Monday, December 29, 2003

A day of changes of plans. Mum did, indeed, schedule a dental appointment for me. And the funny part was, it was with Lindsey’s dad’s office! So we saw Calli’s mother again, and I had my whole head x-rayed. The machine made a space age sort of fluttery noise as it was going around my head. But I had my eyes closed because I wasn’t sure what one is supposed to do with one’s eyes while one’s head is being x-rayed. I suppose it’s silly to close your eyes as if that’s going to protect your eyes from the x-rays, when we all know the big lead apron thingy is the only thing that’s going to block them. But yeah, I still closed my eyes.

The good news: the wisdom teeth can wait till May to be plucked out (ok, cut and wrenched out would be a better description, but plucked makes it sound so simple and painless). The bad news: that I have wisdom teeth in the first place. They aren’t very “wise” teeth, either, to be coming in like that without my wanting them. If they were smart they’d find a way to come in without being hard to brush and without causing infections or cavities. The pain in the ass teeth would be a better name.

So… afterwards we went to Artifacts and I found a volume of Catullus’s poetry, but it’s a different translator… but it was only a dollar so I bought it anyways.

Then we had a visit with Grandma R., who is definitely worse from the last time I saw her. I got a little, well, nostalgic and stuff, and it was difficult to see her in such a different state from how I’d like to remember her. But we did it— I suppose that’s important.

An old woman came up to us in the Alzheimer’s unit and kept asking Mom “what is it?” She was curious about the fabric of Mom’s coat… Then she came up to me and touched my coat which I was holding and she was rather excited about it. I told her it had some wool in it. I guess she enjoys fabrics or something. Then another woman in a wheelchair was sitting in her room in the dark and one of the assistants came up to her to ask what she was doing. And she said “I don’t know but it must not be right.” That made the assistant laugh and say it was a good answer.

We also saw our great uncle, Johnny… Who’s pretty sharp with his quotable comments, although he pauses before he speaks. Very cute fellow, Johnny.

The little jabs continue, as Tim will simply not take his boots off and he tracks in snow which melts which I step in and which causes my socks to be damp. I hate damp socks. But, I soon will be back, fending for myself in MA, pros and cons to both locations…
Yesterday was more eventful than today, so, let's start with that:

Saturday: We got out of the house early (as in, noon) for our shopping trip to Portland. We went into all sorts of mind-numbing teen/twenty something clothing stores, frustrating Mom and disgusting Merrie. I did, however, find a few items. Shopping will continue Monday, as I'm looking for boots. Got some random books at Barnes and Noble, in retrospect wish I had gotten some Don DeLillo as I'm about done with The Body Artist. Oh well. Next time. After, we got lost in Portland looking for Old Town Pizza. Mom was cruising around in circles, asking people on the street for directions (they didn't know where it was), stopping at a gas station (they didn't know where it was, either, although one guy remembered seeing the pizza delivery guy on a bicycle), and eventually asking someone that actually knew what street the restaurant was on. After parking, we were quickly walking to get inside out of the rain, and someone was yelling obscenities and "hey girls" and I assumed he meant us, so of course I didn't turn around, and when it turned into "f-ck you" I was particularly glad I wasn't acknowledging it.

Well! So even though we were a quarter of an hour late, Patti and the girls were late, too. All turned out well, we girls sat at one table and our mothers at another. We had lots to catch up on, but I think we barely scratched the surface! Hope to see them again soon! We all have fond memories of weekends spent together back in the old days...

So today! Uhm... I woke up really late, felt really faint and yucky in the shower, watched some tv, read some of my book, took a nap, ate dinner, had fun talking to Andrew, read some more and talked with Mer and Tim, and now Mer's watching the Garfield Christmas video finally. That's about it! More later =)

Saturday, December 27, 2003

My throat this morning was definitely worse off than yesterday. I stumbled out of bed and promptly began making this fact known to the entire household. Naturally, Mum called and made a doctor's appointment for me. The doctor's office... not so crowded. I whizzed past signing in and getting weighed and actually saw the doctor within ten minutes of arrival! Yay Dr. P--! So he talked to me about college (he has kids around my age) and looked in my ears and at my throat. My right ear was apparently red and worse looking than my throat (funny, my throat feels waaaay worse than my ears), and apparently at the beginning of an infection (I'm not crazy! I knew my ears felt funny). So I'm thinking my ears are... extra-weak in constitution, because I distinctly remember having swimmer's ear in high school and I definitely didn't do a lot of swimming.

So now I'm on the miracle-drug-ever-since-the-1940s, frequently sought out by not-so-smart parents to cure their children's viruses, the antibiotic. but, for once, I apparently don't have a virus! woo-hoo! and I don't have strep throat, which was the other not-so-pretty bacterial choice (involving a big fat needle to las nalgas or a ten day purple liquid regiment). Uhm... I don't feel miraculously better yet, though...

