june archives

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updates this month i don't quite know what to say 06.27.05 sad and pathetic ways to spend your time #1 06.18.05 even better 06.12.05 naked critical mass! 06.11.05 vocal talents 06.09.05 braaaaaaiiiins 06.05.05

i don't quite know what to say 06.27.05 00:06 heard about this article in the new yorker on the daily show tonight. and...i just can't figure out what to say about it. i think i'm frightened that such institutions exist, but more frightened that people exist to support them and make them...necessary? not the word i want, but you may see where i'm going. that there's a market for them. that works pretty well. anyhow, yes. for those of you who don't want to bother with reading it, it's basically about a college for homeschooled evangelicals with political ambitions. how's that for a diverse student body? these people and their plans scare me. there's a bit in there about a couple who wanted their first kiss to be at their wedding, for example; there are lots of women interviewed who will not hesitate to abandon whatever political career they have to stay at home with their kids. i don't really get the point of such ambitious training if you're just going to give it all up in the next five years anyway, seems to me a waste. yes yes, there's gratification from the education itself...but i think that goes better with a less practical education than these kids get. so, read the article, it's quite interesting. bob jones on steroids. in other news, i found out today it is possible to set off a fire alarm while searching for the light switch in a dark room. please use caution when engaging in said activities, especially in large public buildings. also, boys, back off. i'm spoken for . thanks summer camp. top

sad and pathetic ways to spend your time #1 06.18.05 00:23 searching for yourself on google. searching my full name pulls up this site google-ranked second, after a writer in maryland with the same name's publisher's site, but searching for just my first name gets about 21 million hits. i'm happy to report that i'm 410th. helen's yiddish dance site beat me out by a few dozen spots, but luckily i got a higher google rank than helen's hamster page. and actually, i beat out a lot of starving artist types, both musical, literary, and visual. now i feel kind of sorry for them. in other news, tomorrow i don't have to go to work. you don't realize how big a deal this is. it's my first day off in two weeks. my first day off since getting back from europe. i should rename this site "the adventures of helen, planetarium slave." incidentally, searching for "planetarium slave" in quotes gets exactly one hit, which appears to be a porn/personals site. this scares me. who out there is turned on by planetarium slavery? apparently someone. i hope i never run into them. you know what's interesting? once i upload this, there will be two hits. for some reason this makes me feel powerful. muahahaha i have such control over the fates of people searching for "planetarium slave" on google! *sighs, shakes head at self* oh and in case you didn't notice, i changed my picture. breaks the black and white color theme, but it's a cooler picture, so there. top

even better 06.12.05 20:03 not just in madrid! check it out. and be on the lookout for an update maybe tonight or tomorrow. top

naked critical mass! 06.11.05 21:35 i read this on la tercera's webpage tonight and just had to share the joy. for those of you not gifted with spanish, basically it's talking about a naked bike protest in madrid. this is the greatest thing i've heard all week, for sure. i wish those could happen legally here. it would certainly make critical mass more interesting, haha. more pictures are coming eventually, but tonight i'm lazy, so too bad. but naked bike protests! yes! top

vocal talents 06.09.05 22:22 almost at the end of the first week of summer camp, and it's been...interesting. kids are a challenge, and i'd forgotten exactly how much of one they like to be, especially the younger ones. and unfortunately, i'm the bad cop. i made a kid cry yesterday when i tried to get her to apologize to someone she'd pushed. it's the scary helen teacher voice, i guess. i need fangs. anyhow, in other news, googling "helen chappell" will now actually get you this website. this makes me happy, as that used to not be the case. in case that's not a tip off, i've been a bit bored lately. in a good way though, because work has been owning my soul and having absolutely nothing to do once i come home is excellent. been slowly catching up with folks too, don't pout if i haven't gotten to you yet, i'm working on it. sick now, too, so that's making it take longer as well. but, the short-awaited europe pictures are developed and scanned, all but those from london. they're actually all on my webspace too, but i haven't made pages for them all yet, just two sets. so if you use your sneaky navigating-helen's-webspace skills, you can pull up the directory and look at them all if you want, or, if you use your excellent waiting-for-helen-to-post-things skills, you can be patient and see them soon with little blurbs and in a handy semi-chronological format. at any rate, there's about 10-15 of them up and explained now, under the column heading formerly known as "chile pictures," now going by "photographic evidence." oxford was the first place we hit (flew into london, it's cheapest), staying with sarah at st. hugh's college there. she was a most excellent hostess, taking us to a formal dinner (the pictures from that are bad, we were jetlagged zombies, so they're not up) and the pub and generally just giving us the full oxford experience. yay. an amusing note is that we took her a cosmic burrito, from the proper cosmic. i wonder how many cosmic burritos have crossed the atlantic. so, that was the first bit of oxford, though we went back later so i could fly home. next we headed to germany, flying from london to köln then hopping a train to berlin (cheapest again) long travel day. stayed in berlin 3 nights, and that's all i've got up so far. more to come, for sure, so stay tuned. as for now...that's about it. top

braaaaaaiiiins 06.05.05 23:30 damn you internet, for making me still awake. who cares if okcupid thinks i'm more like amun-ra than zeus? sigh. i'm still on europe time, which will make it easier to wake up tomorrow morning for camp (four year olds, learning about bugs, should be fun), but makes me kind of a zombie at the moment. why am i updating? a fine question indeed. there's not really an answer. i'll eventually post exciting europe pictures, since i like pictures, but they're at the photo place because i incorrectly estimated what time it would close. alas. but being home is...being home. it's cheaper here. this is offset by the fact that it's not as exciting here. ok enough of this internet silliness, and more sleep. top