Tales of A College Life

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:12:15 GMT

Well so much for every two weeks. My bad. Although my life hasn't really been all that interesting lately. I went to Edinburgh not too terribly long ago and bought a rain coat. Also hiked up to the Castle and wandered around, all awash in my history nerd glory. They've also got a lovely cobbled street with people selling stuff... it reminded me a bit of Covent Garden, to be honest, although I didn't get anything. I imagine I'll be back before Christmas... Christmas shopping calls... It was a pretty good time; pictures will follow but I make no promises as to when. Before Christmas, certainly.

I went to Dundee yesterday to get a jump on Christmas shopping and took some pretty killer pictures with a dragon. No really. A dragon. Again, pictures to follow.

I've more or less got this week off- I still have tutorial on Tuesday, which is my own fault because I opened my mouth and asked if we were still meeting rather than leave well enough alone- so I'll probably do some exploring, possibly back to Edinburgh to finish off the Christmas shopping, possibly somewhere else entirely. Who knows? All this will, of course, be fit in around Latin translations (the last two of which were about witches killing children and rabbits killing pilgrims... Prof has an...interesting... sense of humour) and my reading of The Annals of Flodoard of Reims, a Chronicle of Early Medieval France and the high stakes (and usually very violent) politics that were the rule of the day. I've been reading early Frankish law and a lot about legalized violence and honour and where the line is... pretty interesting stuff. If you're a nerd like me.

And Latin, of course. I'll never understand how people conversed in that language; you've more or less got to wait for the end of every sentence- every clause anyway- for the verb, and people got rhetorically insane just because they could. Good times, that.

We also just finished our wonderful foray into Domesday Book (which apparently doesn't need an article), which culminated in a lovely long paper that was like pulling teeth to write. Got it done with time to spare, but still. Ouch.

My biggest complaint (apart from the coffee thing, which I've just about gotten over) is that no one here knows how to mix a decent Cosmo. Or any cocktail, for that matter, that's more complicated than one liquor and one mixer. Gin and tonic is all well and good, but COME ON. How hard is a Cosmo? The first time I asked for one I got this raspberry...thing... that tasted like Spree. It wasn't all that bad, if excessively sweet, but it wasn't a Cosmo. Second time, I got something close with WAY too much cointreau and not nearly enough vodka...You know, I'll give the Brits a lot of credit for a lot of things, but we in the states have definitely got the better of them when it comes to booze. Beer excluded, of course.

So that's what I've been up to. Well, that and a LOT of trashy tv online. Hopefully the next post will be full of more interesting things. And pictures. :)

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 15:17:22 GMT

Pictures

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:40:48 GMT

Right so I've had all my classes. Latin at 9:30 on Monday and Tuesday and Sources and Source Crit Tuesday at 3:30. That's it. Oh no wait, I have a private tutorial with my adviser this semester and with Alex Woolf (!!!) next semester because my thesis topic is so far out of left field there aren't any classes that pertain to it. Because that's not intimidating at all.

Latin Prof (who has yet to introduce himself so I don't know his name) teaches in a traditional Scottish kilt. Every day. No lie. Knife in the sock and everything. I really don't get that... I mean, what if you fall? I don't imagine a dirk through your foot would be a lot of fun for anyone. Whatever. It's massively entertaining; he's about fifty five, completely bald and rolls all his 'r's. Every single one. It's hard to understand. He also thinks we're all REALLY dumb, because he kept asking us questions (such as how does one tell time in the Middle Ages) and no one got it right. He's also RACING through this language. I've had two classes and I'm supposed to know one conjugation and two declensions. I've got them up in dry erase on my mirror so I have to look at them all the time; I've got the conjugation and one of the declensions... i need to get the other one by Monday. Problem is (for me anyway), he's not giving homework. Now I know that doesn't really sound like a problem, but I'm NEVER going to learn this language without drill. So if he doesn't assign anything on Monday I'm just going to do the drill from the last two chapters and ask him to look it over for me.

I've got the prep done for Sources. It's due 6 October. That's 6 days away. I also have half the book read for my tutorial. I'm pretty sure he's not expecting me to have the whole thing done but I will. And then some. I really hate to say this because It's going to come around and bite me in the butt (probably really soon) but I really don't have enough to do. Like at all. I'll be done by the end of the day tomorrow more likely than not. End of the day Friday at the very latest. Oh well.

