Smoking Ban

The smoking ban takes effect today. This could easily be the best day of my life, if it weren't for that thermo midterm. I hate school.

Anyone up for a bar tonight?

The Ladder Theory

I first read this when I was a sophomore. I deemed the theory hilarious, and linked to it in my Favorite Places. Now, two years later, I have unearthed the gem:

The Ladder Theory

More on the Cutting Thing

I guess it's not even that I think the cutting body modification would hurt all that much (although I'm sure it would definitely hurt a little bit more than the everyday nick simply because it's being done slowly and deliberately, with the intention of scarring). I'm just not sure it is something that should be glorified.

BMEzine has pages devoted to ritual cutting. I'll agree that some of these cuttings were indeed performed as a form of body modification. Others, however, look to me like cuttings as a result of depression.

As someone who has been there, I believe glorifying these cuttings as artistic expressions is a gross misunderstanding of what is really going on. I still have scars on my arms and legs. Some of these form patterns or words, but I definitely don't think of them as trophies worthy of showing off. Rather, I am ashamed of every mark I ever put on my body. To me, these marks are reminders of what I used to be, what I never again want to be.

Sorry for the gravity.

Miscellaneous

Bed of Roses

Listening to all of my music files on random, and 'Bed of Roses' by Bon Jovi came on. This is pretty much the best song ever (pay no attention to the fact that I love 80s hair bands, excessively dramatic music, and especially Bon Jovi - the 2nd concert I ever saw, for my 13th birthday). Ah, I need to get drunk and try to slow dance.

Donations?

I got a paycheck for $7.00 today. Seven dollars and zero cents. Donations to the Kristin-is-Poor Fund can be made by cash or check.

Pain - Part 2

Next on my list of ridiculously painful things is:

*Cutting*

1. Choose a design
2. Get a sharp knife
3. Cut design into skin
4. Nurse your wounds and wait for your scar
   

Pain - part 1?

So I'm sitting here at 4 a.m., waiting for my 100 or so pages to print from the printer (honestly, do I really need 24 copies of my story? who does peer reviews, anyway?), and I'm looking at the Evolved Body Art website, since I interviewed a piercer there for my story. Anyway, some of the stuff that people do to their bodies is really freaking me out.

I'm not trying to be judgmental; I'm not saying there's anything wrong with body modification. I just think it sounds so painful!

Anyway, first up on my list of ridiculously painful things is:

*Branding*

1. Choose a design
2. Heat a piece of metal
3. Press searing metal into flesh
4. Nurse your wounds and wait for your scar

Undressed to Kill

Only Undies Club is having an event at High Five on Friday, 02.11.05, if anyone is interested. It's $5, but this is just like the lingerie party that BP and I wanted to throw last year but never did.

Piercing

I have my tragus pierced (only in my left ear), and I think I might want to get my earhead pierced in the same ear. (I got the pictures from http://www.piercology.com/.)

DIC

So I'm taking this journalism class, one that I really have no business taking, and I'm enjoying it. Except for this Dumbass In Class, DIC, who makes these completely irrelevant comments. All the time. Always off point. Always inane.

So today we were reviewing our story ideas, whole class discussion kind of thing. My idea is to do a sort of how-to story for rugby players with piercings, as in how to make a successful union between a piercing and a contact sport.

Immediately after I stated my plan, a hand shot up in the air: DIC's. "You should do a story about the Lincoln Memorial!"

First of all, that's old news. Second of all, why would I do a story on an event which would stir up the tarnished reputation my club has been trying to escape for the past six years?

Fucking moron.

What the fuck is Chinese Downhill?

Chinese Downhill is an event similar to boardercross or skiercross, only we don't have permission to do it, so the event therefore must be held on a distant wooded trail, far from the eye of a ski patroller.

Last night we discovered our beloved competition hill, Westwood, had been renamed "Sobe - No Fear" (idiots) and turned into a terrain park. For lack of a better option, we opted to hold our event on Rustler. Ordinarily not one of the more difficult routes in the resort (if there are any difficult routes at all), Rustler's narrow path and intermittent lift towers presented an interesting playing field for the Chinese Downhill. The real fun would come at the bottom, where the path narrowed considerably (much more than shown on the trail map).

On January 19^th, 2005, around 9:00 p.m., twenty or so skiers and snowboarders from Ohio State lined up at the top of Rustler. "Three. Two. One. Go!" We were off.

I got a good start, skating wide to keep my neighboring competitors at bay. I hung to the left side of the trail, clear of any lift towers. On my far right, some valiants took the lead, but I was more concerned with the contenders attempting a pass on my side of the trail. A shadow to my left - I veered left, blocked him. A shadow to my right - I quickly switched edges, blocked her. And then, the lift line approacheth...

Out of nowhere Jon veering left in front of me he hit random girl I don't know her she's not in our group New Guy crashing into Tim Tim flying off trail New Guy sliding into my path me hitting New Guy falling on top of him as Jon careens into me from my right side.

The snow settled. Four OSU skiers and their detached equipment in a scattered pile. Five feet away sat random girl, laughing at us, apparently okay.

Call it idiocy. Call it the strong wills of four people vying for 3rd place. Call it what you will. I believe it was the trail's fault. You see, never in my four years on the team had I ever witnessed a collision during Chinese Downhill. This new trail brought nothing but devastation (and amusement for some). I will miss you, Westwood.

Bird Feeder

The Neighbors to the Right, the ones who were also feeding Kitty back when he was living here (I miss Kitty), have hung up a bird feeder. Our apartment complex is teeming with sparrows. I enjoy this for two reasons:

1) I like birds.
2) I bet the Neighbors to the Left will be furious.

Your brother ain't sweet like mine

"all I want to know is whose foot is in the background"

-my little bro

On Beer

I drank 600 Cal worth of beer last night (according to this study). I think I should quit. Or at least cut back. I don't care about alcoholism; "my liver is evil and needs to be punished."¹ I do, however, care about what I look like. More on this in the fitlog.

1. Quote from a t-shirt I spotted on campus.

Fitlog

Presenting fitlog. Fitlog is my attempt to spare this weblog of my ridiculous obsession with fitness. Read it if you wish (it might give me some motivation to think that people are checking up on me), or forget I ever posted this.

Note: the actual address for this new project of mine is "kristinsfitlog.blogspot.com," not just "fitlog.blogspot.com," because the latter address was already taken. However, the title of that person's blog is "Fit Log," while the title of my blog is "fitlog." Thus, I am still original and perfect.

Ill-equipped

I am ill-equipped to handle life's everyday problems. I think I should just give up.