It's been several months since I last posted here, and while I'm relatively sure that Pham and Liz are the only people that even remotely check this, eh..that's ok.

This past semester was the end of my junior year at the U of I. I spent it living with Liz, working for ERDC CERL (Army Corps of Engineers writing about invasive weeds for natural resource managers on various military installations...I know, dork out there, Rose), and getting things finalized for my study abroad stint in Australia - something that I will leave for in about three weeks.

I spent spring break 09 in the floods and blizzards of the South Dakota region, on a mission trip to a Native American reservation with some of the best people I've had the opportunity to meet and spend time with, and learning a lot about emotional stamina. The people and the environment there were huge blessings, but I think we all learned that when you're strained emotionally, that can take a real toll on your physical strength too. An experience I wouldn't trade for the world, though. One of the coolest things I remember was this family there - a father and his five kids, who were really active in the church, and we did a lot of praying together and spending time together, and the types of things that they can show you about yourself...that you didn't even know before...it was just amazing. I found the integration of the Lakota lifestyle into the Catholic faith to be particularly beautiful, and we saw that first hand when we did a prayer service at a little town called Kenel. The church had star quilts all over the place, and the altar was literally a tree trunk that had been polished down. Even the tabernacle was Lakota - it was covered with a small fur teepee. The church was set up in a circle, which is also sacred to Lakota, and while some of us stayed behind and made the food, the rest went door to door in the little town (where it was absolutely FREEZING), inviting people to come eat dinner with us (also called a "feed") and then for some prayer. It was so cool seeing everyone that showed up, and we had an opportunity to get the Anointing of the Sick, which is a sacrament that I haven't got in years. All in all it was an incredible trip, with lots of bonding and laughing.

The rest of the semester was just work and school, really. Wednesday night logo nights and trying to work out more, as well as you know, academics. It was great having my friends in my classes with me - and it was definitely helpful when it came to getting ready for the exams. Excuse me, 202 final, while I totally kick your ass. I started seeing a guy I met in Murphy's (yeah, surprised myself with that one), and we've been together happily for the past nine-ish months. Besides that, my brother got the news that he'll go to Parkland, my younger sister enjoyed her first year (including a study abroad trip to Rome), and Liz graduated from architecture and took an internship in Austria. She got into WashU for grad school, too, so hooray for Idee! :)

Graduations galore, actually. Chris graduated, Patrick graduated, and Elizabeth graduated. Of all the speeches though, I have to say that the high school one was the best. :) Irony. I guess we just start sucking at public speaking as we get older (and especially if you go into architecture...sorry Idee, it's true. The speakers sucked).

Since then, it's just been weekend after weekend of summer sun. I have one more week at work, which is just fine by me. All the profiles are finally coming together, so all I have to do is finish a few more in between all my sunbathing and kicking back.

Chris and I went with his friends Dom and Jesse to the Florida Keys last week, which was totally amazing. We stayed at his great-grandfather's house right on the ocean, and went down to Key West twice. Our days were always filled with great food and really cool stuff to do - most of which I'd never done before - like kayaking to an island to go snorkeling, and getting to see a shark swim right in front of me. We also went fishing on a party boat, and I caught a ton of fish, which Chris and Dom fried up later. It was seriously a great time - sunbathing right on the ocean, listening to the sound of the waves, and watching the stars at night while we sat at the point trying to catch the sharks. :) Good memories.

Now I'm just gearing up for Australia - living with my family and going to school...hopefully there's a job opportunity in there somewhere - I do love my moneys...:)

Hope you're all well - I'll keep in touch much more once I leave.

By Paul R. Ehrlich, 1968.
From the Population Bombed

"A ship has hit the rocks and is sinking. The passengers scream for help. Some jump overboard and are devoured by the circling sharks. A group of distinguished scientists is on board. One of their number suggests that they can help man the pumps. "Oh, no!" shout the others. "That might hurt the captain's feelings. Besides, pumping is not our business. It's outside our field of competence." You can guess what they do. They appoint a committee to study the problem, with subcommittees on marine engineering and navigation. They announce to the passengers that in two or three years the committee will produce a wonderful report which will be acceptable to the passengers, the captain, and the steamship line. Not so passive are the politicans. Some jump up to say that the passengers don't understand the political realities of the situation. Other more progressive politicians grab thimbles and start bailing, stopping every few seconds to accept praise for their valiant efforts. That about sums up the situation on the population control front in the United States and in much of the rest of the world."

