This picture just makes me really happy.

Labels: dinopope, pictures

I mean, come on? FDR? He totally failed. Obama now has no chance at reaching office!!
Thanks for keeping me up to date, Chicago Tribune. That's really useful.

Well, at least there's the semi-interesting news that he's in Hyde Park. Woo!

Labels: knees, news, obama

So, I don't know how many of you besides the UofCers have read much Rousseau and Durkheim, but you probably know that they are pretty intense guys. They've both got, you know, a lot to say. Rousseau is mostly full of shit and while he has interesting ideas, he would totally fail this class if he took it. Durkheim, on the other hand, is my new boyfriend. Collective effervescence FTW! This is all beside the point though.

This point is: Worst. Prompt. Ever.

Rousseau and Durkheim share a concern for religiously-enforced social coherence rather than individual autonomy, yet both also profess a belief in reason and freedom. How does each deal with these contradictions? You answer should address at least three (3) of the following issues in a comparative manner (it is o.k. if on only one topic you give more attention to Durkheim than Rousseau).

1. The contrast (especially with regard to individual-collective life and consciousness) between a primal (“nature,” “mechanical solidarity”) and a more civilized state.
2. The relationship between religious and rational/scientific perceptions of the world.
3. Law (Rousseau) and religion (Durkheim) as the basis for maintaining social cohesion (from the perspective of both participants and analysts).
4. The social scientist as “moralist.”

OH MY GOD. Let me point out that, lest you did not notice, we are to address three of these questions in our paper, not just pick one to consider as a prompt.

Additionally:

• Each of these ideas is a goddamn dissertation at the very very least. In reality, they are entire books. Actually, there probably are entire books. Probably not comparing the two, but that just means there are two books.
• THIS IS A 6-8 PAGE ESSAY. Firstly this kind of obnoxiously long because it's just sosc and it's not even the final paper. More annoying, did I mention that it would take three PhD dissertations to begin to address this?
• Goddamn it.
• Most importantly, and this is probably the least obvious...none of these questions make any sense at all. They are simply nonsensical.

Thanks, dude.

Labels: school, sosc, sucks

Yesterday I thought it would be a good idea to try an experiment:

What happens if Natalie goes without coffee for one day?

The conclusion? Well, I'm not really sure, because I slept through most of the experiment. Wake up around 8am. Fall asleep on the bus home from downtown, missing my stop, from about 8:45-9:30. Get home. Convince myself to not make coffee. (This was not as hard as one might think, since I was really far too tired to stand up for that long.) Around 11:30am, took a "nap." Wake up to Gilroy sitting on my head meowing to be let out because he is completely frozen. My AC was on the lowest possible setting, but I guess when you're in a tiny tiny room with any sort of AC for nearly six hours it gets pretty chilly. So around 5pm, 5:15, I get my ass out of bed. I make "lunch" and watch an episode of So You Think You Can Dance. Then I look at the prompt for my sosc paper due Monday, and decide to take a little while to just knit and think about what to write. It is about 7:30pm. Lauren is knocking on my door and calling my name. I shout. "It is only 7:40! It is physically impossible that I've been asleep for any more than ten minutes!!" This is true, obviously. Several times in the next few hours, Lauren knocks on my door to tell me she picked up the ribbon I needed, that she was making dinner, that dinner was ready, that she was going to put dinner away, etc. At 2am I awaken to go to the bathroom. Firstly, I have a very difficult time getting out of bed because I am being strangled by the knitting I "started" around 7:30. When I manage to get back to bed, I look at the clock. 2:01am. I think, "shit, I'll never sleep now." The next time I look at the clock it is 9:06am.

This makes Natalie's total number of waking hours from 8:00am Friday to 8:00am Saturday approximately 4 hours. Because I did not keep the written records I should have, I grant an error here of one hour in either direction.

Still...



I am currently enjoying a very delicious cup of coffee.

Labels: coffee, experiment, lazy, mistakes, sleep

This has been a really good week for fucking ridiculous news articles with animals and people who probably deserve to be shot.

