What Happened

Abandoned Pools

Sun, 17 May 2009 22:44:25 GMT

I started this journal when I was sixteen. Now I'm edging up to my 20th birthday. This is certainly the longest that I have stayed with one journal-- though, in fairness, that may partially be due to lack of physical pages in other logs.

I'm trudging through schoolwork like a sport during this, my medical extension. Focus evades me most of the time, but damn it, I'll make it through somehow. When I simply can't write papers anymore, I move from my bed to my desk and tip-tap-tip at my typewriter. My work on my YA novel (so short, yet so long in the making! Like all of my novels) is moving along well today.

lead tree

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 03:03:49 GMT

lead tree

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 05:41:38 GMT

http://twitter.com/yellville

Twitter

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 06:51:24 GMT

Who has twitter?

http://twitter.com/yellville

I cut my own hair!

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 03:38:59 GMT

I'm surprised at how well my totally-whimsical attempt to cut my own hair was.

yeah yeah yeah

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 01:37:52 GMT

There's so much going on, just like always... so I'll just stick to the most important news. I'm engaged!

new blog... I'll still be around LJ sometimes though

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 23:58:02 GMT

http://rachelknight.blogspot.com/

stitch after stitch

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 08:54:22 GMT

Looks like LJ is still letting me use my Elvis mood theme from when I had a paid account. Fantastic! If only I still had my 103 user pics... but I just don't spend enough time on LiveJournal to merit the cost. The fact that I once had enough time for luxuries like working on a mood theme is unbelievable now that I've been in college for more than a year, with an increased credit load each semester. Then again, we college students often complain of not having enough time to, say, free read, or just relax, when in reality we're spending hours a day goofing off online, etc. Many of us can make time for the things we really want to do, but spend so much time procrastinating from work and doing the things that aren't important to us that by the time we get everything done we really don't have time. So in reality, I could probably make a mood theme even today if I didn't spend hours on my RSS feeder pre-homework every day. But I digress.

Usually at this time (4:32 AM) I'm just beginning the struggle for sleep, but tonight I went to bed so early that I got all of the sleep I needed before 4 AM. This isn't really correcting my sleep schedule, but it's a start. At least today I'll be able to make it to class instead of sleeping through it, which has been a problem. I'm scared of the repercussions. I'm working on going to bed early enough that I won't groggily sleep through my alarm. I've been a night owl since I was about seven, so rewiring my inner clock is hard to do and even harder to keep up. But it's really my only attractive option.

I'm applying to go to Vietnam with 10 or so other Marlboro students during Spring vacation. I'm mostly done with the application, but I'll hold on to it for a few days to make sure I've said everything I want to, and done so in the most eloquent manner. There are three possible groups I could be part of. One will focus on painting, spending lots of studio time in a Vietnamese fine arts school and studying both folk art and French-style impressionist paintings. Another trip would take me on hikes to remote areas where temple architecture is left behind from the Champa, Vietnam's former and long-running kingdom. The third trip would take me to a village in Vietnam to map water quality and study conservation, helping the people of nearby villages. Any of these trips would be amazing; it's really been hard to choose a favorite. I'm making it clear on the form that my interest in the trip is journalistic, which would make any of these trips perfectly suited for me.

Speaking of my interest in journalism, the first issue of the Citizen with me as editor was released to rave reviews from many students and faculty members. I'm proud of the work I did, and proud of the staff I hired and all of the guest writers. Everyone did an amazing job. The Citizen still has to get better as the year progresses, though. I'll make sure that this happens.

All right, well, I should probably use the rest of my morning productively. (Not that I'm not producing something right now.) I'm leaving late tonight to go home for the extended weekend, and haven't begun to pack yet. Again, it's all about doing the things that are actually needed in the moment.

你好

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 23:19:18 GMT

Sup biznatches.

