Le French Purrito

This is our very own attempted le french purrito. The two above are Toulouse in a bag, and then we tried to put Toulouse in a sleeve, but it didn't work so well. BUT STILL IT WAS VAIR FUNNY.

It's finally started snowing!!!!!!!!!!!!

HELLLLLLLLO from the land of the Rock Hall of Fame, Buckeyes, and the Amish!!!!
I've been home since last Thursday and it has been wonderful so far!

This morning I did all my last-minute shopping with my friend Brian (see around, somewhere....)and we went to the mall and ate Chic Fil-A.  Chic Fil-A is Brian's fave fast-ish food, and we got sandwhiches and waffle-fries!!!!!! It was yummy! And...all the shopping was done with little collateral damage.  We got up supah' early, because it was the last Saturday before Christmas, and guess what!? We beat the crowds! It was pretty much awesome as we drove away from the mall, shopping finished, and there was a huge line of cars headed to the mall, backing up traffic. After shopping we just went to Brian's house and watched the movie version of "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer. I think that's one of his favorite books, and it is quite good, but also very sad. It was a very sad movie, but it had a yummmmmmmy soundtrack mmmmm.
I got home Thursday afternoon, Sarah that night. It was SO COLD when I got off the plane, but it was wonderful and refreshing!! And FINALLY, the next Sunday, it has snowed! Just a tiny bit, nothing compared, apparently, to what's going on east of here, but a tiny bit! It has made me quite happy!!
It has been quite fun just hanging out with my family, although Stacy isn't home and Shann & Josiah are in NC. And seeing Lauren and Rachel for the first time in many months was pretty much awesome. They came over for dinner on Thursday before Rachel left for PA and it was really fun to catch up with them.
EUGH two nights ago, I think, for the game of the night my dad suggested Risk. WORST GAME EVER. I lost....so badly. And it takes forever. I hate that game! My dad and Sarah battled it out to the end, however, with my dad reigning victorious as world dominator. (Surprise, surprise.) Also on the games front (I do love a good game...) I taught Brian this game called "James Bond" which is a super-speedy card game that Chris taught to me, and it is sooooooo fuuuuun.
WHOA....we have been playing Beatles' Rockband SO MUCH since I've been home, it's basically awesome.
That's all.
Bye!

This if from Christmas tree shopping!!!!!!!!!

The countdown begins....T minus 16 hours until boarding time!

THAT'S RIGHT: I have officially completed an entire semester of college. And the next time I write to you I shall be in the O-H-I-O! Woooooo! HOMESKIS AT LAST! It has been FOUR months of shower shoes, caf food, skype, and  having independence and zero privacy, haha. HEY it's also been AWESOME. Like that time I went pipefish collecting with FRP, just generally making some awesome friends, going kayaking and the like. It's been awesome. I really feel like I've such a great transition into college, I feel incredibly lucky for that. 
WOOO!
This past weekend, the weekend before finals, the Gamma fire alarm kept going off! It went off twice between five and seven on Sunday morning/saturday night.  I want to know how many more times I will wake up to that WRETCHED fire alarm noise? I think not once more during the remaining fifteen hours of my semester here....Tuesday afternoon our fire alarm went off again in our house, and the hallway sprinklers went off, flooding the  hallways, and causing a general brouhaha. It was QUITE the fiasco, let me tell you. So everyone in our house had to be evacuated, six of us stayed at another dorm ALL the way across campus away from EVERYTHING. The others stayed at the Holiday Inn in St. Pete. It was quite streesfull, but our awesome people here got the dorm fixed up by five o'clock the next day and VOILA I am sitting in my bed, blogging to you! 
ALSO This weekend, before the fire alarms, we had a WHGC study group and we were SO ALL STUDIED OUT, so we decided to go to IHOP and get some yummy pancakes. Chris, Laura and I went to IHOP and then went and roamed around WAlmart. It was super fun but the best part was it was FREEZING and windy and RAINY that night and when we got back to campus, Laura and I had went puddle jumping. The puddle jumping turned into a puddle war and we got absolutely SOAKED THROUGH. It was super fun. Later that weekend my friend Paul and I hung out and watched some of the Office on my laptop. Overall it was a generally wonderful last weekend of the semester!
Here's a picture of the IHOP/WALMART/PUDDLE JUMPING Lollapallooza:

Wish me safe travels, and see you all soonskis!

--Sydney.

Five Rounds of Sardines Later....

Hellllllo it is Friday night slash Saturday morning and it has been a good night. This week hasn't been that great but I've finally turned in most of my final assignments (like papers and compositions and such) and today was the last day of classes for Fall Term. Which is VERY EXCITING. I have no more classes, four exams and an interview left before Thursday....which means I better get preparing. AFAP.
After dinner-ish time Grace, Laura, Chris and I and partly Ethan had a study group in the libs. We got SO much done but to me it felt like we made a very minor dent in the work there is to do overall, which is frustrating.  But it was very fun to work with them, and they are all vair intelligent, so we got through a lot of material. For a break in said studying, when everyone was getting a little bit loopy and distracted we played this game "Sardines."  In Sardines, one person hides while the others wait, like inverse hide and seek.  Then the others search for the hide-er and the last person to find the hide-er must be the next hide-er.  And the others must hide in the same space as the hide-er (hence the name Sardines) until the last person is left seeking. It is VERY FUN. We played on the entire second floor of the library.
Then we went back to studying for a bit. After the study group Laura, and Chris and I went to IHOP and got pancakes/french toast which was DELICIOUS. Laura and I shared regular pancakes.. Mmmmmm. When I get home I reallly want homemade pancakes and also breakkie sandwhiches. MMM. After IHOP we went to Wally world for "kicks and giggles" and oh boy was it. Hahahahahhahaha. We just romped around and acted like crazy college students and Chris had to buy some Oxyclean but ended up buying Oreos too.
So we drove back to EC, and on our JOURNEY/voyage/trek back to the dorms from accross campus, Laura and I (we basically had to) had a puddle jumping fight. AND IT WAS AWESOME. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN. It was dark and FREEZING and misting like in the fine Ohio weather, precipitating steadily with a 15 mph winds. In 59 degrees I was freezing. Chris took some pictures, which I will post later.
Basically, it was a really fun night and after all of that I came back to my dorm and took a really long hot shower and now I am bundled up in bed...
and now....
Goodnight!
....zzzzzzzz.