After the doctor, we proceeded to downtown Hood River, where I redeemed the Silverado gift certificate. Managed to get both a necklace and earrings with amber. Then the happy-dappy wal mart trip, where I bought everything I might need going back to college (including the best kind of notebook ever, a BUNGEE notebook! and in purple, a three subject, couldn't find it in that color last summer! this is going to be a good semester!) Oh! And I bought a couple little things for Mer as it's her birthday Jan. 14 and I won't be here and I don't have much opportunity to be sneaky! Also got some too-dry otis spunkmeyer m&m cookies (in place of my usual chocolate chip). And then we headed over to mcdonalds because I wanted dippin' dots! Yum!

Oh, and now I'm updating really late because i fell asleep with wet hair and thought I'd best blowdry it before going back to sleep. Goodnight! Good morning!

Thursday, December 25, 2003

Christmas Eve I woke up a little more sick feeling... I had quite awhile to relax, however, before Mer & I headed down to Hood River to meet up with Dad & Margy. (I read part of Santaland Diaries to Mer on the way down!) They got a motel room for a couple of nights so it'd be easier for us to see them. Since of course there isn't a Christmas tree in the room, they fashioned a "tree" out of a lamp with gift wrap around it. We had a nice little gift exchange and Dad really really liked the clothes we picked out for him, so we were happy! The 70 channels is too much of a temptation for Dad, however, so we watched some of a Bruce Lee documentary and part of some black and white movie. We almost went for a drive to see Christmas lights, but Mer was just not up to the task of driving anywhere new at night!

On to the next Christmas festivity, we drove to Tim's mother's. We beat Mum & Tim down, so we socialized with Scott, Linda, and Arlene for awhile. And of course the orange cat Morris, who is not allowed inside due to his excessive shedding habits. We had a nice dinner, the usual homemade chili, and Arlene's dining room looked like something out of a Martha Stewart Living magazine spread. Tree with gifts, table perfectly set... Robin & Maribeth arrived with the baby (Makenzie, now two years old and cheerful and cute and talking!!) and we gradually started the gift unwrapping. Makenzie definitely stole the show, she got super excited over everything given to her. She received not one, not two, but three stuffed dogs! She kept playfully attacking us with the dogs throughout the evening, and looking into the birdhouses that Mum made for everyone, trying to find the birds!

Last night Mer ended up sleeping in my room, and I listened to a little of the Nutcracker music before bed. Tub woke me up at like 7 am by being cute -- she laid down across my arm so I could hug her and pet her, although I did eventually fall back asleep. Unlike when we were, oh, say, five years old, we started the gifts at 11 in the morning! Mum pretty much picked out the perfect things I needed/wanted, and we're going shopping for anything else that requires our selection within the next couple of days in Portland. I think everything I picked out was well received, yay =) Mer loves the green zip up sweater, and Mum actually wore her red hat around for awhile! Mer did, indeed, pick out the things I pointed her towards, and some cool things she found all by herself! And she actually like the necklace I made her! yay, Res Life actually taught me something useful!

Well, now I think it's time for breakfast and relaxing, my throat's a little more sore than normal today, what is wrong with my immune system!!??

Wednesday, December 24, 2003

Visiting Grammy & Grandpa today, had to give them the whole story on Andrew. Things my grandparents enjoy: hearing about college and questioning me about this new fellow that shares my grandpa's birthday! We chatted for quite awhile, I love grandparents... especially mine! =)

We saw Dad walking in Hood River but couldn't find him by the time Merried looped back around... Finished the Christmas shopping craziness, thank God.

I had another happy visit today, I continued the new tradition of watching old Christmas specials with Lindsey! We watched Garfield & the muppets, drank hot cocoa and ate caramel corn. And the new puppy is so soft and cute and already so smart!!

Tonight... was strange. I was cold so I wanted to shower, and accidentally was in the shower while Tim was in the other bathroom taking a bath. So I definitely had a cold shower which wasn't helpful! Now I'm warming up with hot tea, however... Sometimes I can't wait to be back at college... I'm going to enjoy having Windy's whole house to myself...

Monday, December 22, 2003

Ahhh so much has happened!

So... last Thursday after I handed in my paper I slept, and I slept until Kobe's dad called and let me off dog walking duty for the day (he was down with the flu and home from work). Dale came in and worked on her paper on my laptop after we had a "lunch" at Blanchard... a goodbye lunch with Lindsay! This girl from Res Life training gave me a M&M brownie ice cream sandwich, which was very appreciated after I got ripped off for a little orange sherbet push up pop! Anywho, in the evening we walked to Prospect and realized that we weren't being fed dinner! So we unearthed Dale's car from under its pile of snow and ice (with help of One Card and Rite Aid card), then Dale finally turned in her paper and by like, what, 9 pm? We headed out for the grocery store!

I ended up buying $24.67 in food stuffs (since Res Life reimburses us for up to $25 if we stay till Saturday to close up the dorm), and Dale and Miranda got Chinese food. We had a little dinner at the nice dining table downstairs, and I stayed up rather late...

