5:00 am

i thought it would be funny to read my thoughts at this time in the morning after being up all night at work. it turns out, not so funny. all i can think of is taht i am tired, and now i am sick of vixing my typying mistakes. i have now officially watched every episode of raines on nbc.com. that would be my accomplichment tonight. whoo hoo me. now i'm going to play games so i keep my eyes open for another 115 minutes, and they better be on time in the morning, thats all i've got to say. night night world

Calmer and older...

I have recovered from the news stories and my birthday. Everyone was very nice about both. Jason got me a little tiny cake and some bagels and reese's cups. i went and got my toes and nails done, my nails got partially ruined immediatly (i decided no matter who does them they drive me crazy either way, so i will just live with them they way that they grow.) i also got a new pair of shoes (it reminded me of the mastercard commercial about the pedicure, and peep-toe shoes to show off the pedicure...) and some hair dye (no one seems to like my cute gray streak i have in the front of my head. the color came out nicely, i tried the new revlon colorglaze, its medium red brown, but the only part that looks different is the top and front, its just a brighter red, some how my hair has naturally turned a red brown. but i just wanted to check in with myself and say that i have officially decided to try to get into unc-ch's MLS program next fall, i'm trying to take a class there this fall, we'll see if i can get that taken care of before the class fills up. jason's birthday is on sunday so we are finally going to dinner for the both of ours, though we can't decided where. hopefully i am up to it after a workathon, 9-6 today, 7-4 tomorrow (saturday) then 10pm-6am then sleep, then gardening to finish the parent's birthday gift, then dinner, so we'll see, i may just pass out.

Jocelyne Couture-Nowak

Jocelyne Couture-Nowak, a French instructor at Virginia Tech, was instrumental in the creation of the first French school in a town in Nova Scotia. She lived there in the 1990s with her husband, Jerzy Nowak, the head of the horticulture department at Virginia Tech. Richard Landry, a spokesman with the francophone school board in Truro, Nova Scotia, told the AP that Couture-Nowak was one of three mothers who pushed for the founding of the Ecole acadienne de Truro in 1997. "It was very important for her daughters to be taught in French," Rejean Sirois -- who worked with her in establishing the school -- told the AP. A student who identified herself as DeAnne Leigh Pelchat described her gratitude to Couture-Nowak on a Web site. "I will forever remember you and what you have done for me and the others that benefit from what you did in the little town of Truro," Pelchat wrote in French. "You'll always have a place in my heart."

Mme. Couture-Nowak was an amazing teacher and woman. She was always kind and had a wonderful smile for you. She will be missed by all, my thoughts are with her family.

Transcript of Nikki Giovanni's Convocation address

Delivered April 17, 2007

We are Virginia Tech.

We are sad today, and we will be sad for quite a while. We are not moving on, we are embracing our mourning.

We are Virginia Tech.

We are strong enough to stand tall tearlessly, we are brave enough to bend to cry, and we are sad enough to know that we must laugh again.

We are Virginia Tech.

We do not understand this tragedy. We know we did nothing to deserve it, but neither does a child in Africa dying of AIDS, neither do the invisible children walking the night away to avoid being captured by the rogue army, neither does the baby elephant watching his community being devastated for ivory, neither does the Mexican child looking for fresh water, neither does the Appalachian infant killed in the middle of the night in his crib in the home his father built with his own hands being run over by a boulder because the land was destabilized. No one deserves a tragedy.

We are Virginia Tech.

The Hokie Nation embraces our own and reaches out with open heart and hands to those who offer their hearts and minds. We are strong, and brave, and innocent, and unafraid. We are better than we think and not quite what we want to be. We are alive to the imaginations and the possibilities. We will continue to invent the future through our blood and tears and through all our sadness.

We are the Hokies.

We will prevail.

We will prevail.

We will prevail.

We are Virginia Tech.

birthday time

So its birthday time in the land of jessica. my co-workers are fabulous, and blew up balloons and put up streamers and a pinata that they filled with candy and toys, it's hilarious. there is a very cute tiara that i wore all day. i feel old, but young, so that's good. it's been a good year, and a sad year, but we're all moving on and will be forever hokies. as a note: shun, shun the non-believer, i work in the cave of wonder at candy mountain. heehee.

happy birthday to me.

I love Virginia Tech

I love Virginia Tech. I loved everything about it when i was there, i love it the same today as i did on sunday, and as i will tomorrow. i think that it sucks that it will now and forever be remembered for its tragedy instead of its never ending good qualities (don't get me wrong, the weather is crappy, and who puts a school in the middle of nowhere...but i still love it, who goes to class in flip-flops and then comes out to an inch of snow).

We will be great in football, my only hope is that we will win and win big, and we will be remembered for that.

as a side note, screw you today show, if you can't get your graffics right, don't do them at all, its a bleeping engineering school did you not think that we would notice that what you showed was norris hall was actually burruss hall, its got a belltower, i mean really, are we Really that stupid? can't even get the pictures right? its the one NEXT to it, it took two seconds to pull that up on the tech website. grrr.

when watching the mass amounts of coverage this week did you notice the hokie stone? its everywhere, its gorgeous, who else covers 90% of their buildings in a stone they named after themselves? where else can you cross campus everyday on a field that is sinking each day? where else can you get the best chicken caesar salad wraps that i would drive 7 hours to eat again? or have a bridge that connects two buildings with the most amazing views?

so in conclusion of this rant. i love the hokies. this does not define us, it will not define us. oh and get your damn facts right.

Why i'm here

No, this is not an existential question. I just wanted to state the purpose of my blog. Most people in general say that they never planned on doing this, i am one of them. I have been reading my friend's blogs and decided that it was an interesting record of our thoughts and feelings to share with future generations. I also just feel crappy today and need a way to express it without bringing anyone else down, or to feel worse by saying it out loud. but i also have interesting things coming in the future and want a way to share my experiences with others that could be in similar situations. i want a degree in library science and will be pursuing it this fall. all of that said, anyone who will read this doesn't need to know much about me, i'm white, i'm 26 today, and 27 tomorrow. i went to college, i work at a college library. i'm any woman walking down the street. except i'm usually smiling at you no matter what. i like math. i'm married. i have too many animals to explain what they are right now. i love my job. i love my family. they are crazy. i love my friends. they are probably crazy too. but i think we are all a little crazy. i don't like to capitalize. nor do i like to appropriately use punctuation. get use to it.