Here's the "more to come."

Weeeooohweeeeooohweeeee.
Thanksgiving break was so. SO. so much fun! Shannon and I had such a great time!  Unfortunately it is now over.
And I must get to work on finals and papers and studying and all that jazz.
Dear readers, do you want to hear the most ridiculous thing ever? For a math test last week I had to label a diagram of the unit circle, which I knew BY HEART. He gave us the diagram on the back of the test questions. SO I was going along doing th eproblems, on a separate piece of paper, mind you, and it took me FOREVER! So finally i finished and I went to turn in my test, but I forgot to turn in the diagram which was stabled to my test questions, because we never turn in our questions!!! Can you believe that!? I was SO MAD at myself!!
Luckily I emailed my professor and he said I could stay after a little later after class on thursday and draw it from memory again for some credit. WHEW. But other than that question I got full credit on every question!
Whew that's all I can think of right now even though there has been at LEAST three weeks since I last wrote............hmmmmm mysterious. Oh well.
Later chums!

Check this out, yo'

I saw somewhere on facebook this website that has these jersey-tees for literary characters!
They are quite awesome:
http://www.novel-t.com/ordering.htm
Enjoy!

HELLLLLO friends!
Here're some photogs from this Thanksgiving  break, which Shannon came down and visited me for!

MOre to come later!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

<3!

So here's a little photog editing for you : )

This photo's from autumn term, I do believe. It was for "explore st. pete's" or somesing with the office of service learning. That right there's my friend Chris, and my other friend Shanea, at Atwater's soul food cafeteria.

A word to the wise...

Hello friends!
I just wanted to share with you my new found love of NPR's "All Songs Considered" podcast.
I especially love the Tiny Desk Concerts.
Yum.
They are delicious, mostly.
I really love the T.D.C's of the Avett Brothers, Sondre Lerche, the Tallest Man On Earth, and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. You should check them out! If you have iTunes, you just type in "all songs considered" and voila you can download them! If not, you can go to NPR's website at http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_detail.php?siteId=15842121
and I think that you can download them to other things, too.
Enjoy (hopefully)!

Check it, yo'

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeetwentyfour days until i gettogohome.
: )
whew 
i 
can
not
wait.
do you hear me?
i can't wait.

I like to think my dad would be quite proud....

Dear reader....
(brb I have to get my laundry.)
MMm warm laundry.
Okay back to the point.
I think my dad (well actually both my parentals) would be very proud to know that I am a member of the yellow bike E.M.T. program at Eckerd! My first day was today!!! And I got a shirt. WOOOOOO.
Perhaps someday I will take a picture and post it. The shirt is very, bright, yellow! Basically what we do is go about campus finding yellow bikes to fix, we have the yellow bike hospital, where we take inventory of them sometimes, or take them if they need more than a chain re-attaching. It's quite awesome if I do say so myself.
SO.
This weekend! I went to stay with my aunt and uncle, Daisy and Billy and oh boy are they just absolutely wonderful!. They came to pick me up and everything!! We just relaxed mostly, and aund Daisy and I went to see "A Christmas Carol" in 3D with Jim Carrey, which was quite good. And I had also never seen a three-D movie, so that was a new experience.  AND aunt Daisy made some DELICIOUS food, most notably an "apricot-curry" chicken dish with yummmmmmy mashed potatos and some veggies. So good! It was a wonderful weekend with Sadsack and Prissy, who were VERY excited to see me! They were soooooooo cute squared. It was suuuuch a gooooood weeeekennnnnnd : )
That's all for now!
OH here's a picture of sadsack prissy:

WOOOOOFRIDAY!

Congratulations ev'rbody on making it through the work week!
Happy Friday!

Hahah read this quote from David!!

HELLLLLO, friends!
A few days ago I was researching the artist Jacques Louis David, for a western heritage project. He was politically active during the French Revolution, and when the Bourbon monarchy was restored later he was sort of forced into exile in the Low Countrie (I think).  There he had many important people vying for his talents as a historic painter and portraitist. After hearing about one such offer from the English duke of Wellington, David said:

"I have not waited seventy years to defile my brush. I would rather cut off my hand than paint an Englishman"

Such sass, no? Vraiment drole, non? Hahhaa. Very dramatic, too. I really really like David's paintings, actually. I like his style, which is neoclassic. Many of his works can be found in history books, such as....

 

"The Death Of Marat," left, and "The Death Of Socrates," right, and below the "Tennis Court Oath," a portrait of Napoleon, and the painting "The Coronation of Napoleon and Josephine."

 Halloween was very fun. I cannot believe that  I was able to make my candy from home, which I got right at the beginning of October, last ALL the way until Halloween. I actually still have some left over, woot woot. Saturday night the school planned a "Fox Halloween" next to Fox Hall and in the quad, which was pretty fun. They had a hilarious balloon artist there, who made me into Mickey Mouse. Laura was Minnie Mouse, and Grace was a rabbit. It was awesome, and each person's balloons took less than five minutes to complete. It was crazy, crazy! Annnnnd I had a tail, hahahahha. Here is a photog of me, Grace, and Laura:

I had ears, a nose, and a tail of black balloons, and red pants with yellow balloons.

Well that's all I can think of for now.

: )

By Jove....It's FRIDAY!

Hey happy Friday everybody.
My room is starting to smell like the pumpkin I carved yesterday.....Happy Friday AND I got paid today for work study!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

.......check out my pumpkin----->

Hahahahahha imagine that.....

Oh ps I forgot to tell you that today when Chris and I went to lunch after Geo, there was a little envelope on the front desk thingy and there I found my invite to Joey and Gretchen's baby shower!!!!!!!!!! Hurrrraaah! I have ZERO idea how it got there, but whatev, I'm just happy I found it!!!

WHEW has a lot transpired since last postage!