At least one actually got shot.

Labels: amusing, animals, foxes, getting shot, news

Happily, I made a discovery yesterday, which I confirmed today:

It takes exactly 200 steps to get from 53rd street to 52nd, exactly 10 ten cross 52nd, and then exactly 200 to get to 51st.

My life is complete.

Labels: hyde park, ocd, walking

..BATMAN!

So I saw it. Heath Ledger = holy shit amazing. I kind of figured all the fuss about his performance was just because he died and everyone wanted to remember him fondly. Definitely not the case. He was absolutely brilliant. Also, was it just me, or was Batman basically a bit part in this movie?

So what was the absolute best part about The Dark Night? CONSTANT CHICAGO REFERENCES!!! I can't even come close to naming them all. Watching it in a downtown theatre was really fun, because every time something was obvious the whole audience started whispering. You could definitely see Navy Pier, the LaSalle street bank, Sweet Treats of Chicago, and those two weirdo lumpy cylindrical buildings. I don't think they broke down and used Michigan Ave or State St, but the major chase scene was on Lower Wacker and Lower Randolph. Very cool. We're the only city built on three levels (despite the land being completely flat) to the best of my knowledge. When they said "Divert to Lower 5th Street!" everyone just cracked up.

So yeah. It really was all that it was cracked up to be. But I might be biased because of the awesome awesome Chicago-ness, and also the boat load of Russian ballerinas.

Labels: batman, chicago, movies

21. Who do you least expect to repeat this meme?
Jonathon Cartwright. Or Erfurt.

22. Person you expect to do it first?
Joe. That was even easier than Joe's.

23. Favorite saying?
Thou shalt not maketh a hamburger squareth.

24. When is your birthday?
I forget. Or maybe June 7th.

25. Are you a morning person or a night person?
I have been spazzing out lately. Started going to bed earlier and waking up earlier, then suddenly I am unable to go to bed until quite late and I still am wide awake by 6am. My shrink gave be sleeping pills. I don't want them though. :-/

26. What is your shoe size?
Eight and one half

27. Pets?
Ahhhh! GilroyAndAudrey!!!

28. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with us?
I blogged about this recently, but it bears repeating.

29. What did you want to be when you were little?
First I wanted to be a kangaroo. Then they said I had to be a person. So I said I wanted to be a boy so I could pee standing up. They said I couldn't do that either. Then I wanted to be a teacher.

30. What are you doing today?
Um. Knitting a lot. My pretty pretty tank top is, well, pretty. I also went out to eat at Cedar's with Lauren, two of her math friends, and our amazing new subletter, Lei. It is hard to really describe Lei, so I will just leave you with three quotes:
"Not to bother, may I to have fill my stomach?"
"How much money is dime?"
(upon being served his pita sandwich at Cedar's) "Uhh, this look not a sandwich."

32. What is your favorite flower?
I've always been a big lily fan. I think this has to do with my obsession with Tiger Lily as a child.

33. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to?
August 23rd. No more sosc!!

34. What are you listening to right now?
My air conditioner. But I do have Bleeding Love stuck in my head.

35. What was the last thing you ate?
Oreos and milk. Yum. Also pancakes before that. Double yum.

36. Do you wish on stars?
No, I can never find any to wish on. I mean, just being a regular old star isn't good enough. I do always with on 11:11, though.

37. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?

Which Crayon Color Are Youu?? created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Gloomy Grey You are gloomy gray. You are boring and gloomy. You need to cheer up. Gloomy Grey 88% Carrot Orange 75% Lime Green 75% Hot Pink 63% Royal Violet 63% Blood Red 50% Jet Black 38% Turqoise 38% Bright Yellow 25% Pure White 13%

38. How is the weather right now?
Hot, but nice for Chicago. No rain.

41. Favorite soft drink?
I don't drink soda.

42. Favorite restaurant?
Probably Taco Bell.

43. Hair color?
My natural color is technically "mouse brown."

44. Siblings?
Nathan = 25 and Gabe = 16

45. Favorite day of the year?
I'm a big Christmas fan. I don't know. I guess I don't have just a date in particular. December 11th is a nice one.

