TURN ON THE HEAT. before i become a popsicle.

QA temperatures have hit arctic levels.

three shirts and my coat to bed. mmmm.

oh. thats a picture i painted.

october 24

so...

i went to trinity church again this morning.

and i brought craig. (applause here)

I have officially decided i love going to church.

we walked in, and sat down.

laura (whispering): craig, black pants don't match navy blue vests... are you wearing under armor?

craig: yes they do. they match fine.

laura: your embarrassing me.

*craig takes off the vest*

There was an asian girl who sat in front of us the entire service, taking notes in a book and snapping pictures on her digital camera every five minutes. This may not have been so bad, except there were probably only about 25 people in the entire church. so it was pretty blatant. As we were sitting directly behind her, i was able to watch her zoom in and out and stand up at random points to shoot some pictures of the preacher. This is when i started laughing.

craig: laura....

laura: nhanammhm... *points to girl taking pictures*

craig (loud whisper): achemhahama. stop laughing, or their not going to let us in next week.

laura:mmaahahahammm.. you should ...hahahahave seen me a few weeks ago.

craig: i'm surprised we weren't stopped at the door on the way in.

some random lady gets up to say a prayer:

Lady: And we pray for the Diesis and we pray for the president Barack and we pray for the united nations... and united nations day is October 24 by the way... and we pray for the governor...

*Laura (who hasn't stopped laughing about the asian girl yet* looks at craig who is purposefully biting his lip and staring intently at the floor to keep himself from bursting out laughing) laura starts visibly quaking back and forth and biting the back of her hand to keep from laughing any louder than she already is.

asian girl: point..chik chik...CLICK.

lady: and also we pray for Rob dean who passed this week in the hospital in Lexington

asian girl: chik chick...CLICK

Laura in the meanwhile still can not stop laughing

Craig starts slowly scooting away from laura

BUT WAIT. that is not all!!

THEN... when the collection basket came around. the asian girl put it on her lap and started taking up close pictures.. proceeded to not put any money in it, and pass it the wrong way. Then when she went up for communion, and gave the camera to someone else to take pictures of her receiving communion. CLICK. CLICK. EXCELLENT.

The back of my hand literally starts turning purple and white with bite marks and broken skin.

i point this out to craig. who sighs, rubs his forehead, and tries to remember why he's dating me.

O measureless might! Ineffable love!
While angels delight to worship Thee above,
The humbler creation, though feeble their lays,

With true adoration shall all sing Thy praise.

...and God be with you, this week and always...

CLICK

laura: *takes her hand out of her mouth and turns to craig*: don't you dare say a word to me before we get through the procession line or i'll start cracking up again.

craig (to the asian girl): hey get a picture of us! we're REAL CHRISTIANS!! Photo opp.!!

laura: oh my god.

I kid you not...

fixed it

dreary and happy

the only way i can think of to categorize this weather is dreary. rainy and cold. but it really doesn't seem to effect our students at all. after all... we are number nine in the nation for happiest students. the rain comes and visits, and everyone pulls out their colorful rainboots and bubble umbrellas.

andrew, craigs high school person is here.

we all went to breakfast this morning.

craig: so laur this is andrew, andrew, laura...

laura: why in gods name are you here so early?

andrew: well see my parents had to go to work so they kind of dropped me off on the way

laura: on the way to work? where do they work? you live two hours away..

andrew: yeah well...

laura: so do you like it here?

andrew: well ive been here for ten minutes...

cassey *walks over and sits down with her breakfast*

laura: hey cassey, when is your college kid coming?

cassey: oh at 6 tonight

laura: oh like a normal person. i see.

cassey: yeah wer going to hook her up with craigs high school guy

laura: cassey, this is andrew, craigs high school guy

cassey: oh my god. this is so embarrassing. why in the world are you here this early?

andrew: well you see.. um.. my parents..

cassey: so do you like it here?

andrew: well... its kind of wet... ive only been here for..

*josh sits down*

josh: you guys will never guess what i got on the way to the caf this morning?!!!

craig: a gideon bible?

josh: HOW DID YOU GUESS THAT?

craig: they were standing right outside the door josh...

Josh: And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness...

craig: please don't.

laura: so andrew, as an official student ambassador i feel the need to inform you about our little school

cassey: i can't believe hes here so early

steffano: dude if you start making fun of God, i am gonna be so angry

josh: im not im not...Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.

laura: so basically we are in the middle of nowhere. there is very little to do. VERY LITTLE.

andrew: oh i know.

laura: we have no town at all.

andrew: nothing?

josh: And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.

cassey: dude how are you eating that oatmeal? its gross.

josh: yo.. oatmeal is GOOD for you. it improves your blood flow and stuff.

steffano: really?

laura: hes making it up...oh andrew, we do have alot of diversity.

craig: pshhh....

laura: craig we ate breakfast with a guy from Ethiopia the other day

craig: hes just black

laura: he was from ETHIOPIA

josh: And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.

craig: i dont count that as a minority

laura: ETHIOPIA Craig. so do you want to go windsurfing later andrew?

andrew: i dont think ill be very good at it...

josh: And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

laura: its okay, Craigs not either.

craig: pshhh. look what im drinking laur... MILK.

laura: thats great craig. that will really help your stuffy nose. gross.

steffano: yo who is that kid?

laura: thats andrew... hes a high school kid with craig

steffano: he looks older.

cassey: tell me about it.

steffano: does he like it here?

andrew: ive...

laura: he just got here.

josh: and this is the word of God...

cassey: to the people of God.

andrew: I WENT TO A BLACK CHURCH ONCE

steffano: sick

laura: yo andrew, i can take you to my class today if you want... its going to be alot more fun than craigs classes

craig: thats probably true

laura: art major. wer cutting out pictures from a magazine and pasting them into our sketch books

maddy *walks by*: oh laur i have the magazines for class today!

andrew: oh good. i'll come with you.

craig: i have a german exam.

josh: craig how much did you study for german today?

craig: umm...

laura: not at all. he didn't study at all.

josh: my kinda guy.

cassey: shut up and eat your oatmeal

steffano: get your flow on man, get your blood flow on.