     FIRSTLY I would just like to say....thanks! For all the happy birthday wishes and cards and packages from everyone. My birthday was WONderful, really. I was completely dead though, from having gone to sleep at five o'clock that morning. But it was good nonetheless because I got a cake and balloons from the 'rents and a package from lauren and two cards from mawmaw and rachelita and a super awesome video from stacy.  Plus just today I got a Woot! package from my parents which I haven't opened yet and it's just driving me CRAZY. Seriously.
J/K I GOT IT AND IT WAS AWESOME!!!! It contained an iPod!!! Can you believe that!?!?!?  I have decided to name it Diablo after a pipefish that we found this passed past weekend in the Keys!!! It was between Diablo or Capt. von Trapp.  Hoooooraaaaah! Today, tuesday the twenty seventh, I got my auxillary bday package and it was ALSO AWESOME!!! I got some yummy dark chocolate, a cute bracelet, some itunes money, (what should I get?) and a delicious swatch of fabric for the bridesmaids' dresses!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So excited about that.  ALSO in the mail I got an invitation to Gretchen's baby shower which I am SO MEGA EXCITED FOR! The only thing is I thing I set it down next to me while I was opening my package, and it blew away in the fierce winds we had today. Sad. Hopefully it will show up though...hopefully. Hmmmm I really really want to know where it went.
     SO for a prezzie from lauren (so awesome!) I got last Monday. It was a wonderful yummy green tee-shirt from Trine that I just LOVE it's so super duper comfy. And a lovely shade of green. ANNNND Lauren asked Andy to get me a skateboard. So now I have a skateboard, because Andy works at Wooster Skate Shop and voila! I have a skateboard!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited to get it over break and come back and learn how to skate board. SO EXCITED! Seriously.
I
Can
Not
Wait.
That's how excited I am.
     This passed past weekend, as in two weekends ago now, I drove around in a van with Professor -Ski and some other FRP-ers. We were collecting pipefish for their project about pipefish dispersal. It was absolutely insane. Cold (it's relative, people, I know! don't freak out, but it was, I promise I had goosebumps and shivers), windy, and it rained a tiny bit, too. We spent many hours in a van stop-and-going around random cities along the coast. The first day, Saturday, we spent mostly in Jupiter. Then we drove down to the Keys, and camped at Looe Key state park, which was totally amazing.  We parked the van, and then we walked from the parking lot, to a boardwalk that cut through the mangroves, and we camped on platforms in the mangroves. SO AWESOME. So amazing. There was a tall observation tower, too, where we could stare at the gazillions of stars. There were SO many stars-I've never seen so many in the sky in my life before. It was the kind of night where you could see every star in the constellation. It was quite beautiful, I might say. Then waking up the next morning this is what we saw:

...and here is the boardwalk/observation tower that morning:

     After we left the campsite, we drove up Highway 1. It was SO WEIRD driving along in the keys on HW 1. It felt like I should have been with anyone from "the trip" but no one was there. It was really weird. A tiny bit sad. I kept seeing things that I remembered from driving during spring breaks, like the giant lobster statue, or the history of diving museum, etc. It just didn't feel the same. It made me miss the FL spring break trips and long drives down the highway, a bunch of us sitting on the dock and talking with Osborne, excursions, midnight ice cream runs, and of course playing 'ze Dutch, and diving and everything.  I think the next place we went was Key Largo, then a couple places in betwixt and eventually, Miami. The sky in Miami was really pretty, exhibit A:

     I mean really, just LOOK at those clouds! We stayed in Miami for a couple of hours. We were there until the sun went down...and then it was crazy. The sunset in the city was just gorgeous. We collected pipefish in this one little cove type place....where there was city encircling the water, and as the sun went down, the lights came on and the city was totally alive. It was really amazing; the fading orange sky and the crazy city lights.
     Ahhhhh! On the...uhm....fifteenth of October (I think), I went to see a MOST wonderful play. It was actually a musical. It was called "Mahalia, Just As I Am," it was about the life and times, the voice of Mahalia Jackson. She was a gospel singer way back when, in the middle-ish-ness of twentieth century. So...the ninety fities I think. She was the first person to win a grammy for gospel! She was very famous both in America and abroad in Europe. The play basically followed her life in the early 20th century, having to grow up in the segregated south.  Anywhoo....our very own playwright, Sharon E. Scott, wrote the play and starred in it as Mahalia Jackson, and just one other person that played multiple parts. They were both amazing-she was impressive in her gospel-ocity, and he was SO impressive in his ability to play multiple parts so well. Here is a link to the Studio@620 page for the show: click here and read! Then the next Wednesday in our honors class, Bob Devin Jones (that I wrote about previously because he came and spoke to us as Langston Hughes), the creative director/produce, and Sharon Scott, writer and star, came to speak to our class and answer our questions!!!  It was awesome. She was absolutely hilarious and very wise, and you could tell she was just a very geniune person with strong beliefs and a lot of character. Hearing about Sharon Scott's life was also interesting, because it shared just a few similarities to Mahalia's life, and you could definitely see how Mahalia had inspired her and how her music had always been there for her.
     OMG FAM & FRIENDS. Do you know what I LOVE?! I love speeeeeed! No, not speed the drug. Speed the card game!!!!  WHY hadn't anyone introduced me to it before?! It's SO FUN.  A super long time ago, Chris and I were both feeling very uninspired and unmotivated to do homework before honors class, so he taught me how to play speed and it is...........awesome. I'm basically addicted now I think. When I come home we are DEFINITELY playing, you got that, 'rents?
     So today at three I have my mentor meeting. I have to decide what classes I should take.....what classes should I take??? Someone tell me. I don't think I can start calculus this spring, so math is out. (Oh darn!) And....I can't take any intro 101 courses either, I don't think. We'll see how it goes, I guess. I really don't know what to take. 
    On a happier note, today there is free pumpkin carving!  Woooo! I'm so excited. Really really excited hopefully my pumpkin turns out awesome. Tomorrow I have a math exam which I am a tiny bit nervous for, so send me your good luck wishes please.
Lastly, this weekend I fixed my own bike! It was a huge accomplishment pour moi and I am very proud of myself, actually!! I just had to change the inner tube, but considering I have never actually worked on a bike (thanks dad, you're the best).  I am impressed by my mad skilllllz at being able to take apart the bike, a, and b, fix the inner tube, and THEN c, put it back together again, correctly so that everything works. Just say it's impressive, okay, it is!!!
(This weekend I also tried biking to ft. desoto, buuuuuut it didn't work out as well.  I think I made it about five miles before I turned around, because I wasn't feeling so great and the idea of having to another 1.5 miles and then 6.5 back was daunting me....haha.)


