dipthongs everywhere!

So, reading through my Arabic notes from the last semester, i've written some funny/stupid/weird things about Dil. Let me share some of them.

"If a tyrannosaurus rex grew up as an only child in an upper middle class household and then went on to be a university professor, he would look exactly like Dil."

To explain:
--i think this particular comment has to do with the angularity of his jawline and cheekbones, and the way that he compulsively smooths his hair with what can only be described as a clawing motion....just think about it guys...
--basically, dil has a rather unfathomable personality. as i have not actually gotten to know him personally, i have made up his past and other factors that i think made him what he is today, which is probably completely wrong but much more entertaining than the real thing.
1. Dil probably grew up as an only child. he was fabulously smart, but his parents didn't spoil him or fuss over him as some try to do. they sort of treated him like that really nice boat you get when you have the money, thinking you'll use it all the time, but actually you don't. just sometimes, when it's really sunny outside, you think 'oh, yeah! i have a boat!' and then you use it and it's fabulous, and then you forget it again for another 3 and a half months. well, Dil was like that boat. his parents were very rich, and often went to parties and forgot about him and didn't come home until 4 in the morning. however, none of this was very tragic; he actually appreciated all the time alone and read a lot of encyclopedias. he's had glasses since he was 3 years old. that was how dil's childhood went. he also had a really big, loyal dog, that he loved a lot but never told it.
2. Dil has never lied to anyone in his whole life. that is why he says weird things sometimes that are really funny--because he doesn't know how to tell anything but the truth, and the truth is pretty funny.
3. Dil likes being a professor, but his dream job would really be a tennis instructor. however, he never liked the way he looked in tennis shoes, they made his ankles look to skinny, so he gave that up a long time ago and never looked back. Dil is the kind of person who makes decisions and knows to never look back.
and that is my completely fabricated analysis of dil's personality.

one more thing from my arabic notes:
"dil parkinson is one of the only people who would probably look good in a mortarboard"

cuz tonight is the night feva.....we know how ta do it...

Friday, March 28th:
at the library studying until midnight.

Friday, April 4th:
at the library studying until i pass out. Go home and sleep.

Friday, April 11th:
at the library, reading The Economist. Go home and try to sleep. can't sleep. read book (scriptures, moby dick, the great gatsby), watch movie (after the thin man), be annoying.

party-party.

you are the worst kind of presenter why did you even bother

toothpastefordinner.com

stealin' thunder

me: hey, is lindsey Brown the one that lives in apartment 7? what is her last name?

Tori: Yes brown, yes number 7. Pourquoi?

me: networking.

blech

8:48 PM Tori: delightful. we talked about that in one of my classes, I hear it works wonders

8:49 PM me: so i heard.

Tori: How are you networking with Lindsey?

me: i'm not really into artificial networking, though. so this assignment is annoying.

8:50 PM it's this list i have to make for this teach for america internship i'm applying for

you have to make a list of people you know who would be a "good fit" for TfA, you know, to prove that you can network and meet people

i thought lindsey would be good because she taught english in china for a year and is cool

8:55 PM ps are you at the library now?

8:56 PM Tori: no. I am not going to the library tonight. I only got four hours of sleep last night, so I am rewarding myself with a day off (which will probably end up with another four hour or less night this week since that was the beginning of the craziness).

right now I am trying to turn our skiing into a meaningful experience that I can turn into a presenation

me: what, our skiing wasn't meaningful?

9:00 PM Tori: well, everyone has done these incredibly creative presentations. It has to be more than just a narrative--did you learn anything incredible or have ah ha moment whilst skiing?

9:01 PM me: well, i turn everything into metaphors for my life, but they are often stupid.

here is the skiiing one:

Tori: try me--

9:02 PM me: see, we were skiing and skiing and it was okay but i didn't get what the big deal was. it was like, whatever.

9:03 PM and i didn't particularly like it. and i was disappointed, because i heard it was fun, but it really turned out to be one of those activities that people say is fun and make a big deal out of how cool it is, but really it's only okay. like, if i died and never went skiing, then i wouldn't really care.

9:04 PM so then we played frisbee for awhile, and that was way better than okay. it was great! i love frisbee! i love running! i love tackling people! i love spitting! i love falling in the snow! i love diving to catch a frisbee!

Tori: maybe I should interview of each of you for your reaction.

9:05 PM me: it was really awesome. but you know, you can't do frisbee forever, and i got tired, and you just can't keep doing it past a certain point or it just becomes, 'eh, frisbee', and not 'frisbee!'

so iwas like, let's go skiing again.

9:07 PM and this time it was so fun! man, it was great, i really liked it. i loved it. it's one of those times, you know, where you can't think of anything else you'd rather do Right Then. and i thought, hey this skiing thing really is as great as everyone said it is.

