True L

With t-10 days to go in finals, our internet went away and so did our helpful internet compatriot. Like, radio silent, no answer, nothing to do with us. And since said compatriot was necessary to fix our shady and cheap internet arrangement (which, I suppose, probably means we should have been less surprised at the fleeting nature of the whole situation) we went for weeks in our little apartment without Captain Interwebs before finally breaking down and ordering up new services from Behemoth Comcast. (Apparently the story of my internet perils is also a 16th Century tale of epic sea voyages and monster battles.)

Not that I’m currently using that internet. I didn’t regain full web access before moving out for the summer, because I, great world, will be back in PA for a summer job. Which clearly means I’ll have frequent access to cheap highlights, warding off the three inch roots I’m currently rocking; I’ll live for free in the apartment behind my parents house (some might call it a pool house, but without an actual pool, I question that pronouncement); and most rockingly, I’ll be making money!

And for now I’m using the internet on vacation. It’s so beautiful. Not just being on vacation, that of course is wonderful, but having the internet again is such an amazing thing! Here is a list of the exploits that I simply have not been able to keep up with on my smart phone…because I get tired of conducting any sort of “business” on something the size of an index card for more than 5 minutes:

• Paying my credit card bills
• Paying my electricity bill
• Paying the cable bill
• Paying for really anything
• Checking my email and deleting the junk mail rather than just wading through it to get to what’s important
• Selling back books to Amazon
• Buying books for my iPad (to read on vacation!)
• PODCASTS
• Checking my bank account when it’s been compromised (grrr)
• Checking my credit card when I get a call about “unusual activity” (I generally get these whenever I buy gas, something I don’t understand, but I still wanted to check on it periodically)
• Hulu
• Syncing my calendars automatically
• Checking and updating Tumblr. 

So much love in my heart for the tubes right now.

Found a friend on tumblr, who led me to find hot guys and baby animals. Djyusaysumthinbout exams…? Hmmm?? I’m not listening…

If you haven’t heard the Radiolab podcast “In the Running” yet (it’s from last month, but I’m a little behind myself), and you’re either a runner or interested in how the brain works (or both!) do it. It’s less than 20 minutes and so fascinating. It covers seizures, ultras, and brain surgery. <Perfection>

And if you haven’t started listening to Radiolab podcasts at all, do it. They’re pretty sweet and have been featured on TAL in parts several times. And I have it on good authority that the sound editing is incredible. (I think it sounds pretty good, but I myself am not a good authority.) So if you’re into that stuff, it’s got that going for it too.

Both at least somewhat related to celebrating the death of an enemy.

Is it Wrong to Celebrate Bin Laden’s Death?

Anatomy of a fake quotation.

The first one quotes the Vatican’s response that I’m sure you’ve read in plenty of places by now. (“Faced with the death of a man, a Christian never rejoices, but reflects on the serious responsibility of everyone before God and man, and hopes and pledges that every event is not an opportunity for a further growth of hatred, but of peace.”) Despite my ongoing inner- (and sometimes outer-) conflict with my Catholicism, I have to say I think this was really well said, with the possibility of tweaking “a Christian never rejoices.” (I think plenty of people who consider themselves Christians rejoiced, and we shouldn’t say that makes them not Christian. Just perhaps less Christ-like.) But seriously, “hopes and pledges that every event is not an opportunity for a further growth of hatred, but of peace”? That to me is a perfect, well-expressed sentiment.

Oh no, that’s not paint on my hands, identifying me as a cool, artist-type. That’s the smears of the various highlighters color-coding my perfectly tabbed outline for my Employment Discrimination exam tomorrow. (File under LiesITellMyself.)

Thursday night, my Serbian grandmother passed away.

I’m not a super effusive person when it comes to sad events, so I’m not going to write a ton about how that made me feel, happening the night before my Admin Law final, as everyone in my neighborhood was starting their royal wedding celebration, and I was just trying to get home.

But I will mention how fortunate it is that my family is all getting together for the first time in a while to celebrate her life. It is.

And I will say how much I appreciate that I’ll get to go to another Serbian Orthodox service, which I have not done since the wedding in which I was a flower girl (read: about 20 years ago). [Quick background: Grandma was Serbian Orthodox, but when she married my Irish Catholic grandfather and in classic 1940s patriarchy, the kids, my mom included, were raised Catholic. We still keep in touch with my mom’s Serbian cousins, but most of them live in enclaves in the US where there are, you know, actually Serbian churches and stores and the like.] I appreciate it a lot. I really like getting to know the Orthodox side of my heritage. Because yeah, I’m a nerd like that.

And finally, I will say how cool it is that my frustrating parking saga last night amidst the hubbub of President Obama being in the neighborhood (I had to park a literal mile away) led to me having to walk by the Serbian embassy on the way to my car this morning. 

Pretty cool, huh? And that this morning I plopped down in my coffee shop to check some tumbls before getting down to business, and saw gubbiofarabia (aka the best blog on the webs) posted this. Super cool.

Coincidence? Um, yeah probably. I mean, I drive by that building all the time. And Gubbi travels to approximately every place ever. But I’m going to think of it as one big pat on the back from the fates saying, hey, it’s good. It’s all okay.

So thanks, fates.