Oh here's a pictura of my yummy cake my parents sent me:
It was mega-delic.
That is all for now I suppose.
Peace, fools.
: )

Hahah my life is average just made my day.

A very Nagel-y thing to do
http://mylifeisaverage.com/story.php?id=901259
http://mylifeisaverage.com/story.php?id=914822
http://mylifeisaverage.com/story.php?id=921998
http://mylifeisaverage.com/story.php?id=902978
http://mylifeisaverage.com/story.php?id=901607
http://mylifeisaverage.com/story.php?id=899239
http://mylifeisaverage.com/story.php?id=898195
http://mylifeisaverage.com/story.php?id=898231
    (I would def do that to 'mousey.)

Today, while while walking around campus, a pile of leaves laughed evily as I walked by it. I figured it was an automated thing so I walked by again. Then a person jumped out, screamed, and ran away. Then I buried myself in leaves and waited for the next victim. MLIA.

I just want all of you to know that I have, honestly been reading this for a long time and just CRACKING UP. I think Synthia probably thinks I have lost my marbles, am off my rocker, flown the coop (is that legit?), etc etc.
THANK you brian for introducing me to mylifeisaverage.
SO FUNNY.
(Now I must go finish my work, sadly.)

YUMMMMMY.

Oh no. I just opened the bag of candy

 corn that my 'rents sent to me in 

a package, and now....

I can't stop eating 

the candy corn

so yummy

: )

Eugh. I slept away my Saturday : (

Fact: Sydney slept away her Saturday.
Fact: I can use alliteration : )
Fact: I should be translating my French homework, but I'm talking to you instead! Aren't you glad we have this dialogue to keep both of us busy when we should be being productive? I know I sure am...
NOW I am in Laura's room and we are watching NCIS and working on her speech about...Oscar Wilde's "Picture of Dorian Gray."
School is really picking up now. I have a thesis/outline due on Wednesday and an exam and another research paper thesis/outline due on Wednesday. EUUUUGH and I have not yet researched or finished reading the books, or thought about the topic. Ack. I'm not looking forward to this week.
EW I just read the creepiest thing ever. From a blog called "Letters of Note: Correspondence deserving of a wider audience," and it's a note from the serial killer Son of Sam. Do not read if sad already....  Super freaky.
FACT: I have just spent WAY too much time reading blogs. It is an addiction. Some blogs I have been reading are:

1. Phoo-D

2. Chocolate & Zucchini

3. Letters Of Note, and lastly, perhaps my favorite:

Today I Saw

I would definintely recommend Today I Saw the most, it's fun.
ANYWAYS I don't really know what to write about...
last night EC had a campus-wide birthdays bash with WONDERFUL amazing latin music from Orquesta Infinidad which had ELEVEN pieces playing and it was just SO awesome. I could hear it inside my dorm too which was awesome, I though. It was just really cool music and everyone was dancing, it was basically adorable.  AND they had delicious foooood which I think was Mexican. It was delic.
OH Wow I am like 'Net adhd....
Cute screenprinted cards!
Oh okay speaking of screenprinted! Sarah sent me a little birthday/graduation present in the mail which I got a few days ago and which was wonderful!!!! It was a little handmade stationary holder with some photog postcards and some really really wonderful thanks/bday cards that she made and designed herself which I just LOVE to death. They looked so like she bought them but I could definitely tell they were from Sarb because all of her work is just oh so lovely and wonderful and yummmmmmy.. OHHHH I seriously loved them! And a sharpie pen! And some other goodies, too. Bet you're jealous!

Today I have been craving:

Mashed potatoes

A milkshake (which I had and it was yummy)

Ice cream in general

Fruit and yogurt parfait mmmmm

French fries, seriously

And tomorrow I can't wait to go to breakfast and have a SUPER yummy ommelette for brunch. OH MAN I am huuuungry!
Yesterday was just AWFUL let me tell you. Well not the day as a whole but many....obnoxious things happened. First and foremost was the destruction of my bike's tire which I have no idea how to fix. I guess the innertube blew out right before I got to Walmart, which is just like two and a half miles away from school, but STILL. How much does that stink?? I was with Laura, and she was wonderfully nice enough to take the bus with me (which is expensive! A buck seventy five each time!!!!) and we had to wait for a while after finishing our shopping (I just had to get shoes for my lab on Tuesday). ANNND we both had bikes, and we had NO IDEA how to put our bikes on the device in front of the bus. I felt like SUCH A TWIT. And we were holding everyone up and everyone was just STARING at us like we were total idiots. When we FINALLY got our bike in the contraption, we had to feed our money in the machine. Which was crumpled, as a result from the stress of the bike incident. Or at least that's why mine was: you see, I had the nice dollar bills out and ready when the bus got there and then we had to do the bike thing and I had to LIFT (imagine me, lifting, hahahaha!) my bike and just HAD to crumple the money, so you see it really was necessary. It took Laura and me lit'rally FOREVER to feed the meter our money, it was ridiculus. It was indeed very stressfull. BUT a learning experience, I say.
OH AND THEN when we got off, I guess because there were no bike on the bike rack we were supposed to put the bike rack up but we didn't know how. so thebus driver sort of yelled at us to do it but we didn't even know the bike rack could do such a thing. Euhhh and then we had to carry my bike all the way back to the dorm, so as not to mess up the rim. It was a....
fiaso,
spectacle,
brouhaha,
any other good ones you can think of to describe said situation just let me know I'll add it to the list.
The good news is I found a pair of ADORABLE $9 shoes from the young boys' section to wear for lab on Tuesday. I've heard that your shoes get really nasty on boat-labs, and one girl said that she had to throw hers away. So I thought I should get a cheap pair I'm not super attached to to wear, and I think if I just rinse them out really well afterwards they should be good. But I'm just taking precautions, protecting my investments  (in my many pairs of wonderful shoes, mmmmm). You know? YOU KNOW?? Okay I really am totally justified in this, I promise : )
Earlier in the day I had also gone to research which made my neck and back hurt SO bad from staring at a pc screen for two hours but it was fun because we had trail mix and both of the people I'm working with are very nice indeed.

