ChicaMarx's Xanga

Texas, for the win.

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 14:21:27 GMT

Jamie Turner says:
(*is going to MURDER msn*)
Joyous Maximous says:
Er, that's slightly impossible.
But I'd like to watch anyway.
Jamie Turner says:
no no, i will find a way
you just wait and see
Joyous Maximous says:
I'd hate to be in MSN's shoes.
Jamie Turner says:
does MSN have shoes?
Joyous Maximous says:
Hah!
They should.
Jamie Turner says:
Is something weird happening on your end too?
Joyous Maximous says:
...that was odd.
Jamie Turner says:
having problems?
Joyous Maximous says:
Not generally. But right now... aghjsjdk.
Jamie Turner says:
maybe it just has decided to hate texas
*shrugs*
Joyous Maximous says:
*scowl*
What prejudice.
Jamie Turner says:
we could revolt
Joyous Maximous says:
Hmm, how does one revolt against a shoe-less entity?
Jamie Turner says:
i'm sure we could find a way
we were our own nation once, y'know
Joyous Maximous says:
very true, that.
Jamie Turner says:
seems to be support enough for any claim
maybe we could, like, secede...
and then make our own messenger
TXN

Joyous Maximous says:
what is curling?
Melda says:
it might be more of a Canadian thing
Jamie Turner says:
you slide a rock across ice into a bullseye
Melda says:
it's like lawn bowling, I guess, only on ice
Joyous Maximous says:
okaayyy
interesting
Melda says:
I actually quite like it, as sprts go
Jamie Turner says:
a somewhat foreign concept to those of us who have only seen ice thick enough for such activities in a skating rink
Joyous Maximous says:
rofl, yes
Jamie Turner says:
we don't tend to think "Hmm, how might I entertain myself with all this ice that's just lying around?"
though, admittedly, we can't much talk
given that texas is home of firecracker wars and shooting shaken-up beer cans
Joyous Maximous says:
rofl!! *keels*
Jamie Turner says:
proven by the fact that Joy knows exactly what i'm talking about
Joyous Maximous says:
...and has maybe done it once or twice.
Melda says:
Gosh, and you people think canadians are weird?!

You Just Might Be A Bibliophile...

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:12:59 GMT

(I got this in Shannon Hale's newsletter... and thought it hysterically accurate concerning some of us. Who the 'some of us' is, I shall leave to your own good deduction skills, Watson.)

You Just Might Be a Bibliophile
What is a bibliophile? If you already know the answer to that question, you most likely are one, and there is no need for you to read further in this column. Although it might sound like someone who belongs in prison, a bibliophile is actually a lover and collector of books. How do you know if you are a bibliophile? Take this self-assessment test and then score yourself as described below:

Has the library offered to upgrade your library card to platinum?
Do you have a stack of books on your night stand high enough to be considered an architectural wonder?
Do you have enough rewards points from your Amazon.com purchases to fly free to Europe?
Do you ask strangers, "What's that you're reading?"
Do you have more than 100 cubic yards of bookshelf space, but wish you had more?
Do librarians ask you if they can borrow a book?
Are you on a first-name basis with the sales clerks at Borders?
Do you feel naked without a book somewhere on your person?Does the smell of a new book make you woozy?
Does the smell of an old book make you woozy?
Have you ever hugged a book?
Do you have more books loaned out than most people own?
Have you ever hidden under your covers with a flashlight so you could read just one more chapter, undetected?
Do you own just the right number of books to last your lifetime (that is, if you live to be 307)?
Have you ever camped out for a book release?
Do you have your name on the library waiting list for more than a dozen books at a time?
Are you ever frustrated with your friends or relatives because they do not behave as predictably as literary characters?
Have you ever tucked a novel inside of another book to disguise what you are reading?
Do you have stacks of books in places that most normal people would not stack them (e.g. on the back of the toilet, in old milk crates, under the legs of furniture, in the glove compartment, on top of the television, in unused bathtubs)?
Have you ever replied, "Too many books? How could a person ever have too many books?"

Count the number of questions to which your response is "yes". Use the scale below to determine your bibliophilic tendencies.

0 - 5
What are you doing on an author website, anyway? You must have browsed here by accident. Perhaps you were searching for Hannon Shale, a sedimentary rock from the Precambrian Period.

6 - 10
You have a healthy regard for books. You feel for them the way you would an esteemed distant relative or a trusted counselor. You are in little danger of being overrun by books, but you are probably a card-carrying library patron.

11 - 15
You love books, but fortunately for you, there is a good chance you will remain sane. Your bibliophilia is borderline, but not yet at the pathological stage.