Friday! Everyone was leaving... and I walked Kobe... then the mail center didn't need me, so after talking to Priscilla awhile I headed off again! Had to come back to pick up a package (it ended up being my verse writing portfolio... course grade: A!) Then I cleaned up my room, visited with D. Becky, returned library books, and mailed letters. Got ready in the evening to see Andrew! I dragged my cd player/alarm clock into the bathroom and blasted music while I showered, it was fun! I definitely took advantage of having the dorm to myself! (or at least hypothetically, if someone had been so inclined she could have stayed and eluded us closing the dorm.)

After looking around online, Andrew & I went to Amherst for dinner at Judie's, which was really fun! We sat at a Matisse table, and Judie herself with talking at the table next to us so we got to overhear random tidbits about the owner's life... It was so cold though! I was "ice skating" on the frozen over snow outside Pearsons!

Saturday was rather sad, and I was nervous as usual before traveling. Andrew was an amazing help with getting me ready and to the airport! I was definitely feeling rather sick and scatterbrained and he was calm and helpful, and, well wonderful =) Sad leaving but it helped that he really had to leave me at the airport as there were police cars around and his car was "parked" in the "actively loading/unloading" area!

My flight was SO long! I went to Atlanta, ended up having to switch planes, then sat next to some gals home from boot camp all the way to Portland. Time in the air: about 8 hours! My lower back was killing me. Luckily I had lots of music to listen to, Andrew and Lindsey made the best mixes ever!

So in PDX Mum & Mer & I were standing around, and my luggage was definitely not riding the big belt circle thingy... a bad premonition was in the air. My luggage was definitely still in Atlanta, no doubt just hanging out on an identical big circle thingy, going in endless circles, subject to any random person going by and stealing it... I think the Delta customer service guy heard me bitching about "what a huge inconvenience this is" and how they'd "better drop it off at our house, we don't want to drive all the way here just to make up for THEIR mistake..." and about how "there's not much time before Christmas and my gifts are in that bag!" Yeah. Because he was super duper helpful! And my luggage was delivered to our door yesterday!

Yesterday... I didn't do much. Partly because my clothes were in transit still. I was bumming about the house in sweatpants and a hole-y sweatshirt. We did decorate the tree, however, and I watched the Homecoming air guitar video! I kinda tipped the tree over a bit (think the leaning tower of pisa) and had to readjust the damn thing (my hands were all pitchy afterwards) while trying to make our vcr work (didn't end up working for me). Cleaned my room and unpacked finally! Threw lots of junk out. Had hot chocolate with a candy cane and fell asleep in my bed a little early!

Today was a good day =) Mer went to the library and I did some more shopping, then I directed Mer to what I want for Christmas and she bought stuff for me with the money I loaned her while I waited! Funny, huh? So I have a good idea of what she got me... Oh! and she ended up buying this sweater I found from Anthropologie at the second hand store in Hood River that was only $14 and looks new. In the catalog I bet it'd be over $100... so I told her she should definitely buy it, if she hadn't I would have! She needs sweaters though... On our way out of town we went to McDonald's and spent the last of our cash (she'd forgotten her wallet and I had used my credit card for nearly everything as I don't carry much cash on me) at Mcdonalds... Yes, like the silly girls we are, we sat together and split french fries in the empty restaurant!

So now I should go eat dinner! Tomorrow I get to see Lindsey and the new puppy!!

Thursday, December 18, 2003

I just physically handed in my paper... Quillian was in his office so I got to hand deliver it! Here's how it went:

Quillian: Do you like this paper?
Me: I hope so.
Quillian: No no, I mean, do YOU like this paper?
Me: Well, I did last night, and then I got jittery handing it in.
...
Quillian: Don't worry, you did fine. And I'll see you next semester! ... Have a happy holiday!
Me: You too!

Something about delivering a paper in person is so much more... rewarding. Handing in a paper I wasn't totally enthusiastic about would be easier with any other professor, but one just doesn't want to hand in anything less than perfect to Quillian... Oh well, I tried, I have had my vision!

Wednesday, December 17, 2003

A blog in honor of the wit of Merrers:

Pink Poodledog: I'm going to walk to the library with dale (at 2 am, mind you), print my paper, and then scurry over to quillian's office and leave my paper on the box on his door
MuskratFan: hahah. Why? To get your paper in like, earlier than everyone else or something?

...

MuskratFan: oh my goodness
Pink Poodledog: and then "well I was married at 19, and grandma was married at 20, so we're thinking it's probably going to happen to you"
Pink Poodledog: hahahaha
MuskratFan: omg. The whole freakin' Bambi thing AGAIN!
Pink Poodledog: hahahah what???
MuskratFan: last night, I forget what we were talking about, but she said "it could happen to you.."
Pink Poodledog: hahahaha
MuskratFan: and I was like, mom, that's the whole twitterpated speech the owl gave
Pink Poodledog: HAHA oh DEAR!
Pink Poodledog: so true!
MuskratFan: yeah, it was ridiculous. It was something totally unrelated to relationships though

...

