LOOKIE LOOKIE!

SNOW!!!










-Reijn!

I'm Not Scrooge, I promise!

I hate Christmas. I will tell you why: I hate Christmas because of the unneeded hype upon one day that comes and goes. People get all fired up over lights, candy, cookies, clothes, music, scarves, trees, dinners....and and so much much more. How pointless is it?! Incredibly. Even the author Gabriel Garcia Marquez feels the same way. I don't have the book with me right now, but in his book "Memoirs of my Meloncholy Whores" he mentioned about the futatly that people go through for Christmas. They go through all the hustle and bustle for what? So that they look good in the eyes of society. It has nothing to do with the real reason for the holiday. Why does society get all yippy and yappy when the mention of Thanksgiving brings falsified hope and joy of Christmas? Its discusting if you ask me. I cannot stand this season. I cannot stand it because its fake. It is completely and utterly fake. We gourge ourselves during this holiday and say, "but its Christmas." So just because its Christmas we can be kind to eachother? Just because its Christmas it is ok to do special things for strangers? SO just because its Christmas it is ok to be completely happy?! Its the biggest lie. And i want nothing to do with it.

And that is why I HATE Christmas.

-Reijn

What is that?!

too much work, too much work! TOO MUCH WORK! *SCREAMS* this sucks.

So its supposed to snow tomorrow. That's wrong. To all my southern Texas friends, its comming to you too...its supposed to get fuckin' cold and soon too!

-Reijn

GRUMBLE

Well, i'm back in Lubbock. The break was borring for the most part. Probally because i really didn't do anything exciting. I hung out with several close friends (which was nice), and didn't do much more than that. I guess that's a good thing. A way to wind down. Though, upon my arival back to Lubbock i am hit with a mound of papers and projects. And by mound, i mean mountian. I am looking at over 6 papers and 3 projects. Kill me now please.

Its cloudy here. And you can smell the moisture in the air. Its going to rain soon.

So does anybody know who was MR 5000? I guess i'll have to bump it up to MR or MS 5100 again. If you are this person just leave me a comment and i'll post a special post about you!

-Reijn

Thanksgiving Break pt. 1

Wednesday, November 22, 2006
6:19 pm

Well, this break started out like any other break. At least that is what its supposed to be. I woke up with the sun, like always because my body clock has been programmed to wake up before 7:00 am. Damn those 8:00am classes. PJ left the house first. Then I was next. Derek left with Corey behind us. I rode down to SL with Cat, Tyler, Ryan, and Tessarose—my hedgehog. She was not too happy to be in a car. She was up and walking around, snuffing at me, and just plain more irritated that usual. I felt bad because she is supposed to be hibernating but I sorta killed that today.

About 45 to an hour into the trip we got pulled over by a cop. Nothing too exciting, we were speeding. After that Tyler took over for driving. The ride was actually quite pleasant. Nothing too out of the ordinary. We chatted about the past, relationships, and whatnot. It was pleasant.

We left Brady, which is about 126 miles outside of Austin, everything seemed normal. I turned on my computer and started listening to music. Ryan fell asleep to his own tunes, and Cat and Tyler were in the front seats mining their own business. About 10-15 miles outside of Brady, Tyler started drifting into the other lane, supposedly dozing off. Cat woke him up, and we swerved to miss a car. The other car swerved to miss us. We spun and hit the guardrail, continued spinning then came to rest on the shoulder of the road. The other car, swerved to miss us then hit the ditch and flipped twice. Nobody was hurt. There was a lady and her kid in the other car, they had afew minor glass wounds but overall were ok, shooken up but ok. We were all ok, shooken up as well, but ok none the less. I called AAA. They weren’t much help. An off duity cop came by and said that he was helping the officers on duity. Then a fire personel came by and checked out the car. There was some fluid coming out, then stopped. We determined that it was windshield wiper fluid. The car overall is ok, just banged up fairly badly on the passanger sides but overall, everything is ok. The other car had a lot of glass blown out.

Tyler and Cat went over to the other car scene. (We were on one side of the highway and the bridge, while the other car was on the direct opposite side of the bridge and road. The two cars sandwiched the bridge.) The fireman took Ryan and I to the other scene as well so we could answer questions and fill out paper work. I called my parents via of Ryan’s phone. My phone didn’t have any service. After we all did what we needed to do, I took out Tessarose. She was a hit. All the officers and the parametics thought she was the strangest and coolest thing ever. One of the parametics took a picture of me and Tessa. She said that I will be in her scrapbook. We all laughed. By this point, everybody was joking around and trying to make everybody smile.

