Sara sans "h"

But I haven't been blogging lately. Does that mean that I am not?
I've been busy with living life, mentally preparing to turn 23 (that's a big number), spending my last days in the midwest, and gearing up for a big move. For those of you who don't know, I am moving to El Paso, Texas, in just under two weeks.

I know, I know. I am moving from somewhere cold and green to somewhere hot and (more or less) brown. But do not forget that Las Vegas was the first environment I ever knew, and it is a desert. Also, I hate the cold. I think a year without snow will do me some good. I spent most of this past winter trying to figure out why my feet were always numb and came to the conclusion that I am a cold-blooded creature, most likely a turtle. I do like to hide from people. Though I would imagine the claustrophobia would inhibit my living in a shell.

Another thing I have heard is, "You're moving to Texas?" Yes. Yes I am. I am reconciling this fact with the knowledge that El Paso is only a few miles away from New Mexico and El Paso-ans (El Paso-ites?) do not speak with the southern drawl that is typical of Texans. Don't get me wrong. I have plenty of family from Texas and the South in general. But I have such a tough time not getting distracted when someone speaks with the very slow, twangy dialect that is so prevalent in the South. My mind just starts to wander and I try to guess the next word the person I am speaking with will say and start to have my own conversation in my head. This habit doesn't really lend itself to productive conversations when trying to get to know someone new.

I also don't speak Spanish, something I hear is pretty prevalent in El Paso since you can turn toward the South from just about anywhere and see Mexico. I'll just hope that I meet every person that speaks German in town so I can communicate with people and make friends. Or there is also the option of learning Spanish...The thought of that just sends chills down my spine. It's been so long since I switched gears and started learning German that much of Spanish pronunciation is gone from my mind.

But I'm sure I'll make plenty of new friends with all of the cacti in the desert.

1. (Julia posted this on facebook and it came up in my feed) Babies pick up their parents' accents from the womb, and infants are born crying in their native dialect. Researchers found that French newborns cry in a rising French accent, and German babies cry with a characteristic falling inflection.
2. Russian troops didn't leave Poland until 1993.
3. Lead poisoning isn't only a threat to children. Women of childbearing age with high lead levels are more prone to miscarriages, premature birth, birth defects, and developmental problems. (I learned way more about lead poisoning, but this was the most interesting to me.)
4. Only male fireflies can fly.
5. Snapple Fact #870: President Warren G. Harding once lost White House China in a poker game.
6. You can walk roughly six miles inside of Walmart if you go up and down every single aisle once and then do your grocery shopping.
7. Hillary Duff still acts. And she acts in exactly the same fashion as she did in Lizzie McGuire on the Disney Channel. (she made guest appearances in a few episodes of Gossip Girl)


Bonus! Someone tipped my cow this weekend. I suspect the ladybug.

1. Darth Vader needs to switch to Gmail, if only for the spam control. (hint: click the link. It doesn't work if you don't click the link)
2. If you play the game Diplomacy and France decides to just let you take over her territories so she can go play Zelda, make sure she doesn't write "France does whatever Germany says" as her military orders. it's a good way to turn Russia, Great Britain (your boyfriend with whom you were going to share France with anyway), and Austria-Hungary against you.
3. There are two Bronze Turkeys (the travelling trophy up for grabs in the Turkey Bowl between Knox College and Monmouth College every year): the original one from the late 1800s and a replica because the old one has not aged gracefully over the years.
4. If there is radiation or a nuclear attack, I can go to my friendly neighboorhood post office for access to a fallout shelter.
5. Snapple fact #855: Oregon has more ghost towns than any other state.
6. September 11 is an actual national holiday called "Patriot Day." There is a designated moment of silence at 8:46 A.M. to commemorate the victims who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks.
7. There is also a holiday in the spring called "Patriots' Day" to commemorate the first anniversary of the Revolutionary War. It was on this holiday that the Oklahoma City Bombing happened.

I am compiling a list of things I am going to do over winter break. This list includes (but is not limited to) the following things:

What happens when finals time rolls around? I blog, that's what.

Definitions are funny things. There are actual definitions, then there are the connotations we have for things.

I have learned three things over the past few hours that are very important for EVERYONE to know.

1.) I am very happy I went and bought this rice krispie treat. It is one of those big ones that has m&ms and mini-marshmallows in it. Delicious.