...

happy halloween-er

for your convenience i have made two parts of this post. if you have time read number one. if not. skip to number two.

1. the first picture you have to turn you head to the left for. its just a quick sketch i did for a project craig is working on. its supposed to be the front of an island plantation. i hardly ever work in ink but i think it came out okay. the other two are water colors that i did while in Hatteras. Im not sure how i feel about the middle one. i might have to work on it some more.

so today when i was walking in the PG dorms, i saw the boys had a creative message up on somebody's white board.

"official weather report

hallway: 99 degrees

our room: 4 degrees

outside: -200 degrees

have a nice day."

as far as i know, this is pretty much accurate. today it is raining and cold. and not even windy. the PG boys have also edited their other bulitan board, which used to read "Happy Halloween!" but now reads "Happy Halloween-er!" are they creative or what?! honors college.

not surprisingly these are the same boys who are always playing nerf gun battles in the hallway.

I asked a few of them if i could borrow nerf guns to be lara croft for halloween and they said they would have to think about it. they are rather over protective of them apparently.

in other news, i went to yoga yesterday, it was lovely. But im skipping it today because its raining and gross and i have real work i could be doing.

yesterday i signed up for TWO different karma clubs. they are karma clubs because they are good for my karma. One is Big brothers Big sisters. i haven't filed my application yet, but ill go work on it after this. pretty much you get a kid to drag around on the weekends, take sailing, and to library time, and go to baseball games and picnics. this sounds great by me! although i wish i had a car. i will just have to learn the public transportation systems around here. FO SHO. i actually applied for a job with them as an art programs co-ordinator, so we shall see how that turns out. im going to do a follow-up call sometime tomorrow. it would be nice to get a job and save for that jeep wrangler i've been wanting for like four years. also then i could get tickets to go see brian reagan when he performs in ny in december. me and craig really want to go. dad probably would really like to go also. the other club i signed up for was the children and art club. where all these kids get bussed to our college and i help like 8 other college kids teach some art classes. its all volunteer, but i love kids and art so...WHOOT. should be my kinda thing.

i have to paint alot this weekend for the theatre. Leon, my advisor is on a trip out of town, so i stopped by yesterday to get an idea of what has to be finished by monday.

we are currently stripping this one desk and its drawers and re-staining them a different color.

Leon: so have you stripped before?

Casey: only on the weekends.

Laura: haha... oh wait... i get it.

movies on my list to watch:

I am Sam

GUESS WHAT this weekend is? you probably guessed it. the much anticipated CLAM SHUCKING FESTIVAL. i am pretty pumped. some friends of mine are playing in a jazz band there, and its supposed to be nice, lots of seafood and such. ALSO there is a campus wide capture the flag tournament tomorrow night. there is going to be a fire, and hot chocolate, and glow sticks! ive come to the conclusion, that college and kindergarden are very similar.

craig is having a high school kid shadow him and stay over for the night, so he wants to be all cool and go party. but i told him "look... st marys isnt a party school, the kid's going to realize that in about two seconds, we might as well just go do something fun... like pumpkin picking" craig did not think pumpkin picking was a cool-enough idea. "look laur what would you do if you had someone from high school come stay overnight with you?"

laura: go to the clam festival?

this is not the right answer in case you were wondering.

i got a letter from erika crowell at villanova. i miss that girl.

2. (short version) pictures, jeeps, rain, clams, stripping, yoga, craig, kindergarden, letters.

live in peace and prosper

namaste

home sweet home

so I'm home safe and sound.

all in all i would have to say that Hattera's was probably the most fun way i could have spent my fall break. most fun? is that grammatically correct? whatever.

there were alot of laughs this weekend but to sum it all up i'll try and remember some of my favorites.

justin: its really hard to water start on the big boards.

laura: oh! is it easier on the smaller boards?

justin: no.

laura: oh. well thanks justin.

marty: "pizza, get some"... "we have good food here"

martin: what?

marty: thats what those signs said.

martin: this part of the world is just full of great sayings

justin: oh a hitch hiker

marty: i'm only driving a short way down the road, or i'd pick him up

justing: *moves index finger and thumb closer together* thats the sign for "only going a short way... however thats also the sign for "you have a small penis"

marty: oh well i guess its situational, you have to use context clues. otherwise the hitch hiker might think your insulting him.

while watching The Broken Arrow on VHS

nutt: why does the girl have to take her shirt off before jumping off the truck? i dont understand. it doesn't make any sense.

john: that sign on the side of the road says "55 means 55" what else would it mean? thats ridiculous.

martin: those wind boards from the 80's are pretty much rocks. i don't even know how they used them..

marty: hey you ever hear about the wooden car?

martin: no.

marty: it wooden-t go. ... sorry its one of the two jokes i know, i try to use it as often as possible

laura: did that sign on the side of the road just say "hookers"?

john: did you want me to pull over laur?

"You might have heard I run with a dangerous crowd
We ain't too pretty we ain't too proud
We might be laughing a bit too loud
aw But that never hurt no one"

-billy joel