It was perfectly casual, an evening of conversation. It felt good to just be. I came home and ran a hot bath and finished the 6th Harry Potter book re read. Perfect night.

A decision seems to have been reached. Simon will most likely stay in Chicago until May, at which point he will be driven back to Denver. There is always spring break. We are considering all other options but as this point, there’s not enough time and the danger level is too high to do a quick turnaround sort of adventure. (For the record, I’m still offering to do it myself, but my pleas have been silenced).

The potty training of the rabbit might be going better than anticipated, but probably not.

A nap is in order.

Mom’s phone (above) — my phone (below)

Yesterday was an eventful day.
I got a phone call before nine informing me that Simon had been vandalized. Someone spray painted ” = pain” all over the driver’s side window.
After hearing that, there were tears and a plan was set into action. I’m going to get him; I’m not letting him sit in Chicago anymore. He’s been hurt so much and I’m not going to let that continue. The white car (Mike’s) had been sitting in the front of the house, so it’s being looked at. If it’s not horribly expensive to repair, I’ll be driving it to Chicago to pick up Simon. I’ll leave his car there and keep it until graduation in May. After that, it’s his again and I’ll be biking where I need to go.
As most trouble goes, there’s always something worse, and for me it was dealing with the police. Hunter tried to file a report and was turned away. I tried several times and was met by rude police officers and trouble the whole way.
After that, Mom and I decided to go to Verizon. Mom has been in need of a phone for about a year now and we are finally able to get a new one with the whole new 2 year agreement deal. I will say that Verizon has the best national service. I always have reception when my friends don’t, except of course, where there is no service to be had.
Hunter has to stand by a window in his basement apartment. I can sit wherever.
Anyway. Mom wanted the EnV3, a phone that has a full keyboard on the inside as well as a regular keypad on the front. We went in to get it and look around.
Verizon is running a deal where you can get one phone free when you buy certain phones. We were looking at a Blackberry or the EnV3 (I needed a new phone too!).
Turns out, I was up for an upgrade as well!!
Some poor Verizon guy spent about an hour and a half with us, getting us all set up to do everything we needed to do on our new phones. Mom got email and internet on her phone for $3 per month (sweet!). I got a great deal, however, I am paying about 10x more than Mom for unlimited internet. My phone has Twitter (which I will be using more: http://www.twitter.com/katiemarybarry) – I can’t blog on there, I tried-, Facebook, Gmail, everything else.
So of us ended up satisfied and quite happy with our new phones; they each do everything that we need them to do.
I am also enthralled with the customer service at Apple. They are amazing. We returned my printer and it may have been the easiest thing I’ve ever done.
Then we went and had dinner together.
Overall, a better ending to a day that had a miserable start. Simon is parked in front of my apartment, and while I’m not looking forward to driving cross-country in a Dodge Neon in early January, I will do anything to get him safely home.

I hope that everyone’s Christmas was as beautiful as mine was. Quiet and snow-filled.
There’s a lingering sadness intertwined with the beauty of the season. It reminds me that after May, there is no plan, no set direction. And with that, I am off again on the adventure that will be my life. Here, abroad, I can go anywhere. Of course, anywhere is a strange place, but perhaps better than nowhere.

I’ll be getting a new coat and for that, I am thrilled.

Being home is beautiful.
There’s nothing quite like it.

Today, Madeline and I went back to Mullen to see all of the teachers.
It was strange. My name is on a banner for people who have received a 5 on the AP tests; it says “Katherine M. Barry – English Language.” Impressive, not really, but exciting, yes.

Mr. Hilbert keeps a database of all of his former students. He had to go back and search for me, but he remembered that he’d taught my brother and that my dad had often been in to ask about him. Wonderful. Great. Not remembered for my own achievements but for my father’s annoyance.
He updated his little database after telling me that the last time he saw me was in May of 2006. His room hasn’t changed. Words are painted on the walls and his collection of books remains. The file folders live on wire shelves against the back wall.

