T Minus 118 Days

Ahhh and so we approach the beginning of the end, our last semester of undergrad college together. Our 4 years together have been wonderful and fun and exciting and crazy (emphasis on the crazy), but also seems to have flown by. I'm so excited to spend this last semester with you all, trying our hardest to make it through, enjoying every minute (well except the papers and group project stuff), and doing all sorts of crazy things! Here's to the last and hopefully best semester! Fun times:

An Ode to Freshman Year

Magic Parsley: Laurie's Parable

Upon seeing Laurie’s comatose state, Rachel’s heart filled with anger toward Pharisee and Sadducee. She knew justice must be served. Rachel swung her arms in rage above her head and vociferously chanted indecipherable words. She commanded the winds from the Cliff of the Knowledge of Good and Evil to enter through the pearly gates. Rachel generated a hurricane that consumed the motorized train and its forbidden passengers. Her chanting directed the tempest into outer space, where the remains of the Council of Doom would spin violently for the rest of eternity. Rachel smirked, finally satisfied that the Realm of Eden was safe from the terrorists and their sleeper cells.

Let us now take a moment to appreciate Rachel the Hurricane Hero and Experienced Fashion Model.

Gandledore's Gift.

Once upon a time there was a girl named Stephacocalous who was studying archaeology in hopes of becoming Indiana Jones' sidekick. Her studies had been going well throughout the semester, but as final exams drew ever nearer she began to feel very nervous. Her bullwhip skills were impeccable, so she knew she would easily pass her Fighting Enemies with Accents who Want to Use Ancient Objects to Take Over the World exam with no trouble, but some of her other classes were filled with daunting piles of homework. As she struggled one day to find the compass on a poorly labeled map of an ancient temple complex, she heaved a sigh and wished aloud, "If only I had some way of automatically knowing all this tiresome information. Not cheating of course, because I take the Honor Code very seriously, but perhaps some form of magic." And then she sighed again, knowing how impossible this was. After a few more minutes of identifying the remains of the temple priests she decided to get a smoothie to re-energize herself. On her way, Frank, the kind old man who greets students and keeps Campus Walk clean, asked for her help doing a small unimportant task. Stephacocalous readily agreed, showing the kindness of her heart, even amid the stress of exams. Impressed by her willingness to help, Frank asked if he could do anything for her in return, to which Stephacocalous replied that she only thing she desired was a magic study aid, but she knew this to be an impossible hope. Much to her shock, Frank suddenly transformed before her eyes; he became very tall, and his clothes changed into old fashioned robes, while his hair (which there usually isn't much of) became long, grey, and tangled. "I am the wizard Gandledore. You have asked for a magical study aid, and in return for your kind help, I will give you just such an item." He reached inside his sack of wizardly goods and pulled forth a large grey cloak. Handing it to Stephacocalous, he said, "Wear this Cloak of Knowledge when you study, and you will receive super-memory and ultra-understanding, allowing you to quickly complete any assignment and breeze through your exams. Use it wisely." With that, Gandledore disappeared, leaving Frank in his place. A bit shocked, Stephacocalous thanked him and continued on her way. She wore the Cloak of Knowledge for all her further studying, and just as Gandledore had said, she easily remembered everything she needed to finish her assignments and ace all her exams. And, true to her kind heart, she even shared her Cloak with her friends when they needed it. The End.

Sniffles

Sniffle dee dee, sniffle dee doo,

I've got a cold and so do you,

we sit and we sniff but to no avail,

relentless waiting for a chance to inhale,

but alas its no use,

we may as well call truce,

to this cold we leave the choice,

will I soon have a voice?

- Dedicated to my dear friends Laura-Michal and Candice who are dealing with a lot of crud in their lives right now. Here's hoping they have a full recovery and that everything blows over soon.

Love,

Hallie

Candice

Whew! I've sure been busy recently. Between sewing my dress for the colonial ball, playing the viola for UMW graduation, riding a bear around Crozet and of course listening to I don't feel like dancing, Something in Water and Avett Brothers, among others, I have had quite a buy schedule these past two weeks. Oh, I also forgot that several sharp things have been chewed on as well. Don't worry though, my teeth are still in their right place and feeling perfectly fine.

Other than all that I've been behaving myself and not doing any unnecessary things (that would be unthinkable!). I've been reading a lot of excellent books and of course taking pictures. My most recent adventure has been documenting Charlotte study for her AP exams. It's been quite an enterprise seeing her try to find a quiet spot to study (the bathroom has most recently become her favorite). I'm so thankful that UMW has never driven me to do that. You would never find me sitting in the hall shower studying (*shudder*). 
Well, I think that's it for me. I think I'm going to get my camera and take some pictures of feet, maybe Charlotte's.

~Steph (written while listening to songs listed above)

Nana vs. the Internet (/phone)

"Help!!!" the title of the email read.

Nana could not find her online banking under her favorites. "Oh, just google it," I said. How naive. Nana's internet struggles go far beyond my assumptions. "She doesn't know that you can type in the address bar!"Hallie exclaimed.

So over the phone, the valiant Hallie attempted to introduce beloved Nana to the online world we all know and love. Using Willard's internet. So in other words, she attempted to do the impossible.

"Okay, so go to the internet," Hallie coached through the phone.
"Nana? Nana?" Nana had hung up the phone. Operating two pieces of technology at once was clearly too ambitious.

"It's just the technology that's stupid, Nana; don't worry about it," Hallie encouraged Nana once she had reestablished connection.

"So go to the internet..."

"I'm gonna email you something; it's called a link, and it will take you to the page I'm looking at..."
*mumbling on the other side*
"No, you have to click on it."

"Yes you need the internet to get email.
No, no, don't worry, email is pretty fast."

I'm on the edge of my seat here.

Now she's attempting to add favorites! The ambition! The dedication!
"No, when you make a favorite page you don't need a password. You can do it."

Success!

"I'm not smart, Nana, I just grew up with internet." Oh Hallie. Our hero is so modest.

The adventure continues...

(Another gem from this conversation: "Ohhh, those are really old pudding cups, you know...")

Candice

Laura-Michal and the Case of the Green Slime

Once upon a time, Laura-Michal decided to invite her friends over to her family's magical lake-house. It was magical because sometimes it became invisible and couldn't be found. One by one her friends arrived (some even arrived multiple times...). After a delicious dinner, they decided to go for a swim. However, unbeknownst to them, danger awaited. Deep in the woods there lived a slimy green monster that loved the lake as much as L-M and her friends. At dusk, the creature would slink into the water, creating green (non-toxic) bubbles as its slime oozed into the water. L-M and her friends thought it had something to do with the nuclear power plant nearby... but that is just what the creature wanted them to think. The creature's name was Gilly.

To be continued... (by s/one other than Liz)

<3, Liz