OH insert subcomment-Monday is lauren's birthday so if you think of it send her a little wish on facebook or something I'm sure she would love it!

Also you know what I really really really want to see? Where The Wild Things Are, it looks so gooood!

That's all for now. Now I am going to hopefully fall asleep and watch an episode of the Simpsons, season five, wooooot! Peace amigos!

Sydney is "HAPPPPPPPY FRIIIIIIDAAAAAY EVERYBODY!"

I just (one-half) wiped out on my bike, and now my knee is bleeding...but....


TGIF.  To the nth degree, seriously.

Finally a post!

Greeeeeting friends! 

Here is a good song: http://www.youtube.com/  You do not have to watch the vid, just listen along and enjoy.  It is called "Locate the Pieces," by Matt Pond PA, and I find it to be delicious.

Last week a mutual friend named Kelly lost her iPhone. It was QUITE the scandal. She was running about all frantic searching for it and speculating on its location. She was going crazy, basically. Eventually, she was able to activate a GPS locator in her phone, for a fine (hefty, I'm sure) and it gave her the address of Maximo Park. Maximo Park is the park across Frenchman's Creek, the little waterway where EC has its little marina and such. It's a public access for boats, basically. BUUUT it's like ten minutes away to drive there. On my way out of the library I saw Kelly and Grace, who was driving, and I went to search for Kelly's phone. It was so hot. ANd so super sunny.. Grace and I were melting. MORAL OF THE STORY: don't lose your iPhone at parties, because the chances of finding them at a public park or slim to none (none, in this case.) I don't know how or where, but Kelly eventually found her iPhone. Thank goodness because those are EXPENSIVE. The whole situation was ridiculous, really.
Also at our school we have had SO many thefts since the upperclassmen have arrived. It's insane. A lot of laptops, especially Macs, have been swiped. Also someone in Epsilon came back to their dorm, and someone was in there and had put the chain up so they couldn't get in. WOULDN'T that FREAK you out!? I would freak out and scream and run away, but then have someone stand in front of the window so they couldn't run away. Epsilon girl didn't do that, though, so the perp got away : (
Two (?) weekends ago I went kayaking with the service-learning office. It was super fun! We kayaked across the little channel behind the school to this island bird sanctuary.  We all got trash bags, and were supposed to pick up trash and litter. A lot of the trash that ends up in/on/around the sanctuary actually comes from Eckerd because it is literally in our back yard. I got to kayak INTO the depths of the mangroves. It was amazing. It looked a bit like this:
It was super amazing, basically. Although the next day I was a tiny bit sore, just down my back right along my spine on either side.
OH EM GEE. Did I tell you I found an Aldis? OMG. Best thing ever. I went there and I spent like fifteen dollars and I got SO MUCH FOOD! Oh dang, I did write about that already : ( Well I still think it was awesome.
So my bike has a flat tire, and I do not know what to do about it, because the way to pump it up does not fit a regular bike pump....any ideas? Also it is so sad because sometimes my bike gets rained on. I get SO mad at myself because then my bike is soggy and it is getting rusty and I love my bike so I want it to not be rusted. I want to take care of it, but sometimes it rains while I am in class, or while I"m eating, or while I'm at the lib. It's annoying.
The other day in the cafeteria I was walking along. And then I walked past this guy. And he was wearing toms and we both kept walking but also staring at each others feet (I was wearing mine, too). IT was basically hilarious. And mega awk because he finally was like "Hey I like your Toms," to which I chuckled and said "like yours too." And that was that but that ALWAYS happens to me. I always look at peoples' shoes and when I see Toms it just like "ohhhhh I like you because you wear toms because toms are awesome!" It was hilarious.
So recently I stumbled upon these shoes: www.simpleshoes.com (check 'em out). I got a pair of sneakers and  a pair of flip-flops because they were SO cheap and there was free shipping! It was awesome, but when they came (an awful long time later) they didn't fit!! It was so cruel. At first I was skeptical, when I ordered them, but when I opened the package I was just in love. Love. Elle Oh Vee Eeeeeee! L-O-V-E. So I went to send them back, but sending them back was more expensive than the entire order, so that NOT going to be the way to go. All dejected I walked back to my dorm, and I ran into some girls, and one of them from my oceanography class wanted to BUY THE SHOES!!!!!!!!!!! Weeeeeee! So then I just ordered them again in the right size and all was right with the world. And now I have adorable simpleshoes sneakers.
(PS insert subcomment I have listened to forty hours of pandora this month. Crazy.)
Last weekend I woke up VAIR sick. After kayaking, on Sunday, I woke up and I was so ill. Everything hurt. I walked to breakfast and everything on my face was throbbing, my eyes, and my bones and my teeth. It was awful. But the good news is, one week later, I am finally feeling much better. Although it's still hard to breathe and I still cough a lot, I feel so much better.
THIS weekend was really boring, for the most part. Friday night I spent like two hours in the lab preparing for my lab practical that I have on Tuesday (wish me luck!). So after that I came back to my room, studied some more for a while and then just PASSED out, literally. With my laptop on my bed and everything. It was crazy. Saturday Laura, Chris, Grace and I went to toss a frisbee and shoot some hoops and later we played Dutch Blitz (which no one liked, it was really quite the anomaly). It was a good night, which finished off with a really nice stroll through campus with Laura. We ended up at Galbraith and we just talked for a while and it was very beautiful with the half-moon and an amazing lightening storm lighting the sky bright red at 12:00 at night. It was so beautiful. 
I feel like Saturday and today I worked SO much. Like 80 percent or more of my waking time was spent studying, which I got up at ten on both days. Weird. Now I am going to have some tea and go to a study group breakdown of "Exodus." Fun stuff. Check you all later, alligators.
(OMG speaking of alligators, I seriously have a phobia. Today on my way from chapel to the music center I heard THE BIGGEST COMMOTION in the water ever. It scared me SO much and it was so loud and intense I seriously pondered it being an alligator. It made my heart race. Race race race. My heart's racing just thinking about it.)
Love you guys.
Sydney!
PS shout out to Gramps! Happy belated birthday if you read this! If not someone who does should pass along the web address to gramps and gram!

