March 31, 2004

So let's talk about this new building...

Ok. I am all for thenew dorms. I'm not going to be able to live in them, but I definetly think that we need them. I'm actually looking forward to them. So you may ask what my problem is with the new dorm. Well continue reading to find out.

Sleeping peacefully. That's what I like to do, but haven't been able to for awhile due to the construction going on right outside my window in the parking lot of Brownlee. Now, I understand that those on the opposite side of the building have it worse than me, but because they park where the parking lot was they wake me and the rest of my side of the building up every morning! The annoying sound of the starting up engines of four vehicles really gets to you when its every morning and you are up late working on assignments. Ok....I think my rant is done now....BYES!

Tiff

Posted by Tiffany Brattina at 10:50 AM | Comments (0)

March 26, 2004

Betrayal

From the sky comes the rain
From the rain comes the hate
From the hate come the disappointment
From the disappointment comes the anger
From the anger comes the saddness
From the saddness comes betrayal
Betrayal loses friends...

Posted by Tiffany Brattina at 10:45 PM | Comments (5)

Football this and Football that...

Ok. As much as I love a good debate, this is getting to be ridiculus. Karissa has posted on her site about a blogging war going on right now between certain Liberal Arts people and the athletes in our fine little community. As much as I am all against a football team here on campus (seeing as them not having one was a huge bonus for coming here in the first place), there really isn't much all our complaining is going to do. They have already hired a coach, they are scouting players, and they are making room for a football team whether we like it or not. So my point is why stir up trouble in our peaceful blogging community about something that we can't help? Let's worry about something else that is in the near future, such as how hectic our lives are going to get after Easter Break...

Tiffany

Posted by Tiffany Brattina at 2:13 PM | Comments (2)

March 20, 2004

Forced Reading-Beloved Character

When Dr. Jerz first said that we would be reading Diamond Age throughout the semester I was no looking forward to it. I'm not a fan of science fiction and I honestly had no interest in reading the book, especially after reading the summary from Amazon, but my feelings have recently changed.

I had an incredibly hard time reading the first section of this book. I didn't understand what was going on, or even how the characters fit. I have never liked stories that start off with so many different plot lines that I, as a reader, actually got confused and frustrated. Plus you throw in all the science fiction things and all the future/future as past stuff and that's enough to make anyone go insane. I remember even mentioning in class how much I disliked the book.

Well, a couple of days ago I picked the book up again with dread realizing that if I didn't start reading it soon I would never meet the requirement. I did a little bit of refreshing stuff and read the first couple of sections in the story since it had been awhile since I had read the beginning of the book, and all of a sudden everything clicked and I actually began enjoying the book.

My heart goes out to Nell. I believe that she is my favorite character. When I get to sections about her and her dealings with the Primer I read like a maniac. I just love reading about her adventures in the Land Beyond. Meeting her Night Friends and seeing how they help her through the rough life the child lives before she moves to the Dovetail area of the L.T. Also, when I read about Nell I can see myself. I love getting myself lost in fantasy novels and dreaming that I was someplace else which is essentially what the Primer does for Nell. It teaches her things her mother never would have. I would love to live in a society where stories came to life on the page through ractors.

So that, in a way, leads to why Miranda is my second favorite character even though she is hardly ever in the story. Without her caring, Nell would probably have a problem adjusting to things that happened in her life. Miranda in a way came to be Nell's mother, and through the ractive Miranda was able to be there whenever Nell needed someone to talk to her or even protect her, like in the situation with Burt. I could never imagine what life for Nell would be like.

Then there are my curiosities that I hope are answered sooner or later. What is the deal with the time? Does it flow differently? How old was Nell when she first got the book? What's going to happen to Harv? Is Nell going to be accepted into the New Atlantan Clave?

So many questions and more keep popping into my head as I type. Hopefully these questions and more will be answered....