And keep in mind that this final is all that is standing between me and the summer.
1. Walk on hot coals.
2. Write five other papers about better topics.
3. Eat whatever they make people eat on Fear Factor these days.
4. Contemplate extensively whether or not they even still have Fear Factor and then look it up online.
5. Baby-sit a prospective student that hates me.
6. Talk to the girl that had me as a prospective student. She hated me.
7. Start learning French. (For those of you who don't know, I hate French. I chose German because I can actually pronounce it.)
8. Pack. I hate packing.
So, basically, there are a myriad of things i would rather do than this final. Is it the final or the prospect of summer I am staving off? You decide. I already know the answer.

I am just going to ride on Tasha's coattails a little bit. I was thinking about this last night, and I came up with ten of the most awesome things about German Club.
1) The People. All of us get done what we say we will. We all have a good attitude about everything.
2) No Drama. This kind of goes along with the people, but it deserves its own little place in the world. German Club people don't freak out and act like it is the end of the world if something goes wrong. No one makes more trouble that there actually is. It is so amazingly nice.
3) Sonja #1. One of the best professors ever. Enough said.
4) Sonja #2. She explains German grammar to me until I understand it. That is not an easy task. She deserves some kind of international award for her patience.
5) tea and cookies. Yumm.
6) We speak German. Sometimes. A lot of times. And I don't have to feel as hesitant about it when I am with German Club
7) T-shirts. We have some kick ass German t-shirts.
8) It is educational. Okay, so I am a nerd at heart. And I love that German Club is also a place where I can learn about German culture and stuff. It makes it so much more interesting.
9) Tuesdays suck, except for German Club. Which is true. Think about it: Tuesdays exist before the week is half-over and yet right after the weekend so you still aren't quite back in the swing of things from your two day break. Tuesdays are cruel. But then, there is German Club, and all is right with the World.
And last, but not least: 10) We have an amazing Exec board.

German has rules. There are exceptions to these rules. There are irregularities you just have to remember. The time always comes before you say what you actually did/are going to do. There really is not way to tell the gender of a masculine or neuter noun if it is in the dativ. The list goes on and on, and I have only studied for 14 weeks.
I just read that last bit aloud to my roommate. Then I added onto the end of it "I would kind of like to say something profound after that, but I have nothing profound to say." I said this in the same tone and rate of speaking as I had said what I read aloud. I didn't switch from my reading aloud voice. She knew I had stopped reading, because I had looked up at her. But my voice didn't tell her anything.
I have lots of different voices. I have my serious voice, my lying voice, my reading voice. I have a different voice for when I am trying to annoy someone. I have a specific voice for when I try to annoy Dan. I have a voice for when I am teaching or explaining something. I have a voice specifically for the affection I have for Abby, and another for Dezi.
Not that I think this is profound in anyway, I just think it is an interesting thing for me to realize about myself. Now I need to study for the two midterms I have tomorrow.

Last night, my dream was so weird. I was with my parents at the presidential debates for the 2012 election. We were in the front row, right in the action of things, and I got to sit next to the Republican candidate. Obama was up for re-election, so I was rooting for him, and I looked to my left and realized that the Republican candidate was Mao ZeDong. He argued with Obama, oddly enough, not in Chinese. The dream was in German, and I kept having to translate for my parents. I don't think any of it was real German, but I still knew exactly what was going on.
I think this dream is indicative of several things:
1. I have been reading about China way too much
2. I have been thinking about German way too much
3. My dream self is too stupid to stop and think about the fact that Mao Zedong is not a natural born citizen, also that he is dead
4. I am already apprehensive of the next presidential election
5. I need to get more sleep overall

The song manic Monday has been running through my head ever since I thought about the phrase "German Tuesday." I don't even really like that song that much. In fact, I think it is kind of annoying. And people in the office I work at like to say "It's another manic Monday" whenever someone shows up late, which is generally once or twice a day. They even say it when it isn't a Monday. I don't understand.
Today is a German Tuesday, though. It really is a Tuesday. And there really is a lot of German. German class, German club, mandatory German film, studying for the German exam that is on Thursday. Tuesdays are German.
There is a ceramic witch on my desk. She has been here for quite some time. I don't understand why. There is a sticker on her extolling her cost ($7.50) and she is holding a broom. I wonder how much I would be worth if I had a sticker with my price on me.