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4752349n?source=mostpop_video

Ugh. And Sarah Palin supported this. Suddenly I'm all the more glad that Obama got voted in.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4752349n?source=mostpop_video

Very interesting. No doubt I think some of this might have been scripted and editted, but there's no doubt that people really aren't being very fair with each other.

So, Pham has bullied me into posting again. By which I mean I found a link to MYSELF from HIS page. Sneaky. Not sneaky enough! Ha ha! I have discovered you!

No, but really, I haven't posted in ages. I spent the rest of that summer (aka most recent post) and came back to the States, continued some Parkland courses I was in, and then hopped on the next plane to Australia the next month, where I got a really good chance to visit with my family and spend some good quality time with Dad...oh yeah, and jet set across four different cities. My life...it's just so hard sometimes....

I got a chance to see my grandfather in the few months before he passed away, which I can't even express how much I appreciated. Being the first person in this country to hear about it and to pass that news on to my family wasn't necessarily something I enjoyed, but it was relief to see him out of pain.

School is progressing. I am still striving to capture that elusive beast "degree," and as such my days are spent in classrooms discussing biodiversity, the state of the environment, trying not to zone out to the sound of Dr. Mehrtens' voice, and also trying not to maul the sorority member in front of me who obsesses about the cutest guy she met at the bar last night while texting on her super mini phone. (pet peeve? Absolutely.)

My nights are filled with sitting at my house and/or working out when I get told by many people to get off my ass and go do it. (Thank you, people.) Koinonia is taking up a lot of time these past few days, and I'm sure it will only get more time consuming from here as 100 is just around the corner. The thought crossed my mind today - with Catherine and as participant, Liz as Sacred Scripture, and me on Service Team, there will be three Keane members out there that night. Slowly but surely, we will take over everything.

My sisters are doing well - it seems like Elizabeth's life is still busy with architecture even though she doesn't have some godforsaken thing called "studio" this time around. She looked at and applied to a ton of grad schools as well, so she should be hearing back from them soon.

Catherine is enjoying her second semester at college, as far as I can tell. Making good friends, avoiding huge problem choices and/or people, and she even got to go to Italy this winter break for a two week study abroad trip.

Patrick is finishing up high school. Good kid, and very funny. Always knows exactly what to say to cheer his older sister up. Sometimes I just wish his class wasn't so full of complete shit heads. Crossing the fingers for the U of I, and we'll hear back about that at some point, too.

At this point, I'm off to do laundry. Pham, I will return, otherwise I'm sure you'll hunt me down and try to get me to do this again. :)

--Rose

I am sitting here in the internet area of the International Airport at Zurich, waiting for my next flight. Apparently American airlines and the Swiss Airlines don't really talk to each other, so my first ticket flopped. Oh well, I'm surrounded by chocolate stores, so life is good.

The trips were fine, but just my luck - I get to sleep right as we start the descent to land. It reminds me of the jankety bus chair on the way back from London. Buh. Whatev.

I miss people. I'm no good with the transit part of traveling. Once I get there I'm good, but it's this middle stuff that doesn't work out too well. But I'm pretty pumped for the way back because I get to take a train ride from Rome to Vienna. Ten hours, but that's ten hours of in the Alps beauty. Many thanks to Ryan for giving me the music I'm listening to on this trip.

I love you, Idee, and I hope work isn't too boring while I'm gone. I love you, Cafpuch and Pat-tick, and I hope Australia is going well. I got your text message the other day, too, Catherine. I love you very much too.

greatness + greatness = great greatness.

Traveling is always a good time, though. Even when I get lonely, it's a complete revival. I'm soooo over last year. Sorry about all the crap, but hey, it's done. We're just waiting on you now. (name that movie - it's Ironman)

Shawty get loose....hit the dance floor and act like there's no one else in here....krump clown...

Alright, sleep deprivation leads to irrational posts. Rest assured the hott Italian boys will be acquired, Kate. I miss most of you and am glad I'm away from the rest of you. :D Blunt. That's me!