46. What was your favorite toy as a child?
OMGZ AMERICAN GIRL DLLZ!!!

47. Summer or Winter?
Depends, where am I? Chicago? Then Summer. Vero? Winter. Of course, technically, neither of those actually exists.

48. Hugs or kisses?
I was about to rush to say kisses, but really, I'm one of those people who really just wants a really big hug that feels like it's never going to end.

49. Coffee or tea?
Coffeecoffeecoffeecoffee. My favorite is Indian Monsoon Malabar. De-fucking-licious.

50. Chocolate or Vanilla?
Chocolate? I protest. This question is racist. Or something. Or I just like both.

51. Do you want your friends to do this meme?
Um, I don't think I have any friends with blogs besides Joe.

52. When was the last time you cried?
Ummm, I may or may not have cried last night.
...

53. What is under your bed?
Some cats. Also a puzzle and a backgammon board.

54. Who is the friend you have had the longest?
That's my SHANNABABE.

55. What did you do last night?
I totally went to Friday Night Knit Night at Loopy Yarns and it was really fun! I expected it to be kind of stupid...just a bunch of losers knitting together, but it was losers knitting together and having fun. I got in a phone saber battle.

56. Favorite smell?
I just die for the smell of Christmas trees. I think that's the main reason I like Christmas.

57. What are you afraid of?
Food. Haha. Just kidding.

58. Salty or sweet?
This is why Reese created the Cup.

59. How many keys on your key ring?
Fucking THIRTEEN. You would not believe me if I told you how complicated it was to get into our building. I'm not going to bother. I will just say, it is very very complicated.

60. How many years at your current job?
No job. Finished two years at same school, though. Well, I did take two quarters off...but no one remembers those.

61. Favorite Day of the week?
Sundays. Don't know why. Seems to be the best time to just chill out.

62. How many towns/cities have you lived in?
Dos. Vero Beach, FL and Chicago, IL. I have spent summers in Winston-Salem, Columbia, and New York, but that's not really living there.

63. Do you make friends easily?
No, not really. I'm pretty rough around the edges.

64. How many people will read this?
Joe probably will. Maybe Shanna will get through it. I doubt anyone else will.

Labels: meme

...bringin' back the MEME!


1. What time did you get up this morning?
6:15, when my alarm goes off every day. But then I had my coffee and ate breakfast and checked my email and took a shower and got dressed and put in my contacts and brushed my teeth and did my makeup and checked my email again and realized it was only 7am, and that shit, I'm going back to bed till 8:30.

2. Diamonds or pearls?
Pearls!!! They are my birthstone.

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema?
Dunno. Never been. I did however go to the movies when Shanna was visiting and see Indiana Jones.

4. What is your favorite TV show?
Arrested Development. This is ridiculous. Why put a question with only one answer on this kind of thing?

5. What do you eat for breakfast this morning?
Coffee, coffee, coffee, and some honey nut cheerios

6. What is your middle name?
Rejane. NOT ree-jayne. NOT. It's French, ok. Ray-Jean. And that Jean is like Jean ValJean, or Jean Claude Van Damm. You know, with the szh sound for the J. I forget what that is called linguistically...

7. What food do you dislike?
Hahahahaha. What food do I like? I'll just assume this asks me which food I hate beyond all others. Onions. Garlic is cool. Onions. No.

8. What is your favorite CD at the moment?
Hmm, I bought the Red Album the other day. It's nice. But weirdly enough, I'm on a Pinkerton kick. Think it's because Gabe was here and every time I see him I go "Goddamn you half-Japanese girls..."

