I caved

http://cactuslacy.tumblr.com/

tumblr may be my new home on the intarwebz. not sure yet. so if I never ever return to blogger, well. that will just be normal.

WTF, FLEAS

Evidently this is a really bad year for fleas. And by, "bad for fleas," I really mean, "good for fleas and bad for everyone who hates fleas. Which is, you know, every living thing on this planet. Except maybe for things that eat fleas. They probably really like them."

ANYWAY, the reason I am bringing this up is because all three of my dogs have fleas. Let me take a moment to illustrate the severity of the situation to you. I picked a few fleas off of Tippy this morning. I picked ten off of Pete after I got back from lunch. It has been like this every day for the past few weeks. I can see the fleas crawling around beneath their fur. They will surface, crawl to a new location, and then go back down into the fur like some kind of parasitic dolphin. Flea baths only do so much, because as soon as the dogs go outside to pee they are crawling with fleas again. The fleas also seem to have inhabited the carpet because every now and then one will hop onto my leg or arm.

We have been fighting the battle against the fleas for what feels like forever but has probably been just a few weeks (which is still, you know, FOREVER). We have tried everything: topical solutions, flea baths, spraying the yard, vacuuming the house and tossing the bags, spraying the carpet with flea killer, washing the dogs' beds. We even gave them a pill that was supposed to last for 24 hours but ended up making them sick. The problem is so bad that I have flea bites on my legs (because I'm pretty sure there are some in my bed) and I feel itchy all the time, although that last bit is probably a result of the psychosis the fleas are causing.

If you have ANY ideas about what we can do to get rid of these damn things, please, please, PLEASE let me know because we are just at an absolute loss.

On a less cringe-worthy note, I am currently sorting through all the pictures I took on my last foray out into the world. It's taking me a while to get through them all, but here's a teaser for what's (hopefully) soon-to-come:

OH HAI BLOGOSPHERE LOLZ

It has been two months and one day since my last post.

Oops.

I honestly just forgot I even had a blog for a while. It's like I finished unpacking all of my things from college (which was evidently the most exciting thing I could think to write about two months ago) and then went brain dead or something.

Ok, fine, I'll tell you what really happened. I discovered that I could watch entire seasons of TV shows on Netflix.

Really, Lacy? All you've been doing for the past two months is watching TV shows online?

Err... well.... yeah. Doctor Who (four seasons), Torchwood (three seasons), Dollhouse (first season), Buffy (first two seasons and most of the third), and Bones (all five seasons). That is ALOT of TV, y'all! Goodness.

And, yeah, I've been doing other stuff, too, if by "other stuff" you mean nannying for my neighbors' kids and.... well, that's about it, actually. (Also, there were a lot of commas in that sentence, but I'm pretty sure they're all correct.) I have left my house on occasion, though. So, you know, that's something.

And now... PUPPY PICTURE!

Unpacking sucks

I mean, seriously. Where did all of this stuff come from?

In the process of moving things back into my room, I have had to clear some of my old things to make room for all of the stuff that's been accumulating at school for the past nine months. This is a project that has long been overdue, and it's actually kind of therapeutic to go through drawers and toss things into that big black trash bag. It's like I am the queen of the miscellaneous items' world and am in complete control of their fate......

Right, anyway. The big trash bag on the chair in the picture is actually full of clothes I am going to donate. See the pile of clothes sitting on my bed in the bottom right corner? They haven't been put in my closet yet because there is no place in the closet for me to put them. Except maybe on the floor...

Like I said, the cleaning is way overdue.

So that's what I'll be doing for the rest of this week. Try to contain your jealousy.

Calculator face

Life is beautiful

Ok, I know it's only been two days since my last post, but c'mon. You guys didn't think I'd be able to stay away from you forever, didja?

Oh, you did? You were hoping that Wednesday was my last blog post ever? You never wanted to hear from me again?

Um... right. Well.

*ahem*

Moving right along!

Today has been such a beautiful day that I've decided to keep my window open, which I don't usually do since I live on campus and there is invariably some drunk frat boy shouting underneath my window at any given time. Today, though, all I can hear are the birds singing their summer songs (because even though summer doesn't technically start until June 21st, it is already summer in my mind) and the bells of Robert Carr Chapel chiming the 7:00 hour. My complete and total freedom from junior year begins in exactly one week, and I am just feeling so hopeful (if still a little uncertain) about the future that I thought I'd share these things with you.