Love!
--Rose

Catherine has graduated, Elizabeth's home, and it seems that right now we're just waiting for Dad to get back so that the nuclear family is all finally together again. It just kinda sucks that Omama won't be back for a while - if ever. It was so exciting to see Elizabeth the other day in the cafeteria - the tan, beautiful little "I've spent the past year in Europe so admire me" woman that she is - just sweeping in with this huge bouquet for Catherine, and a bunch of French candies - which she told us later resulted in a dramatic exchange between the airport security and Elizabeth - she sassily told them that she was not concealing a gun - it was just candy. I believe my first words were "What the f***" when I first saw her. I pictured it going a little bit better in my mind. It's just all really exciting. Along the lines of Catherine's graduation - it was a good ceremony. Nice mass, and Father Ketcham actually gave the homily. I got several shots of Catherine walking around, and there's a full commentary on the video camera as everything's happening. "No one ever wants to be that jackass that takes the front row away from the old people. No one but me. I will gladly be that jackass." Such a good time. Catherine's so pretty, so grown up, so ready for a world that doesn't sell her short because she's not one of the favorites. Wow, that sounded loaded, but still. I'm very very proud of the beautiful young woman she has become. It was really good to see Kelsey and Carolyn and Alysia at the graduation. The more of these people that I see and the more I figure out about how the summer is feasibly going to go, the more relaxed and hopeful I get. Carolyn and I will be doing accountability across a common livejournal account, which is actually quite exciting for me, and I'm definitely getting pumped. Maybe one of my goals should be getting to bed earlier. :D And, finally, some very good news is that I finally got my computer fixed!! It involved a knife and the CD drive and I'm damn lucky I'm not dead, but it all works out in the end, right? ;D It's amazing. Finding things on this computer from fall semester. Had a big long clean up and empty trash fest, and now it just looks like I have my computer back! My fingers are so happy to be reunited with their old keyboard. :D Bed time - I have to get to reading one of the books I've asked Carolyn to hold me accountable for. :) Have a good night, kiddies!

What is this strange illness?! I've been sick for two weeks straight, and seriously sick too - none of this mamby pamby "I don't quite feel right" business. Tomorrow, doctor - if no improvement. Note to self.

Well, the summer seems to be panning out alright. After some very major but I'm pretending they're minor setbacks, I'll be on the way to a GPA boost and credit hours for research. Now...what about this job business. Any ideas, people?

Catherine's graduating soon - I'm going to be Dad's fill in at all the "parents only" type events - and because I'm an alumni, if they give me grief I will have no trouble giving them what for. Wrath will be felt, in a much smaller way. Maybe they'll only feel my general irritation. Awww, ickle Catherine's all grown up and graduating high school and moving on to things - we'll see if she figures out her life path better than mine.

Hmm...I came across an interesting quote the other day: "Sometimes the things you considered the greatest blessings in your life turn out to be your biggest mistakes." It's really really depressing, but I kinda find it true. The choices that were made in terms of what I dedicated my time to in first semester of this year - I viewed it all as a huge blessing. But as more time goes on I find I'm just sadly jaded by the whole thing and I really don't ever want to have to touch on it again. It's a bit difficult to avoid that, but as far as I'm concerned, the past is the past, and I will not keep it in my present. There's a reason people from the past don't make it to your present or future. And I'm thankful that they step out when they do.

I need to take a shower! This was random.

Finals are done. Sophomore year is done - even though by hours I'm a junior already....haha, yeah, push my own agenda.

It really seems like it wasn't that long ago that all of this started. I remember the beginning of college - meeting all kinds of people, doing all sorts of things, and now it's almost as if  people expect you to find college routine. I mean, I understand that going to lecture, doing homework, and making stupid decisions every once in a while should all be a part of the college experience, but I guess I'm just still looking for more. I didn't do my best this time around - and I haven't given it my best shot by any stretch, even from day one. It just makes me think - if this is what the real world's going to filled with - people like me, the people I've met, the people I've come to know and love - I don't know if I should be happy or if I should crawl into a small hole and be a hermit for the rest of my life. I guess I finally figured out that history repeats itself in the next generation, and I'm not at all surprised.