9. What kind of car do you drive?
The CTA. Specifically the #2, 6, 15, 151, and 172. Also the Red Line occasionally.

10. Favorite sandwich?
Roasted turkey and provolone on wheat bread with a little mayonnaise. Yum!!

11. What characteristics do you despise?
Anything that isn't exactly like me. Actually, I really really hate false modesty from people who need to be pretty damn ashamed. You know, like, the dancer who can't land a single pirouette and gets cast in the corps and then goes behind Cinderella's back and tells people that she tries not to brag, but she just has to tell them how amazing she is that she wasn't cast. But really, she doesn't want to brag.

12. Favorite item of clothing?
I knit this srsly awesome skirt last summer. I don't wear it often, but I pull it out and pet it.

13. Favorite piece of jewelry?
Coolio (yeah, I said it) dangly earrings with little lopsided granite stones on them.

14. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go?
Cliche, but you know I am all about the French. I'd like to go on mini tour of France, Belgium, and Switzerland, seeing everything instead of just Paris.

15. What color is your bathroom?
White. Um, you know. Like a bathroom. Also there are comics of the circles guy in the vase all over it.

16. Favorite brand of clothing?
I like the stuff I make myself, bitch. Also I'm a sucker for Threadless, but I'm trying to kick the habit.

17. Where would you retire to?
I think retiring is stupid. Shut up with the whole social security thing. You're living twenty years longer than you would have if you were living in the age SS was created. WORK TWENTY YEARS LONGER AND STOP WHINING.

18. What was your most recent memorable birthday?
I'm with Joe here. This question makes no sense. I do in fact remember my birthday two months ago. It involved writing my final paper for my linguistics class and looking up pictures of Jesus on a dinosaur.

19. Favorite sport to watch?
Soccers. Well, I love watching gymnastics, but that's not really a sport. It's just...a fucking sweet athletic event?

20. Furthest place this will be read?
I'm guessing the farthest place this will be read is one of the only two places it will be read: exactly right here = Chicago, and far away land of Vero Beach, FL.

Labels: meme

South Side man accused of setting baby raccoon on fire -- chicagotribune.com

So I finally figured out how to make any song into an iPhone ringtone for free. Granted, I've only been trying for like 12 hours, so it's not that bad.

Really, only like an hour, because most of those hours were spend in class and in front of the TV and playing Snood.

ANYWAY, anyone have any special requests for what they would like their ringtone to be??

Labels: friends, iphone, ringtones

Oh knitting, it's back with a vengeance. I forgot how totally freaking sweet it is. NO it is not stupid. Don't even say that. Fr sriel.

I'm working on a badass (and by badass I mean lots of pink) tank top. I am super excited. It was supposed to be one color, but my power of hexadecimal has made me a color-combining expert, and I am totally rocking out a tri-colored Emerald Seas. Or like, Fuchsia Seas, I guess.

Labels: awesome, knitting, pink, pretty

There is something nasty going down at Obama's house. There are cops creeping around and a van of reporters trying to get closer without anyone noticing. There's also a helicopter circling around.

We should start a neighborhood watch. Nothing could get to Obama then.

Labels: obama

...Shit. I really thought I had something to say. I guess it couldn't have been that important.

Labels: nothing

I am so utterly overwhelmed by the quantity of responses I received in the vote for whether or not I should cut my hair! Such drama!

I have decided to compromise...bangs!



I'm not sure whether I like them or not yet. Eh, the worst that can happen is that I'll have to live with them for the rest of the summer and then they'll be long enough to shove behind my ears.

...I might learn to like them, though.

Labels: hair

Sometimes there is nothing better in this world than doing the stupidest thing you can possibly think of.

Labels: stupid

You wouldn't believe it, but I'm surviving my break up. Me! Surviving an emotional experience!!!!!

OMGZ!!!

Over the past few days it has really hit me how Jon did everything exactly the way he should have. He clearly had no intention of hurting me; he just needed to do what was right for both of us. Sad, but it's really true. Strangely enough, I agree. He was perfectly respectful every step of the way, and even tried to prevent me sabotaging myself (as I am obviously prone to doing).

Still, a lingering frustration...

