I bought a new computer a few days ago! My last computer hadn't been working for the past few months. This new computer isn't fancy, but I really like it so far. It was only $400. It's a laptop that runs on a windows visita model, and it seems easy to use for the most part. I really miss having microsoft office. T. gave me a copy of it last year, and it worked well. He also gave me hundreds of music files whch became lost when my computer crashed. I downloaded open office, which looks promising but still is kind of confusing to me as far as knowing which programs to open up documents with.

A quick recap on what's been going on lately:

A week and a half ago, Mary (one of my best friends) came up to visit me from Jamestown. I really enjoyed having her stay with me for a few days. We ended up going to see some cool art exhibits- one on chinese silk paintings, and another on kirigami. Her dad came up the final day she was here to go to a conference, and he ended up taking us out to dinner at this great restaurant called the Macaroni Factory. I had never been to it before, but it was this fun Italian place. I loved their Eggplant Parm.

On that Friday, I went to a great party that some friends in my program were having. Good company, and equally good rum and cokes.

I spent the next couple of days working on papers for school. Then, I went back home on weds. to Jimmytown for thanksgiving. On Thursday, we went to Northwest PA to visit my grandfather, Aunt and Cousin for thanksgiving. We had dinner at this one restaurant there. I enjoyed it. My grandfather was talking about meeting Jimmy Stewart and Jack Parr during the war- it made for interesting stories.

My parents decided to give me a ride back to Albany today, and we stopped for a little while near brockport to see A. I could only see him for an hour. It's hard to be so far away from him, and not getting to see him as much as I would like... but when I do, it's worth it. Even if its only an hour- it will be the best hour I've had in a long time. Fortunately, I will get to see him again in only a few weeks:).

I'm back to the grind. There's so much work to be done to wrap the semester up over the next few weeks. Right now, I'm trying to grade the remainder of my student's term papers- but no luck. With all due respect to my student's, a lot of their papers were not very readable. It scares me a little that college students do not know that you have to cite sources in a paper, or use a bibliography. It bothers me that I'm supposed to give all of these students a B- or above, considering that. The class average was 64% for the midterm, so the paper was supposed to balance that out somehow. *shrugs*

I'm thankful for many things, but I wanted to say thank you to all of you on estrip today. I'm really glad that I joined this site a year and a half ago. You've made me think, you've made me laugh, and you've really given me so good advice and helped me through some rough times. Even though I don't know most of you well, I wish I did.

Happy Thanksgiving,
Jess

In the course of the past two weeks, I've had some misshaps. My computer has died (all files gone and unrecoverable). I lost my USB drive in the library today with my school files. Some were saved in another place, some not. My attendance files for the TA class are gone, though I saved most of the paper records for it. My TV stopped working. My DVD player no longer works.

I guess I wasn't suited for a world of techology, heh.

I received a message on my answering machine from Bill Clinton the other day, endorsing a candidate for Erie County Executive. Heh. Unfortunately, I forgot all about registering to vote in Albany.

Anyway, I had a great time visiting Aaron this past weekend! I got to meet his sister and her husband. We all went out for coffee, and I thought it went really well. Later, his mom made us Spaghetti and Cheesecake for dinner. I just really enjoyed all the time I got to spend with Aaron. I'll have to post some pictures up soon.

I was thinking about the link that (e:joshua) posted on dating.
With Aaron, I would say that I fit under number 2. I keep my distance at times because I somehow expect him to change. He told me recently that he loved me, but I keep expecting some kind of catch. That always seems to always be the case. I've gotten to the point where I just don't trust well that things could work out with anyone. It's not fair in the slightest, because he's such a terrific person, and so good to me, and I am feeling the same way about him.

Anyway, enough of that. I'm leaving in a few minutes to visit Aaron for the weekend, so that will be nice.

-Jess

I hope that the estrip party will go great! I wish I could be there. Post lots of pictures! *grins*

I'm moving on Monday. There was an unexpected opening in one of the on-campus apartments in Empire Commons. It's closer to everything, and somewhat less expensive than what I'm paying now. I don't have a lease on my current apartment. So i think that should be a good change. My dad offered to come up and help me move.

I don't really have any fun plans for Halloween. To be honest, I don't really know anyone here too well yet. I mean, there's people in my classes that I talk to when I'm around school- but I haven't been out with them outside of school. I'm kind of shy around people I don't know well, so it's hard for me to go up to people sometimes.

I am going to Brockport to see Aaron next Friday. I'm so excited!

I just read on yahoo news that the winds in California aren't supposed to be as severe today, so hopefully the fires won't spread as fast as they were yesterday. I feel so bad for everyone having to deal with this. I hope everything will be okay for anyone here who might be affected by it.

Thanks so much to everyone with the cooking advice! That was awesome and much appreciated. It's funny... I tried to cook chicken-flavored rice a roni the other day and butchered it. It tasted like barbeque-a-roni.

I'm mostly doing pretty good. School is going well and things at my job are fine, though, it's stressful keeping up with everything. I've been battling a bunch of respiratory infections. I think because my immune system is kind of down from being on prednisone. Maybe I should take more Vitamin C or something.

I've been reading a lot of Charles Bukowski lately. It's really easy to get into a Bukowski mindset. I'd like to try reading some of his fiction, too.

I hope all of you will have a great day!
-Jess

I have a confession: I can't really cook. Or I do cook, but not well, at any rate.

What's the best way I can learn to make real (simple( meals? Do you know of any good books/websites to help me get started?

I should mention my apartment has a stove and microwave, but no oven.

I'm really enjoying the beautiful weather lately. It's great going outside in the sunshine and walking through the leaves.




Fall always reminds me of this poem, for some reason:

"Spring and Fall to a young child" by Gerard Manley Hopkins

M�RGAR�T, �re you gr�eving
Over Goldengrove unleaving?
Le�ves, l�ke the things of man, you
With your fresh thoughts care for, can you?
�h! �s the heart grows older
It will come to such sights colder
By and by, nor spare a sigh
Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie;
And yet you w�ll weep and know why.
Now no matter, child, the name:
S�rrow's spr�ngs �re the same.
Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed
What heart heard of, ghost guessed:
It �s the blight man was born for,
It is Margaret you mourn for.

I had a great time at the concert with Aaron. I liked Amos Lee, and Dylan was good (though his voice was in bad shape). The best act of the three was definitely Elvis Costello. He sounded incredible, and was great at interacting with the audience. I loved his versions of Red Shoes, Veronica, Oliver's Army, and I Can't Stand Up for Falling Down.

Here is a picture of Elvis playing (though it's hard to see him):



The best part of last weekend was getting to see Aaron.

Here's a picture of us (definitely not a good picture of me, but it's a good one of Aaron):