But this time it'll be different. By the time my generation gets from college out into the real world, we'll have to make some serious and really consequential decisions. What will the face of America be? How will we choose to affect the rest of the world? If it's the inbred crowd that frequently patronizes the Daniel Street bars, I can see us fast headed towards something not really all that good. If it's the face that I see in some of the people I've had the privilege to meet and call my friends - I'll be fine. :)

It just seems like such a young age for us to try and sort things out and try to become the leaders of the rest of the world - just two years ago I was worrying about things like a Spanish homework assignment, who was saying what in the locker room, and what dress would be the cheapest for me to wear to prom. Now I need to decide where to take my entire life?! And maybe even meet a potential spouse, if that's what's in store for me?! No thank you, at least not on the spouse part. Least not right now.

Just some random thoughts as I'm vegging out for the summer. We're all terrifyingly confused, whether we admit it or not, and through entropy, we'll all grow up - and take the world somewhere. All I can concretely do about that is pray, and cross my fingers that the Daniels  Street crowd somehow falls through the cracks. :D I'm mean, I know.

Sitting in my room on a Sunday, things are going fairly well, but also increasingly frustratingly.

There have been too many things to do this weekend, and I have successfully avoided doing most of them. I need to finish a lot of labs and try to reschedule my IB 202 lab, which happens to be going on at the same time as Christy's play. It's a good thing I didn't end up as freaking Tomoyo. Honestly, if I could be in the play instead of artificially inseminating sea urchins, I'd be more than happy. As it is, it was a scheduling misunderstanding that I honestly feel like I dropped the ball on.

My birthday was pretty good and definitely low key. Went to Murphy's to celebrate, which was pretty sweet. The feeling that I got when I walked into the basement and realized that I knew most of the people in there as people that I told the get together about was really good. I only had a few drinks and then called it a night. It seems kind of sad to me, almost, to be leaving teenage years, but at the same time I'm not really phased. It's just another birthday, right? :D

Carolyn did something really really cool, though. She went all around her campus to a lot of people she knew and asked them to say "Happy Birthday, Rose" or some variation of it, and she sent me the recording of all of them - which was really really cool because she got two of her classes to do it. One was a normal sized class, and the other one was a huge lecture hall. It was so amazing to hear all those people saying those words. I laughed so hard for some of it (including a Kip-look-alike with a raccoon puppet) and the awkward plate holders. :D It's definitely one of the best birthday presents I've ever gotten.

I talked to her for a while on the phone the other day, too. Updates on everything - from my daily frustrations to the most recent fight about earrings to the Matt from Physics kid who I'm trying to get a hold of. It was really good to talk to her and share life. Summer should be much easier and a lot of fun.

The only thing that I definitely have to do is make some serious bank. Mom's going to rent out the house that Elizabeth and I were supposed to live in because we have a huge pile of bills and this would help bring in just a bit more cash. I'm not altogether opposed to it, because this professor guy that's coming in definitely needs a place to stay, but it's just going to be very frustrating because Mom and Dad might be breathing down my neck (and Elizabeth's too) for the ridiculous hours that we'll be keeping. Honestly, I get up earlier, I stay out and up way way late. I can't afford to be dealing with the stress of Mom or Dad calling me constantly to ask what I'm doing or where I'm going or when I'll be home and why I'm not asleep yet. I know we need some funding, and Mom's emphasizing the point that Elizabeth and I should not spend our money on an apartment, but at the same time, can I really function well with the added stress of home life? Seems really melodramatic of me, and I love my family to death, but honestly, before someone criticizes my opinion, what would you do? Does anyone who lives on their own at school now really think that they could go back home WHILE doing school? If it's not the hawking, it'll be handy dandy yet thoroughly obvious life cliches meant to motivate me - or them bitching about how "Don't you like being at home? Always running off, don't you like your family?" Buh. I should stop or else I'll drag myself down with it.  It just seems that they understand how to be professors, but they don't understand the demands and the choices of the modern day student. Oh my goodness, this will be frustrating. Offer it up? If someone tells me that, I will scream.

