The Rant that Killed Email

Writing this email every week is a lot of trouble!

I mean, it can't be that much trouble, seeing as I've written one every week for many many months. If it was really a big bother, I'da given up soooo long ago.

I think the biggest problem is this address.

I used this stepherson@apu.edu one from the beginning, because I knew that that's where I'd be going at the end of the summer, and I thought it'd be neat to send it from a official college address. But then they switched email things on me, and I've been using an "old" "not as good" format of the email service thingie since August. So, instead of going to the "new" "shiny" Microsoft Office Outlook Web Access thing, I'd been going back to the "Old Mail" "Squirrel Mail" server thing because it had all your addresses.

But, now that just won't work (didn't work last week, hence the yahoo invasion), and I don't have your addresses in the Microsoft Office Outlook Web Access Thing, and it was VERY TIME CONSUMING to copy them all over. Which is why I never did in the first place. And then, to my horror, just adding the addresses to the "To" bar......I have to open my address book, select My Contacts instead of Global Address List, and then SEARCH for my contacts by their name, title, city etc. What, am I supposed to SEARCH for each one of your names to add you? Individually? I can't see a LIST of my contacts when I am trying to write to them?? So I go back into my contacts (the non-while-writing-an-email kind) and double click on ALL OF YOU one by one and add "thursday" as your company name, so when I come back to writing, I can search for everyone in my contacts who works for thursday, and then I can send you an email.

I hate this Microsoft Office Outlook Web Access Thing. I really, really do.

Plus, this being a university account, I can only hold so much in my inbox/outbox/drafts/deleted items combined. This runs out very often, and I have to delete stuff. I'm not fond of deleting stuff. Sure, I'll delete junk and things I don't need anymore, but I'm one who likes to horde for posterity. Also about this university account, sometimes it'll just go down, like that Thursday Panic! we had a while ago.

All of this is why this address is a big problem for writing these emails.

The lesser problem is that it is email.

I know that the utter purpose of email is to send messages to any number of people nigh instantaneously, and that's what I need to do each week, but it's not the best way to do it. I've gotten changes of addresses, that I have to update. Messages bounced back from full inboxes. Messages returned saying that I was blocked by some over-zealous spam-blocker. And because of the way my own email works, the only copies I have of each message are the ones you haven't deleted.

And also: I got these addresses (for Buena kids, anyway) out of the ones they left in my yearbook. How many people are actually reading this this week? I'm thinking there's some with dusty accounts with a pile of unopened Happy Thursdays! and don't even know it. Of course I've gotten replies from a lot of you saying how you look forward to it, and that I should keep it up--and I will! But do I have to email it to those who don't read it? To those who don't want it, and aren't telling me?

A long while ago, my dad said "Blog it!" And I was all, "ehhhhhh."

http://happy-thursday.blogspot.com/

In conclusion, no more emails. Thursday messages can and will be found at the above link. I made it big so you can see that it's there, because in past experience, not so many people go to the things that I link to in emails. This way I don't have to worry about addresses, contacts, my email/school server not working, people not getting it, people getting it who don't care, etc, etc, etc. All you have to do is bookmark the above link and check it whenever you normally check your email late Thursday afternoons. And this way I'll have a copy of every one, neither of our inboxes will flood, and you can even comment and see what other people have to say.

Old Thursdays never die; they just get reconfigured.

-Steph

Happy 2-2

Happy 2/2 Thursday! And, to a lesser extent, happy Groundhog Day! Make sure you cook your groundhogs all the way through, you don't want to catch any food poisoning salmonella, now do you? Not when winter is almost over!

Why isn't it sa-mon-ella, like salmon? Oh. Dr. Daniel E. Salmon. Huh. "It was the French bacteriologist Joseph Léon Marcel Ligniéres (1868-1933) who, in 1900, suggested that the entire group of bacteria to which the swine pest bacillus belongs, should be termed Salmonella in honour of Salmon." Yeah, that's my goal in life. Have a bacteria--nay, an entire group of bacteria named in my honor. (sal-mon-eya, is my vote)

Ahem. Oh, sad, next Monday is Waitangi Day. I wish that was on a Thursday. Wouldn't that be a fun and special Thursday? Here, I will look up Waitangi Day for you: "Unlike Australia, whose national day marks the settlement at Sydney Cove by Europeans, which is often viewed as "invasion day" by the Aboriginal people, New Zealand’s national day commemorates the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi on February 6, 1840."