MuskratFan: it's really starting to annoy me at school, seeing all the couples cuddling and blocking the hallways!
MuskratFan: it really pisses me off. Like now that it's almost break, people are spending more time together or something?!
Pink Poodledog: hahahaha
Pink Poodledog: just wait till one of your crushes and you get together, then "it'll happen to you"
MuskratFan: ack!

...

MuskratFan: I'm adopting if I ever want kids. If I get too desperate, please get me a small lap dog. I have no feelings for children except they're cute at times as a "novelty sort of thing"
Pink Poodledog: hahahahaha
Pink Poodledog: will do mer, I'll get ya one of them dogs that have the reincarnated spirit of a monk in 'em, the wiggly caterpillar lookin' ones
MuskratFan: ha. Those caterpillar dogs
MuskratFan: well, I suppose I should let ya go now.
MuskratFan: sounds like you have a mission to carry out

And in her blog, if you haven't read her latest:

Oh yes, I forgot to add previously that there is an angel in my bathroom. (As in a small lighted plastic angel that mom traditionally sets up in the living room around Christmas time).
posted by Merrie @ 10:52 PM


Mum IMed me today, so yes, I'm going to copy and paste some tidbits instead of actually writing anything new!

SITA3783: are you typing away?
I got your sheets changed. I think they were already changed, but it was hard to tell for sure, since the Tub (and Mebes) [the cats] had tucked themselves in a few times

...

SITA3783: did I tell you about the girl over here who landed in the Hood River on one of her first driving lessons?
Pink Poodledog: haha! nope!
Pink Poodledog: what a story
SITA3783: she was driving with her stepmom, down there where I took you, on the port front.. learning to park. anyway I guess she hit the gas instead of the brake
SITA3783: and they landed in the Hood River and they had to kick out a window or something to get out . they were totally submerged

...


SITA3783: I had to change a light bulb, kinda had to rob peter to pay paul
SITA3783: did you know you can die from water poisoning?
SITA3783: merrie was like telling us you can actually drink too much water
SITA3783: like if you drink a couple gallons
SITA3783: it dilutes out the potassium and salt and stuff.
SITA3783: anyway that was a weird thing to learn

(who says this?? love you mum!)

And from Merrer's blogspot:
I asked Becky about what song I should use to represent me in English class...then realized with the answer its implications! Hilarious is right...

MuskratFan: I can't decide on one! What about something from The Last Unicorn? Hehe..
MuskratFan: or Cake? Or Mundy?
Pink Poodledog: mundy'd be cool
Pink Poodledog: what's that song...
MuskratFan: yeah..I don't know which one
Pink Poodledog: the something and something sky
MuskratFan: gin and tonic sky
MuskratFan: oh no! Not that one!
Pink Poodledog: haha why not??
MuskratFan: There's this joke in that class...
MuskratFan: 'cause of that near-empty alcohol bottle that Zen found after I house sat!
MuskratFan: that was consumed most likely by that other guy that was staying there!
MuskratFan: and it came up in class again today that my song would be something about a drunk Irish man! And Mundy's Irish! And he's singing about gin and tonic skies!
Pink Poodledog: hahahaha
MuskratFan: now that's hilarious
Pink Poodledog: oh my gosh, that's hilarious
Pink Poodledog: yeah, precisely, I saw you typing that the same time I was...!
Pink Poodledog: but I finished anyways to show how apt the word was :-)
MuskratFan: so funny. Glad I thought about it before I used that one! Hehe. But it would have been funny anyway


For the record, Lorenzen asked my freshman high school class the same question, what song would we pick to "represent us" or be the "soundtrack to our lives." And I think I said Paula Cole's "I don't wanna wait"...


I just wrote a 13 page paper in like, 24 hours. And it didn't feel the least bit rushed. By page 6 I had a vision of my paper turning out well, so I hope it has! Must read it over and see if there's anything I should tweak a bit, but I think it's basically done! Wow, only a year and a half left of MHC life! I'd better get on those grad school applications!
“I love how flashlights can sit up on their ends… who created that?” – dale on the second to last day of finals, while reading sociology in my room and moving a flashlight so she can spread out (yeah, my room's a mess, the flashlight is still by my fridge, from when the mice were running around).

Tuesday, December 16, 2003

Ok! So I only write one page tonight, but after sitting and staring at my screen for over half an hour and eating popcorn instead of typing, i realized I am just not in the place to be writing an essay right now. Definitely need some sleep to function properly again. Luckily I have absolutely nothing I need to do tomorrow except fill up the next 9 pages with a development of my idea of what these novels are about. I have a general thesis and I made up a little outline of what points I want to get through in what order so I can pick out appropriate quotes tomorrow from what I've marked as "most important" to do close readings on. I couldn't actually type so the outline seemed like a good idea to get me on track tomorrow morning.