So I went to this polo match on the West Sands (one of the two beaches of which I'm in walking distance) on Sunday. Took about an hour to get there from my apartment, much to my surprise and that of the friend I went with. We made it, finally, and watched for about an hour and a half. I still only have a vague idea of how the game is played. But it was a pretty good time. We also saw wind surfers crash. Sounds bad, but it's really very entertaining. No one got hurt, of course.

I need to hit the Library again tomorrow to get some more books to read... they don't use the Dewy Decimal system here so I'm a bit lost, but then I also don't really mind wandering around a library. So it works out.

That's all I've got for now. Cheers!

I'm ALIVE!!!

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:14:18 GMT

And posting, which is nice.

So I made it here all in one piece more or less. My luggage- my new beautiful teal luggage- got mangled, possibly beyond repair, but I and my stuff made it. Got here after a very long bus ride from the airport on Saturday mid-morning and unpacked a bit, then went off exploring. We had to go to what was supposed to be something akin to an RAs meeting, but ended up being a social with free booze (and thus drunk and obnoxious freshers), so a friend (I have friends!!) and I went to see the "city" at night. We ended up walking out on the pier, which was probably not a terribly wise thing to do in the dark but whatever.

Sunday, we were trying to find this Scottish Country Dance thinger, but got lost and went shopping for the stuff we didn't manage to get the day before instead. We then sat in Costa for about two hours, which was fantastic and amazing and I wish they had them in the States, before coming back and attempting to sleep.

Yesterday, we had a welcome thing at 2 and managed to get phones before that. We went down to the beach and saw the end of the sandcastle building contest for the freshers, walked across the Old Course (which is a Big Deal, apparently, but you couldn't prove it by me) and then I went to bed, because I felt like crap.

Today, at the ungodly hour of nine in the morning, we had a meeting of postgrads and student services, which was completely unnecessary and far too early for people who aren't in the right time zone. We then sat in Costa for another two hours, trying to wake up and figuring out how out shiny new phones work, before really grocery shopping and more exploring. I found Medieval, but the Old Class Library (at which I have to be tomorrow at 11:30) is eluding me. The door that's meant to go there, according to the sign in Medieval, was locked with spider webs on it, so I can't imagine that's it... Oh well. I'll just get there REALLY early and ask someone.... find someone to ask.

It's chilly and windy and it looks like Oxford and I love it.

Cheers!

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 18:28:14 GMT

I'm leaving the day after tomorrow. The thought is mildly terrifying. I really need to finish packing.
Crap....

Go Figure...

Sat, 30 May 2009 19:54:39 GMT

Well it's official. I've been approved for the loans and I'm looking at flights. This time next year... hell this time in five months... I'll be in Scotland.

I've been getting a lot of... not quite disapproval but a general sense of disbelief. "You're moving out of the country? WHY???" and "I can't believe you're going alone." and "You want to do MORE school? What's wrong with you?" The fact that the last of these is even asked is the main reason I'm going in the first place. I'm so unbelievably sick of the American anti-intellectual attitude that I'd go much farther than Fife to get away from it. I'm doing more school because I LIKE learning and I Like research and I LIKE writing papers. Apparently, that makes me a freak in this country. So I'm leaving rather than change who I am to fit in. Now, I realize this is a huge blanket statement. I realize that not everyone here has that attitude; I realize that not everyone in Scotland is a scholar and I realize that my upbringing has a part in this belief, as does my geographical location. But still, when a prof thinks I'm nuts because I'm reading Austen for fun there is something wrong.

I also realize that moving to another country is a big step, but I need a change in my life. I'll never know if I can stand on my own two feet if I never move away and try. I'm kicking myself out of the nest, as it were, and seeing if I soar or crash and burn. I need to see if I can survive on my own, see if I can work without a net and not fall. See if I can mix any more metaphors in one very long paragraph.

But seriously, I don't know who people are surprised. I've been talking about getting out of here and moving to Europe for at least ten years now. No one took me seriously until I started applying to colleges, and now just about everyone is my life is up in arms about the fact that I'm taking what is probably my only shot at achieving my dreams and leaving, just exactly as I've been saying I would for the last several years.