And while I'm at it... "The groundhog tradition stems from similar beliefs associated with Candlemas Day and the days of early Christians in Europe, and for centuries the custom was to have the clergy bless candles and distribute them to the people. Even then, it marked a milestone in the winter and the weather that day was important."

"Thursday comes after Wednesday yet before Friday, and is found by some to be the best day of the week. As a timeless tradition, there is no one person thought to be the founder of Thursdays, but the title of Caretaker is currently held by Stephanie Anderson. This holiday has yet to reach national awareness, but through extraordinary efforts on the part of its followers, Thursday hopes to eventually become the best-loved day of the week throughout the world." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thursday#Named_days)

Mm-hm, I got that straight off the internet, too. The internet is a vast storehouse of knowledge.

I changed my calendar today, so I can't easily tell you of all the cool stuff that happened last week, on account of my dying memory. Buuuut...I went to that community garden, and spent two hours picking eucalyptus leaves off the plot. Because the leaves are acidic, or something, and are bad for growing things. Annnnd....of course there was Chinese New Year.

Alsooooo...we went out to Irwindale to see a guy who has a "Fotopiano" (gosh, Google, you fail me!!) which was created to make sound effects for vaudeville, and then adapted for theater use for the silent films. Like, if you see silent films nowadays, on tape or TV or whatever, and you hear the piano music and the sound effects along with it, imagine all that noise being made by one guy on a fotopiano. It was pretty intense.

Oh, by the way, did I tell you guys that I'm officially a film student now? I don't remember how much I've sent out about my saga into the CBA major, but now all the paperwork is in and it's official. I even get cinema-related emails now!

One last thing--speaking of notices sent out by departments, guess what the English dept. never told me? That I was published in that lit thingie. Remember when I asked what stories I should submit? "Forever Swirled Up" got into the magazine-thing. And I only know because Katherine (new anime buddy) randomly picked one up somewhere and saw my name in it. But you'd think that they woulda sent out *anything* telling *anybody* that this thing'd been published, and then *something* to the people who were published in it. I don't even know how to hunt down a copy of my own. Che, English Department. I knew they were shifty folk.

Happy last six weeks of winter!
-Steph

chiyaaaA

chiyaaaA~! This week has been exciting. Lotsa stuffz happened.

Friday: Another DDR party, but in the lounge on the first floor that has a big tv. For a while it was just like four of us from my floor down here, but then I put up a sign saying "DDR PARTY! YOU ARE INVITED!! Yes, you." And some people came in. Thinking about starting a whole DDR club, with these "DDR parties" every Friday till then. Gonna come up with a cool name besides just "DDR Club."

Saturday: A friend of mine decided to go to school back in her home state from now on, but she came back this weekend to pick up her stuff. We were all Yay! Beth is back! So we went to see Narnia at the El Capitan theater in Hollywood. And I saw a Vash the Stampede and a hitman! But Laura made him laugh by making fun of the cop, so it was ok. And Narnia was good, too!

Sunday: Church and eatings with my brother and sister-in-law and nieces. Ainsley drew a cute/weird picture of a lion for me, and Liberty drew some jellyfish? for Gretchen. And Melody tried to eat jalepenos. Twas a fun lunch.

Monday: Back to school, wahhh... Had my film history class again, and we watched one of the last silent movies "The Wind." Which was funny, because it was the last day of this horrible horrible crazy wind we were having, that knocked over trees and made you kick yourself when you walked. I now have a much clearer definition for the word "buffeted." I also found a Canadian penny.

Tuesday: Beth went back home. Sad. She says she'll visit, but... Tuesday was Chemistry, and we did some fun/easy thing of electron configuration, which I can't find a use for, but I suddenly understood what she was talking about and can successfully do it, so it's ok. I think that was the day I saw National Treasure. S'ok, that Riley kid was pretty funny, other than that.... eh.