This is the view from my window right now. I took the picture through a screen so I apologize for the quality.

Life is beautiful, friends. =)

LAST DAY OF CLASS!

Regardless of what yesterday's non-existant post might tell you, I didn't forget to blog yesterday. I got up on my bed with my computer around 6:00 yesterday and started writing, but I fell asleep before I finished and didn't wake up until 9:00 this morning.

So, yeah.

Today is my last day of class. I really can't begin to tell you how happy that makes me. =) It's also my last day of updating my blog every day. I'll still write, but it will just be less often and hopefully about more interesting things. (Especially now that it's almost summer!!!)

So with that being said, I guess I'll see ya when I see ya!

Sleep?

Holy trout, am I tired. Thank God I don't have anything due on Wednesday. I might have actually suffered a mental breakdown if I did.

Also, it occurs to me that I unintentionally did BEDA (blog every day in April). I won't be finishing BEDA, though, since mine is more of a BEDUTEOTS. Yeah. Doesn't quite have the same ring to it.

K, I'm gonna go finish my project now so that I might actually get some sleep tonight. Except that I probably wont. FML.

Summer?

I have to write a curriculum for the final project for one of my classes. It is without a doubt the most involved project I've ever had to do for any class ever. It's so involved that it's turned my brain to complete mush and thus rendered me incapable of using correct grammar.

So. You know. Sorry for that.

I have completed 31 pages of this project so far and I am almost halfway done. Yes. Almost halfway. I also have a test tomorrow that I don't have time to study for because I have to work on this damn project. *head explodes*

If you need me, I'll be hiding under my desk in firm denial of the amount of work I have to do between now and Tuesday.

T-minus 3 days!

There are three days of class left in my junior year, which means there are four days left of my commitment to blog everyday until the end of the semester.

There there, now, don't fret! I'll still be around, just not everyday. Hopefully the quality of my blogs will be improving after Wednesday since the only times I will post will be when I actually have something to say. As opposed to now when I'm just attempting to keep a promise I made to myself.

.....

Yep. Improvement is definitely needed.

Til tomorrow, friends!

Blogs are really hard to write when you've been drinking

LOOK WHO'S HERE!!

It's my BFF Barbie! (and bff Lacy!!!! -Barbie) She lives in the internet. You can find her here.

Barbie was kind enough to pay me a visit this weekend. We are currently listening to 90s music and drinking beer punch. (It's better than it sounds. Ask me for the recipe :]) Let me give you a little history of Barbie and myself.

Barbie and I met in 7th grade during orchestra class. I left class for a private lesson, and when I came back Barbie was sitting in my chair. The way she tells it, she was completely intimidated by me, but I have no idea why. I'm I really nice person! I swear! *stares*

Anyway, I don't really remember the exact chain of events that led to us becoming best friends, but it happened very quickly. We were soon causing trouble all over the school, and our teachers always had to keep us separated during class. Our orchestra director, Mrs. Ewton, said that she split us up to help out the other students in the viola section, but we knew better. We were often mistaken as sisters in public. We still are.

Also, I just found out that my best friend has a distinct fear of urethras. In case you were wondering.

(Yes! All the new readers are gone now!)

(.......)

(Wait. I have readers?)

So now you know. Barbie is my bestest friend ever and has been for eight years.

Also, I apologize for the schizophrenic nature of this blog post. We are both drunkzors. So. You know.

Til tomorrow!

It's magic!

Magic by Ben Folds featuring the University of Chicago Voices in Your Head: http://bit.ly/aKEwmX

I have been absolutely obsessed with this song for a couple of weeks now. It is constantly on repeat on my iPod. I literally can't seem to stop listening to it. Not that I'm complaining, mind. I can't even begin to describe how this song makes me feel, so instead I will provide you with some instructions for listening. With luck, you will have the same experience I do every time I listen to this song.

Step 1: Click the link and pause the video while it loads.

Step 2: While you are waiting, plug in your favorite headphones, preferably ones that will block out other sounds. Make sure your volume is up.

Step 3: Turn off the lights. This not only optimizes the listening experience, but it's also Earth Day. So, you know. It's a win-win situation.

Step 4: Push play, close your eyes and enjoy.