I've been doing all sides of nothing. I spend most of my time on Facebook, but in between profile updates and Wall posts I'm actually quite productive. My entry title isn't a copy-and-paste, it's the fruition of my ultra-elementary study of Chinese. Now, Chinese isn't a language I thought I'd learn over the course of my life, but as it turns out I have a fondness for Chinese revolutionary literature and a promised solo tutorial from the head of the Asian Studies department so long as I get one semester of Chinese out of the way. I like Chinese, actually. The tones aren't as hard to grasp as I expected, and the characters are certainly pretty. The only thing that gets me is that it's such a hard language to learn that it will take years before I can translate even the simplest sentence found in literature... not at all like a romance language. There's no immediate gratification to be found in 中文.

Francais, on the other hand, is both beautiful and immediately useful, and I'm hoping to get a tutorial in that as well from the new applied linguistics prof.

For all my searching I have not found a job, but at least come Fall I'm back on payroll for the school newspaper. No, wait, I'll be RUNNING the payroll. I'm editor-in-chief now. Fuck yeah. It's not much more money, but I really care about this publication and I know I'll do great things with it.

I don't need the cash, anyway. This summer I've been working on my novel, and that's time better spent for a person who doesn't have any immediate need for money. It would be nice as hell to have some extra $$$, but I'll get by with the occasional household task rigorous enough to deserve payment.

I have a hepcat boyfriend who is my polar opposite- a techie programmer math geek who hates literature. I live for writing and can barely use keyboard shortcuts. How this works out so well is beyond me.

Sat, 31 May 2008 01:23:42 GMT

It's summertime.

What's up.

I totally forget what livejournal is like.

Maybe I'll stick around long enough to remember?

Thu, 19 Apr 2007 22:36:41 GMT

Hi, it's Tim from Pandora,

I'm writing today to ask for your help. The survival of Pandora and all of Internet radio is in jeopardy because of a recent decision by the Copyright Royalty Board in Washington, DC to almost triple the licensing fees for Internet radio sites like Pandora. The new royalty rates are irrationally high, more than four times what satellite radio pays and broadcast radio doesn't pay these at all. Left unchanged, these new royalties will kill every Internet radio site, including Pandora.

In response to these new and unfair fees, we have formed the SaveNetRadio Coalition, a group that includes listeners, artists, labels and webcasters. I hope that you will consider joining us.

Please sign our petition urging your Congressional representative to act to save Internet radio: http://capwiz.com/saveinternetradio/issues/alert/?alertid=9631541

Please feel free to forward this link/email to your friends - the more petitioners we can get, the better.

Understand that we are fully supportive of paying royalties to the artists whose music we play, and have done so since our inception. As a former touring musician myself, I'm no stranger to the challenges facing working musicians. The issue we have with the recent ruling is that it puts the cost of streaming far out of the range of ANY webcaster's business potential.

I hope you'll take just a few minutes to sign our petition - it WILL make a difference. As a young industry, we do not have the lobbying power of the RIAA. You, our listeners, are by far our biggest and most influential allies.

As always, and now more than ever, thank you for your support.

-Tim Westergren
(Pandora founder)

Wed, 04 Apr 2007 23:07:43 GMT

Natasha, Neal and I headed to downtown Portsmouth to take photos. Tash was toting her Holga (an evidently "ghetto camera", to quote Tashi) for a class assignment in black and white photography. I brought my bad-ass Kodak Easyshare P850, which is way too good for me, and took a couple of snaps myself.

Our day trip spanned a good deal of Portsmouth, plus Hampton Beach and the nature trail behind my old middle school. The best photo op was when we came across Malebox, an all-white R&B band who wore matching outfits and sang joke songs about stripping.

Larger and better quality photo behind the cut.

Tash picked me up at 12. The plan was to pick Neal up at his house, and take some photos in downtown Portsmouth (a historic town in New Hampshire that Tash and I go to a lot for cafe hopping and store browsing). She had a specific subject in mind, but she needed to use up her film and was up for some detours.

We stopped by the side of the road on the way to Neal's to snap some pictures of horses.

They were very pretty. I mentioned my years as a horseback rider to Natasha.