Oh why hello there, Langston Hughes!

Today in the honors colloquium we had a guest speaker, Bob Devin Jones:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Devin_Jones
(he told us his mom wrote this article), if you want to read more about him.
Buuuuut really we did not hear Bob Devin Jones, we heard LANGSTON HUGHES.
That's right....THE Langston Hughes of the Harlem Renaissance.
It was actually very cool.
Langston Hughes had a really cool voice and he was awesome at reciting poetry.
Here is one poem that Langston recited to the class:

"The Weary Blues"
Droning a drowsy syncopated tune,
Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon,
I heard a Negro play.
Down on Lenox Avenue the other night
By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light
He did a lazy sway ....
He did a lazy sway ....
To the tune o' those Weary Blues.
With his ebony hands on each ivory key
He made that poor piano moan with melody.
O Blues!
Swaying to and fro on his rickety stool
He played that sad raggy tune like a musical fool.
Sweet Blues!
Coming from a black man's soul.
O Blues!
In a deep song voice with a melancholy tone
I heard that Negro sing, that old piano moan--
"Ain't got nobody in all this world,
Ain't got nobody but ma self.
I's gwine to quit ma frownin'
And put ma troubles on the shelf."
Thump, thump, thump, went his foot on the floor.
He played a few chords then he sang some more--
"I got the Weary Blues
And I can't be satisfied.
Got the Weary Blues
And can't be satisfied--
I ain't happy no mo'
And I wish that I had died."
And far into the night he crooned that tune.
The stars went out and so did the moon.
The singer stopped playing and went to bed
While the Weary Blues echoed through his head.
He slept like a rock or a man that's dead.

And before every poem, Langston would say something like "and the name's at the top of the page to tell you where the poem is travelling." Hahahaha. Also, Langston did not just READ us his poetry, he performed it, and he sang at parts, and he made beats at parts and adopted different voices, it was awesome. He also told us these folk tales that he learned from the author, slash bff Zora Neale Hurston. One was the Word the Devil Made Up....and the other was...How the People Got Their Color. They were fuuuuunnnnnyyyy. Okay here's another poem that he recited.

"The Negro Speaks Of Rivers"

I've known rivers:

I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the

flow of human blood in human veins.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.

I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.

I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.

I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln

went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy

bosom turn all golden in the sunset.

I've known rivers:

Ancient, dusky rivers.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

OKAY here is a poem that I really like that I just stumbled upon looking for these other poems:
"Juke Box Love Song"
I could take the Harlem night
and warp around you,
Take the neon lights and mae a crown.
Take the Lenox Avenue busses,
Taxis, subways,
And for your love song tone ther rumble down.
Take Harlem's heartbeat,
Make a drumbeat,
Put it on a record, let it whirl,
And while we listen to it play,
Dance with you till day--
Dance with you, my sweet brown Harlem girl.


ISN'T THAT SO CUTE??? It kind of reminds me of that part in "The Poisonwood Bible" where Leah is talking about her children that are all a special shade of lovely brown. Mmmmm TPWB. Also I love the poem "I, Too" by Langston Hughes. That's all for now!
Love you miss you : )

Brrrr....it's cold in my dorm room!

My dorm is frrrrreeeeeezing cold. My toes are about to fall off. No jokes!  I'm serious!

This weekend was really good.  There was a lot of down time that I should have used to study, but instead I wrote some postcards and just did a lot of thinking.  On Saturday, Laura and I went to IHOP for brunch, because on, quote,

the island,

unquote they don't have any chain resturants, or franchises, and stuff like that. So hence, Laura had only been to an IHOP once before, and we thought she needed to check it out. ANNNNND it was SO delicious. It was such an unbelievable relief to be able to not be eating caf food, even though breakfast is the best meal at the caf. IHOP was so delish!! We had been planning to go since FOREVER ago, basically, but our plans just fell into place, came to fruition this Saturday.  Plus, this Saturday it just so happened to be raining ALL the live-long day.  Yes, we biked to IHOP in the rain. We were soaking when we got there, but it was so much fun anyways. Then Laura went to Walmart and I went to Aldis' (such a success I shall write about later!) and we met up much later after we did all of our respective shopping. It was basically awesome, but very cold both outside and inside in the a/c.

Then later I went to a birthday party for a girl named Chesley who just turned eighteen!! It was very small and very fun, and we played low-key Taboo for forever and there was pizza and music and DELICIOUS brownies and cute decorations. It was very fun and I met another RA named Connie who lives in Alpha.

...during the party I came back to my dorm to take out my contacts and I ran into some people who were partying. And basically they told me that without alcohol, parties are boring. And I absolutely refuse to believe that and it made me SO mad to hear that people actually believe that! It's ridiculous. But that is the mindset of a lot of people here, I feel.

Every day, I wake up and I am happy to be here, but during the nights I get very frustrated by the ridiculous amounts of substance abuse that goes on with everyone, underage and of age and abuse of not just alcohol., and how it is treated SO casually by everyone here.

And there that is my small rant about how frustrated I am becoming.

Friday was very very nonchalant. I just talked to M and D, but mostly just dad (because mom is a smellbik) via vid chat. PS olds you need to check out skype still and add me, search me and my city is St. Pete's. I was very happy to get to talk to dad for such a long time, it was awesome! I've also skyped with some people who've just moved into college, like Sam and Parker, and I've got plans to talk with Chelsey and Rachel soon. Unfortunately Lauren says her webcam capabilities are slim to none with the Trine network. So sad. I also talked to Bob which was awesome because I just miss miss miss everyone and everything, you know? It felt really normal and good to be talking to all these goot friends I've known since forever.

