Housekeeping.

When I came back from a week in Humboldt, I actually weighed in at 148 lbs, which is a bit over my prediction. However, thanks to my new resolution and figuring out a good schedule for going to the Rec, I was able to shave a good four pounds off that in the three weeks since coming back. Plus, as pertains to Resolution #1, I ran 5K on the treadmill Wednesday with a (rather unnecessary) quarter mile walk break at the halfway point; I may be able to run 10K by the end of February, and spring break at the latest. My new resolution is now to break my personal best of 48'50" at 10K by June.

For R#2, I have decided to set aside my grad school plans and pursue some alternatives, namely the Columbia Publishing Course at the famed Journalism School in New York City. It is a summer program, and being as I won't know my status for sure until March or April, I have had to decline working for Duke TIP again this summer (which sucks, because I was very much looking forward to being around Mischa and Lee and Julie and any other returning staffers again). In addition to that Course, I am also hoping to get accepted into Fabrica, Benetton's communication studies institute about 40km outside of Venice, Italy. If I get through the trial period (which in itself would be two weeks in Italy; score!), then I sign a contract for a year-long internship to work on publishing projects and such.

On R#3, last night was indeed 80's Night, or Neon as they prefer to call it, at the Granada. I went with Mischa and Michelle; being a little rusty from months of no dancing, I was pleased with my groove by the end of the night. However, if I were to get on a treadmill and force myself to run 10K while wearing kevlar body armor, I would not have been as sore as I was while walking out of the Granada. I forgot how much twisting one tends to do when one listens to classic Madonna.

This being my last semester at KU then, I'm excited. I only have two classes, on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from 1-4pm, and I'm way excited about them (if for no other reason than because it's the lowest amount of money I've ever spent on textbooks). The first is from my dear mentor, Prof. Bob Antonio, on Sociology and the Economy; this will be my third class with him, the two others being the two best classes I've ever taken in college. I'm sure he can handle the expectations. The other course is History of Photography, my first ever art history course; I really don't have anything else to say about it, but I hope that changes.

The yearbook is, um, well, hm, going. We have a deadline of 40 pages that I have to send off a week from today, and at this moment in time I only have about a dozen pictures of the campus buried in snow. Which is cool, but there's not even any sledding, and I am *all* about sledding photos. Nevertheless, I'm sure Joah and I will pull it off; we're like Harvey Birdman and Peanut. I'll leave you to determine which one is which. (Hint: I'd be the one more likely to say 'Oooh, sprechen sie sexy...')

On that note, I watched two and a half hours of Harvey Birdman DVDs this week. Best written show on television AND it has Stephen Colbert.

In addition to the yearbook, I am also serving as a regular columnist for the University Daily Kansan this semester. My column starts on Tuesday, 31 Jan., and will run every two weeks after that (meaning that I get the Valentine's Day column. Ha ha! Chocolate fueled depression). My parameters are roughly anything within the realm of politics and economics, so I'll be writing on, among other things, the politics of Roe v. Wade (hmm, I wonder where I'll go with that...) and the economics of organic farming. And if I get more hate mail from the Young Democrats than from the College Republicans, well that's just icing on the cake.

I've also applied for the position of Commissioner of Elections for this spring. The elections for Student Body president/VP and for the Student Senate are held every April, and they need a non-partisan student who is interested in politics and the law to administer the elections and investigate campaign code violations. It should work with my schedule well (I'll be done with the yearbook by spring break), and I looove the title of Commissioner Scarrow. *chills*

And finally, this is really something that only I could pull off: I managed, over the course of the past seven months, to forget my mom's, my dad's, and my sister's birthdays. In case you're new to the show, that's my entire family. I've already invoked the 'freebie' rule to cover this past year, and have sworn a blood oath that it will never happen again. Until I forget my blood oath. Because it has happened before.