Go figure.

Graduation...

Sat, 09 May 2009 00:46:18 GMT

I'm graduating. Tomorrow. It doesn't seem real; doesn't seem possible that it's been for years and that in five short months I'll be packing again to move back to the UK for grad school. I'm not excited, but then I'm not especially apprehensive either. Mom's pissed at me because I'm not really into it, my grandfather just realized that graduating cum laude is a good thing and is now telling everyone who will stand still long enough to listen that I'm graduating and blah blah blah... and really it shouldn't be blah blah anything. I should be excited and thrilled to be graduating with honors from an honors society from the acclaimed college that I've worked hard at for the last four years.

I'm ambivalent. Sometimes I'm really excited for the future; sometimes I wish this time would never end. Sometimes it feels like there's a giant hand pushing me hard and fast toward the edge of a cliff over which I will certainly fall tomorrow at ten am into the uncertain and slightly terrifying world of adulthood, for a bit anyway.

I donno. Sometimes I think there's something wrong with me. I'm sure I'll be excited tomorrow- being around excited people usually makes me excited. And if nothing else, I'll play it up for Mom and Gram.

I wonder if it's just because I'm ready to move on. I mean, I had a pretty good run here, but I've been done with the undergrad thing for a while now. I'm just not there anymore. This graduation thing will be good closue, I think, but it's a welcome change. Sometimes.

I wonder if I'll be this indifferent when I graduate with my MA...

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 23:15:44 GMT

I don't mean to sound too terribly melodramatic, but is it really that easy to walk in and out of my life?

Really??

Rose Rock

Sun, 26 Apr 2009 03:10:44 GMT

It was pretty good this year. The flatmates and I mixed up a lovely batch of 'juice' to kick off the fun and then we headed out onto the lawn for a fun-filled afternoon of good music and good friends. Frisbee was played, tans were acquired, music was listened and danced to (most of the dancing being under the influence of the juice we all had in our water bottles). The headliners weren't all that great; Eve 6 last year was certainly better and they didn' break anything. The headliners this year blew the speakers and did something to the stage... can't say what because I left before the halfway point in the set; not my kind of music.

The history crew cemented our plans for the ~~last~~ next two weeks of undergrad and those ought to be just as good. Senior week is going to be amazing; the events they've got planed actually sound like they're going to be fun, and it's going to be nice to spend some time with my friends when we're not all spazzed out from teaching and trying to take class and trying to be grown ups and trying to figure out what we're going to do next year... you get the point, I'm sure.

I can't believe we only have two weeks left. I mean, I'm super excited about Scotland, but I'm more upset about this ending than I thought I would be. This wasnt' what I expected college to be like, and I have quite a few complaints about... just about everything really... but I'm still sad at the thought of leaving it forever. I suppose any place you spend enough time in will grow on you, and I did make a bunch of amazing friends (I just wish I'd met them before last semester...) and was given the chance of a lifetime to go to London. All in all, it wasn't a bad four years and it gave me the stepping stone to get into St Andrews. So it was worth it.

Holy Monkies Batman!

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 17:28:51 GMT

So I got an email this morning from St Andrews. The email said I got in. Which means I'm moving to Scotland in August. FUCK YEAH!!!!

I'm alive!

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 19:57:02 GMT

No really, it's true. I realize I've been MIA for rather a while, and to anyone who reads this, I apologize.

For the last six weeks, I've been teaching in a little rural school in the middle of the state. It was pretty good- better, actually, than I thought it would be. I got on well with my teacher and the rest of the people on the hallway (with the exception of AIS social studies because I wouldn't let the kids go down and have their homework done for them) and the kids were great. The class from hell didn't even end up being that bad. Granted, there were a few kids that I wanted to take out into the parking lot and beat, but it was only three or four in a hundred and twelve. I got about six pounds of brownies as a parting gift from one girl in my first period, and a card from the AP class saying that if I didn't come back and visit before they took the test they'd find me and beat me up. Nice kids. I'll really miss them.