Oh hoo hum, other people. What's become an increasing problem as of late is the unwillingness of people to approach supposedly awkward situations. I'm not presuming to single out anyone, but I definitely have a few examples in mind. Would it honestly kill a person to extend even the smallest bit of effort - or would it be better to let the situation or the argument or the discussion to become tense and unfriendly while feigning happiness. I am fast losing respect for people who won't rise to the challenge of interpersonal issues or their own communication blocks. Part of what makes us who we are is how we relate to other people, and I am fast realizing that I tend to give people too much credit. Silly me.

So, after sufficiently irritating myself further by thinking of all these stupid situations, I will now go and try to get some work done. Have a good rest of your weekends, kiddies. Look after yourself, and always think twice!

--Rose

p.s. Does anyone know who it was that put the twenty dollars in my pocket during the Relay for Life, and does anyone know who took the twenty out of my wallet the day afterwards? I shouldn't be too angry about losing it, because it wasn't mine to begin with, but whoever took it is a big fattie jerk.

I'm feeling quite happy, despite the fact that some things in my classes aren't necessarily going as well as I would like them to - namely, some of the labs and this upcoming homework in 302 is kind of scaring me. On the whole, though, I'm thoroughly convinced that my life is quite good at this point.

Reasons, you ask? Well, here's a feel good list for me for later.
1) I love my roommate. We have so much fun singing about bears and flying away - and getting fat on coldstone.
2) My family is awesome. Catherine is beautiful and funny, Patrick is so funny and so warmhearted, and Elizabeth is the hilarious leader. Mommy and Daddy, I love you. Omama - she's just amazing.
3) I live next to a church. God whenever I want it.
4) I'm going to live in a house next year with my sister.
5) My hair is finally growing out - screw me and my vindictive post break up, entirely irrational hair hack off fest.
6) I have lots of good food whenever I want it.
7) Fullmetal Alchemist was amazing.
8) I sleep really well as of late.
9) I'm going to Australia during the summer, and maybe to Italy.
10) Oh my goodness, the single life is so good. How I have missed it. Nothing against you, boys - I just wanted to spend more time with myself - and it's so annoying sometimes worrying about what you think. :) You're all silly.
11) Warm weather.
12) I like Japanese boy bands.

good times. We just spent ages staying up and making silly movies for when Christy's in Japan. Sleep!!

Take care, kids.
--Rose

Here we are, new to Livejournal.

Primary updates: It's Mother's Weekend at the U of I, and I'm waiting for Mum to get out of church so that she can come here and have some brunch. Not gonna lie, it's been a tough college week full of late nights and coffee runs, but this weekend has been relaxing. Christy's mom was here yesterday and this morning, and we had a really great dinner at Kamakura, followed by watching Bridget Jones' diary. Bedtime was actually before 3AM last night, so I was very shocked when I woke up this morning at eight and felt rested enough to get going - and the best part? I didn't even have to do anything, so I just kept sleeping! A bit like a camel, really. Storing up all that sleep so that this week I can use the rest for when I don't get any in Grainger.

I definitely miss my family. You'd think that as a townie I get to see them often, so I should be able to go for maybe a week-ish without contact, but it's actually been surprisingly hard. Elizabeth's still jet setting around Europe and won't be back until probably June 1st (and is actually in Dublin right now), Omama went back to Australia at the beginning of this month, which was kind of sad, considering she probably won't be coming back to the States anymore. I can't really blame her though - the woman's nearly 90 and she's still making ridiculous trans-pacific trips. Mum and Dad are doing their busy busy college educator type things, and Catherine and Patrick - well, I just miss playing with them. I know prom will be coming up for both of them - I hope a nice young boy asks Catherine and I hope Patrick, well, he has his lady friend. Catherine's graduating this year, too, so that should be fun - be the annoying family member that shouts out WOOHOO YEAH CATHERINE when they specifically ask you not to say anything during the ceremony. :) It'll be great.

To Do List for Sunday:
-202 lab report
-readings for 302, 202
-calc homework
-dinner with the family
-finalize summer plans (including australia and italy! hells yeah.)
-find jobs to make serious bank over the summer when I'm not jet setting across the globe.
-learn not to sound like a complete prat when talking about trips
-tell someone I haven't seen in a while that I love them
-eight hugs minimum
-go to J House.

Have a good rest of your weekend, kiddies!
--Rose