Celebratory Pictures of B

Happy Birthday, Beezus!

It's Bernoulli's 5th birthday today!

About four and a half years ago, one of my sister's college friends knocked on her door. When she opened the door, there was pup. He was little bitty, really skinny and had some general "gunk". Em got him all fixed up and he's been with her ever since. Since she was in engineering school at the time, Em named B after Bernoulli's Law. He also goes by B, Beezus, Berdoodle, Beezasaurus, Puppy head, Poop head, and Stink Butt.

He's really the cutest dog. When B came into the picture I was in high school. One weekend Em came home to introduce us. Naturally, I was taking a nap when they arrived in Hallsville. Beezus was let into my room and immediately put his little puppy paws up on my bed. He was too small to jump up on it at the time. I can't believe how little he was. Now he's HUGE! Not really, but he is a lot bigger.

I love that dog.

Oh me oh my, have another piece of silly pie...

Miss Lauren

Today was one of those days that was just funny.

My first class of the day was Issues in Environmental Science, and Dr. Staff was cracking the whole class up today. It seemed like he had one corny joke after another. I can't even remember what he was talking about, just that I was giggling. In my Fundamentals of Photography class we just watched movies during the entire three hour class period. That was not very funny. What was funny, was how my professor kept falling asleep. Then, whenever a movie was over, he would pretend like he never fell asleep and say things like, "That one was better than I thought it would be." It probably was better since he was asleep... During our class break I went to the campus bookstore for a sugar fix. What happened next completely caught me off guard.

The cashier had a robot head on.

It was a box spray painted silver, with little knobs and such glued on. So funny. I didn't say a word about it as I paid for my peanut m&ms, and she just acted like she wore this box on her head everyday.

After class, I went with my sister to her work. She is a nanny for these two great kids. The little girl had horseback riding lessons, so I went with them to the lessons. Kids are so funny. Especially when they're really into something. All of the little girls would get real serious when talking about their horses, then go right back to giggling about Joe Jonas. While my sister's nanny child rides, she watches the instructor's daughter. I went and played with them, after I watched the girls ride for awhile. The instructor's daughter is hilarious. She's about to be four, and is as smart as a whip. We played rocket ship for a long time. My favorite quote from the afternoon was, "Oh no! There's a battery in my butter." I love how you can be completely ridiculous with little kids.

The game rocket ship consists of one person sitting on one couch, while steering with this horse hoof- snuff box- thing, which is on the side table next to the couch. The side table also has a lamp on it, which acts as a fuel tank, butter container, and battery pack. I think. Anyway, you drive the rocket ship around and have fun in general. Today, we went to outer space (duh, it's a rocket ship), HEB, Gran Jan's house, and some lake the little girl wanted to go to. It was so much fun. We made all sorts of weird noises, but my fake barfing noise really cracked her up.

After we got all of the children, I mean horses, back in their cages, it was time to head home. When Em and I got home, we had friends come over for some sewing fun. I just love sewing and then teaching people how to sew.

AND THEN, I've had this song stuck in my head for a really long time. It's off of one of those weird children's music tapes that my mom would let me go to sleep by. And I found the cd of the tape on Amazon. After about 15 years, I have been reunited with the "Sillie Pie" song. If you would like to hear this nonsense:

Sillie Pie - Joanie Bartels

Confession #2

Trees are my favorite plants. They all look different but have the same charming personality.

Mas Campage

Oh, camping. I'm sorry I forgot about you. This past weekend, I went camping with some friends at Colorado Bend State Park. It was really fun and I had a great time.

I went with the early group on Friday, and we arrived at the campsite around 4. Then, everyone set up their little tents and little sleeping bags, etc. Well, except for the older girls. Rachel, who surprisingly came camping, borrowed this gigantic tent from her cousin. It was dubbed "the mansion" and could have housed a family of twenty. I slept in my cottage-sized tent, and was quite pleased with its performance.

After everything was set up, I wandered about while other people went hiking and biking. Whilst wandering around, I took some pictures on an old film camera I borrowed from a friend.

While I was out it ran out of film, so I rolled it back up. When I opened the back to load another roll, I discovered that the film had broken off and was still exposed. Just all out there. All up in the sunlight. Maaaann. Oh well.