Started today at Catholic School in the Bad Part of Town (and it really really is). Apparently, they don't believe in bells or clocks. And there was a kangaroo loose in the hall. I'll have a total of thirty kids in three grades, and they're a nice group. This is going to be fun. If I don't get shot walking to and from my car.

So that's my life thus far. I've been writing again, which is nice even though everything I've written has sucked majorly, and I'm about a quarter of the way through Sanditon, which is AWESOME. If you're an Austen fan, go read it. Now.

Same bat time and all that... perhaps more stories marsupials to come.

Happy New Year...

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 01:03:43 GMT

...And a movie meme.

SUPPOSEDLY if you've seen over 85 films, you have no life. Mark the ones you've seen. There are 239 films on this list. Copy this list, go to your own Facebook account, and paste this as a note. Then, put x's next to the films you've seen, add them up, change the header adding your number, and click post at the bottom.

(x) Rocky Horror Picture Show
(x) Grease
(X) Pirates of the Caribbean
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest
(x) Boondock Saints
(x) Fight Club
() Starsky and Hutch
(x) Neverending Story
() Blazing Saddles
() Airplane
Total: 7

(x) The Princess Bride
(x) Anchorman
(x) Napoleon Dynamite
(x) Labyrinth
() Saw
() Saw II
() White Noise
() White Oleander
() Anger Management
(x) 50 First Dates
(x) The Princess Diaries
(x) The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
Total so far: 14

(x) Scream
(x) Scream 2
(x) Scream 3
(x) Scary Movie
() Scary Movie 2
() Scary Movie 3
() Scary Movie 4
(x) American Pie
(x) American Pie 2
() American Wedding
() American Pie Band Camp
Total so far: 20

(x) Harry Potter 1
(x) Harry Potter 2
(x) Harry Potter 3
(x) Harry Potter 4
(x) Resident Evil 1
() Resident Evil 2
(x) The Wedding Singer
() Little Black Book
(x) The Village
(x) Lilo & Stitch
Total so far: 28

(x) Finding Nemo
() Finding Neverland
(x) Signs
(X) The Grinch
() Texas Chainsaw Massacre
() Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
() White Chicks
(x) Butterfly Effect
(x) 13 Going on 30
() I, Robot
() Robots
Total so far: 33

() Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
() Universal Soldier
(x) Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
(x) Along Came Polly
() Deep Impact
() KingPin
(x) Never Been Kissed
(x) Meet The Parents
(x) Meet the Fockers
() Eight Crazy Nights
() Joe Dirt
(x) KING KONG
Total so far: 39

(x) A Cinderella Story
(x) The Terminal
() The Lizzie McGuire Movie
() Passport to Paris
() Dumb & Dumber
() Dumber & Dumberer
() Final Destination
() Final Destination 2
() Final Destination 3
(x) Halloween
(x) The Ring
() The Ring 2
() Surviving X-MAS
(x) Flubber
Total so far: 44

(x) Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
(x) Practical Magic
(x) Chicago
() Ghost Ship
(x) From Hell
() Hellboy
(x) Secret Window
(x) I Am Sam
(x) The Whole Nine Yards
(x) The Whole Ten Yards
Total so far: 52

(x) The Day After Tomorrow
() Child's Play
() Seed of Chucky
(x) Bride of Chucky
(x) Ten Things I Hate About You
(x) Just Married
(x) Gothika
() Nightmare on Elm Street
(x) Sixteen Candles
() Remember the Titans
() Coach Carter
(x) The Grudge
() The Grudge 2
(x) The Mask
(x) Son Of The Mask
Total so far: 60

() Bad Boys
() Bad Boys 2
() Joy Ride
() Lucky Number Slevin
(x) Ocean's Eleven
(x) Ocean's Twelve
(x) Bourne Identity
(x) Bourne Supremacy
() Lone Star
(x) Bedazzled
() Predator I
() Predator II
() The Fog
(X) Ice Age
() Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
() Curious George
Total so far: 66

(x) Independence Day
() Cujo
() A Bronx Tale
() Darkness Falls
() Christine
() Children of the Corn
() My Bosses Daughter
(x) Maid in Manhattan
(x) War of the Worlds
() Rush Hour
() Rush Hour 2
Total so far: 69