So to bed now, and tomorrow morning/afternoon/evening i'll be typing away!!!
Ahhhh!!!! Three down, one to go! I studied art history this morning, walked Kobe, studied some more, and then the test went QUITE well, I think. He seemed to pick out pieces I remembered enough about to write a decent amount, and that I at least thought I remembered the date to rather accurately. It was structured just like our quizzes, same amount and type of questions (thank you Prof. Staiti!) but with tons more time (thanks again Prof. Staiti!) Then I took the rest of the afternoon off & had dinner with Dale, Miranda, Elise, and another Katie of '05 at Abbey-Buck. Food was surprisingly decent tonight.

I made an ever so brief visit to the library (because people are sick and nasty in the library, even my obscure under the stairs hiding place is completely defiled and disgusting. Note to people dirtying up the library: learn to throw food IN THE GARBAGE! TRY to act as if you have some class! Stress is no excuse for this large scale debauchery!) and I found bits that I may use to support my Woolf paper, but frankly, I think this is going to be all about taking the text and analyzing it to death and proving what I want to prove. My thesis changed a bit after reading an essay & relooking over all the passages I marked. And of course marking the bestest passages with sticky notes!

Ahh. So, tonight the goal is to write the first three pages. And tomorrow to finish it.

"I see stacks of books and piles of papers,
The sick studying day, the paper-writing night,
And I think to myself, it's finals week."

Ok so that didn't really sound like "what a wonderful world" but yeah, it's finals week. And compared to everyone else who isn't finished I feel, well, on top of things. Not gonna lose any sleep, either. Dale and Miranda were camped out downstairs with work all day and I can hear someone coughing in the room next to me. Now does everyone see why I was able to actually get over this cold when I left to see Andrew for the weekend??

Elettra's question of the day... we'll reveal that later.

Monday, December 15, 2003

First of all, sorry it's been so long! Andrew noted an inverse relationship between Spanish papers & blog posts =\ I get a little distracted! So here are some vague recollections of the past week:

Weds: I think I started feeling a bit crappy this day, which was too bad because it was the last day of classes! We had pizza in my Spanish class & suddenly we were all friends with our profesora after everyone's been complaining about her all semester. But the pizza & cider definitely boosted morale. I knew I was getting sick & Thomasena offered the wet sock advice, but I didn't follow it (for better or worse). Quillian's class we watched To the Lighthouse, which he likes even though some of us were a bit disturbed with the liberties taken with the plot. But I guess movies are a different medium and I shouldn't judge on that...

I got out early from Quillian's class (although it seemed to drag on, I wasn't feeling well) & spent the next, uhm... 3 hours? helping Katie get our floor activity set up. We somehow lugged over media services equipment from the library that weighed as much as us, got a copy of Pirates of the Caribbean, and spent about 60$ on food! It took forever, but we finally got the equipment to work (with the help of our HP) and we watched the movie through a cool projector system set up through Katie's spiffy laptop! Ate lots and lots of good junk food! Got to bed too late considering my sick state.

Anyway. I started writing my Spanish paper earlier that night, yay for productivity!

Thursday: Definitely felt like crap this day. I worked pretty much all day while Dale & Miranda went to the mall for holiday shopping. Took a break in the evening to stagger around in the village commons in search of christmas cards & gifts. Uhm... not recommended. Walking around while you're kind of woozy from a combination of sitting all day alone with your laptop & being sick, vainly trying to make decisions... I think I looked at cards for like half an hour. It was ridiculous. Anyway I DID finish my paper, and got a full night's sleep!

Friday: Bustling day! All morning I found art history images for my flashcards, then I walked Kobe, had some chips & salsa (to stave off the crappy sick feeling, ie, a sore throat), worked in the mail center for an hour, picked out hours for next semester, then printed and handed in my Spanish paper! I turned the corner to profesora's office just as Whitney opened the door from the stairwell, and we slid our papers under the door when whoosh, there's Kristin! So we had a little chat with our profesora & then scrammed! I imported all my art history images to a word document, resized each picture, and printed! Then in my incoherent sick daze I packed to catch a bus to see Andrew. It took me forever to pack, like a bad dream where you're late and nothing comes together and you're all panicky and nervous. Things that contributed to the feeling: carrying projector equipment back to the library with Katie, being questioned by Ramona "you're going to Boston? don't you have any finals?", forgetting to water D Becky's plant and reentering the room to do so.

So I was at the bus stop before 5:15 (when the bus was supposed to be there), and I waited for like 15 minutes until I was sure it had left without me! I was walking back, looking behind me all the way, and there's the damn rectangle on wheels coming straight for the bus stop!! So I high tailed it back, hitting a car in the crosswalk with my bag on my way, saying "sorry" as if the car could hear me, and puffing out "I thought I'd missed you, I was just heading back when I saw you!" to the bus driver before plopping into a seat. And somehow, even though the bus driver was definitely late and caused all sorts of anxiety because of it, I couldn't believe my good luck! I was sitting on the right bus!

