I am so professional.

This weekend was the conference in Oklahoma, where I presented two papers. The first was on sexual content, sexual themes, and sexual consequences in "Secret Life of the American Teenager."



The second was about faith healing testimonies on the internet.



(I also look really really short in this picture. I am short, of course, but I think I might even look shorter than I am.)

It was a really good conference and I am glad to get two more presentations under my belt!

the day has come

I've tried to avoid it.

I really have.

I had great hopes in the open forum. Where people could comment on my blog without having to be a member, for example.

But the spam started rolling in. It's usually Asian spam, for some reason. I suspect my Korean and Chinese classmates (just kidding). I have made it almost 3 years without too much of a problem, but as Jason pointed out, I'm starting to get more and more.

So the day has come.

I now have word verification on my comments. Hopefully that will weed out some of the spam.

Please don't let this disrupt you from commenting. I love comments. Especially when they aren't spam.

Other than the spam issue, life is going well.

Oh yeah! I suppose I should tell you all.

I am having a baby!

(That, my friends, is burying the lead.)

Mini Update

I have been Beatles rock band playing, couch potato-ing, retreat-ing, schooling, hibernating, & Christmas-ing. Lots of fun and snoozing!

Throughout it all, I've apparently NOT been blogging. I need to do better about that. My mom yelled at me tonight.

My Secret Life paper got accepted to a conference (as did another paper I wrote about faith healing and the internet -- don't ask), so I will be traveling to Oklahoma (of all places) in March. Then, the very next weekend, I'll be heading on a big boat for the cruise to the Panama canal!

While writing this, I leaned over to say hi to Layla, who is laying on the couch next to me. She licked me and PUT HER TONGUE UP MY NOSE. Ewwwwwwwwww.

Bad Haiku Friday: Christmas Cursing Edition

Last Christmas we changed
Curse words to Christmas lingo
Fa-la-la you, Scrooge.

Sunday Snapshot: Salzburg I

On our 2007 Europe trip, we began in Salzburg, Austria (after a bus ride from the Munich airport).

All of these pictures were taken within the same square. I so loved Salzburg, and I fully reserve the right to post gabillions more pictures from there. (On a side note, I am apparently hungry while I'm putting this together, because these pictures are all about food.)



I'm not going to lie. I want to be these people when I grow up.



That's a wheel of cheese. And I'm in heaven.



One of the things we ate. At this place, one of our friends tried to ask for a bottle of water in German, and he asked for a bottle of water without the water! It was hilarious and the shopkeeper was cracking up.



I love markets.

Bad Haiku Friday: Jennie comes to visit!

Sis visits today
Takes my mind off crazy school
Plus, much volleyball

EDITED TO ADD: Guest Haiku from My MOM!

It is almost time
To celebrate the weekend
Yabba Dabba Do

Brilliant! There used to be a radio station that would play the whistle blowing at five and have Fred Flintstone yelling YABBA DABBA DO to celebrate the end of the day. My father comes home every Friday and yells Yabba Dabba Do in honor of the weekend.

Where I'm at this week ....

Of course, it's the last two weeks of the semester before finals, so this is grad student time to SHINE! (Look at how positive I am. SHINE, I tell you. Not fail. Not cry. Not throw rotten tomatoes at professors—SHINE. Now, SHINE, darn it!)

So tomorrow I have a project due and the presentation for the project. I chose to go tomorrow because, obviously, Dec. 2 is Britney Spears' birthday, and I cannot think of a better omen than that! I announced that to my class, of course, when we were discussing the dates on which to present, and they all think I'm crazy. In my defense, one of my dear friends' birthdays is Dec. 2, and so we always teased her in high school about having the same bday as popular-because-she-makes-suggestive-grunting-noises-in-songs Spears. I am half tempted to have Britney narrate my presentation. I also considered making cookies to bring in as a celebration. Alas, my presentation is on a class I have created called First Amendment and the Internet: An Introduction. Although Brit-Brit might have nary a thing to do with this topic, well, I'll make something up.

Sometime between now and next week, I have to watch NINE episodes of The Secret Life of the American Teenager. This seemed like a great idea when I was coming up with my topic for my qualitative class. However, it means I have to WATCH NINE HOURS OF SECRET LIFE. How can life get any better?! I daresay, it cannot. I will CONQUER those episodes. I swear.

I also have various and sundry things to tie up for my health class, including the dread group project. I loathe group projects. My group is pretty good for this project, but I still would rather do the whole darn thing on my own. That's a presentation due next Tuesday. Awesome.

And this weekend, JENNIE (my sister) comes to visit! It will be mayhem. It will be magic. It will be lots and lots of volleyball (her team is playing a tournament here). And pizza. Oh yes, there will be pizza.