Tiff

Posted by Tiffany Brattina at 6:48 PM | Comments (6)

March 18, 2004

Snail's Pace

Well last week flew and this week crawls. I guess you have to take what you can get, but it definetly has it's downfalls. Maybe part of the reason I am feeling so down is that it snowed again. Whenever it snows it just seems to me like the whole world stops. I never thought that I would get tired of the fluffy white stuff that falls from the sky, but this winter season I wish it would just stop. It's not like in the past when it snowed a lot and actually stuck to the ground to make the surface of our little section of the world look beautiful. It is just falling to fall because the ground is too warm for it to stick. I think I speak for a lot of people when I say that I wish Mother Nature would just make up her mind already. One day it's warm the next below freezing. I am ready for summer to come and I want it to come now.

Plus you have you factor in the fact that the end of the semester is rapidly approaching. I don't think I am going to be able to get used to the fact that I am going to be out of school at the end of April, besides finals of course. It just seems so soon. For the past four years around this time I was anticipating prom and all the fun activites that went along with that. Or even the musical which occupied most of my time. Now I am anticipating papers, projects, oral presentations, finals. All the things that in high school I didn't have to worry about until the end of April. Growing up is weird. Some days it feel like I am barely out of bed and then there are others that feel like they drag on for a week. Maybe it's just me, but I wish the days would just speed up or slow down evenly and not keep throwing all these twists and turns into my life.

Oh well. I just have to keep looking forward. May, June and July are going to be the best months of my life. In May I am going to be preparing for a tour of Croatia, as well as representing the Croatian heritage (I hope) at the Miss Heritage Pagent in Ambrige Township in Butler County. (First prize is $1000 CASH!!!! How awesome would it be to win that a month before I leave for Croatia???!!!) June and July I will be sitting on the Adriatic beaches of Croatia, performing for people of Croatia in the hardest concerts of my life. They will understand every word that we sing and call durning the dances and songs. They will be critizing every move my Tammie family and I make. I am going to love every minute of it!

Ok. I think I have rambled enough. Here's to the future.

Posted by Tiffany Brattina at 1:41 PM | Comments (4)

March 16, 2004

The Life of Salesman

Ok. So. I'm sure during class today everyone talked about how crazy Willie was, and I am the first to agree. Willie was insane, in the end. However, what about his life?

In Death of a Salesman we see the end of Willie's life as a salesman. He went through his entire life just working on the road selling things to buyers, he didn't know how to do anything else. Don't you think that would make you go crazy? If a company you worked for your entire life took you off of salary and put you on commission like you were just starting out wouldn't you feel like you were unworthy? Then there is the fact that Willie and his family didn't really have any money to their names at all. Willie kept borrowing money from Charley so that Linda wouldn't know that he wasn't getting paid anymore. Then the company he worked for fired him! I feel bad for Willie, I really do. His kids thought that he was insane and wanted nothing to do with him. The people he worked for his entire life turned him away. Willie was old, tired, and worn out and people including his family turned their backs on him.

Let me make this personal for a minute. My dad recently went through something very similar at his place of work. The company he worked for came into new management and they tried to put my dad on commission. My dad has major tenure where he works considering he is now 56 and has been working there for 40 years making him the longest member still working at the company. He took the new management to court and won his case. I know that while my dad was going through that time he was a total mess, so seeing my dad I can understand what Willie was going through.

What do you guys think? Do you feel bad for Willie or do you think he was just a jerk? Why or why not?

Posted by Tiffany Brattina at 6:49 PM | Comments (7)

Ok....so being sick sucks

So let's talk about that stomach flu that is going around that I of course picked up. My entire body is aching, my stomach feels like its going to explode at any minute, my nose is stuffed, and my throat is sore. Why is it that everytime something goes around campus I pick it up. OH YEA!!! I know...it's because my immune system sucks and because all of my friends had it. blah.....ok. My rant is over. Bye!

Tiff

Posted by Tiffany Brattina at 12:42 PM | Comments (3)

March 12, 2004

Go Speed Racer!

Man...I feel like this week has just flown by. It seems like just yesterday that I was sitting in my room waiting for Friday of last week to end and Saturday to begin and since then my life feels like it has been kicked into over drive. I don't want this week to end. I want Tuesday night back, but this is life and we must move on...

