicting examples, which doesn't help and makes my brain hurt even more. And why was it necessary to have lecture and lab after the exam? I'm already in full out zombie mode due to the last week of studying.

For lunch we had truly awful pizza. Why is it that pizza and middle eastern food are served in the same restaurants in this city? I don't get it. The good thing about the pizza was the price, a mere $1.50 for a generous slice. I didn't pack a lunch today since all I had was instant oatmeal, oranges, and a box of Kraft Dinner, so it was better than nothing. One of my friends told me about a free vegan lunch that's served in the student union building; apparently you bring your own tupperware and fork and get rice, veggies and some sort of dessert. I'm not a vegan, but I'm curious about free food of any sort.

I miss Giant Eagle. Provigo is so inadequate in comparison. I'm still upset with them for not having any yams for my Thanksgiving dinner! But now at least I have bread again. And Tostitos, which in the moment seemed quite essential. And on a semi-related topic, I like I may have lost a few pounds, judged solely on the fact that I had my belt as tight as it would go this morning, and my pants were still completely falling down. (I was told it's because "all [I] eat is peanut butter and jelly sandwiches." What can I say? PB is cheap.)

This afternoon I watched and episode of Law and Order: SVU in French. I had to concentrate really hard and still only understood a few phrases. Ice T's dubbed voice freaked me out a little. I also started reading The Emperor's Children. Even though the McGill library does not buy "fiction" they have plenty of "literature." I've yet to get to a public library, so I'm glad to have a new source of reading material. I only read the first few chapters because, well, I couldn't stay awake any longer, even though it was only 3pm. See above, "zombie mode."

I got an e-mail from Apple today about the new version of OS X that's being released at the end of the month! I'm psyched because after the new release, I'm buying a new computer! I was considering an iMac, but I'm now leaning back towards a new laptop. The only question is: black or white?