Met Andrew in Worcester & we did a little, uhm, food shopping for the sick before going to his place! We had chicken soup together that night, I love lipton's chicken soup, especially with Andrew =) Watched a funny episode of The Family Guy, and I'm not sure what else... it was a relaxing evening!

Saturday: Started feeling the cold more today. We went shopping and then watched The Ring which wasn't as scary as the first time around... I think a dark room up alone with Merrers contributed something to the scariness. SNL was pretty good though, Elijah & Kattan... weird. Strangely similar.

Exchanged gifts in the evening, Andrew gave me the most amazingly color coordinated gift ever, and better than anything I could have picked out for myself =) I picked out Taboo, because it's different from other games we play & I thought it'd be hilarious to play it with a group! Dale's already excited about it, too -- we'll have to see if we're as good at this game as we are at most others ; )

Sunday: Snow was predicted, we had a quiet day in. I worked on my art history flashcards and slept in as my cold had its little peak (I think) on this day. Andrew saran wrapped his window so it was a lot warmer. More chicken soup, more tea, and a game of Trivial Pursuit! We put off thinking about bus schedules!

Monday: Being naughty we slept in, then I was rushed to Newton for the bus! Which I caught, and made a few wrong decisions on which buses to take, so got back a bit late! Missed one meeting but was able to get Windy's key and walk Kobe before seeing Dale and going to dinner. Now I'm showered & ready to study for art history!! Tomorrow's the final, then I've got a couple of days to write a paper for Quillian. I'm going to write on Mrs. Dalloway & To the Lighthouse, on the underlying "net" that connects everything... or that's my vague theory right now. More later!

Tuesday, December 09, 2003

KruMatata: becky

Auto response from Pink Poodledog: english department winter social!!!!

after a full day! yoga, compiling poetry, art history, lunch, verse writing, a meeting with prof. pesola, quick dinner at blanchard...

KruMatata: mice!!!
KruMatata: ekk!!!

I knew you'd understand, Karuna... I remember your little run-in with a mouse last year!!
An excellent, but busy, day. Staving off illness, I bundled up for yoga this morning, which was a huge class with people trying to make up for absences. I put together my poetry portfolio and made copies of my latest poem, then picked up the package that I got a yellow slip for yesterday. Turned out to be from Grammy & Grandpa's church. I tried eating the oreos tonight but they tasted like the lavender sachet!

Our last verse writing class wasn't anything spectacular, but it was a little sad when we all left. Elaine gave everyone hugs. I decided to eat a real lunch today, by the way! I went to Prospect and had some yummy almost-Chinese food. Hot mustard sauce is definitely a good thing when you're feeling a little on the verge of sickness. Ate with Caitlin, which was cool, since I never see people from her corner of the floor.

Also had my meeting with Prof. Pesola today, which was uhm, not as productive as it could be because I hadn't formed a really solid idea of a thesis yet. We ate popcorn and she got me thinking. Then I grabbed a quick "dinner" at blanchard, hurried home & changed for the winter social! It was one crazy night... we DID have raspberry cream cheese bars!! So yummy. And Prof. Brown read something cute about cats and Christmas, then something more by Langhston Hughes. Prof. Lee read from Practical Magic & Molly Makes up her Mind. Quillian read something by I think Jonathan Berger? Something Berger. Uhm, wow! A cool excerpt about Caravaggio and sleeping together (which I found particularly good to hear, it definitely confirmed thoughts I already have), then a bit about a woman leading a goat into the forest to be bred while the snow's starting to fall. Megan was about to grab me when Quillian got to the part where the goats actually have sex, it was hilarious! Talk about shaking things up. Also loved the part about chickens getting shaken and then thrown up into the air. HILARIOUS!

Took a nap, now I'm up thinking about what all I want to talk about in my spanish paper!!

Monday, December 08, 2003

Parents (and sisters) say the darndest things:

SITA3783: wel l jeez, you can't have mice taking over your room, that's ridiculous
SITA3783: exactly!
SITA3783: well, to those folks who said that you were so cruel, ask them if you could release them into their dorm rooms
Pink Poodledog: hahahaha
SITA3783: Tim says those ppl are a bunch of uneducated geeks

...

MuskratFan: damn, I hate mcdonald's new ad campaign
Pink Poodledog: what is it? the white meat chicken mcnuggets?
MuskratFan: exactly
MuskratFan: damn "i'm lovin' it"
MuskratFan: positively ridiculous. I bet if those kids knew that white meat=inactivity for the chickens they wouldn't be "lovin' it"

...

MuskratFan: mom again: "are you guys laughing at me behind your collective backs?"
MuskratFan: lol..that doesn't even make sense!
MuskratFan: It should be "behind my back."
Pink Poodledog: hahahahahaha
Pink Poodledog: oh mum
Pink Poodledog: you say the best things
MuskratFan: mom: "she better not quote me on that. She will now."
Pink Poodledog: hmmm.... not a bad idea :-)
Pink Poodledog: come on mum, be a sport, you know you say stuff like that because subconsciously you want me to quote you!