Step 5: Repeat as necessary.

What's my age again?

My last day of class is exactly one week from today. I go home for summer in two and a half weeks. Sixteen days. TIL SUMMER. Ahhhhh I'm so close it hurts!

(If my friend Gustavo was reading this, he would comment with a "that's what she said" for that last sentence.)

Anyway, I can't really believe that summer is as close as it is. I absolutely can't wait to be done with this semester. I've been so busy and stressed for so long that I think I've begun to believe that it would just never end. But it is. Soon. Huzzah!! I just have one more supermassive project to get through before finals. And by "supermassive" I mean "greater than or equal to 60 pages."

Yeah.

So while I'm bashing my head against my desk working on that, enjoy this nice picture of a butterfly at the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens.

Timeless Tuesday

I feel like it's only 8:00 p.m. I also feel like it's 3:00 in the morning.

What?

Also, I'm pretty sure I just ate my weight in taquitos and guacamole. Successful night? I think so.

Sunset in Puerto Rico

Procrastination is never a good idea...

...and yet for some reason I continue to do it. Oh well. No one ever wishes they'd slept more during college. The project I'm working on right now is a technology teaching presentation for my effective teaching class. Basically I have to make a podcast teaching a topic I will theoretically teach once I'm in the classroom. Yes, it is as time consuming as it sounds. I will leave you with this picture of a bug attacking Navy Pier to enjoy while I am off pulling out my hair and daydreaming about summer. Oh, and also working on my project. Ta!

Conclusions

After many conversations with friends and contemplation by way of the bottom of a glass, I have come to some conclusions:

• I am one year away from graduating with a Bachelor's degree in Music Education. I'm not going to change it now, even if it isn't necessarily what I want to do with my life.
• My life is my own, and I shouldn't let others' expectations influence my decisions.
• I need to stop worrying about whether or not I'm good enough and just go for it, whatever "it" ends up being.

That being said, I think I've pretty much decided on what I want to do when I graduate. I would like to go to graduate school and get a Master's in English. I'm researching schools right now, but if anyone would like to offer suggestions, I would greatly appreciate it.

Froggy Games

Today I volunteered for Froggy Games, which was a field day for the school near TCU for kids with Down's Syndrome. I volunteered for an assignment for one of my classes, and I am so, so glad I went. I was a little uncertain at first because I didn't really know what to expect, but those kids were just incredible.

I spent the majority of the afternoon following around a little boy named Charlie, trying (with varying degrees of success) to entertain him with a ball. Every kid there had a smile on their face the entire time. Even the siblings had a good time. This was definitely a very rewarding experience.

(All of these pictures were taken with my phone, so I apologize for the quality.)

This little boy is Jack, and JB was kind enough to let him "play" his guitar.

Zach doesn't seem to be enjoying Mark's trumpet playing very much...

...but he is more than willing to try out JB's guitar.

This is my man, Charlie, who also got a turn with the guitar.

Charlie and Zach pressed the trumpet keys while Mark blew into the trumpet.

This was the one instrument Charlie kept coming back to. He absolutely loved playing those drums.

Til tomorrow!

Party time

Today was a weird day. Probably because I only got 30 minutes of sleep last night. Also probably because I took a 3.5 hour nap late this afternoon and woke up thinking it was Monday morning.

Yeah. That's about it. Later, kids.

[Turner Falls, OK]

Oops pt. 2

I forgot to update yesterday. Again. I have an excuse this time, though. I was sick, and it was NOT pretty. No worries, though. My physical health has returned to normal. My mental health.... well, that remains to be seen.

A thought entered my head just a couple of hours ago and now I can't seem to let go of it. I'm actually considering dropping from music education to just music and adding an arts administration minor. That idea is extremely attractive to me, but here's the thing. I've already put three years (and lots and lots of tears and torn out hair) into this degree. Wouldn't dropping it at this point seem a little like quitting? Also, it is entirely likely that adding a minor at this point would delay my graduation by at least a semester. Couple this with the fact that I still have NO idea what to do with my life and you've got one very confused 20-something.

I really hate feeling so indecisive. I also hate the fact that others' expectations of me are very heavily influencing how I feel about this situation. It's my life! I should be able to do what I want with it. But I can't seem to shake my concern of possibly disappointing everyone. Everyone keeps saying what a good educator I'll be. But what if that's not what I want? What will they say then?

