a-ha! i have finally circumvented the fascist computer security settings at Wash U's library and am able to upload pictures! muahahhaha.

another day in the sun. :D

did contour mapping with Katie in the morning... our side turned out better than Nick, Cassie, and Jamie's. lunch, more transit stuff, and some soil cores. yep, it's field school.

i guess tomorrow Jamie and i are driving over to Chris Warren's to stay for a coupla days. then we'll FINALLY (it seems so long) be able to move into our apartment at SIU-E. i am definitely looking forward to having my own room and hopefully own Internet connection. oh yes, i am that much of a nerd.

a thought: why do farts in the bathtub smell worse than normal farts? is the fart concetrated into a bubble? the effect also seems to hold for shower farts.

did countour mapping of Mound 35, helped with iron "metal detector" stuff, and calculated points and elevations.

wtf? i can't access the a: from any of these jenky computers so as to upload pictures. i hate this security policy bullshit.

went to a mall in Clayton called the Galleria. some hot girls there. lotta rich chicks there. i wouldn't mind marrying a rich chick, ya know?

the MTV VMAs are on tonight. bleh. i hate MTV. let me repeat that. i hate MTV. no other station thinks itself as clever and innovative as MTV. no other station does more shows ABOUT ITSELF than MTV. wellllp, i guess that just reflects the idiots who work there and the idiots (me) who watch it.

eh. field school, day #3. it started out kinda crappy today, because the weather has been quite bad here in St. Louie and we were forced to stay indoors. so we washed potsherds for a coupla hours with toothbrushes and sponges. whoopee! hehe. i tried to lighten the mood by suggesting we listen to gangsta rap and by hassling Jamie. it was fairly effective. then we listened to John Kelly talk about the history of Mound 34, where we'll be working, and it was actually quite interesting. to go back through the notes and maps of past archaeologists to try to determine where they did what they did is both an arduous and interesting task. it's a large component of what we'll be doing this summer.

after lunch, we went out to 11 MS 2/5 (hehe, that's the numerical designation of the section of the historical site we're working on) and tooled around with the transits some more. we loated points N200,E650 and N250, E650. then we measured the elevation of N200,E550 from the reference point of N200,E400. yes, very interesting stuff, i know. we then got out the total station, which is a fairly bad-ass piece of equipment, and learned how to take elevations and distances with that.

so now, having accomplished that today, i'm here at the Wash U library, wasting time. because of the annoying living situation i'm in right now, i have to wait for Eileen to finish working at Fingerhut before Jamie and I will be able to get into her apartment (where we're staying). i gotta find something to do. last night was Applebee's, which, btw, doesn't have bad riblets. they're sweet, not hot, which isn't the greatest thing, but they are melt-in-your-mouth. if they ever run that all-you-can-eat deal for $9.99 again, i'm down like a clown.

i guess that'll do it for me. i'm not sure if these entries could be any more mundane, but i'm doing my best. i really could use an e-mail or two... 'tis a bit lonely here in StL, admittedly. hit up _bleach@myoldemail.com.


[two]

i am still in the Wash U library multimedia lab (see left), and there is this crazy bearded Indian dude making retarded noises with his lips. like exhaling and letting his lips flop. he keeps doing it and it's HILARIOUS.

ah-ha! i am on the In-ter-net to update this dumb page yet again. this time, i'm writing from the Wash U library (see left), which closes at 10pm as i found at last night at exactly 10pm. oh well. today was my first "real day" at the field school, although we didn't excavate, so i guess it doesnt qualify as "real" yet. basically, today we did lots of measuring crap with instruments called transits. a transit is a scope mounted on a tripod that lets you measure horizontal angles (via the rotation of the base), vertical angles (via the rotation of the scope), and horizontal distances (via the distance between cross-hairs in the scope as seen on the stadia road). oh well, this isn't interesting at all, but it's what i'm doing.

so essentially, we went out onto the main Cahokia site and used the transits to locate set points on a preexisting Cahokia grid. this grid allows a person to describe where anything on the site is in relation to a (0,0) point, just like a Cartesian plane. mmhmm. we did that in the morning, ate lunch, and then did it in the afternoon. in the late afternoon, we started to do contour mapping, which is where you take a series of measurements with which you can finally make a topographical map of concentric, same-elevation circles. mmhmm.

well, i guess that's it. i hope no one actually read through that. i'm currently staying with a girl in the Wash U anthro dept named Eileen (see right), and Jamie is here with me. we're kind of clueless as to what to do after the field school ends every day at 3:30pm. after this week, we'll be able to get into our apartments at SIU-Edwardsville, which will hopefully be nice and quiet. i am looking forward to a relaxing time of archaeological crap, reading, and writing. but going by past experiences, i'll probably do a horrible job of actually following through on the reading and writing part.

