surprise-ness

so the surprise was the "Star Wars Concert" by the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra at Blossom Music Center, and it was rockin'. we had a really good time. Anthony Daniels, aka C3PO, narrated, and beat a dead dog to death by throwing in compliments to C3PO all the doo-lah-day. But other than that, he does have a good narrating voice and did well. He doesn't really sound like C3PO, which i thought he would more, but i guess with a mask on and a sing-song voice you sound a little different. we saw some people walking around in full rebel fighter or anakin gear. cool stuff. good thing braden brought blankets and coats, b/c i was freez-o-bobby.
they played "the stars and stripes forever" at the end, unfurled an american flag and set off a bunch of fireworks, which was cool. actually, they had the fireworks going for a long time while everyone was waiting for the tram to take us back to the parking lots.

the bbq was good, and we got some presents from my classmates, which i totally wasn't expecting. they pooled money together and got us a down feathertop thing for the mattress, another throw (can't have too many of those) and a little stress squishball, b/c they figured i'd need it this year (probably true). i met some new peeps, but mostly right before i left. i seem to have an easier time introducing myself when i can say, oh and by the way, i'm leaving right now, see ya. :) so...i should have been more social, but i did meet some people. and i figure i'll do more meeting in the lab as i see new faces. i wish it were easier for me to just go up and start a conversation with someone i don't know.
it seems like there's a lot more native spanish speakers this year, which is cool. i'm looking forward to getting to know them.

i'm going to just pick out some excerpts for my advisor for the case study, and send him what i have so far. i didn't get the whole book read yet, but i need to know soon if he will approve it, b/c i don't want to waste time and b/c we need to pick a medical topic for my healthcare interpreting class (in order to do an assigned glossary) and i figure i can just do the same topic as my case study. however, if it's not approved, then i want to pick another topic, and we need to pick it by the third week in September.

had a cookout with the parentals yesterday. good food! we couldn't stay too long, but we had fun. don't know when we'll get up there next, due to school and work commitments, but we hope to visit from time to time.

well, that's enough for now.
peace out!