Suddenly, we get a phone call from Corey and Derek. They had just driven past the accident. They noticed Cat’s purple hair and Tessa, then automatically called Fisayo. (puzzling I know). We told them to turn around and that we would wait on them until they did so. I was so relieved to see Derek. He said that he was glad to see that I was ok. He felt a mixture of dread, happiness, worry, and relief all at the same time…thus laughing and joking since he didn’t know how to handle himself any other way. I was just glad to hug him. I was holding back everything and trying really hard to stay calm. At that point, I knew I was ok.

I got in the car with Derek and Cory and Cat, Tyler, and Ryan followed behind. We took a stop in Llano for gas, and a bathroom break…and so I could switch cars again. So as of now, we are all still driving home. We are headed to Austin first then we are going to head off to Houston. Corey and Derek are still in front of us…just to make sure nothing happens. Four more hours ahead of us, and I’ll be so glad to be home.

One more reason to be thankful for Thanksgiving.

-Reijn

*thunk*

leaving for h-town tomorrow for the break! Thank God...seriously!

Redefining a Conversation

Have you ever had a conversation? Not a chat. But a deep and meaninful conversational that goes unspoken? I'm not talking about the conversations you would have with a friend or even a person you just met at a ralley of sorts. But a deep conversation between you and an object, whether it be a peice of art, or something you are buying.

I was walking out of the art building today and i ran into the Clay Club's pottery sale. I decided to walk around it and check it out. I had a grand total of five dollars in my wallet and two in my bank account. Some of the pieces were quite beautiful and intriging. Some were things that i wanted to buy right off the back, while others i just laughed at. There was a birthday cake with a dildo as a candle. As i looked around, i could see that artist's concentration at the time...lots and lots of penises. It was very comical. There were afew chalaces that i saw that i wanted deeply but did not own nine dollars or 20, i don't remember how much they really were. A mug would have been nice too, but a candle holder caught my eye. I picked it up and looked at it, then placed it down and continued looking. I went back, picked it up agian, and then placed it down. It was five dollars. The exact amount of money i had in my pocket. It looked like a mushroom...all earthly and textured. It was like the piece was made just to talk to me. We had a conversation right there. We talked about how it was made, how it was not perfectly symetrical, but appealing, how it was of the earth and about the earth and whether it would hold a candle or not. We talked about its price, and who the artist was. We talked...for 30 seconds. But it was the best and most fullfilling conversation that i have had in a very long while. It just spoke...honestly...the piece just spoke to me and i repsonded by picking it up and telling it that i would give it a home. I took it to the counter and purchased it. My Design instructor thanked me for supporting them, and I responded by saying, "i'll be here too one day...its only fair."

Its true. Its all true. It is the wierdest feeling when you have the best conversation in a long time with a piece of pottery. But i feel complete...at least for now. Art is the greatest form of communication.

-Reijn

PS: 5000th person, leave a comment and i'll make a special post about you!

"Money on Steriods" : Japan vs American Money

Baseball's mad new world
By Jeff Passan, Yahoo! Sports
November 14, 2006



NAPLES, Fla. – To neatly summarize baseball's new era: The Boston Red Sox are willing to pay $51.1 million merely for the right to negotiate with Scott Boras.

Such talks have, in the past, made fools of rich men, turned dark hair gray and sent systolic and diastolic pressures to unhealthy levels. And yet here are the Red Sox, coveting Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka enough that they might just be breaking a commandment, and steeling for discussions that, if successful, will end with them shelling out another $12.5 million or so a year to actually get the right-hander in uniform.

If Boston does work out a contract with Matsuzaka over the next 30 days – Boras will push for three years to get Matsuzaka back on the free-agent market before he turns 30, and the Red Sox will pull for four or five years to get the full value of the posting fee they pay the Seibu Lions – he becomes the new Alex Rodriguez, around a $25 million-a-year man.

Only he'll play in one-fifth the games.

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As sound a maneuver as signing Matsuzaka seems for the Red Sox – they import a No. 1 pitcher ready to enter the prime of his career and block the New York Yankees from signing him – this is dangerous for baseball. Though the infusion of cash into the game calls for an equitable amount to go to the players, here is what the public, already wary of exorbitant salaries, sees: The Red Sox paying more per year for a player who has never thrown a major-league pitch than Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Randy Johnson or Ken Griffey Jr. ever made in a season.

Now it's salaries on steroids.

With its posting bid, the Red Sox threw into flux a market already primed to go nuts. However much it changes things this winter – Alfonso Soriano will get his $100 million or more – the ramifications of the Matsuzaka deal will sock baseball in the face next winter, when there's a free-agent class worth spending over. Would it surprise anyone if Ichiro Suzuki, Andruw Jones, Vernon Wells, Bobby Abreu, Carlos Guillen and Carlos Zambrano signed contracts worth a combined $650 million?