After some general wandering, I skipped some rocks with Jean and Aaron. I think my rock skipping technique is improving. Then, we played some frisbee, until they went to prepare dinner. While they fixed dinner I ate some giant grapes. Then, Bos and Joshua came back. They climbed some trees, but I am not of the tree climbing variety, apparently, so I did not climb any. I did attempt to, though. When all of the campsite trees were climbed, we played some friz until it was too dark to see the friz. When it was completely dark the stars came out. I think everybody star-wise was out that night. They were so beautiful. I got to see the Milky Way for the first time in about two years. I really shouldn't go so long without seeing things like that. Seeing gigantic things like the Milky Way always reminds me of how small I am. For dinner Aaron, the chef of the group, made fajita materials. They were sooo good. After dinner, everyone sat around the campfire eating s'mores and drinking hot chocolate. It was nice to sit and listen to everyone.

I slept with my tent unzipped so that I could see the stars. It was so great to be able to do that. That night was really cold, but I didn't even care. When I woke up, I'd slept with my hat on, so my hair that was under my hat was all mashed down and parted weird, but the hair that was outside of my hat was crazy frizzy because of the morning dew. Haha. That was some great hair.

For breakfast we had migas, which I had never had before. They were really good. We packed up camp after breakfast and loaded up all of the vehicles.

Once all of our junk was safely stowed away, the real adventure began. There was a group that wanted to take th

e short hike to Gorman Falls and a group that wanted to take the long hike. I wanted to go on the long route, which I discovered was all guys. That was okay- they didn't leave me behind. We took the river trail, I think it was called that. At some point in the trail you pick whether to go above the falls or to go below them. We picked the primitive trail that goes below the falls. What fun that was! There was a cave on the way down there, so naturally we explored that a little. There were several water crossings on the hike and even some mild rock climbing. I thoroughly enjoyed all of it.

After we crossed the waterfall area, Joshua and I stopped to take some pictures. I thought Aaron and Scotty were going to wait for us at the top of the waterfall trail, but no. Once we got up there the other half of our group had left us, so Joshua and I decided to do some further exploring. There was one trail that went along a creek that we went on that was really pretty. At the end of it, or as far as we went on it, there was a pool with the clearest water I've seen in a long time. There was even this old pump sticking out of it, but it wasn't running. There was just a bunch of cool stuff out there.

When we get back to the parking lot everyone was supposed to meet up at, no one was there! Shortly after we show up in the parking lot, Jean and her friend come driving by. They yell at us to get in the van and ask us where we've been. Apparently, we were lost and Aaron and Scotty had been looking for us for about an hour. Whoops. Once everybody calmed down, we headed back to Austin. Good weekend.

Confession #1

I haven't worn deodorant in three weeks.

Not sure if anyone has noticed...

Songs Stuck in Muh Head

All Hallows’ Eve

Now that Halloween is quickly approaching, I guess I should figure out a costume for myself. This is one of the most troubling times of the year for me. There are just so many costume choices out there! And so many different takes on each of those costumes that are out there. Halloween is also a hard time, because I like to take my costumes to the next level.

This girl does not do the normal Dorthy, witch or clown costume. The clown costume will never ever be done, mainly because I'm thoroughly freaked out by clowns. The "sexy" costumes that are popular now also aren't very appealing to me. For one thing, a nurse would never actually wear a dress that short. Those costumes are so unrealistic and put unreasonable images in the minds of boys across the world.

So, since I like to go a different route, here are a few of the ideas that are rolling around in my head:

#1- A Dinosaur. Easier said than done. Probably not going to happen. There is no way that I can hide my proportional body parts in order to be a T-Rex. I could make up a dinosaur and use parts from several different dinosaurs for a costume...

#2- Betty Suarez from Ugly Betty. This one would be super fun. Her outfits are always fantastically bad. All of those colors and weird prints co-

mingling together in one outfit, every show- more please!

#3- Hermoine Granger from Harry Potter. I could really nerd it up for this one! The character is great and the Hogwarts school uniforms are not too shabby. Additionally, I'm almost positive the hair inspiration for this character was my hair. I would also have a costume in case I ever want to go to a midnight opening of a HP movie.

Of course, not even I will know until the last minute what I'm going to be, but I think these are all good options. Today's entry will be ended on a weird note. Here is a picture that is floating around Google image search for "Dinosaur".

English Teacher

Also a little kooky.

My American Literature teacher is crazy.

From the time she enters the classroom to about five minutes after class was supposed to be over, she chat chat chats. Most of the time she isn't even talking about American Literature, or any kind of literature. Today in class, I got bored and wrote down what she was talking about every five minutes. Here are some tidbits of what she talked about:

10:00- Nothing (she was late today)

10:05- Sorry for being late, there was a line at the copier.

10:10- Hawthorne was a very important writer, let's read his biography for fun.

10:15- I dreamed about rainbows over the Grand Canyon last night.

10:20- Now for the author everyone has been waiting for... Poe!