Wednesday: Um, yesterday. Yesterday I napped, and that was good. Oh, also went to a little meeting for the ministry I'm getting involved in. At school here, you have to have ministry credits to graduate, which is a little like community service hours. For a class I'm taking now, Foundations of Ministry, ya hafta have at least 15 ministry credits through an on-going ministry (that is, week to week, not getting them all at once) as part of the grade. So I signed up for this "Community Garden" thing, and we're going to create (as in build, till, etc) a garden on West Campus for Azusa families to come and grow their own food. That should be a lot of fun and rewarding as well.

So as you can see, my week was more action-packed than it has been lately. OH, and I just looked up at my calendar and saw that it's Australia Day! Happy Australia Day! That's good. That's a good way to end the week. And an absurdly long email.

-Steph

PS
and if somebody at Buena can ask Mrs. Lyans and/or Mrs. Lucas if they got my other email, and tell me if they did or not, that'd be great.

Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time there was a little sailboat. This little sailboat was a happy sailboat, but still he longed to venture out over the wide sea. He wanted to find the fabled Thursday, a place rumored to be full of tropical shorelines and where Happy Hour lasted the entire year. In his little heart, the little sailboat dreamed of one day escaping to this magical place and living out the rest of his days in peace and happiness.

One day, however, a typhoon came upon the dock where the little sailboat was tied. The winds and the wild waves were overwhelming, and he was soon smashed all to pieces against the pier. And with the broken bits of boat went his dreams, floating out into the wide sea.

A long time later, some of the remnants of the little sailboat washed up on a white sandy beach. They lay in the sun, covered in salt and tiny sea animals, until a little boy wandered by. Quickly, he scooped up the boards and took them to his small home next to the lagoon. Finally, he had found the perfect pieces to finish his raft. The planks from the little sailboat were cleaned and fitted onto the little raft, who proudly floated in the small green lagoon.

Not long after, the little boy guided his little raft out into the wide sea. And perhaps soon, if the weather stays good, the little sailboat will reach Thursday after all.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I thought I'd write a story for you, and there it is.

Thursday means sleeping in and Chemistry for four hours. But! Today, about half an hour into the lecture, she let us go for the day, because her little son in daycare was sick so she had to go take him home. So I actually got to eat lunch! It was all very exciting, but I hope her kid gets better soon.

The moral of this Thursday seems to be that bad things for you might be something very good for someone else.

You guys missed the DDR party last Saturday. It was like 8 girls in my room, with the two paddy mats hooked up to the tv which is suddenly very fritzy now that we come back from break. Twas fun, twas fun, and I'm trying to get a DDR party weekly, but I don't know what day to do it. Maybe it'll be Thursdays. What do you think?

Rained the other day, then got a little warm, but now it's cold again for good it seems, and I'm sad.

But really, now I'm off to play video games/buy books, so I'll stop writing 'cause also that story took up a lot of space anyway. Have a good weeeeeeek!!

-Steph

Guys Guys

Guys guys! I was having a pretty good day, and then I realized that it was because it was THURSDAY! And then it all made sense!!

My first week of second semester is almost over~ It's sorta weird/sorta normal to be back on a schedule again. But, a different schedule in the same place. And with classes in buildings I'd never been in before. Thursday is a good day because I get to sleep in a lot. I've only got one class, Chemistry, but then the three hour lab is right after. But that's all for Thursday!

Monday Wednesday Friday I've got two classes, with chapel in between. And on Monday after lunch I've got a three hour Film History class, which is one hour lecture, two hours movie. *That's* my kind of class. I knew there was a good reason to change my major.

And guess what guys! There's some new people on my floor, because some old people went home, and now I'm not the only anime fan here! She's got a Spirited Away and an Excel posters in her room, so that tipped me off. And then one day I popped my head in her room and said, "...I like anime, too." And that was that. And, as fate would have it, she's also a Cinema and Broadcast Arts major, also in the narrative cinema track. It's like crazy. We're planning on taking over the anime club and making it cool like it should be.

Speaking of, Bleach is finally back in session, and I watched it without subtitles first, as I am like to do, and I could understand soooo much of it. AND when I had my entire computer's worth of music in the playlist last night, some random Japanese song came on that I really hadn't listened to before, and I caught a lot a lot of that, too. When I finally get around to taking Japanese next year, I think I will have a very good head start.