...

MuskratFan: it's chilly in here too. The door's been open for mom to bring in wood. Ironically enough

...

MuskratFan: Unicorn Unicorn running free
I am so glad you can be here with me
Unicorn Unicorn You are so special
Uni in unicycle Uni in You.

(Mer's friend, Jodi, wrote that)

Kobe escaped today! I went chasing her all over, I was NOT happy with her! No more playing fetch after walks! Continuing the mouse-infestation clean up. Finally did my laundry!!! So proud!

Got Kathleen's postcard, too, beautiful!

Something funny from the weekend: Beth and Korisha forming a congo line (is that what they're called?) and making us dance with them down the hallway to Barry Manilow. Their neighbor opened the door, and Kate took one look at me and Andrew and said "oh that's why, they're wasted!" "no, you'd hope so...but no." Then someone decided that a closet door would make an excellent sled, so Beth and Korisha started dancing with one and then blocked someone's door with it. Then knocked on the door and ran, so we ran, too!
Ahh, another lovely weekend, I'm getting spoiled! Andrew came on Friday & as a snowstorm was predicted, we got provisions at the Big Y and a movie. I had Mcdonald's in the first time for ages! I missed their french fries. No dippin dots here though =( We waited for Korisha to do some calculus homework, and then had a Cranium rematch!! Beth misread "Runway model" for "Runaway model", which caused some hilarious guesses! And me and Andrew definitely won again ;) Mum, I recognized the picture of a columbine flower, you would've been proud!

Of course the big news of the night was my mice. When I got home from the mail center and started cleaning my room, I was noticing lots of little black dots in corners and random places. And when I finally sat down to look at my mail, I saw something dart out of the corner of my eye towards my fridge. So I was like, damn, was that a big old house centipede again? I started moving my fridge around and from underneath I could see two big black beady eyes looking up at me! Yes, it was a mouse! So of COURSE I called Public Safety, as every MoHo knows to do in such an emergency, and tried to corner the little bastard under my fridge. Somehow it must have gotten away, because by the time the two heavily accented FM men arrived with sticky traps the little bugger was no where to be seen. Well I started cleaning more and discovered in the corner of my closet a peanut butter cup wrapper and a pile of mouse shit. Yes, the mouse had obviously been gorging itself on junk food.

So after Andrew & I played Cranium he checked the traps for me, and found not one but TWO mice in ONE sticky trap. As much as I pretend to be a cold hearted survivalist, I couldn't handle seeing the little furry bodies stuck on there. Luckily Andrew has a slightly warped sense of humor ;) And he threw them out, as the Public Safety people said to do, into a garbage can. Where they probably had heart attacks &, I hope, died quickly. But back to being mean, they somehow got onto my top closet shelf and were eating whatever they came upon in my food supply, as in, half a snickers bar! Ick! Icky mice, I'm totally opposed to rodents right now...

Anyways, on to Saturday! The snow was gorgeous, and we ate at Blanchard while it was falling heavily. We went to the Thirsty Mind and drank coffee & listened to this woman sing the first like 30 seconds of various songs. And we played scrabble again (Andrew won again). We watched SNL in Korisha's room, which was hilarious! Al Sharpton & Michael Jackson on a roller coaster and Paris Hilton appeared & Pink was ridiculous (and it was remarked that she wants to be Gwen Stefani).

Sunday we went to brunch in Abbey, Elizabeth was there, too! We then watched In the Bedroom which was good but I think it's hard to get into a really dramatic and depressing movie when I'm happy and the sun's shining and there's snow on the ground! After, we dropped off the movie, did some pick up shopping at the Big Y, and went to get dinner at Boston Market. For dessert we ate another pint of ben & jerry's =) Watched Habla con ella, which was really good and well done. The Practice was pretty good, too. Shore is excellent and makes even the most run of the mill cases exceptional.

It was really weird to come back to my room alone this morning =( I ended up trying to write my poem for Tuesday and sleeping till ten!! But it's a pretty day out and not so cold. More later!

Friday, December 05, 2003

Dale holding up a spoon at breakfast: "This is a pretty spoon." [waits a bit, then whispers] "It looks like a vagina!"

Then we went to Ashley's room for a peak at the Christmas tree her mother and grandmother sent her. Very pretty, even though all the glass ornaments broke in transit!

Ok, plan for today: go walk Kobe, have some soup and something else at Blanchard, then work in the mail center till 4:30 pm. Then clean up my room before Andrew gets here!!