It seems that every single green car in Hyde Park belongs to Jon. In fact, not a single car in all of Chicago at this moment belongs to Jon. Additionally, Hyde Park will most likely never possess a green car owned by Jon ever again. So why do I stare at green cars instead of looking both ways when I cross the street???

Labels: break up, cars, jon

Okay, this is an incredibly monumental decision in my life, and I need your input:

TO CUT MY HAIR, OR NOT TO CUT MY HAIR???

As in like, I have relatively longish hair at the moment, and I'm considering chopping it off in favor of a summery necky length like I had for a lot of senior year.

YOU MUST DECIDE!!!

Labels: hair

So I have to start fresh and everything, whether I want to or not. Nattily.org doesn't really have anything to do with Jon, except that now my readership has probably been cut in half. Still, I cut and dyed my hair (barely in both aspects), I'm in a new apartment, I've got new kitties, I've started knitting again, and I'm still frustrated and can't get him off my mind. Only one solution: start nattily.org FRESH. WHOA! Yeah, not because it has to do with Jon, but because completely redesigning a site takes lots and lots of coding (especially if I skip Dreamweaver and go hardcore Notepad) which is hours and hours and hours of nothing but css and html and lots of strange symbols no one else can understand.

BUT...I have no ideas. :-(

Anyone want to give me inspiration?

Labels: jon, nattily

Last week a student in my year at the University of Chicago committed suicide. There are no details released about the act, and I don't think I knew him, though the name sounds familiar. The U of C doesn't exactly publish its suicide statistics, but it seems to be a hovering threat here. We have Undergraduate Break Day in February, referred to by everyone (yes, including faculty) except the deans and student counselors as "Suicide Prevention Day." It's unnerving.

I don't think I would believe a single person at the school if they told me they had never thought of suicide. I'm not saying everyone at the U of C is suicidal, or ever has been, or is or has been even medically depressed. I just can't imagine going through even one year of school here without thinking that one viable option to solve a problem is to end your own life. Typically, hopefully, this thought is fleeting, and comes with desperation. It's not really something you're going to go and plan out and give away all your possessions for. It's just, a thought. It's there.

I really believe that. That makes me wonder, why did David kill himself? Everybody thinks about it, but nobody's done it in...well I'm not sure, but in at least a few years. It's not like there's a 50% chance you graduate and a 50% chance you jump off a bridge if you come to school here. I mean, why? Not why would he want to, I know the answer there. I mean why did he do it and we haven't?

Personally, I know I've come a lot closer (intentionally or unintentionally depending on who you talk to - I vote un) to ending my life than most people, even most people at this school. But I'm sitting here typing this, corporeally. Why is David dead, and I'm alive? Don't misread this to be "Oh I should have died instead of him!" because I mean, I didn't even know the kid. I'm really just wondering, what line did he cross?

Studies show two interesting traits increase with IQ and education: atheism and suicide rates. I've got the heathen thing down, am I just not smart enough? Was David so smart that he was more inclined to kill himself? Or, more personally, am I alive because I lack some particular knowledge?

Everyone, everyone, suffers immensely in their life. You come to understand what suffering is by the way you experience it. You might logically conclude that children starving in Africa are suffering more than you are when your boyfriend dumps you (I know I do), but that isn't necessarily true. Mental, and maybe physical, pain is relative, and completely personal. So, how can I believe that this kid was suffering much much more than me, and that's why he did it? I'm much more inclined to believe that there is something empirically different between us.

I have never been one to think suicide is weak. A lot of people think that, and I understand why, but I don't agree. I do think it's kind of pathetic, but only in the sense that I would be really pathetic if I killed myself. If you do? Not pathetic at all. devastating and tragic, not pathetic or weak. I have zero logic behind that. Maybe it's just the only way my brain convinces itself to stay alive. Maybe David figured out the logic behind it, in that there is no logic behind it. Maybe he was smart enough to see the logic someplace else.

In any case, I didn't know him. Still, I'm thinking a lot about him, and I know the rest of the school is, too.

Also, thank you for keeping me here. You may or may not know who you are.

Labels: suicide, u of c