10:25- Here, do this reading quiz on Rappaccini's Daughter.

10:30- Now, who wants to read this poem aloud? (No hands we raised, because she didn't tell us which poem we were to read.)

10:35- I have all of your papers graded and recorded, but I'm not going to hand them back out.

10:40- Here are all of your worksheets for next week. (Hands us one out of five that are assigned.)

10:45- Have y'all seen the documentary about Yosemite?

10:50- So your research paper is due in two weeks, but I'll give you the information next week.

10:55- (I don't know what she said, because I left when the clock said 10:50.)

Even though she's a bit scatter brained, she really seems to love literature. When she's actually talking about the stories we read in class, she really knows what it's all about. That is all cool and good, I just wish she would give us our homework worksheets before they're assigned...

The Sartorialist

Ahhhhhhhh!

The Sartorialist, Mr. Scott Schuman, is coming to Dallas for a book signing. I might just have to go. His blog is beyond wonderful in my eyes. I visit it everyday, usually. He takes pictures of people on the street who are fashionable. Their clothes are so great. Every once in a while he'll snap a shot of some of the big people in fashion, i.e. magazine editors. He's fabulously well-known and has a keen sense of fashion for himself. I always look forward to seeing his work. One day maybe he'll see my work. *sigh*

The Sartorialist Blog

The Sartorialist Book

Some More ACL

 I love living in Austin. Something interesting always happens when I leave my apartment. So naturally, when going to one of the largest music festivals in the US things are going to happen.

On Friday, the last concert my friend and I went to was Kings of Leon. (Friend shall be called friend, because I don't know if he wants his name all up in my blog.) That concert ended right at 10pm, so we caught a late bus back to where we parked. Both of us were sitting in the front part of the bus, where two rows of seats are facing each other. At one stop a large group of people got on. All of a sudden, people start moving and this guy falls down onto the floor of the bus and this other guy starts grabbing/punching at him. Then, my friend gets up, pulls the two guys apart, and breaks up the fight. After that there were some words between the guys and the bus driver and the fighters were thrown off of the bus. I was just going to throw my backpack at them... But seriously?! After I came out of my shocked state, I turned to my friend and said, "Well that was very brave of you". He said something nonchalant like, "Oh, I do what I can". Mmhmm.

On Saturday I had my first Leslie encounter. That Leslie. If anyone actually reads this blog and doesn't know who Leslie is, here is what Wikipedia has to say about him:

 "Leslie Cochran (born as Albert Leslie Cochran[1][2] on June 24, 1951) is an American vagrant cross-dresser and argua

bly the most locally famous street person, according to local media sources, in Austin, Texas. He is an outspoken critic of police treatment of the homeless in the downtown Austin area. Many consider him to be the epitome of the 'Keep Austin Weird' campaign, as demonstrated by his two time run for mayor as well as numerous articles in The Austin Chronicle and local news stations. Leslie lived in the Pacific Northwest and at one time worked as a truck driver frequently traveling up and down the West coast. Leslie has told the Austin American-Statesman that he was briefly married in 1985 and 1986. He says he grew up south of Miami, briefly attended University of Florida on a football scholarship, spent nine months in the Naval Reserve in 1974 and 1975, worked for Safeway grocery stores in Seattle, skinned road-kill in Colorado and tanned the hides, worked as a disc jockey near Steamboat Springs, Colo., lived in a converted bookmobile in Shreveport, La., Tampa, Fla., and Atlanta, and then took a year to ride a three-wheeled bicycle to Austin in January 1996.[1]Leslie hangs out around 6th Street, usually around 6th and Congress during business hours. He can also often be found at Bouldin Creek Coffeehouse during late afternoons and early evenings. He is most frequently seen wearing women's clothing; his most popular attire is a leopard thong and high-heeled shoes. Leslie prefers to be known as a man."

So that is Leslie. On Saturday I also randomly saw a few friends from East Texas! My friend and I sat down for all of five minutes and Deneece walks by and turns right back around to come talk to me. Then, within two minutes I see Lauren walk by and do the exact same thing. Haha. So random. I also saw this kid that was in one of my classes at school. I don't know his name, but I saw him twice and he recognized me both times.

And then there was Sunday. After watching The B-52s, we were waiting for the Arctic Monkeys. We got really close for that concert and it was fantastic. Anyway, the crowd was, well, crowded. From the corner of my eye is see this kid staggering like he’s about to faint. So I turned around to help him, but his friends were helping him sit down. He was just sitting there and his friends weren’t helping him and no one else was either, so I stepped in. I asked what he’d eaten and had to drink. The kid hadn’t had any water all day! Crazy! So one of his friends gave him his water. The kid also had a raincoat on in ~90 degree weather, so I told him to take that off and stay seated for a while. He did what I said and felt a lot better. Yay! He also told me that I saved his life, but really I didn’t. Really. A man also offered me $50 for my rain boots. I'm really hoping that he wanted them for his date, and not himself.