16 - 20
Sorry to say that it is too late for you. You are certifiable. You love books the way Augustus Gloop loves chocolate. Resign yourself to the fact that books will consume your life. Or, rather, you will consume books with reckless abandon verging on insanity throughout your life.

rofl

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 20:48:01 GMT

Some guy from our local art center called me and requested to paint me as an angel. Of course I died, keeled, and went into hysterics... but agreed to it when he offered to pay me a very generous sum.

My dad's reaction?

"Well. You an angel? That is certainly a stretch of the imagination."

yeesh, politics.

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 09:53:09 GMT

With Huckabee out of the race, now politically conservative Republicans can turn their attention to Ron Paul, Mccain's sole opponent on the Republican side.

If I haven't urged you guys yet to support Ron Paul, please, please do so.

Clinton (who won the Texas primaries, by the way) has also declared that if she gets in office, she's going to make Obama vice-president.

My words this morning when my parents told me the news?

"What. A. Nightmare."

there is always joy

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 11:15:24 GMT

Yesterday was the funeral. I was grieving on the very last row, because I've always been a loner and I'm too used to blocking away any comfort given to me. The service was just beginning when I felt a cold hand on my shoulder. Malachi was there, behind me. I didn't even know he was coming... but somehow he'd managed to be there, to comfort me. He stayed by my side the whole time, gripping my elbow when I faltered, guiding me when I was blind with tears.

Sometimes the love and compassion that boy exhibits just leaves me speechless. This can't be the same nephew who dumped frogspawn in my pillow case, or told his friends that I wear a wig.

Just like the Psalm says, there is always joy in the morning. Night ends eventually. Darkness cannot endure. Especially when there is a carrot-topped nephew who stands steadfast at your side before the dawn breaks.

prayer request

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 21:19:08 GMT

Sunday morning, one of my best friend's here in TX called me. Her father, who'd been suffering from cancer these past months, died.

I went over there to try to comfort her and her brother, because I am really close to that family. When we met, we all stared at one another slightly awkwardly, and then this 19-year-old guy just collapses sobbing into my arms. I can't even begin to feel how deep his pain is. I feel so inadequate to comfort them. I'm hurting so much myself... he was just like a father to me. They told me his last words were remembering me and times I've spent with them.

I need comfort myself. I need prayers too. I feel so alone and helpless in trying to be a pillar to these two teenagers.

I'm angry too, because none of their other "friends" have come over to comfort them. I want to stay for as long as they need me, but I think it would help if some others came too... especially some of the boy's friends.

Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers for this week.

But especially, please keep them in your prayers this week. I'm not giving out names for privacy sake, but do pray for them all the same. They need it badly.

the saga continues

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 22:42:06 GMT

For those who read my below post about the Insane Library Mishap... I have an update.

Today our librarian called and said I owed $20 in fines for defacing library property. In the middle of my shock-filled moment, I heard snatches about "...cassette tapes that have been unwound."

Yeah. I admit it. I really get thrills out of unwinding Jane Eyre on tape.

How Clark Are You?

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 22:43:21 GMT

Idea stolen from this ingenious Faber.

[x] You know that there was a King named Augustus II. There was.
[x] Debating the existence of the Loch Ness Monster at a family reunion is normal.
[x] Eating spagetti for breakfast is always a good idea.
[x] You use the name "Homer" as a term of endearment.
[x] Arguing minor details is fun.
[x] You know every Aggie joke there is by heart, and injerject them frequently into conversation.
[x] You go to Mennonite, Baptist, and Pentecostal churches in turns, and not feel confused.
[x] You've cried during an animated cartoon.
[x] Imaginary friends are often reminisced about more than real friends.
[x] You gave at least one boy a black/blue eye on purpose.

[x] Drinking milk out of bowls is perfectly normal.
[x] As is eating soup out of mugs.
[x] You've caught yourself on fire at least once.
[x] Sarcasm is your love language.
[x] And slapping someone is the next best thing to hugging them.
[x] You are of the opinion that flowery perfume should be exiled.
[x] You've wrote a song about someone you know and dislike.
[x] You eat jalapeno's on nearly everything, including ice cream.
[x] If you smell a piece of furniture, you can tell what kind of tree it was.
[x] You very rarely pronounce "pinch" correctly.

[x] You've stayed up all night staring at the stars.
[x] You hate the emo hairstyle with a passion.
[x] You've called Yoda "cute."
[x] You've put words to "Fur Elise".
[x] You've fenced with foam beams.
[x] You regularly forget about eating.
[x] You've sung a song from Fiddler on the Roof in public. And danced.
[x] You think calculators are for looz3rz.
[x] You are regularly asked if what your wearing is "This years halloween costume dear?"
[x] You've exploded some irreplacable antique with a homemade bomb.