So lately I have been having the MUNCHIES to the extreme, no jokes! I have been depending on triscuits and chocolate too much lately. So after brunch on Saturday I went just a teensy bit past Walmart to Aldi's and I got SO MUCH STUFF for just fifteen dollars. It was SO awesome and so satisfying too. I got pretzel sticks and caramel cakes and lemonade pouches, fruit snacks, granola bars, ramen nooodles (mmmmmm), chex mix, and I think that's all....but that is A LOT of food for fifteen dollars. I feel like this would make Shannon and Josiah very proud of me : )  Oh I also got a two-pack of toothbrushes just in case I drop mine in the bathroom or something. It's a paranoia I have. Somehow allowing my toothbrush to come into contact with ANY surface of the bathroom here. It's so dirty....euhhhhh. Gross.

Then today, Sunday, was a little bit weird. I wish I had done all my work so I could just lounge and relax today. That's my goal for this week is to be prepared enough to do nothing when Sunday comes around so I can just enjoy it and not be worried that I'm not prepared for the coming week or Monday's classes. (Good luck to me!)

Sarah told me the other day that she is sending me a package soon and I am SO excited because it is rumored to include a belated graduation gift!!!!!!!!!!!! Weeeeeeee!!!!  I did not get a chance to photograph the sunset from the seawall like I said I would. Sorry I'll keep trying.  HERE are some photogs that I have taken recently:

Oh j/k here is where I like to sit and watch the boats from during the sunsetting hours. It is so pretty, I took this photograph way earlier during Autumn Term I think.

This to the right is in the Robert's music center, where I go to find pianos. It's really cool because the building is just these outside corridors, so it's not really a building....but a network of rooms....or something. I like it though. It's pretty.

Then below here are three pictures, one of a painting made by joeandlefty, actually left, by spray paint! I got it at the sigma block party for....FREE! I really like it, and I was SO impressed by Lefty making it in under five minutes. So cool. Then the shark henna tattoo is mine, and the surfer dude is Laura's that she got on her wrist. (Also at the block party.)

http://www.spraycanartists.com

We <3 IHOP. (Or, iHop if you let Apple control your mind.)

PS

Ps it's eleven eleven make a wish : )

Is "mmmm Joshua Radin."

Eh hem right now I am listening to the song "Everything Will Be Alright" by Joshua Radin.
Listen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0cSev4R5rs
It is very lovely.

So....my first week of classes was successful. It didn't make me freak out. I think my math professor is certifiably off his rocker.  He is so funny and his class is pretty interesting.  He lectures to music and gives us handouts of the playlist. This Thursday's included Tu Pac, U2, and some other funny stuff. I also had my first honors colloquium meeting which was just fiiiine. I have mountains of reading to do!!!

Yesterday I went out to ride my bike and it was annoying because the only way I can get to the beach is to ride on 54th street, which is REALLY busy. And I do not like busy roads, at all! There are no sidewalks towards the beach and so this is a conundrum, if you ask me.  So I turned around and just rode around in a little neighborhood off of 34th street for a while. It was okay, but I had a constant feeling of not really knowing where I was going, which made me a little nervy knickers. It just could not compare to muck farm road, though, if you ask me. All these speed humps you have to go over are so annoying.

(That was last week, this is this week, the week of September sixth)
(I got distracted.)
So my Monday-Wednesay  classes this week have beeen crazy indeed. I read "The Epic Of Gilgamesh," just alright for me, three chapters of "How do I save my Honor?" and four books in the Odyssey. The Odyssey I must say has proven delicious thus far. Here is a good quote from The Odyssey in book 9:

"and I, myself, know no sweeter sight on earth
than a man's own native country."

And here's another, from book 2:

"Few sons are the equals of their fathers;
most fall short, all too few surpass them."

Laura, Synthia and I have been reading this epic out loud, and it makes it SO much better. Except it's mostly just me and Laura because Synthia is always going to dance practices and such. Lately I have been spending a lot of time out by the sea wall behind my dorm.  It is very peaceful and out there watching the ships on the water makes it really difficult to feel stressed or any kind of negative emotion. It's really peaceful especially near the end of the day, when the sun is going down a little and the sky is starting to turn to colors. It is very pretty. I'll try to take a photograph that does it justice.

I'm pretty excited for this weekend, too. I'm going to see a movie, that has great reviews on rottentomatos.com called "Tokyo Sonata" with Synthia, and Saturday I am hopefully going to Habitat for Humanity with some friends and maybe going on a wakeboarding trip. Tomorrow Laura and I are going to make an emergency snacks trip to Walmart, because I can't handle only having :
1. Cereal and milk
2. Dark choco bars (mmmmmmmMmmMMMMmm......)
3. Triscuts
4. Apples that I never eat because I hate eating apples.
Seriously. When I get the munchies I have no idea what to do.
It's depressing.  So I will get some pita chips and hummus, and maybe some bananas. And some other stuff but I like to snack healthy so we'll see what happens.
SO YEAH. My life in a nutshell right about now I guess?
Now I must go to sleep. I have a ten o'clock math class tomorrow. Yuck! Night.

Glory glory!!

The news is good.
I did not shrink my favorite pants.
I just gathered the courage to try them on and...
they still fit.
!!!
Yesssssaaaah!

Hey this is real college, now.

Hellllo there friends,
Yesterday I had my first real classes! I had French, and western heritage with prof Hilliker, who is also my mentor. French was a leeeetle bit crazy because I can't really remember a lot of le francais from high school. I think it will start coming back to me after a while.....? Hopefully.  I ALSO had geological oceanography! I was only there for fifteen minutes or so, because we only went over the syllabus for the lecture and lab. But the professor seems very nce. Some of our lab days will be used to go out on boats, and my neighbor, who had him for autumn term, said that it's really fun because you can go swimming and such off of the boat. Then today I had my math class. I feel nervous for math! I haven't taken any math in over a year, but luckily I have a math teacher for a sister. Tomorrow I will have my western heritage honors lecture, which I bought the books for today, and one is written by the professor of the class. Professor Felice's book is called "How Do I Save My Honor? War, Moral Integrity, and Principled Resignation." So YEAH.