"And this," one American League personnel man warned, "is just the start."

This was no clarion call. Baseball sees the spending more as a function of its triumphs, like the successful businessman who upgrades from a beater to a Beamer. For all of its popularity, the sport has become a hugely profitable entity only in the last 10 years. The continued labor peace, which has fostered this kind of spending, is evidence of that. Businessmen – in this case, owners and players – shouldn't mess with something this good.

The Matsuzaka negotiations might do that. Five teams in baseball spent $48 million or less on their entire payroll last season. In 2004, the best player in the U.S.' most popular sport, Peyton Manning, received the NFL's highest signing bonus, $34.5 million, about one-third less than what could be seen as MLB's equivalent of a signing bonus, the posting fee.

Less than a year after the Red Sox shunned Johnny Damon because his contract demands climbed too high, and a few months after they passed on Bobby Abreu because of supposed poverty, they are primed to send Seibu enough cash in one payment to cover its entire payroll this season, plus some.

Yes, the Red Sox did finish 26th with a 4.83 earned-run average last season, and Curt Schilling will be gone after this year, and Jonathan Papelbon's move to the rotation could falter, and Jon Lester is undergoing treatment for cancer, and aces on the free-agent market are as rare and precious as four-leaf clovers. Don't doubt Matsuzaka's credentials, either: He's got the fastball, changeup and slider of a No. 1 and the mettle to match. And maybe, one of these days, he'll have the gyroball, too.

Still, in terms of popularity, Matsuzaka is not yet Hideki Matsui, and he probably will never be Ichiro, who is a national hero. To assume the Red Sox will become the favorite team in the Far East by signing Matsuzaka is a reach at best.

Likewise, to think the number the Red Sox offered wasn't vetted to the last decimal by Boston's bean counters would be foolish. They can afford Matsuzaka at this price; they wouldn't cripple themselves for a splash. Boston, emboldened by its sport's success, went for the gusto.

Just like baseball, emboldened by its financial success, is doing the same. Only its move is far riskier with further-reaching implications. With every huge contract, it is saying: We believe in our product. We believe fans in large markets will not see the Yankees' and Red Sox's and Mets' spending and wonder when their teams turned into have-nots. We believe fans in smaller markets will continue coming to the game when their teams raise ticket prices to keep up with the big spenders. We believe Mark DeRosa, a lifetime utilityman who never had more than 309 at-bats in a season before this year, is worth $13 million over three years. We believe the sport is healthy enough to withstand whatever criticism may come.

They'd better believe. They created this world. And they have to live with it.

Skies filled with Sugar

Houston was good. Tan picked me up from the airport and we went to the Hobbit Cafe for lunch. We chatted and caught up on stuff. I had forgotten how hot and humid h-town was. Everybody was in long sleaves and i was in a tank top and jeans burning up. I laughed. I really had moved away from this city. I wasn't even used to the climate, let alone the traffic and construction changes. I went home and spent most of the evening with my dear friend Tanya. We went to the Clement's football game. Last one of the official season. It was against Austin High. And it rained and we won. CHS is now co-district champs. Such a change from when i was in high school...when clements had the worst record in the district. Tanya and i went to Its-a-Grind, since she has become a coffee drinker. I introduced her to my favorite drink there, a Road Warrior. From there we went back to my house and had a quick and somewhat crapy photoshoot. It was fun though. Saturday, Mr. Medley came and i chatted with him. Then i ran and got my hair done. It is red...very red...with light orange-ish highlights. I love it, and so does everybody else who i have talked to. Mom and I went to Katy Mills mall and did alittle bit of shopping. I got a new pair of shoes...they are skater shoes. Derek laughed at me. I don't know how to skateboard but i do know how to get cool shoes. From there, we went home and i putsed around getting antsy for the Tech/OU game. My dear friend Sara let me watch the game at her house. She and i watched football, and bless her heart, she hates football. Daniel Bolten came over and watched the game, along with Johnny, Sara's boyfriend...thanks to me in high school! *laughs* Tech lost. It made me sad. After that, Daniel and I chatted for hours. I am trying to convince him to come and transfer to Tech. And i'm trying to get Tanya to come visit. *nods* I went home and zonked out, good thing because i had church in the morning. That morning was the first morning i had trouble getting up and out of bed that entire weekend. It was strange. Saturday i got up at 10:00 am just because i couldn't sleep any more. I had already woken up five times earlier that morning...one of them being the normal time i wake up for a school day. Scary. Went to church and actually sat with the congregation for once. It was the first time in over a year since i had done that. I was still dating Will at the time. I talked with several members of the band and various people. It was interesting to talk to all of them again. Those are true and genuine people. That afternoon i packed and left Houston with mixed feelings. I was sorry to leave but at the same time i was ready to go home and be with Derek. If only i could have derek and houston...that would be wonderful! *laughs*