Here is to an amazing week....

Did anyone else feel this way?

Tiff

Posted by Tiffany Brattina at 2:22 PM | Comments (0)

March 9, 2004

It's eating away the computer screen...

Ok. Is anyone else from campus tired of recieving viruses from an attachment sent to you by the school email? I know I am. What happened to the time when the school email was safe? I know that the only time I ever send an attachment that it is being sent through the school mail and to a teacher or another student. We can't even do that anymore and be safe. Now the school's email is attacking our computers as well as files that people are downloading. I am getting sick of having to run Norton every 2 days because I need to make sure my computer isn't going to have a melt down because I picked up a yet another virus from the net here at school....

ARG!!!!

Ok I'm done now, but I would love to hear what you all have to say on the subject.

Tiff

Posted by Tiffany Brattina at 1:19 PM | Comments (4)

March 2, 2004

Irony

You know. I have found that things in life are just ironic. Everything today has happened in the exact opposite of what I thought it would turn out to be. I thought we were going to kick butt at our presentation today in Thinking and Writing. Boy was I wrong. We totally bombed. I thought that the poetry I turned in completely rocked. Wrong. The grade I recieved was lower than I expected. I apparently have to work on my meter, which I am not saying is totally false, but it would have been nice not to see the same comment in two out of three of my poems. Next I thought that things were going really well with this guy I went out with on Valentine's Day and that we were moving in the right direction, but he just wants to be friends, for now at least. I mean this totally sucks, but I can handle it. What I can't handle is the fact that the grade I got on my poetry is lower than my grades on all of my journalism papers. I just don't understand it. I high dislike journalism. I mean I am submitting an article to the Setonian, but I figured why not since I have to write one for Intro to Lit anyway. I just found that highly ironic. It has been an incredibly frustrating day, and I wish it would end, but I continue to press forward and doing homework....Good night Ironic World....

Tiff

Posted by Tiffany Brattina at 10:10 PM | Comments (4)

March 1, 2004

And the Oscar Goes To...

Well, the Oscar's have been announced and let me just say how incredibly happy I am that Lord of the Rings did so well. I made the prediction when the nominations were announced that this was the year for LOTR to shine and boy did they shine. Of the 11 nominations they completely swept the awards and won all 11 awards! I think that every single person in New Zealand was thanked a thousand times. By the way, LOTR is the first fantasy film to be recognized by the Academy with such an outstanding presence, as well as the first fantasy to win the Best Picture category. The films wins tied it for most awards taken with Titanic and another movie that escapes my mind for the time being.

Ok. Now on to the rest of the awards...

My congrats go out to Charlize Theron on her win for Best Actress and to Renee Zellweger for her win in Best Supporting Actress. Also to Sean Penn for his win in the Best Actor category and to Tim Robbins for Best Supporting Actor.

The big shocker of the evening was the fact that Pirates of the Caribbean did not win a single award. Granted it was against some pretty heavy competition in most of its categories going up against Lord of the Rings and Master and Commander, but most of those categories were complete toss ups. As I was sitting watching the awards with Diana and Cara, I said to them that even if LOTR lost to Pirates I wouldn't be too upset. I feel bad for that crew because of all the competition.

One of the funnier moments for me was when the Foreign Film people accepted their award. The first thing they said was "We're glad LOTR didn't qualify for this category." And can I just say that even though Billy Crystal made fun of LOTR a lot, it was still done in such a way that it was HILARIOUS! Usually I groan when people start taking shots at my favorite trilogy, but I was dying of laughter during the opening of the show when Crystal was spoofing all of the nominees. (I'm actually looking for the music file of that opening if anyone has any clue where I can get it.)

Well, that was my take on the Oscars. I know, I know. It was jam packed with stuff about LOTR. I'm just, as Lori says, "Obsessed with a capital 'O'!" How about you guys? What did you think of this year's Oscars?

Tiff

Posted by Tiffany Brattina at 12:31 AM | Comments (3)