Now add up your score.

"I am __% Clark."

orchestra.

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 20:11:34 GMT

My love for music has officially and completely rekindled.

Earlier this week, a lady I know from many years ago just called out of the blue, and invited me to attend Vernon Parish Community Orchestra with her. Being free, and as she offered to give me a free ride there (it's a pretty long drive into Louisiana) I accepted.

Need I say I positively adored it? I was melting into a puddle of bliss before I was two measures into the first song. For one, it's the biggest group I've ever played with (there are several more musicians in it now besides just what's listed on their website), the most advanced group I've ever played with, and at least half of them are young people around my age. The best part is that everyone is widely varied: home schoolers, public schoolers, college students, priests, band directors, teachers, we even have a businessman (some office manager of a large corporation or another) on the french horn! Oh it's lovely.

Some of the songs we're working on now, and will perform in our Spring Recital are:

New World Symphony: First Movement
Bacchanale from Samson et Dalila
Academic Festival Overture (my favorite!)
Carmen Suite No 2
Finale from Symphony No 45

a library mishap.

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 20:47:30 GMT

Last week, I had to make a quick dash in the library for my dad. As my mom dropped me off she threatened to strangle me if I took any longer than ten minutes. (Which is basically like asking me to perform a miracle.)

So I got the DVD my dad wanted, grabbed a few potential masterpieces off the shelf, and made a quick dash for the checkout. I was pretty proud that I'd only taken 5 minutes, and gleamed at the Grouchy Librarian.

(Explanation: at our library, we have one Nice Librarian and one Grouchy Librarian. This day both of them were working, but the latter was the one who checked me out. )

I get up to the counter gleaming, and hand my books to Grouchy Librarian, who growls viciously at me, and turns to check them in. Her growl deepened. "You have six movies overdue," she says.

That's impossible, I countered. For one, the library policy is limited to 2 movies at a time. I told her this, and we argued for a while. Then I gave in for the sake of time, and asked for a list of them, so I could get the nonexistent movies when we got home.

"Your name is Joy, right?" she says in an even grouchier voice.

"Yes ma'am." Darling, sweet librarian. Please let me go already!

"You have 37 harlequin romance novels overdue."

I gasped aloud, I know it. There where three teenagers lined up behind me (all three of them had Harry Potter books in their arms, of all the coincidences. Two of them had Harry Potter glasses, and one looked gothic.) and all of them burst out giggling.

"That is really impossible!" I insisted, "Do you think I look like the kind of girl who reads stuff like that?!"

Out of pure meanness she answered, "Yes." My hair was smoking. Harry Potter fan number 2 behind me burst out into hysterics.

Just then Joanna came rushing in. "Joy, what is taking you so long?! Mom is going to have your head on a platter if you don't hurry up!!" I ushered her out the door, promising I wouldn't be long, and praying that the librarian didn't say anything about the romances.

"Look," I spat out, back at the counter, "I wouldn't ever check out those kind of books... and even if I did... surely I wouldn't have got 37 at once?!"

"The computer says you did," she answered dourly.

"Okay," I gave in again, remembering my irate mother, "Just print off the list of everything overdue and let me go. Please?"

She clicked a little bit more on that infernal machine, and begin printing off. I'll have you know that computer printed off everything we have ever checked out. After about ten minutes of excessive printing, Nice Librarian comes up.

"Hi sweetie, anything the matter?"

"She has 37 harlequin romances and 6 DVD's overdue," intoned The Grouch.

I began protesting but nice librarian interrupted. "Oh, I don't think so! She checks out stuff like Hamlet and Gone With the Wind and Wally McDoogle."

I've never seen a gothic kid go into hysterical laughter, but this one did. I began protesting that I haven't read Wally McDoogle since I was 6, and then it was only one book and because my sister made me. The gothic boy's laughter drowned out my words.

"It's on the record of the computer!" says the Grouchy Librarian.

"It's got to be a mistake."

"I think we need to call her parents!"

"She's such a little sweetie though..."

"Kids like that are what is wrong with the world.

Harry Potter Kid 1 behind me gave me a sympathetic pat. By this time I was sweating.

"Please, can't I just go?"

Nice Librarian was typing furiously at the computer. She mumbled incoherently, and then burst out, "Aha! It is a mistake! These books and movies were just duplicates... I'm so sorry honey... this isn't your fault..."

Gothic boy snorted as I ran, literally out the door. But by then, the hilarity of it all had hit me, and I was laughing too by the time mom picked me up. In fact, I was neither skewered nor roasted, because she was laughing so hard the whole way home she forgot to be mad.

37 harlequin romances indeed.