The weekend was super! I did a lot of running around, playing frisbee and shooting hoooops, as they say. I went to two soccer games on Friday, and then on Saturday, I went to Adventure Island, a water-park across the street from Busch Gardens. It was SO FUN. I was so tired from being gone 12-6 but then I went to, 1. play frisbee, and 2. "intergalactic" bowling which was just bowling with really loud music and some blacklights. It was very fun, but I didn't even get back unil 2:00 a.m. Sunday was pretty relax, I just chilled and such and went to chapel.
Here is a pictura of me on the way home from Adventure Island with my friend Chris:

DO YOU WANT TO HEAR SOMETHING AWFUL?
I think it was....Friday night. My RA was dj-ing a party on campus, and I got locked out of my room. I got locked out with only a towel and it was awful. So I had to use my neighbor Laura's phone to call campus security to come unlock my door. It was terrible! But very very very funny, I couldn't stop laughing when it happened!!!! Luckily when Laura left, she ran into Synthia who promptly ran all the way from Alpha to unlock our door.  Thank goooooodness.

Laura just walked in and for the sake of propriety says that I should describe in this here blog:
She is from the VINEYARD, Mass.
She is tiny.
She is a gamester. We are frisbee pals.
She loves the spicy hot cheetos, which she has stored under my bed in an attempt to eat them less.
So far not working.
She un peu crazy.

:Here is a slightly-blurry picture of me and Laura at a soccer game two weeks ago, and another of us  playing a crazy soccer-goalie reflexes game with a water-bottle cap:

Last night
UHM SO YEAH.

Monday I FINALLY was able to get my package that came on Saturday, from home!!!  It was SUCH an awesome package. It had a wonderful blanket, some nutellla (drooool), Bert's Bees w/ honey, SIX bars of delicious dark chocolate!!! I ate the last of a big bar of dark choco last night while I was watching a lightning storm off the sea wall behind my dorm. It was very cool.  ALSO Monday I got to talk to Laur on the phone which was awesome and I really really missssss herrr so much I just wanted to jump through the phone and give her a big hug because I miss her so much!

I finally got a web cam so if any of you want to video chat just let me know! That means YOU, mom! You, yes you mom!

Now....I am going to take a nap because I am all done with classes for today (it's only1:00!) and I have mostof my work done for tomorrow! And I will use the new blanket that the world's-best-mom sent me.
WOOOO.
Okay
Peace out homies.

Syd.

Eh hem, listen up.

Helllo friends and familia.
This is a quote, blog, unquote.
I have been at Eckerd for officially three weeks!  Three whole weeks! It has gone by so quickly.  I really cannot believe it. My autumn term class was called "Existential Imagination in Post-war France" with Professor Hilliker. We read "The Plague" by Camus and watched three French films, "Le Temps du Loup," "La Haine," and some other film that was supposedly funny but I didn't think so.  It was still good.  Or goot.
It has been a crazy three weeks!
I met with the other freshman research projects students and the professors last week. At the meeting they talked about the projects we could do and the advantages the FRP can give you as a freshman.  A lot of their students have gotten amazing scholarships and internships because of their FRP. It's pretty cool to hear about. The project choices are as follows:
1. Studying a group of Gulf dolphins, identifying them and studying their behaviors and interactions.
2. Dolphin acoustics, how they communicate.
3. Looking at pipefish dispersal, what happens after pipefish are born, if they migrate immediately or stay in their original location. No one really knows what happens to pipefish after they are born.
4. A study on armored catfish, which are just algae eaters (like we used to have in our aquarium at home), that have recently become very populous in FL and no one really knows how they got here.  This project would try to figure out if it was a singular preggers catfish or if it was several catfish that escaped/were dumped into the waters.
5. Restoration ecology. Not really sure what to write about this one except that it would involve a lot of field collections.

At first I REALLY wanted to do the pipefish.  But then a few days later I changed my mind and decided that I wanted to work on dolphin acoustics. Weeeeeeoooh dolphins! I am very excited. The professors seem really cool and nice and all the people in the project also seemed really cool. Although a lot of the students already had experience doing research and such, which makes me nerrrrvvy knickers.
SO YES, I will get to play with dolphins, hopefully : )
But Dr. Stenislowski (or somesing ending in -ski) said that most people would get to participate in the field work, like collecting pipefish and such, which is seriously SO cool because I cannot wait! SO yeah. Exciting stuff.

I ALSO had a meeting for the honors program that I am a part of this past Monday.  It requires two extra books, one of which is written by my professor. At the dinner meeting I sat at a table with Professor Felice, who will be one of the professors teaching the class.  He was very nice. Professor Felice told us that the honors program is not meant to require a ton of extra academic work, but to rather serve as a forum for tip top notch students in it.  The honors class is HUGE this year, normally I think there are only thirty students, but we have nearly SIXTY! So we are splitting into two separate classes. At a volunteering event I met the other professor, Professor Brunello, who is very funny and likes the Toledo Rockets.

Today the upperclassmen are moving into the dorms.  Not very many people are moving into my house, but nearly the entire top floor of the neighboring house has had to move in today. It's been kind of crazy with all the moving in and such. I've just been chilling though.  I did all of my laundry, and it was successful except I accidentally shrunk my pantaloons, my favorite ones, too.  I got SUCH a kick out of doing my laundry from start to finish to hangning it up and putting it away. It was weird. And cool. I felt very accomplished, in fact.

Today I also found a piano.  Which was awesome!

Real classes start Monday and I am very excited.
Very excited.
Vair vair nervous.
My classes are:
1. Intermediate French 201
2. Geological Oceanography!
3. Precalculus,
4. Western Heritage plus a two-hours-ish extra thing for honors.

Doesn't that sound awesome? I'm going to be very busy, I think. But like I said, I am excited.

Hey, I will talk to you all latah' because right now I am going to go to a soccer game.  Wooooohoooo!
Love, Syd!

PS I think this is my favorite photo so far....my bike on a palm tree : )