The plane ascended into the sky like a whale breaking the ocean’s surface. Much like this whale, we broke the sea of clouds before us. These continuous clouds rippled, flowed, and ebbed just like its water counterpart. We were a ship of the sky, soaring over the world. Every once in a while, there would be a break in the ocean of the sky allowing us to see the cities below. It is almost like looking through a glass portal to the underworld. As one flies, you are reminded that there really is still empty space out there. Texas is not settled land. Povered farms and fields still exist. This is cowboy land…where fantasies of the great west are created. The west still exists, contrary to what many people believe. It is a west that co-exists with the modern and the traditional. I am constantly reminded this every time a travel home. I grew up in the modern Texas. Sugar Land has been rated as the third best city to live in, in America, by CNNMoneyMagazine.com. Wheen I moved to Lubbock, I realized that I was privaliged. I knew what a Paneara Bread was. But Lubbock still lives in the fairy tale of the polite, courteous cowboy. They don’t really exist anymore, but every once in a while you’ll run into a man adorned with a black cowboy hat and boots with tight Wrangler’s jeans and a West Texas accent who is polite and says, “yes, ma’am” when he knows you are no older than 21. They exist but they are a dying breed. I am constantly reminded and re-reminded this and it instills in me the yearning for this quality to be in my husband. It may be the fact that I’m a texas girl, but at the same time there are so many qualities that I want, I’m not sure that this man exists: musical talent, polite, kind, adventurous, and just plain unique. It all makes me think…and its a dangerous thing when I think.

-Reijn

SCREAMING!!!!

Gah, i hate being a duel major. It makes me stressed out every time i look at all the hours i have to take. I can honestly see how it would be easier to graduate on time with just one major. I honestly do not know how i'm going to do it. I have so many art classes i have to take, and so many general education classes i have to take...and its all going to shoot me in the foot soon. I honestly do not know how i'm going to fit it all in. *screams* eh, i don't know what to do anymore. *nods* eh...at least i had a little of a venting period.

On a brigher side, i'll be traveling to Houston tomorrow for the weekend. A long needed weekend!

-Reijn

A Roll of Toilet Paper

I know i know...classes have kept me busy. So an update of sorts.

Something happened to me the other day. It was interesting. I was walking to my car with a box of blankets for Derek because Derek and PJ don't turn on the heater in the house. Blankets are a good thing. Well, i barely had a grip on this box, while i was trying to hold a cup of coke and my book bag. I could have made it, it would have taken me a while, but i could have made it. I usually park by the Alumini Center because that is the only parking available early in the mornings. So, i was wobbling along and a nice man asked me if i needed help. I said that it would be wonderful and he grabbed the box and walked with me to my car. He was a tech alumni. I introduced myself to him and he did the same then said, "have a good day," and walked off. Right then i realized that i had been shown the true West Texas hospitality, Tech alliance, and polite males. I don't know if its the people i hang around with or i've just gotten used to it, but kindness is an expected thing but acts of kindness is not. People around here are nice, but when men are gentlemenly-like, its just something new. I'm not used to males carrying things for me or half the time opening doors for me. It sometimes happens.

I just got off the phone with a dear friend, Alex Dubois. He is at Baylor. I haven't talked to him in almost a year now. We went to high school together and he is just as sweet as ever. Every time i talk to him, i feel so uplifted and happy. He very much does have the love of God about him. I honestly don't think there is a bad or evil bone in his body. We talked about school, Baylor vs Tech game, semenary and a bunch of other stuff too. It was so nice to talk to him. He is truly one of those people who you can call and pick up right where you left off with your friendship. Amazing person.

Another thing i have noticed is the fact of toilet paper types changing depending on where you are on campus. If you are in the Student Union, there is nice toilet paper. Take one step in the connected music building the toilet paper is cheep. Go into the English Building where the professor's offices are there is nice toilet paper again with nice hand soap. If you go in the art building, you are doing good if the bathrooms are clean with toilet paper. I find it interesting how the school feels about different parts of the campus, colleges, and areas. I kinda feel jipped. I pay my fees, i want good toilet paper and hand soap that doesn't dryout my skin. It would be kinda nice.

Its cold. It is finally starting to turn winter here. Long sleeved shirts, gloves, scarfs, and other motifs are starting to arise out of dusty Rubbermaid bins. My fingers are freezing, and I don't like it.

My blog background is still under construction...i really dont like how it looks right now, i want to customize it more, but right now i either: don't have the time, learning CSS, or can't find or create the graphics that i want. eh. I think a nap is in order before class....so....

ttfn...until the next entry!

-Reijn