() Best Bet
(x) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
(x) She's All That
() Calendar Girls
() Sideways
() Mars Attacks
() Event Horizon
(x) Ever After
(x) Wizard of Oz
(x) Forrest Gump
() Big Trouble in Little China
() The Terminator
() The Terminator 2
() The Terminator 3
Total so far: 74

(x) X-Men
(x) X-2
(x) X-3
(X) Spider-Man
() Spider-Man 2
() Sky High
(x) Jeepers Creepers
() Jeepers Creepers 2
(x) Catch Me If You Can
(X) The Little Mermaid
(X) Freaky Friday
(x) Reign of Fire
(x) The Skulls
(x) Cruel Intentions
() Cruel Intentions 2
() The Hot Chick
(X) Shrek
(x) Shrek 2
Total so far: 87

(x) Swimfan
(x) Miracle on 34th street
() Old School
(x) The Notebook
() K-Pax
() Krippendorf's Tribe
(x) A Walk to Remember
() Ice Castles
() Boogeyman
() The 40-year-old Virgin
Total so far: 90

(x) Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring
(x) Lord of the Rings The Two Towers
(x) Lord of the Rings Return Of the King
(x) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
(x) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(x) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Total so far: 96

() Baseketball
() Hostel
() Waiting for Guffman
() House of 1000 Corpses
() Devils Rejects
() Elf
() Highlander
() Mothman Prophecies
() American History X
() Three
Total so Far: 96

() The Jacket
() Kung Fu Hustle
() Shaolin Soccer
() Night Watch
(x) Monsters Inc.
(x) Titanic
(x) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
() Shaun Of the Dead
(x) Willard
Total so far: 100

() High Tension
() Club Dread
() Hulk
() Dawn Of the Dead
(x) Hook
(x) Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
(x) 28 days later
() Orgazmo
() Phantasm
(x) Waterworld
Total so far: 104

() Kill Bill vol 1
() Kill Bill vol 2
() Mortal Kombat
() Wolf Creek
() Kingdom of Heaven
() The Hills Have Eyes
() I Spit on Your Grave aka the Day of the Woman
() The Last House on the Left
() Re-Animator
() Army of Darkness
Total so far: 105

(x) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace
(x)Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones
(x) Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith
(x) Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope
(x) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back
(x) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi
() Ewoks Caravan Of Courage
() Ewoks The Battle For Endor
Total so far: 111

(x) The Matrix
(x) The Matrix Reloaded
(x) The Matrix Revolutions
() Animatrix
() Evil Dead
() Evil Dead 2
(x) Team America: World Police
(x) Red Dragon
(x) Silence of the Lambs
(x) Hannibal
Total so far: 118

Now add them up and...
118. Guess I have no life.

Oh dear...

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 03:01:28 GMT

I'm done. I will never take another undergraduate class. As of now, it has been deemed that I am smart enough and competent enough to stand up before the masses of the next generation to teach them something. And I'm completely terrified. I suppose that's something of a good thing; a healthy dose of stage fright is always beneficial, if only to keep me on my toes. I suppose if I thought I was ready, I'd just get cocky and screw up. At the same time, a bit less fear would be reassuring. I need to call my cooperating teacher. And find the school. And suck this up and move on because I have to get through this before I can go back home for good.

I have this incredible feeling of momentum, like there's this huge force propelling me forward and I have no control over it at all and I don't know if I'm going to hit a brick wall, or be pushed over a cliff and soar. It's a rather disconcerting feeling. I find myself longing for Neverland, for the certain Happy Ever After and break in time and never having to grow up because I don't know that I want to. I remember looking forward to the days when I'd be grown up, able to make my own decisions and take care of myself, but that was before I learned the world was a cold and dark place sometimes. I don't know that I wouldn't prefer to contend with the mermaids who know all and the ticking of the clock than with the dark corners of this world and my mind.

My goodness, this was melencholy. Appologies, and I'm sure I'll have something a bit happier to say before Christmas.

waves

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 18:57:21 GMT

Right so I'm not dead (yet). There are three more days of class. I then have three days of finals. I then have to get my ass going on this grad school thing.

And student teaching is bloody soon.

I need to go back to London. Life was better there.