On Sunday we took the bus alllll the way down, and that is about an hour bus ride. In the morning we saw a guy get on the bus with a giant stand-up bass. The bass was bigger than the guy. On our way home, there were a lot of crazies on the bus. This one guy was strung out on something and kept talking about how hard he worked for his money. Then he proceeded to take out a bag of weed and roll a joint. He spilled weed all over himself, then just brushed it off of himself. What a waste.

 Then, this older man with one crutch got on the bus and made my friend get up from where he was sitting. I don’t know why he picked him to get up, but my friend got up. After he got on, a drunk guy got on and started talking to everyone around him. First he started talking to this kid my age. He told him not to party college away, because that’s what ruined his life. That kid got off, and drunk guy started talking to this poor girl who was also probably my age. I’m not sure what he told her, but she definitely was not enjoying it. The older man with the crutch who was sitting next to me just laughed at him the whole time. This made me laugh and soon the whole front of the bus was laughing at the drunk guy, who didn’t even know we were laughing.

Hehe.

Turtle

I saved a turtle today! He was going for a walk on a busy street, so I pulled over, picked him up and put him in my passenger's seat. There was a creek nearby that actually had water in it, so I placed him on the bank and he swam off. Yay! In my Issues in Environmental Science class, we were just talking about the illegal turtle market in Asia. I'm glad we don't eat turtles in America.

Austin City Limits Music Festival

Can I just live at ACL Fest? I could do without the extreme weather, but the overall experience was fantastic. Friday was hot, but nice. It was overcast and rained all day Saturday. Sunday was really hot, humid and muddy. I went with one of my concert going music fan friends- pretty sure he enjoyed himself. I hope so. Several of my favorite bands were there, and I discovered a few new ones that I like.

On Friday, Day 1, we started off with Dr. Dog, who was sooo good. Then we saw Phoenix. Ohmygoodness. How did I not know about them?! They are totally up my alley. Maybe they are my alley... Phoenix reminded me just a little bit of Franz Ferdinand. After Phoenix we went over to see Thievery Corporation. They were okay. I liked all of the different performers who were with them. One of the lady performers had this superhero get-up on, which I was rather entertained with. People who do what they want warm my heart. During two songs there was even a belly dancer shaking her groove thing. After TC we were going to see Andrew Bird, but a huge group of people left the stage where TC played and Kings of Leon were about to play. And then there was Kings of Leon. That was quite the show. The music was great. It sounded just like the album. The concert feel really added to the overall music experience, so it wasn't exactly like listening to the album.

Saturday began with Alberta Cross, which was another band I'd never heard before. They were really good! We were just waiting by this stage, because Mute Math was the next band to perform there. Stumbling on new music is great. Mute Math was fantastic. They have so much energy it's almost crazy. The drummer even duck tapes his headphones on. I also enjoyed that they are from New Orleans. After Mute Math, we caught the last part of The Airborne Toxic Event set. Aaaahhhh. I love that band. And it only took one song from them for me to like them. I'd never seen a picture of them before, but they looked almost exactly how I pictured them. The lead singer looks like Hugh Laurie from the side. Then, we went on over to Flogging Molly. I'm not a huge fan of their music, but you can't help but get into it at a concert. The final concert of the day was The Decemberists. Before this concert, I did not listen to their new album, but it was still really good. Their concert almost needs to be a sit-down type deal because their music is so relaxing and chill.

Sunday oh Sunday. It was so humid and hot, but the music was still great. We got there before The B- 52s were to go on, just in time to hear Black Joe Lewis and The Honeybears. They were very enjoyable. The lead singer, Black Joe Lewis?, was great. He is surprisingly soulful to be under 30 years old and from Round Rock. Round Rock just doesn't seem to turn out many musical artist who have that "umph". The B-52s were also surprisingly good. Love Shack isn't my favorite song in the world and I thought the entire concert would be like that. But it wasn't! It was really good! I forgot about all of the other songs I knew from them. The crowd for that set was super diverse. The people watching was great. The final ACL concert for me was The Arctic Monkeys. ILOVETHEMLIVE. Their albums are great, but they are even better live. Their music did not sound exactly like the album, it just sounded live and full of energy. I fan girled it up at that concert.