I need some chocolate, STAT.

GLEE!

This is me pretending to be productive while I wait for Glee to come one. Seriously, y'all. I CANNOT CONTAIN MY EXCITEMENT!!! =D That's it for now. I'll be back after this momentous event is complete.

This is getting harder and harder

I'm going out with some friends tonight and they're waiting for me outside so I have to make this quick. Yeah, I know. Going out on a Monday night. We're awesome. :] Ok, I have to go, so enjoy this picture I took of the sky from a plane while you wait for my return.

Patience is a f%#&*@^ virtue

This isn't what I intended to write about today, but I'm just so effing annoyed right now and I literally have no one/thing else to vent to. I had a concert tonight for the community orchestra I'm in, and when I got back to my apartment I was greeted by my roommate and six of her closest friends.

Before I continue, let me give you a little background on this roommate. She moved in at the beginning of this semester after my other roommate, Courtney (who is one of my closest friends and whom I miss dearly), transfered to Temple so she could be closer to her family. This new roommate, let's call her Agnes, is the exact opposite of me in every aspect. She loud, somewhat vulgar, and extremely messy. She never washes her dishes, never cleans up any messes she happens to make in the kitchen, and leaves her books and folders all over the living room. These things coupled with the fact that our living room is small and our kitchen is even smaller make for a very frustrating situation.

Right, so now she's out there with a bunch of her friends who are, as far as I can tell, obnoxiously loud theater people like she is. They're eating copious amounts of food and drinking tons of beer, and every now and then I hear a bottle fall off the table. Did I already mention the fact that they are LOUD? Seriously. These people don't just talk, they SHOUT. I guess I'm just going to have to sleep with my music on tonight. And do you know what I'm probably going to be greeted with in the morning? The remains of her little shindig. Beer bottles, trash, and dirty plates will be waiting for me in the living room/kitchen tomorrow morning, I guarantee it.

I am having an extraordinarily hard time being patient right now. Just four more weeks til I can get the fuck out of here.

I do...?

I feel like everyone I know is getting engaged. I guess it makes sense since we're all gonna graduate this year or next and this is the age when people typically start getting engaged. It's just weird because I still feel like a kid and I can't imagine getting engaged right now.

Anywho, I judged a solo and ensemble contest this morning with my friend Tara (our time was volunteered by our professor....) and it wasn't as painful as I thought it was going to be. The contest was for 5th and 6th grade students, so we got to hear LOTS of Suzuki. Most of the kids did really well. We actually got to give one kid an Honors rating, and he was so excited. That was probably the highlight of my morning.

Mmk well I'm gonna go take a nap now since I had to get up at stupid:30 this morning. 'Til tomorrow.

[This is the bean in Millennium Park in Chicago. I took this picture when I was there with my family a couple of years ago. Cool, huh? :)]

Quarter-life crisis

I honestly have absolutely no idea what I want to do with my life. I'm afraid of making any life-changing decisions because I worry that it might be the wrong one, but I'm also afraid of regretting anything I haven't done. There are so many things I want to do, all of which require resources which I don't currently possess, but I'm scared of breaking away from the path I'm currently following because this one at least has a foreseeable future.

I had a similar crisis this time last year, but I chalked it up then to the horrible living situation I had been dealing with since the previous October. My living situation right now is much better than it was last year, however, and there really isn't anything else going on in my life that might be causing me to question everything I've been doing for the past three years of my life.

I guess my main concern is that I don't want to settle. I feel like once I graduate, I'm going to start teaching, and that's going to be it. That's what I'm going to be doing for the rest of my life. Don't get me wrong, I love to teach, but I don't want the rest of my life to start when I'm 22. I don't really think I was made for a career. In my ideal reality, I would work a myriad of jobs. I would try out anything that interested me. I would go back to school and get more degrees just for the sake of learning more about topics which interested me.

What will probably end up happening is me staying right where I am and wondering what would have happened if I had just been a little more courageous.

Hoppipola

I will love for ever and ever anyone who can tell me from which movie this picture comes. Ta!

Is it summer yet??

I'm so ready to be finished with school. I can't imagine having to do another year of this. Can't I just graduate already???