...so guess what that is a metaphor for.

what part of my life, i mean.

9:08 PM Tori: Thanks that was amzing.

me: no, it wasn't and you didn't guess, you don't even know the metaphor yet!

9:09 PM Tori: well, okay I'm still waiting

me: guess!!!!

it'll be more fun.

Tori: umm...its never what you expect?

9:10 PM me: haha, no-ish.

dating.

i'm still in the frisbee stage.

9:13 PM Tori: sorry. but yeah, I don't I can quite use a literal translation of that quote since of the audience in my class.

or maybe I should?

9:14 PM me: um, what?

Tori: bcz of the individuals in my class.

9:15 PM me: because......they'll think i'm stupid?

it doesn't matter.

9:16 PM Tori: no because elliot is in my class

9:18 PM me: OoOoOoOoooooooh.

um......it probably still doesn't matter. i don't know if you would want to use it anyway because it is rather silly.

9:20 PM Tori: I liked all of it and probably will use it--maybe just not the comparison to dating, but I really like that. frisbee stage. fun.

9:21 PM me: yup. fun.

9:22 PM you can use the comparison to dating if it works well with whatever you want to say. it doesn't really matter--it's pretty vague enough that it would fit into whatever elliot already knows/assumes about why i am not dating/interseted in him

9:23 PM Tori: so...I think you are probably at the library for a reason. But we should continue this conversation later.

me: good idea.

but hey, do you know anymore people i can "network" with?

9:24 PM Tori: I would love to have a philosophical conversation revolving around frisbees. But for now, good luck with your homework.

9:25 PM me: okay, bye.

Tori: k bye.

the truly glamorous are very smart people who tend to stay up too late at night

dove campaign for real beauty video introduced to me via my roommate Woan:

(Note: if you get queasy easily, there are a few disturbing plastic-surgery related images, so beware)

melt with u

a great section of a great podcast:
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/4/1/iraq_has_become_somaliaa_collection_of

this part was really good, the interview with Nir Rosen, but i recommend listening to the whole podcast because it also includes a great interview with one of the journalists involved in reporting on privacy violations and spying and government pressure to keep it quite.

One reason i really liked this podcast was because it articulated one of the reasons why, though i lean democrat in the general bipartisan debate, i feel vaguely uncomfortable whenever they talk Iraq.
"I mean, she’s[hillary clinton] just utterly contemptible. The Democrats in general are, because they’ve been blaming the Iraqis. I mean, we know that the Republicans are despicable, that this is their war, but the Democrats have also been blaming the Iraqis..."

Turn over the parts of yourself that scream to be left alone

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/01/world/middleeast/01hamas.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=israel+palestine&st=nyt&oref=slogin

This article made me cringe.
when i was writing my ME Social Patterns paper, i realized i have an automatic, knee-jerk reaction to see israel as satan. kind of like my auto-reject function for when boys ask me out. kind of like my auto-eat mode for whenever i see anything with at least 40% fat calories. auto-categorize israel as evil.
so that's probably why i hated this article.
that's probably also the reason why i should read it.

an unbreakable bond

link given to me by friend, given to her by MESA class:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-morlims2apr02,1,2488142.story?page=2

my favorite part is this paragraph:
"Both religions strongly emphasize family. They tend toward patriarchy, believing in feminine modesty, chastity and virtue. And although Islam discourages dancing involving both sexes, Mormons report that church-sponsored "modesty proms" commonly draw Islamic youths."

Well, that's what it boils down to, folks.
the mormon-muslim bond is one of big, overly-invovled family life, the oppressive patriarchy, and alcohol-free, sex-free, exposed shoulders-free faux-proms.
ilhamdu lillah.

my favorite compliments ever

things people have said about me (to my face or behind my back) that are awesome.

"Gini? Is she that girl that is kind of weird and wears big glasses?"
-some kid i had humanities class with to Tori

"you have a very symmetrical face"
-guy named johnathan (ps- i don't think he meant it this way, but symmetry is beauty http://www.usaweekend.com/03_issues/030601/030601symmetry.html)

"you are kinda hard to miss"
-kid named carl. i don't think he actually meant this either, but it's funny to think about.

"there is a nerd girl riding her bicycle....Gini is riding a bicycle..."
-my FHE group, in doing that sentence-picture-sentence thing. they also equated Holly with nerd, as well.

"all girls look stupid when they are running across campus to hug another girl. Except for Gini."
-Heather Dew, watching a girl running across campus to hug another girl, right before she realized that she was watching me.

"i've been here for eight hours, and you are the most adorable girl i have seen all day. i think it's the glasses"
-cute hispanic movie theatre ticket dude with a lip ring

"you can make people not feel so stupid by acting stupid."
-Colleen. okay, this is a serious misquote, she didn't mean it in this way at all, but it's funnier this way : ).