Check back after Christmas- I'm sure I'll have something interesting to say after that ~~farce~~ family get-together. Oh and about Christmas. I've recently had an epiphany about Christmas and why it's abriviated as X mas. Kristina will probably appreciate this, and Leah if she reads this (which I doubt) but anyway, way back in the day when Constantine was hanging about Rome making decrees, he made the switch to Christianity. Back in the day, the sign of Christianity wasn't the cross like we all know it today, it was the Chi Rho. It sort of looks like an 'x' if you take out the Alpha and the Omega... and... you know... the Rho. Anyway, it makes sense. So my mother, who's always had an issue with 'X-mas' because it was taking the religion out of it can now get over it because it's at least as religious as 'Christmas' if not more so because it's adopting the earliest sigal of Christianity ever recorded. So there.

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 02:58:38 GMT

Sem presentation's done and done well, which takes a huge chunk of stress away. Now all I have is Clancy's paper (origins of Britain's Labour Party) which I could write in my sleep and McP's unit plan which is done and only needs revising. And, you know, like fifteen hours in the field. But I suppose that's why I have Fridays off.

Was in Oneonta the last two weekends for birthday parties, trying to ignore the niggling feeling of guilt that I wasn't reading for Sem...or writing for Clancy...or reading for Gariba... but whatever. It'll get done; it always does. And we had a good time, so that's all that really counts anyway.

Brought a Christmas tree to school- I assume we'll be putting it up soonish as if we wait until after Thanksgiving we'll only be around to enjoy it for a week and a half. We're having our own Thanksgiving as well, probably the Sunday before the real holiday, as something of a family gathering for us. I guess.

And now I'm going to go pass out. Check back later nad there might be something new. ;)

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 02:32:59 GMT

Two things:

Boys suck. Hardcore.

Realization: I have a thing for guys with hero complexes. Which means I have a problem. Pip stop laughing.

It's somewhat sureal...

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 03:21:35 GMT

...when you look at a picture of yourself and don't recognize it. I'm a bit disturbed.

Boo

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 02:30:36 GMT

I'm sick. This sucks. The end.

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 00:10:02 GMT

Well I've had all my classes. Twice, for most of them. The verdict?

This semester is going to kick my ass. Hardcore.

I only have one on Mondays, and it's probably going to end up being my favourite. Kabababa, along with being a generally nice person, is a great prof in that he imparts a lot of information (when you can understand him through the mumbling and the accent) and gives like no work. And I get to do Egypt. Yes, I'm a dork. Get over it.

Tuesday is my day from hell. I go from nine thirty in the morning to quarter to ten at night. MacroEc is first. The prof is a complete head case that thinks we need to be shouted at at nine thirty in the morning and he looks like Zazu from the Lion King. No lie. I CANNOT take him seriously. After that, I have European Political Systems, wherein I have to write my only major paper of the semester. Clancy's teaching it and he's amazing. It was going to be an easy class anyway, but now that everything's take home, it's going to be even better. Plus, the prof is one of those people I just want to shrink and put on my desk. After that is my thesis class, in which I am not required to write a thesis. Apparently. Yeah, I don't get it either. We're doing five five page analytical papers about the texts to make the page number required for the class... and it's going to kill me. This class is the reason my ass is going to be kicked hardcore. The sem topic is the Political Global Economy. The politics I can follow with no problem, it's just the economics that really goes over my head. Oh well. Time to suck it up and actually do the reading for a class in college. And, you know, study... And last of all, I have McP teaching me how to teach. It's amazing. I now understand the theory behind shouting "Shouldda been there!" at us every thirteen or fourteen seconds. I heart him. The end.

Wednesday I have self defence, and thanks to the prof, am now afraid to walk home by myself after McP's class. Boo.

I've Fridays off again, which is nice because I have to do twenty hours in a classroom AGAIN. I'm going to try and to the sponcer a scholar thing and the local HS because it's easy and I'm lazy, basically.

So that's my semester in a nutshell. I'm waiting on a letter from both Pip and Kemmi, though I've no idea whether expecting them or expecting to have time to reply to them is realistic. I've completely lost the plot in one (but I can probably get it back fairly quickly) and am just waiting to throw a curveball in the other. And I've postcards to send out from P-Town. Bah. I need another hour in the day.