Also, I know I said I would talk about the side-by-side rehearsal in this post, but I really don't feel like writing right now. I just want to sleep forever and ever. So here's a nice picture to look at while you wait for tomorrow's post. Goodnight!

All nighters SUCK

I took this picture in the library last night while I was working on the presentation I had to give today. I always tell myself that I'm going to stop procrastinating. It never happens. Anyway, we had a side-by-side rehearsal with the FWSO today (it was amazing. I'll talk more about it tomorrow), and I literally fell asleep in the middle of rehearsal. So yeah. I'm gonna go to bed now. Goodnight!

All this beauty

The other day I was at the store with my dad getting groceries for dinner, and I saw this while walking down the frozen food aise:

For a while, I was trying to figure out how the Tom Thumb employees had managed to make the ice look like that, but then I realized that it had naturally frozen like that. These beautiful, leafy patterns appeared on every door in that aisle. I looked around to see if anyone else had noticed, but no one else was paying much attention.

I guess this is just a little reminder to always look for the beautiful things in life, no matter where they happen to appear.

Happy Easter!!

It was a good day, overall. I was feeling rather cynical at the church service this morning, but I will spare you from what was going through my head this morning. Or maybe I'll just save it for another post. Anyway, at breakfast before we went to church we got our annual easter baskets from Mom filled with dark chocolate and jelly beans and miscellaneous gifts. My favorite part was the actual basket. Isn't it adorable??

After church was Easter lunch at Mimi's house. These flowers were blooming at her neighbors house. I think they're called wisteria.

So pretty!

I didn't take any pictures of lunch, but it was delicious. We had pork, veggies, rolls, and plenty of really good wine. This picture is of what we had for desert. It's a cupcake that Mimi baked inside this jar and topped with raspberries and chocolate frosting. It was as delicious as it looks.

And of course the whole family had our annual post-Easter nap. I'm not sure about everyone else, but I slept for two hours and it was glorious. I hope everyone else had a fantastic Easter!

You are the 1345098th viewer!

Congratulations! You have been awarded the chance to look inside Lacy's mind! In this blog post you will experience what no other meanderer of the internet has ever before experienced! Prepare yourself, for what you are about to read... may shock you.

"Oh. It's 11:00. I haven't written my blog for today yet. Guess I should do that.

*stares blankly at screen*

"I'm out of things to write about. I've exhausted all my resources. Why did I decide to do this again? Maybe I should just switch to every other day. Or every few days. Or whenever I feel like it."

Ok, I can't do this. My stream of conscious is just as uninteresting as my actual life. So yeah, here's today's post. Hopefully I'll have some interesting Easter pictures/stories for y'all tomorrow.

Fridays are good

I dyed eggs with my mom today. Well, it was more like she watched me while I dyed them. It was a lot more fun than I thought it was going to be. Rather than bore you with the details, I will just show you the pictures.

There were more than this but these were the only ones worth photographing.

We had to get some school spirit in there. Doug made the A&M one. The bottom says "Whooooop!"

My typing is disturbing Sparky's sleeping. Look at that glare! Guess that's my cue. 'TIl tomorrow, then!

Well hey there, Sand Man

I don't really want to write anything right now. I was going to post a YouTube video, but YouTube isn't loading for some reason. Phooey.

The good news is that I'm home for Easter. No class tomorrow due to Good Friday, which means I get to SLEEP. Halleluia.

Sorry for the lameness of today's post. If anyone is actually reading this, feel free to complain about it in a comment.

...kbye!

Brunettes have more fun

I dyed my hair! This picture doesn't really do a good job of showing the new color, but it's a few shades darker than it was before. I really like it. =)

In other news (I say this a lot, don't I? I'm gonna have to come up with another phrase), I pulled two all-nighters in a row the past couple of nights and am extraordinarily tired, so I am gonna go on to bed. 'Til next time!

I heart wine

I love it when I find a cheap wine that's super delicious. This was about $6 at Target. If you like fruity wines, I suggest giving this one a try. Also, it has a screw top which is always a plus in my book.

In other news, I pulled an all-nighter last night so I could get the rough draft of a project finished. My rough draft was 23 pages long. I thought mine was going to be one of the longer ones, but when I got to class I discovered that most people's drafts were between 20 and 40 (!!) pages. I don't even want to think about how long the final project is going to be...

