a collection of topics

chris's advice to me today via im: "just say yes to random dating." i don't know what spurned the comment, or why he felt the need to explain it to me other than the fact that he said they were trying to come up with a romantic interest for brad, which then made him think about me somehow. {sigh} my sister is dating this great boy...who i had the chance to date last spring and declined, ironically. in retrospect, it's good that we were only friends, as it has given my sister a wonderful sidekick. i wonder if she realizes how great her boy is.

i've developed a random habit of checking a webpage that lists recent earthquakes in the bay area. i never realized that there are multiple tremors each day, always so small that they go unnoticed. i have this strange desire to experience an earthquake while i am out here...one strong enough to feel, but not strong enough to do any real damage. i wonder if this is weird.

this quarter i am taking a class called "the designer and society." except the name of the course doesn't really have anything to do with the material. it is decidedly non-techical, filled with graduate students like me who worry that they are mindlessly following the engineering trail and losing hold of their creative/emotional/human half. we read books. we meet for three hours once a week. and we just talk. about each other, about what we read, and about what we think. i am amazed to find that i am going to receive credit for something i would do voluntarily.

carter says he likes it when i visit because i get everyone together, which they never do on their own. this makes me happy. it makes me remember that i have awesome friends who love me and who i love in return, who are willing to meet on a random sunday night for mediocre pizza simply because i asked them to.

today was good for many reasons. 1) it was sunny. 2) the bursar's office bowed to my demands. 3) i met many interesting people in my me215 class and look forward to learning more about them. 4) nju, tunji, david and i did the dishes to the tune of random rap music that was oddly entertaining. 5) i located the nearest pier 1 so that tomorrow i can get some photos clips like christina's. 6) there is a message on my answering machine from neal. 7) i turned in another daily column. 8) alberto bought those cookies that i like, the ones with lemon jelly and a creme filling.

today was bad for only a few reasons. 1) it turns out dawson's creek doesn't return until next week, so i missed my weekly indulgence. 2) christopher was not at dinner. nick and emily think christopher has issues, and maybe he does, but he also has a friendly smile and laughs at my jokes, and so i missed him.

hmm. i think that is all.

(12:05 a.m.)

AGGGGGH!!! yet again, i have been brought close to a heart attack by freaking microsoft. the reason? my freaking computer tried to delete all my freaking email without any warning. i was calmly installing a new version of microsoft money and happily restarted my computer as requested...and when it booted again, all my email was gone! BASTARD MICROSOFT!! bill gates is lucky i knew how to handle the situation and locate the old files before they faded into the oblivion of my hard drive or else i would have figured out a way to firebomb his house. why does installing microsoft money have anything to do with my outlook express? i have no idea. money, email, money, email...i don't see the correlation. FREAKING MICROSOFT!!!

tomorrow i go in search of a better email reader. does anyone have similar complaints about eudora, or is that a good choice? if you have suggestions, please let me know.