Currently reading: The Art of Spiritual Warfare by Grant Schnarr and Undaunted Courage (about Lewis & Clark) by Stephen Ambrose.

updating during lunch on the first day. not much time! we're just working with the survey equipment. it's from like 1873, but it's cool. ;-) bigger update later.

driving to Cahokia... i dunno what the internet access there will be like, so the frequency of updates for the next 6 weeks is up in the air.

oh, and let's hope i don't have a repeat performance of this week's speeding ticket.

sigh. well, tomorrow, it's off to Cahokia. i really don't have any idea what to expect. hell, i don't even know why i'm an anthropology major! :D but i guess it's because it's just what appeals to me most, and i don't know why, but the slopes and angles of life have pushed me to this field school. i hope there's a good reason for me to be there!

today was hectic. i was rushing around buying supplies for the field school. i am toooooo indecisive about buying things, and this definitely showed up when getting hiking boots. bleh. i settled on some $65 Columbia ones, forgoing the more expensive Vasque (and similar) brands. i also went to see Shrek with my family, and i really enjoyed it. the animation was amazing, and it was pretty funny too. oh and Pizza Garden beforehand: ohhh yeah.

well, it's 3am, and my mom would kill me if she knew i was up. actually, she probably does know i'm up and wants to kill me. she's been hassling me a lot about my schedule being screwed up, but hell, i'm 19, and she needs to get over it. i can handle it. i'm allowed to screw up. :D

impolymerized: "Chimpanzees are more closely related to humans than they are to gorillas. Chimpanzees and humans share 99 percent of their genetic composition. Chimpanzees are highly intelligent, probably more so than human-based tests are able to measure. They make and use tools, cooperate with and learn from each other, and can learn various forms of expression and communication, including American Sign Language and computer symbols. Chimpanzees also have good memories."
underscorebleach: my dad was a chimp
underscorebleach: and i tell you what
impolymerized: did you see the picture of the chimp with syphilis?
underscorebleach: if those motherfuckers are using chimps for testing
underscorebleach: i will FUCK THEM UP
underscorebleach: THAT'S FAMILY
impolymerized: you suck
impolymerized: a lot.
underscorebleach: THAT'S MY MOTHERFUCKING FAMILY WE'RE TALKING ABOUT
underscorebleach: NO SERIOUSLY
underscorebleach: THIS IS BULLSHIT
underscorebleach: THIS IS FUCKING BULLSHIT
impolymerized: ?
underscorebleach: I AM JOINING ALF RIGHT NOW
impolymerized: oh, shut up.
underscorebleach: :D
impolymerized: you're mean.
underscorebleach: aww
underscorebleach: i sowwy
underscorebleach: *hug*
impolymerized: "Chimpanzees are still captured in the wild by poachers who shoot chimpanzee mothers and then take their infants. Many of the captured baby chimpanzees die before they reach a laboratory. Because the adults protect the infants, several adults are sometimes killed to obtain one baby."
impolymerized: now, is this right?
impolymerized: i mean.... it's sick.
underscorebleach: you know, i lied
underscorebleach: i have to tell you this
underscorebleach: just a minute ago, i lied
underscorebleach: i dont even know who my dad was
underscorebleach: i know all too well of what you speak
underscorebleach: my dad was killed by poachers
impolymerized: oh, go to hell.
underscorebleach: i'm a chimpanzee
impolymerized: and burn.
underscorebleach: and it pains me to say it, but it's true
underscorebleach: i've abandoned my roots
underscorebleach: i've sold out to humans
impolymerized: burn and burn and burn... like the chimpanzees
underscorebleach: hell, i even speak their language
underscorebleach: i used to be true to my species
underscorebleach: you know what?
underscorebleach: i'm not going to pretend anymore
underscorebleach: i dont have to pretend
underscorebleach: chimps and people will love me for the real me
impolymerized: i'm gonna kick you in the nuts if i ever meet you. hard.
underscorebleach: i'm starting right now
underscorebleach: the real me comes out right now
underscorebleach: CHEEEEEEEEEEEEE CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
underscorebleach: CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
impolymerized: repeatedly
impolymerized: till you cry.
underscorebleach: CHEEEEEEEEEEEE CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
underscorebleach: CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE CHEEE CHEEE
underscorebleach: CHEEE CHEEE CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
impolymerized: i hope you rot.
impolymerized: and get cancer
underscorebleach: CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE CHEEEE CHEEEEEEEEEE CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
impolymerized: and heart disease
underscorebleach: CHEEEEEEEEEEE CHEE CHEE CHEE CHEE CHEE CHEE CHEE CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
impolymerized: and a rash from your shampoo
underscorebleach: CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
underscorebleach: CHEEEE
impolymerized: and impotency