Anyway, the reason I am confessing about my all-nighter is because right now I am attempting to study for a test I have tomorrow and it is really, really hard to do. The three hour nap I took earlier and the copious amounts of caffeine I've had since I woke up don't seem to be doing me any good. Needless to say, I don't think I'll be staying up very late tonight.

Who decided that this would be a good idea??

Oh, right. I did.

I started doing this because I wanted to get back into the habit of writing, but lately it's just been kind of a hassle. Also, I got the idea for this little challenge while I was on Spring Break, blissfuly free from any and all school work.

Of course, now that I've been back for a while, updating my blog every single day is a much harder task than I thought it was going to be. Particularly since I never really have anything to say. I mean, let's be totally honest with ourselves. Who wants to sit around and read all the random crap that comes out of my brain when I'm super-duper stressed? Right. That's what I thought.

So anyway, I figured I'd just go ahead and get today's post out of the way while I have some time before class. Although I really should be working on the rough draft of that project that's due tomorrow.

Also, can I just say that updating my blog while drinking coffee at Einstein's makes me feel really urban and chic? I feel like I should be surrounded by skyscrapers and busy business people rushing in and out while I watch them from my seat in this booth. Never mind the fact that I haven't showered and look like I just rolled out of bed and came straight here. Which, you know. I did.

Right, well I do actually have to go to class now. I hope to God we don't have a quiz today because I didn't read the chapter and I am all out of freebies. Here's hopin'.

'Til tomorrow!

Here's today's blog

Oops

I forgot to update my blog yesterday. I doubt anyone noticed, though.

I used to get headaches a lot. Seriously, I used to get headaches every couple of days, and more often than not they were debilitating. Thankfully I don't get them as often anymore, but when I do get them they're pretty bad. Like the one I have right now. Thankfully the Excedrin is starting to kick it. It feels like a blanket over my brain, if you can imagine that.

Um, yeah.

Anyway.

I slept for 14 hours last night. I feel like I could probably do the same tonight. I have a lot of catching up to do from last week. So yeah. I'm gonna go do that now. Goodnight, imaginary readers!

I just want to sleeeeeeep

I tried to post from my phone yesterday, but it doesn't seem to have appeared. Hmmm..

In other news, I am severely sleep deprived. It may be a while before I can write another coherent post.

Umm. Yeah. Bye.

Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweek!

My life is so much less interesting now that I'm back at school. Also, my camera battery is dead and I can't find the charger. Sad face.

In other news, I'm about halfway done with my paper. So, yeah. Hopefully I'll be wrapping that up soon.

Also, my cousin is cuter than yours. KTHXBAI!

Stress

I have a term paper due Friday. I may have mentioned that before. I still have a ton of work to do. I also have a rough draft of a project due next Tuesday. The final draft of this project will probably be between 40 and 60 pages in length. I haven't started because I've had too much other stuff to do.

So, yeah. If my posts over the next few days seem less than sane, that's why.

Snow, now with 100% more pictures!

Snow, wtf?

It occurs to me that I haven't updated my blog yet today. So... yeah. Here we go.

Yesterday it was 70 degrees and sunny here in North Texas. Now? It's 34 degrees and snowing. WTF?!?! I'd post a picture of the snow for you, but it's itty bitty and isn't showing up in any of my pictures. Boo.

Well, since I have absolutely nothing to talk about, I'm going to just post an oldish picture and call this post a wrap.

Welcome to the world, Vera =)

This is Vera. Ain't she purdy? =)

VW gives you flowers when you get a brand new Beetle. =)

That's all I have to report today. 'Til tomorrow!

R.I.P. Sadie

Sadie Saab, March 2009 - March 2010

Sadie was a 2000 Saab 95 with a leather interior and a sunroof. She became my second car when my first car, the unnamed 2002 Saturn L200, was savagely murdered in an accident that took place about a year ago (it wasn't my fault and I wasn't hurt). Sadie was a very good car, but she went senile in old age and began to cost more in repairs than she was worth. Today, after she started spewing plumes of bluish-white smoke out of her exhaust, my dad refused to put any more money towards her repairs. Rest in peace, Sadie. You will be missed.

In other news, I'm getting a new car. A brand. New. Car. It will look something like this:

I'll post pictures of mine once I bring her home tomorrow. I think I'll name her Vera.... =)