After picking up Neal, we went to the Portsmouth library to visit an old phone booth that Tash was intrigued by. She took some horror movie-style photos of Neal and I, with him sneaking up on me as I leaned unknowingly against the booth, or trying to pry open the door as he attacked me with a make-shift weapon.

I was inspired by her concept, and wanted to take some old-horror-movie-esque pictures of my own. If I got some good ones, I figured, I could edit them into black and white and attach a story to them. It didn't end up working very well- partially because Neal, whom I had cast as Tash's stalker, was a terrible model. XD

Sneak up on her from the other side of the phone booth, I said.

No, Neal, not quite! Tash did a better job posing. Here's her opening the door to her (fake) apartment, being looked at from above by a hidden admirer:

I did manage to make a couple of conceivably frightening shots:

Aw, come on, there could totally be a horror movie about falling ice and snow.

I took a few pictures of my a-dork-able friends:

A miscellaneous shot of Tash's:

Next we went to the park. We were disappointed to see the flowers still missing. As we walked up to the garden, we saw two guys dressed in funny matching outfits and a couple of fake gold chains that said "#1". I already wanted to take their picture! I wondered what they were doing there- were we about to witness a funny prank or performance? While I waited for their next step, Tash and Neal and I wandered about the garden.

We walked down to the harbor. I noticed that the number of guys in funny outfits had grown, and they were now lip syncing and dancing in front of a camera. I wanted to sit closer to them so I could talk to them and figure out what they were doing, but Tash was a little creeped out by them.

We sat down on benches at the pier and came to the conclusion that we were actually gangsters. At first I was thrown off by the fact that I was white, seventeen years old, female and wearing a Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends shirt. But once I put on a side-tilted baseball cap and threw up some hand symbol, I was convinced.

Luckily for me, Malebox continued shooting their video closer to us. We asked them what they were doing, and they said that they were an R & B group shooting a video for "Takin' Off All My Clothes Off" or something equally silly.

"Do you guys strip at parties or something?" Tash asked them.

"Why, would you pay us?" one guy asked (jokingly... I think.) I think that Neal said "Would you do it for free?" at this point, but that sounds pretty uncharacteristic so I'm not sure.

Some photos from afar:

Took one final stab at creepy photography in front of a hulking Gothic church. Tash took this one:

We visited the book store and got some gourmet chocolate after that. Having exhausted Portsmouth, we went to Hampton Beach. Here's a war memorial that faces the ocean:

There's Tash, working hard!

Natasha needed a motion shot, so I directed her to my old elementary/middle school playground. She took the proper photos of me on the swings, then we just hung out.

They're so cute together!

Good thing we had chosen a playground with no kids on it during the weekend, because we got it in our heads that it was fun to pretend to be strippers. XD

That playground holds such sentimental memories for me. After all, I was there daily (or near-daily, as I got older) from first through eighth grade. Any life stages, friendships or social conflicts that took place during that time manifested in one way or another on that field of torn-up tire bits. (Yes, the whole thing is covered in shredded car tires, and it wreaks havoc on shoes and exposed skin!)

Tash and I pretended to be emo in a mirror marked "mirror."

I mentioned that there was a nature trail on the other end of the field. We hiked down it, seeing all the stick tepees that sixth graders make during their Survival unit. (I remember the day when I made one. The grade headed down to the woods and split into groups. Then, we were dealt our fate- a couple of people might have their arm tied up because they had "broken their arm", for instance- and then we would build shelters to be graded at the end of the day. Sixth grade was ridiculously environmental. XD)

These aren't survival shelters, but they were there nonetheless, next to the outdoor classroom:

We hiked back.

I think Neal has a weird way of talking that requires his tongue to reach up to the roof of his mouth with every other syllable. XD

Tash and I rolled down a hill for kicks. It was a great time. I kept trying to take a picture of Tash rolling down the hill, but I kept snapping the frame too early.

I made her do it again and again.