….
too tired. Getting sick.

Not me!

Ha, the party wasn’t really a party after all, but my costume was epic. (Maybe not, but I was stoked). Joaquin Phoenix is an amazing actor (he was in Gladiator, um, recently Walk the Line) who went crazy (apparently, but the hoax possibility reigns) and then went on Letterman before disappearing out of the public eye.

These are the pictures.

I blame everything on dehydration. I don’t think I’m that wrong either. I feel as though proper hydration is essential to good body function. It’s finals week, which means sodium and carbs, the only foods that make a body feel happy. I’ve been eating to fill the emotional void I’ve created, and although it’s pleasant, it’s not necessarily a good thing. So tonight I’m beginning the fruit and tea kick in an attempt to make my body love me again. Wish me luck.

I was under the impression that this was going to be the 300th post, but it might be the 301st. Either way, we’ll pretend to celebrate 300 entries of emotion and excitement and the cities that I love.

First of all, I would like to make a comment on the way that Chicago has changed me. Mustard. I love mustard now. Chicago is not a ketchup city. Of course, we eat it here, but the Chicago-style hot dog is covered in mustard. And if it can be eaten with mustard, it is. It must be a Midwest thing, but mustard is a staple here.

I’ve also noticed that my taste in foods is changing as I age. Right now, I’m all about tomatoes. Seriously love tomatoes. I want them on everything. I was eating stewed tomatoes out of the can the other day. And maybe that’s not all bad. I’ve always loved to eat fruit, but I’m also really getting into vegetables. Not just salad, but the pure tastes of all vegetables.

I made breaded pork chops last night. I really don’t like pork, but I was excited to have a chance to bread some meat. I love to bread things, but I’m still learning. Egg. It’s all about the egg. That was a new addition to my repertoire, Hunter’s roommate Adrian taught me the other night when we made meatballs.

I had made some cranberry sauce (cranberries are on sale right now and I’m buying them up and freezing them!) to put on my pork chops, which made them mostly edible. We also had red potatoes that I smashed with butter and a little bit of whole milk, then salted and peppered. Yum.

I’m dyeing my hair tonight! Dark dark brown. I’ll post pictures.

Don’t make airline reservations yet! Loyola seems to have lost my application for graduation. There’s an email into the School of Communication, so we’ll see what they say. My credits do all line up for walking in May and for receiving my degree in August. Ugh. Not the best news to receive on a Friday night. But…I double checked in October and it said- there’s already a valid graduation application in. So, here’s hoping that it will all get worked out.

I’m going out with Maddie and Katie and Anna tonight–even though I’ve not been doing enough lately to prepare for finals (I seem to have completely lost my motivation)—I’m going tonight to relax and just go out and be. Tomorrow noon will see me ensconced in the library working on my Monday final.

The cold has landed. Hopefully there will be pictures from the evening.

I’ve officially decided on a name: Simon’s Little Brother, Claude, but we’ll just call him Claude.

The last story for fiction as well as the BDSM ethnography are both available at my Tumblr account, http://www.katiebarry.tumblr.com

Spanish final today, then preparation for my speech Monday, then rewriting stories, writing a segment of a final script and then finishing a Drug Abuse Control class assignment will round out my day today. (Long!) Looking to the weekend: I see relaxation. Tuesday or Thursday brings the Spanish final final (although today is the listening final), then the DAC final Friday. That one will need a good amount of preparation, but I can spend all week doing that.

There’s really no place like home.

I stole this picture off of Google.

This started out as an attempt to update my blog, but is ending in misery. I cannot form coherent sentences at the moment, thus I cannot aptly describe the scene I was intending to discuss.

But alas, safe in Chicago, busy busy.

First post from the new computer! It’s been less than 24 hours and it hasn’t really set in yet, but I know that I’m so grateful for the opportunity to be able to get a new computer. I’m really settling in to the Mac lifestyle and am excited for greater ease of use. The good news is that I got to avoid the new Windows operating systems.