Other notable things this week:
Wrote two things in one day
Talked to a professor
Finally sold back some books (for $22 ....><! ) Took a nap Walked my cactus and if you count the full seven days since last Thursday, I also went to Buena again! (the lab today was just an introduction to sig figs, pipets and the like. I feel well-prepared.) Oh, I also changed my ink in my printer and broke it a little. If anyone can stick these two pieces back in, I'd be very grateful.

Wishes of Warm Weather ('cause we still got it--mostly),

-Steph

Happy First Thursday of the Year!

Hi guys! I almost forgot to write this!

How is your new year? Happy First Thursday of the Year! I hope it went all good for all of you. Y'know, set an example for the rest. Or, to set a goal that can never again be acheived. Either one.

Mine was quite good. Started out with some little rowdy music and some dancing. And some sugar. And then Carolyn picked me up and we spent the day at Buena! (We missed you, Jacqi ;_; ) Saw some cool people!

Oh gosh, I was writing this, and then I got distracted for like half an hour, so I really gotta finish this before Thursday is over. So, as of the end of 2005, I have retired my official Thursday pants. They are just too worn out for this kind of work.

So, I will have no official Thursday pants until I can find some excellent ones to take their place. But, my Thursday shirt will stay in commission, and I hope all of you are remembering to wear brown and red on Thursdays. I know some of you are!

And, you'll be glad to know, we have at least two Blackjack Thursdays this year, but they both are a lot later in fall and winter. But we can make up some other fun Thursdays til we get there.

Here's for a full year of Thursday messages! Good luck everybody!!!

-Steph

Happy Last Thursday of 2005

Happy Last Thursday of the Year! Let's look at what our Thursdays have brought us:

Inaguration Day, St. Patrick's Day, Holocaust Remembrance Day, Yom Kippur, and Thanksgiving were all on Thursdays.

I know many, many people, including myself, who had Thursday Birthdays. On Thursday I was accepted to APU.

3 full moons were on Thursdays.

Graduation (and Grad Nite) were on Thursday. Our only movie day of the summer was on Thursday. (Bogart) The First Day of Autumn was on a Thursday.

So, as you can see, there is much evidence for Thursday being a great day all year long. We hope for another spectacular year of Thursdays in 2006 as well.

My New Year's Resolution (that I got randomly generated off a site) is to point and laugh more.

Backing up, I hope your holidays went well, and that you got much loot. I know I did! Thankers, people who know who you are.

Gnr, well, Thursday IS a great day for staying in bed til 12, but now I must go and start my day. See you all next year! Don't forget your new year's soba! http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=new+year%27s+soba

-Steph

Happy Thursday

Wow, it's that time of the week yet again. It feels like just yesterday I was sitting down to send my heart-felt feelings of things to you all. But here I am again, an entire week later. It boggles the mind indeed.

I'm at home! And it's just how I remember. 'Cept for all of that roadwork. They did the street over from mine the other day, and it was very tar-y. Which is ok, because tar-y is better than driving down that scary dirt road in the night. Are all my graduating classmates back for break now? You'd better be. It's a nice place, this.

Nice weather we're having! I know some friends at school who've gone home to ice and such nasty things, but we've all come and escaped that, haven't we? Today was a bit cool, but it's been really really nice so far. A good ol' fashioned Ventura Christmas.

Ok, so my cat is sitting outside, and I keep looking over at him, and he's always *glaring* at me. For serious. I'll see if I can get a pic of it.

It's kinda creepy. It's not my fault I'm allergic to him and he drools and I don't want him in the house!

I took an expedition to the optometrist yesterday! I've got astigmatism in both eyes which makes my vision blurry both close up and far away. At least, that's what I understood of it. And my right eye is a quarter farsighted! So I picked out some glasses, but I don't get them for another two weeks. But, it's not really very serious at all, and I could go (as I have gone) without glasses at all, but I think they will help when I expect to over-exert my eyes. Like that one time at the AX. (and, the glasses sorta kinda look like Hughes'!)

Speaking of the AX, the next two weeks will be filled with fun thrift store foraging.

But, more importantly, I myself have just now scientifically discovered that beer is disgusting. Human knowledge belongs to the world. Now you all don't have to find out for yourself. But hopefully the beer bread will not be disgusting.

Gonna upload that Simba picture. That's my cat. Simba. Shush.

-Steph