But I still wasn't getting the shot. I thought my demands were going to kill her! XD I swear, she could hardly walk back up the hill after awhile. But I asked her to try it one more time, and she made let out a groan and gave a hero's walk back up the hill.

Then Neal jumped on her. That couldn't have helped.

What a good sport my friend Natasha is!

And it paid off in the end, didn't it? Here we are, pleased with ourselves:

I'm still shaking (well, not really).

Sun, 01 Apr 2007 22:40:32 GMT

Did anyone else have a FREAKING HEART ATTACK by Abe's post on the LJ front page?

Oh my God. XD I didn't know what to do until I saw that it was an April Fool's joke. I'm so gullible (and so protective of the LiveJournal I know and love!)

Bush at Correspondent's Dinner

Thu, 29 Mar 2007 21:32:21 GMT

He should have just gone into stand-up comedy! ;.;

"A year ago my approval rating was in the 30s, my nominee for the Supreme Court had just withdrawn, and my vice president had shot someone...

"Ah, those were the good ol' days."

I am on the dawn on finals week.

Sun, 11 Mar 2007 22:02:20 GMT

...And so, this will be brief. (Brevity: my most lacking quality!)

I saw Cordelia (wonderful, amazing, beautiful Cordelia) for an hour at Me & Ollie's today. She makes me incredibly happy. I am struck and pleased that I make her feel the same.

We cuddled and pretended to ingest cafe fare. (We wouldn't want to be seen as loiterers!) We kissed a ridiculous amount of times, short blissful kisses that held a world of hope and expressed our joy that we were really together.

"I believe you've made a true poet out of me," I said, cuddling with her on a little sofa at the edge of the cafe.

"You were always a poet," she replied, grasping my arm and pulling it softly over her shoulder. I knew this would be her reaction; we know each other well, and can predict exactly what the other is about to say (and we love each other enough to still be surprised and overjoyed by these predicted reactions!)

"Yes, I guess I was always a poet. But you've turned me into a true poet."

Fri, 09 Mar 2007 23:54:57 GMT

I'm finding it harder and harder to find time to construct actual entries for this thing, which is particularly sad since I have one or two unfinished entries that I regret will not be posted until finals week is over.

Ja, so I'll just get out with it then. I got into Marlboro College! Isn't that ace? My first choice school and everything!

It happened over vacation. I'm so excited! There's not much chance that I'll choose any school over it. The letter in and of itself really showed me how personalized Marlboro would be in every way: it wasn't even a form letter. It was all about me. (And I must add, they were very insightful!)

Send your congratulations via comments; flowers and balloons may be delivered to my my P/O Box. (Just kidding, kids.)

...

This has been floating around the internet:

The following is an actual question given on a University of Washington engineering mid-term. The answer was so "profound" that the Professor shared it with colleagues, and the sharing obviously hasn't ceased...

Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or Endothermic (absorbs heat)?

Most of the students wrote Proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law, (gas cools off when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant. One student, however, wrote the following:

"First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate that souls are moving into Hell and the rate they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let us look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Some of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there are more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially.

Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand as souls are added. This gives two possibilities:

1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.

2. Of course, if Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.

So which is it?

If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa Banyan during my Freshman year, "...that it will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you.", and take into account the fact that I still have not succeeded in having sexual relations with her, then, #2 cannot be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and will not freeze."

This student received the only A.

Tue, 06 Mar 2007 23:24:58 GMT

I am ridiculously beautiful. I am also a pretty emotional person.

Witness:

Pissed off.

In anguish.

Uncomfortable yet amused.

Excuse this one infringement on the unspoken laws of friends-page preservation. Unless it's severly messing with your layout, in which case, tell me. Either way, look at the rest of crazy emotion faces.

Naughtily amused.

Schmooze.

Shocked and appalled.

Skeptical.

Disgusted.

Wistful.

Seductive.

Curious.

Sat, 17 Feb 2007 00:49:31 GMT

Life's been great, as usual. A lot of my school hours (and a little bit of my play hours) have been taken up by two fascinating journalistic pieces that I've been writing. Actually, no, writing isn't the right word- I'm still transcribing the seperate interviews!

