Halloween, Valerie Plame Wilson, and life in general.

College Trick-or Treaters near the embassies. Shirin (aka Audrey Hepburn - she had her hair up earlier) and I (aka the Gypsy). Bestest roomates ever!!!

Phew! The days seem to be sweeping past faster and faster it seems. Only 9 more days until Shirin and I take the bus to Connecticut for Thanksgiving and 32 more days until I leave for Winter break, but I'M not counting. =)

Halloween was fun, not quite as fun as I had imagined, but I did enjoy myself. Met my Leadership Gateway group and we all went down to the Embassies together but then most of them (okay, everyone but me, Khileen - UC Bio classmate who lives down the hall from me, and our mentor Evan - a really nice junior who is in SIS) decided to go off on their own. That was fine with us. We had fun continuing on our own. Overall, the trick-or-treating experience at the Embassies was interesting to say the least. Tons of costumed college students walked the sidewalks in crowds, going up to embassies and foming lines for candy. By the time we got there (around 4:30 or so) most of the Embassies had already run out of candy. It was still fun to see the embassies and walk past them though even if they didn't have candies related to their country.

I also discovered that many of the embassies have similar bushes in their yards and that those happen to be the ones that produce the little red berries that Dad taught us to eat long ago. So, I started eating them to the suprise of my friends. They warned me that they wouldn't carry me back if I got sick but wouldn't try any. Evan said he would only if I could tell him what they were called. I couldn't (which made my position look even better). Determined to prove their edibleness I tried calling Mom and then Uncle Don to try and see if they knew. I left a pretty funny message on Uncle Don's phone that was half laughter as Evan and Khileen were by this time cracking up over the circumstances. (Keep in mind that we're still trick-or-treating.) I wasn't able to tell them what it was called then but later I was able to reach Dad at his school and he told me he thought they were Juniper berries. Later that evening Uncle Don called me back and was able to confirm that they were not Juniper berries but sounded a lot like Yew berries, which, to Uncle Don's knowledge, were NOT edible. I told him he should call Dad.

He did and Dad emailed me later to tell me that he had looked up pictures of Yew berries and that yes, those were what we had been eating. As it turned out, both Dad and I, and Uncle Don, Khileen, and Evan were right. Yew as a plant is very poisonous (one cup can kill a horse), but the only edible part are the berries (the seeds pass through the system or are spit out so don't do any harm). Just as long as I didn't chew the seeds I would be fine (I usually spit them out, just to let you all know). Anyway, I ended up telling Khileen and Evan the story and we all had many good laughs throughout the whole escapade.

Last Thursday, I decided to go and see Valerie Plame Wilson speak here at AU. My friend had been lamenting the fact that she came to AU to take advantage of the speakers that AU brings, and yet she can't go because of a class. I listened to her and then realized that that was one reason I came, too and that I didn't have anything to do that night, so decided to go. I sure am glad I did!

The room was packed when I got there and they said there was only standing room, but I managed to find a seat. Valerie Plame Wilson was such an amazing speaker! She is nice, extemely, smart, was a CIA agent and has exceptional aim with an AK47 (apparently her husband didn't know, only learned about that from the newspaper articles on her, and likes to say that that greatly changed their married relationship). =P She basically told about how the Bush Administration revealed her covert identity as a way to get at her husband who wrote that he didn't support the war. She told us about her career and life with the CIA and expained all the events leading up to her being revealed. The most amazing thing for me was to realize, silly as it may seem, that she is a real woman. She was a CIA agent and can use a bunch of automatic weapons, and yet she is a real person. She was just one more reminder (from the WAND conference) that I really can do whatever I want to and be whatever I want if I really want it enough. And that's an amazing thought. Now all I have to do is figure out what it is I really want to do. But I guess that's what I'm here to do, right? =)

Now I have a bunch of work to do to prepare for this week. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday I have pepband basketball games to go to, but have to miss Wednesday as I have gospel choir and we only have two more practices before our performance on December 1st! Should be a busy week, but managable. After all, it's only this week, then Spanish and work on Monday and Biology on Tuesday morning and then Shirin and I are outta here!

Ciao for now!

Love, Kaia