after one long season of waiting

So, now that I've gone and trapped myself again, I think for the sake of my sanity I need to take a real vacation. I haven't ever had one of those. I think things will have settled down by the end of August, so my plan is to pick a city, spend a week there, do the tourist thing for a few days, and then just wander and see what I can find. Also, I aim to get some use out of my passport, since I've already called off my Canada plans (no music festivals this summer! Agh!).

I just can't decide where, exactly, I want to go. London is easy, and probably a good place to start, but I think if I spend some time reviewing my French I could survive almost as well in Paris. Those are my top two choices. But I'm also coming off of a very unhappy and unstable couple of months (and all I have between me and more of them is hope), so I'm not against throwing myself into a city I could be completely, hopelessly lost in, like Tokyo (though most tickets to Tokyo are almost double those to London and Paris, so I think Tokyo is a For Later plan. And probably For More Than a Week).

My goal, someday, is to be able to do this every year, though I know that's a long way off. This plan is already going to dent my savings, but dear goodness it is necessary right now, because I have to shake off this feeling of being trapped.

So, what do you guys think? Where should I go? I know there are a lot of places that haven't even crossed my mind yet, but should've. Barcelona? Moscow? Amsterdam? Hong Kong? Sydney? I'm leaving out lush, foresty real vacation-y places for now, because I want to explore, not... catch malaria and break both of my ankles. (I know myself. That would happen. I'll stick to probably getting hit by a double-decker bus or getting clobbered with baguettes or accidentally becoming a pop idol or something other or refrigerator.)

[Poll #1577942]

I have a bit of a dilemma. Now that it's warm miserably hot out, I've found that there are a lot of good reasons for me to be riding my bicycle constantly on the weekends. (Most of these reasons involve me not having air conditioning, but having a lovely 60-degree lake a few blocks away to swim in.) Unfortunately, on my most recent bike ride I discovered, among other things I already knew were wrong, that I basically have no brakes. So, I've resolved to get my bike fixed. It's just, now that I'm actually looking into things, I'm going to have to fix more than the brakes if I want to actually be able to ride my bike comfortably. And, ideally, if I'm fixing up my bike, I may as well aim to be able to ride it back and forth to work for the spring/summer/fall months (I've been meaning to do this for a while now, anyway). Unfortunately, it looks like I'm going to have to realign and replace my brakes, replace the nobbly mountain bike tires with street tires (no doubt the biggest expense), and fix whatever is wrong with the shifters (a minor annoyance, really, but if I'm fixing everything else...) It looks like the tires alone are going to cost me more than it would to just buy a proper (very used) commuting sort of bicycle (... and if I do this, the biggest plus I see is that I could get one that's significantly lighter than my current bike. The absolute worst thing in the world is coming back from downtown (which is about 7 miles away) and having to lug this huge mass of uncooperative bicycle up my narrow stairs). So, I'd just replace my current bike with a shiny new used one... except I've had my current bike since about sixth grade. I was 12 in 6th grade, and I'm 24 now, which means I've had this bike for exactly half of my life. My emotional attachment to things that I've had for more than a few years (remember I couldn't give up my old iPod because it'd stuck by me for four years) is pretty terrible, so giving up this bicycle is going to be really tough. Even if it costs me as much to fix as a new bike (and I do love new toys). So... If you were me...

[Poll #1421263]

Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends... I have an important question. Perhaps the most important question ever posed on livejournal. Today, my roommate and I made a most astounding discovery in our toaster.



The specimen has solidified, though is still slightly spongy and nerflike along the edges. Carbon dating results have not been conclusive, but a poll of current apartment residents reveals that the age of this toaster stick is several weeks at the least, if not approaching an entire month.

And so we come to you, dear readers, in the hopes that you can guide us as to the best use for our surprising toaster-given windfall.

[Poll #1181938]

Edit: As of 12:54 pm CST, forensic examination of a bagel prepared earlier this morning has revealed the presence of another, similar artifact in the opposite toaster slot. In response to this new development, polling has been modified to allow more than one answer. Please attempt to restrain yourself to no more than two responses.

First order of business: When will I learn not to just "wing-it" for presentations in front of a class? Alternately:

[Poll #961273]

If I manage not to curl up and die tonight, I think I'll be okay. Goshdarn you, Thursday.

Being rather broke, I have happened upon a rather tough dilemma. I have just enough expendable income and time to do one enriching cultural awesome thing in November. The question, unfortunately, is which thing to do. I can either go see Hamlet... or the Decemberists. And I cannot decide. I've (quite sadly) never seen Shakespeare performed live. Nor have I seen the Decemberists (and I haven't been to a concert in Chicago for at least a year and a half, though it should be ever because I really don't think I should count the My Chemical Romance/Lost Prophets show I was dragged to, because I nearly died). Shakespeare will always be performed live, I suppose, but I won't always have a chance to see Hamlet as directed by someone from the Royal Shakespeare Company. And there's always a chance the Decemberists will, I dunno, disappear or get their instruments stolen again or something. And, you know, in their separate ways, they have about equal potential for awesome as far as I'm concerned. But they're basically the same weekend, and they're gonna cost money, so...

[Poll #851630]

... Sometimes I kind of stare at my handwriting and wonder why it makes random switches from printing to cursive without warning. Sometimes it's just between days in my notes, but right now it's decided it's just going to switch every quarter of a page. Possibly depending on whether I know what I'm talking about or not.

Also, no paper should have algebra-type equations in the middle of it to explain things. But right now, the notes for my Shakespeare paper do. (Where KLx = Ry + Gz + C[ran out of variables]. C[ran out of variables] = 0 so Ry+ Gz = KLx, and Ry = Gz, so they have complete control over the worth of KLx. It all makes sense, honest.)

The real question here is not what's wrong with my mind in regards to my multiple-personalitied handwriting (though that is a possible issue), but what on Earth am I doing writing a paper on Shakespeare that involves math? Honestly, that equation is almost my thesis statement. Perhaps I should be seeking help.

... The section on the fool, in addition to the horrible puns on full, also includes a line about "equivalent exchange." Because it is applicable! For all we know, since there's no Queen in this play, Cordelia's run off with France to resurrect her. And, um, Lear dies in the end from a broken heart because he was also attempting human transmutation and that's what the gate babies stole.

Also, Goneril and Regan are very bad at math concepts. Perhaps this excuses them from being kind of evil and mean.

[Poll #741632]

[Poll #722711]

I cannot be Winry without my wrench! But it's not in any of my drawers, or my nice "I won't need anything in here until spring, if at all ever" box. Nor my costume box. Really, about the only thing I haven't done is torn up the carpet or lifted the couches and coffee table. Or checked the kitchen. Something tells me it's at home. Crap. Anyone have a spare adjustable wrench? (sketchyheart, you are love. I was gonna have my mom hunt ours down and deliver it to you or something, because the idea of her showing up at your house at near-to-midnight with a wrench in hand was amusing. Same effect for me, though!)

(This sort of worrying is so much preferable to class-type worrying. I have no idea how I pulled off two one-page responses, a two-page paper on a line in King Lear, and an extra 500 words of fiction in about three hours today. On four hours of sleep. Ow.)

P.S. It's not fair to remind me of any fake birthdays I may have assigned to today. Unless facebook told you, I guess. Then it's fine. Or at least better.

I've decided, for the sake of time, I'm going to have you decide what I did today so I'll have more time to work on everything else I need to do (Ohio taxes included... blasted government!)

[Poll #278942]

Also, I wanted an entry that didn't have another one of those distressed looking smileys.