One is a piece on a trio of Winnacunnet alumni: Cynthia, Andrew and Julie-Ann Bauer. They're siblings that graduated in the early 90's and have since founded a charity that helps disabled children in Kenya. What they've done is pretty amazing. This is my final project for Winnachronicle class, so I'm trying to pull out every stop. Right now I'm tracking down Cynthia's favorite WHS teacher for comment. He works at Harvard now... Julie-Ann's favorite teacher was a much easier catch, as she still works here. XD

My other piece is the culmination of a collection of interviews with teenage mothers (or expectant mothers) at Winnacunnet. Great stuff. The first girl I interviewed is more articulate than almost any other kid at our school. She presents a fresh twist to the article too, as she is a.) still with the father, b.) a high honors student and graduating a year ahead of her class and c.) raising the child with the help of both of her parents and both of the father's parents (that is to say, healthy marriages are in the picture.) Now, if that doesn't blow all stereotypes out of the water!

I'm currently beside myself with bliss, because I'm going to Cordelia's school dance tomorrow. Eeep!

What else? I'm hanging out with Natasha on Monday. I always thought that when she went off to college, I'd rarely see her! Thankfully, that's definitely not the case.

"Lesbos": childish insult, or an impressively classicist way to pay homage to Sappho?

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 22:20:18 GMT

I have an interview at Marlboro College tomorrow! I hope that my portfolio is half as killer as I think it is. (I have no experience with this sort of thing, you see.)

I hadn't even heard of the concept of "application supplements" when I sent out all of my Common Applications. It turns out that there are a lot more things that I need to complete and deliver... but everything (and this time it really is everything) that I need for Marlboro is completed and ready to turn in.

I can't blame my college counselor for the misunderstanding, because he's awfully busy. (It didn't stop me from getting all high-diction-pissed-off at him, though.) Word to the wise: getting high-diction-pissed-off is always humiliating in retrospect.

"I AM IN THE THROES OF A GENUINE DISASTER THROUGH A CRITICAL ERROR OF YOUR OWN!" I'm such a dork.

Wish me luck on the interview, dear friends.

-Rachel

(PS: Dig the entry title.)

Sun, 28 Jan 2007 00:24:28 GMT

For the past couple of days, I've been pondering whether or not activism is futile without both radical and peaceful influences. The NAWSA and the National Womens' Party played on each other's weaknesses during the women's suffrage movement. The former stayed very neutral, never proposing that a federal female suffrage law be made. The NWP had much less political influence than the NAWSA, but they used extremist strategies and held all-or-nothing goals. If the NAWSA had been the only women's suffrage organization around, a Constitutional amendment for womens' suffrage would have been delayed by decades or more. If the NWP had fought alone, Washington could have easily ignored them.

Malcom X and Martin Luther King Jr., in my humble opinion, needed each others' views for more than "saftey in numbers". God knows Malcom X would have had an even harder time preaching his militant views if Dr. King hadn't already tested the waters with his then-shocking black rights movement. I think it goes both ways: without Malcom X and similar extremist black leaders, Black Pride and drastic action towards racial equality would be stunted even today.

Would human welfare be as well-supported without the options of neutral charities (Salvation Army), extremist organizations (Amnesty International), and middle-of-the-road options (Direct Relief International)? I'll be damned if every Salvation Army supporter would be comfortable with the amnesty for terrorists that (to put it very, very basically) Amnesty International holds. And here's a personal testimonial for you: if I hadn't felt empathy for Amnesty International's mission, I never would have sought out and become a regular donor to a less-extreme human rights charity (Direct Relief International).

I'm not writing these things to record a fully-formed opinion; I do not yet posess one on the subject. I'm just giving it some thought. What I really want to hear is what you think:

View Poll: #915348

I'd prefer you comment, but the poll captures the eye. XD

Regina Spektor - Fidelity

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 04:17:27 GMT

I like this song very much.