In gradschool news, I need to talk to my advisor (and hopefully be advised this time, Kanniwax!) and start applying. I need also to have a meeting with the study abroad lady because I plan to apply out of the country. For both MA and eventual PhD. I need to get on that, like yesterday. And I have paperwork that needs to hit the Dean's desk so I can graduate.

Same bat time and all that...

PS- go see TDK if you haven't yet. It was the best movie I've seen in a long time and this is coming from someone who does not generally enjoy comic books made into movies. Do it.

Well that was interesting...

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 01:34:45 GMT

I finally got all my stuff moved into my shiny new apartment. Except it's not new and it wasn't very shiny. Apparently my roommates who got here before me had to scrub the place. Also, the gas stove is leaking gas. And we're using it anyway because we're all brilliant. The biggest catch (for me anyway, ~~and that probably says something about my personality~~) is that there's only one internet jack in our room and two laptops. I'm currently plugged in upstairs in the living room and Res Live told me to go to IT and get a hub or whatever to make the house wireless. I'd just as soon get a router because there are three live jacks upstairs but whatever.

Classes start in the morning. I start with Kabababa (snort. I must stop calling him that...) at 10:25 and then I'm done for the day. To make up for that, because life just can't be that easy, I have a twelve hour day on Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday are normal, and the history faculty never teaches on Friday so I'm good there. I need to talk to Lally about doing some sort or tutoring program at Albany High to get the last of the observation hours done.

Life in this house is a muscial. Roommate and I were nuts anyway, and we moved in with three more people who are just as crazy as we are if not worse. Random song is broken into all the time. Dancing comes out of the blue. I laugh. A LOT. It's good. I didn't think it would be. But it is.

More to follow after I've had all my classes. Same bat time and all that. :)

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 23:19:32 GMT

So... yeah

Eddie Izzard was bloody amazing, but then that's exactly what I expected. Saw Margaret off, which was sad, but she was excited to go home.

Work is the same as it always is... nuts. I was in four different places today- I love the thought process: I must leave, so let's put the person with the least woodworking experience in the woodworking shop. I thought I was going to take a finger off. Although, one supposes that they must have great faith in me to stick me there knowing I was going to be faking it all the way. Meh whatev. Though it occurs to me now that I don't think I shut the windows....Toddles is going to kill me in the morning. We've arranged a three-way switch for tomorrow so I don't have to give dwelling tours and C doesn't have to sit with screaming children. It's amazing. And win win.

And, God willing, I'll be on the Cape in two weeks, which just makes things all better.

until i think of senior year (and Real Life) looming ahead in the distance. *shudders* BUT I suppose that's what grad school is for!

Going out for round three (i think) of Dork 21st this weekend, possibly twice. That'll be fun. If we find a driver... Went out with S and J on Friday night, which was pretty cool. A friend of ours kept buying rounds of kamakazis.... I knew I liked him for a reason. J's boyfriend was being a douche, and she went to see him anyway, which is WAY more than I'd have done, but then that's probably why I'm single.

Tune in next week for a post that ~~might~~ make sense and more of my amazing life. ~~And by next week I mean whenever I get five spare seconds to bang something out...~~

another book meme

Thu, 29 May 2008 00:48:05 GMT

Code:
Read
Read for school
Started but unfinished
~~I’ll never read it, and will never own it~~
*I own and intend to read it at some point

*Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Anna Karenina
Crime and Punishment
Catch-22
One Hundred Years of Solitude (I’d like to see what all the fuss is about)
Wuthering Heights (I keep meaning to…)
The Silmarillion (Read half)
Life of Pi: A Novel
The Name of the Rose (Saw the movie for school)
Don Quixote
~~Moby Dick~~
~~Ulysses~~
Madame Bovary
The Odyssey
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Eyre (I’ve read about half of this…)
A Tale of Two Cities (and I hated it. A lot.)
The Brothers Karamazov (I’m curious)
~~Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies~~
War and Peace
Vanity Fair (I'd read it if it was put in front of me)
The Time Traveler’s Wife (on my list)
The Iliad (I know I’ve read at least some of this)
*Emma
The Blind Assassin
The Kite Runner (on my list)
~~Mrs. Dalloway~~
Great Expectations
American Gods
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (with a title like that, who I am to refuse?)
~~Atlas Shrugged~~ (heard it was terrible)
~~Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books~~ (no desire)
Memoirs of a Geisha
Middlesex
Quicksilver
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
The Canterbury Tales (working my way through them)
The Historian (and it sucked)
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Love in the Time of Cholera (I’m curious about this one; will rent the movie first probably)
Brave New World
~~The Fountainhead~~
Foucault’s Pendulum
Middlemarch (definitely one for the future)
Frankenstein
*The Count of Monte Cristo
Dracula
~~A Clockwork Orange~~ (too out there)
Anansi Boys
The Once and Future King
The Grapes of Wrath
The Poisonwood Bible
1984
Angels and Demons
The Inferno (read half and had to get it back to the Library, which has sense lost it)
~~The Satanic Verses~~
Sense and Sensibility
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Mansfield Park
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
To the Lighthouse
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Oliver Twist
*Gulliver’s Travels
Les Miserables (and it took me FOREVER)
The Corrections (eh?)
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (never heard of it)
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Dune
The Prince
The Sound and the Fury
Angela’s Ashes: A Memoir
The God of Small Things
~~A People’s History of the United States: 1492-present~~
Cryptonomicon
Neverwhere
A Confederacy of Dunces
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Dubliners
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Beloved
Slaughterhouse-Five
The Scarlet Letter
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
The Mists of Avalon
Oryx and Crake
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
Cloud Atlas
The Confusion
Lolita
Persuasion
*Northanger Abbey
The Catcher in the Rye (keep meaning to…)
~~On the Road~~
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
~~Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything~~
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
The Aeneid
Watership Down
Gravity’s Rainbow
The Hobbit
In Cold Blood
White Teeth
*Treasure Island
David Copperfield
The Three Musketeers

I'll stop doing these eventually. Shakerland's fun. The puppy's a pain in the ass. Everyone's home from college. Sex and the City comes out the day after tomorrow. That's my life. The end.

Wow...

Sun, 04 May 2008 15:50:04 GMT

...I make bad life choices. This week is finals and I've one tomorrow at 8am, one Tuesday at 10:45 and one on Wednesday at 1:30. I also have a ten page paper to write.

So what do I do? I go to Borders and buy the first book in the Aubreyad. I'm not going to get anything done now...

I've had it since Friday and I'm halfway through. I have a problem. *grins hugely*

Because I'm a super dork...

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 22:58:52 GMT

Look at the list of (100) books below.
Bold the ones you’ve read.
Italicize the ones you want to read.
Leave blank the ones that you aren’t interested in.
Movies don’t count.

1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)- I read about half of this one in Middle School… I ought really to finish it.
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25 . Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams) – I keep meaning to read this one…
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie(Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. Bible --
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)- Again, I read about half of this…
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)- I’m fairly sure I was supposed to read this one… Don’t think I actually did though.
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)- Absolutely loathed it.
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)- Read all of this and it took me bloody FOREVER
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)- Not only did I read it, but I read it in French.
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen) – One of two of hers I haven’t read….
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

Somehow, I thought I'd do better on this one...

Bah

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 15:19:48 GMT

Humbug.

The sum total of my weekend: One finished pair of hobo gloves, one of which is slightly smaller than the other... not really sure how I pulled that one off... and one mostly finished fifteen page research paper, for which I had to miss a party (which apparently pissed off a great deal of people) and which, I found out THIS MORNING in class did not in fact have to be finished when turned in because "well really guys, it's just a first draft." I could kill him with ease.

Room Res is tonight, so that'll be one thing settled. We're either going to live with three other mad girls in a killer apartment or it'll just be roomie and myself again in an apartment on the other side of the street. It'll be nice to know which.

This weekend will be spent spending my tax return (probably on shoes), and next weekend I go back to Shakerland to sit and knit until I die. Don't get me wrong- I love my job and I won't give it up unless I absolutely have to- but some of the shit that goes down there is just so far out there... and some of the people make me want to take an ice pick to my eye sockets... But most of it's awesome, and every summer I manage to learn something or make a new friend... it's really very full house. And, truth to be told, I really really need the rest at this point.

So that's my life. Check back; maybe something interesting will happen.