I didn't realize it, but before tonight, I hadn't seen a music video in full for many months. You will understand, then, how very nice a music video must be for me to watch it thrice in one night.

What sweet sentiments this media mixture puts forth!

It's not pic spam; it's an endangered species. ;.;

Wed, 17 Jan 2007 23:21:40 GMT

AYE-AYE! Such a little weirdo.

Hairy-nosed wombat! It can grow bigger than a dog.

Slender loris! It looks wise, doesn't it?

Volcano rabbit! Does it look spikey to you? It looks spikey to me.

Bumblebee bat! Teensy little thing.

Long-eared jerboa! Largest ear-to-body ratio on a mammal.

Red panda! Like the cutest little raccoon you've ever seen.

Anderson's mouse opposum! Only seven specimens have ever been discovered.

Saiga antelope! It looks sad. Perhaps this is because his head is too big for his critically endangered body. ;.;

It is sad to see so many species in a state of critical endangerment. Some of the animals I found on the London Zoological website (whose current program to conserve these and other rare mammal species provided most of the images for this post) had no photographs– just skulls or artist renderings. But it is also great to "discover" animals that I never before knew existed.

Especially the aye-aye! Tell me if you like it.

Sun, 14 Jan 2007 04:02:35 GMT

My college applications, and all that go with them, are finished and sent. I've spent a long time with the nearly-constant responsibilty of college applications hanging over my head, and now I have nothing left to do.

This sounds silly, I'm sure. For most kids, the stress is just beginning! I don't know where I'm going to college yet, or even where I'll get accepted, but... these are things that I don't have control over right now. I have so much extra time, and nothing to feel guilty about neglecting! It's a strange and wonderful feeling.

I just love not having any major projects! It's been awhile. Today I studied Japanese, finished Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, started a new book about the human genome, went online knowing that I wasn't neglecting something else by doing so...

Now my responsibility rests with my writing. I can finally (FINALLY!) work on that novel again.

You all must be wondering what colleges I applied to. I'm hoping to major in Comp. Lit. at Smith, Hampshire, Marlboro or U Mass Amherst, or Literature at Mount Holyoke. Four of those are sister colleges, so if I get into one I can take classes at all of them. And oh, what wonderful classes they are! Reading the course titles and descriptions raise my blood pressure a bit. XD

Filling out the applications, I couldn't help but think that nothing on those pages could let me shine. (For one thing, I had always imagined the applications being longer.) The written components and teacher recommendations will be a real boost, though. Anyway, I'm probably just imagining my inferiority on paper!

Ah, and now I am done.

You'll never guessed who died. (No, actually, you will).

Sat, 30 Dec 2006 04:32:25 GMT

So... Hussein is dead.

People watched the news coverage like a sporting event.

Thu, 28 Dec 2006 03:25:03 GMT

AHHH! I finally get to see Body Worlds!

Body Worlds is an exhibit of corpses that have gone through the process of plastination. They are shown in ballet poses, skateboard poses, poses on top of horse corpses... anyway, the exhibit is currently being housed at the Boston Museum of Science, and I'm seeing it tomorrow. FINALLY!

You have no idea how great this is going to be. For months, people I don't even know have been coming up to me to recommend this exhibit. Apparently, it's really gotten out that I like mortuary science. (I'm glad that people have used this information to recommend scientific presentations, rather than, I don't know, being afraid of my interest in corpses.)

So I'm going tomorrow, with just a few weeks to spare, and seeing the exhibit! I can only think of a handful of better ways to spend two hours than studying the anatomy of cadavers-- and all of the better ways involve being with Cordelia. Yes, Cordelia > dead bodies. Definitely. But that's about it.

If you've seen Casino Royale, you've seen Body Worlds. As a matter of fact, you've seen the exhibit in Boston.

"But Rachel, what scene was that?" Uh... the one with the dead bodies in weird poses in the middle of the Boston Museum of Science.

OH MY GOD THIS IS GOING TO ROCK!