Wednesday, December 03, 2003

Looking at Mer's blog, I found this:

Word o' the blog: Parzival: An epic poem written by Wolfram von Eschenbach. -Reader's Digest Great Encyclopedic Dictionary

// posted by Merrie @ 7:55 PM

So of course I'm thinking "Hmm, sounds like Percival or Parsifal of King Arthur." And sure enough, the first thing that comes up on google is this site: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15683a.htm

Basically, in the 13th century this German fellow dictated an epic poem telling of Parzival: "It is the well-[known] story of the simpleton who passes through struggle and temptation and in the end wins the highest earthly happiness and becomes King of the Holy Grail"... Of course, he stole this from the French. Memories of Eng. 316 & Chretien de Troyes! So, I salute you, Merrers, on a good word of the day.

As a funny sidenote, Dale actually said this today when she was about to go back to her room:
"Ok, I'm going to go soak my crotch now."

Tuesday, December 02, 2003

A blog in fragments, not in chronological order:

An encouraging day: a low A on the Spanish paper & an invite to read some poetry. Snow flurries continue. Breath-takingly cold out. Distinct draft from my window. Cranium rematch scheduled for friday night! Finished rereading To the Lighthouse. Warmed up some caramels over my radiator (which I had to request to have turned on earlier, and the man at the central heating plant, after asking my name, told me that his great-niece born today was given the same name, to which I replied that it's a good name =) Took a nap and woke up thinking it was morning and couldn't figure out why my computer was turned on. Went to a not-so-good dinner at the Rockies. Dale is back & happy! Last night was first night in awhile I had to sleep quite alone, ten days or something? Room seemed lonely. Have resumed using my illegal extension cord. Between really hot showers & tea & blankets I can almost fight off the draft from the window.

Monday, December 01, 2003

Quotes!

Merrie: Oh oh oh! Becky! I got another perfect score on my math quiz! I got better than a perfect score! I guessed my score and got extra points! This is the third week in a row! I'm on a roll!

Andrew upon seeing me dump corn nuts into my mouth: So did you spend a lot of time in bars when you were little?
Ok, now all the madness is over and I'm too itchy to sit down and read so I'm going to update! So last we heard, I was stuck in the Somers library, doing a mix of work and procrastination (read an excellent article on the upcoming Lord of the Rings). Well, Joni & Dale called, but in my hurry to make the ringing stop in the quiet library I hit the "end" button instead of any other button which would have connected me! Luckily in about ten minutes they showed up and off we went! Dale wasn't feeling too well at this point, and by Sat. morning it had developed into a flu or cold of some sort. Thank God we had a couple of hours of peaceful sleep after the pug left with Dale's grandfather. That dog snored even when it was awake, you can't imagine the bone rattling racket she created in her sleep! I had a nightmare of suicides and unearthly dogs that chopped down trees with their jaws on Thursday night, which I'm blaming on that dog. Anyway, Dale was quarantined in her room at this point, and I spent most of the day reading and cuddling with the cats.

In the afternoon I got ready to see Andrew, and questions mounted as to what I was going to do if Dale wasn't well enough on Sunday to drive up to MHC. Joni assured me she'd bring me up to MHC, but that seemed like an awfully long day and lots of trouble (big travel day and 3 hours in each direction with traffic). So when Andrew arrived in the evening he learned he was going to have a stowaway on his drive up! I greeted him at the door with Selena the rat (who is greatly enjoying her new condo). Maybelline warmed up to him (naturally, since she's mostly white and he was wearing black fleece), but Dunlop behaved herself (maybe for my sake) and didn't act like a slutty girl, although as Joni says, usually she likes anything in trousers ;) Theseus saw fit to invade the bathroom via the cat door, too. So our date plans changed, rather, since now it seemed like a better plan to get an early start up to Boston rather than being out at all hours of the night. We had dinner at a Chili's (my first experience with this one), and then went back to Dale's to fetch my things. I think Dunlop is going to be angry with me for a long time, after I made her cuddle with me all the time and then I left =(

The drive up was good, I subjected Andrew to my oldies CD and one of my girly favorites mixes. We stopped for corn nuts & fruit mentos, and time flew by. We caught the latter half of SNL with Justin Timberlake (who can't act or sing); weekend update was funny but way too short. Got to bed at a decent hour, no late night scrabble matches!

Sunday morning we definitely slept in, but it was an odd sort of sleeping in as I was expecting to catch a ride either with a student or on the bus back to MHC. So I wasn't really content. But we had a nice brunch & went on a walk looking at some cute stores and revisiting Jamaica Pond (lake, really) & the albino squirrel. Got a better picture of our white furry friend!! (make sure I send it to you Merrers.) At some point the idea was raised that I could just get a bus in the morning and relax Sunday evening with Andrew. So once that was voiced as a viable possibility, I felt very sure that that was what I wanted to do. With the help of Madalyn I did my Spanish paragraph-on-final-paper-plans and was able to watch The Practice with Andrew (second time in two weeks!) We had yummy pasta for dinner from The Cheesecake Factory (if we do this again I must remember to just eat like a third of an entree we split and then have room for the cheesecake!)

Again we got to bed at a decent hour, and woke up at a horribly early hour, 6:15 am... =( I don't think I've been up that early for months. But I was pretty awake! Andrew dropped me off at the bus station, and I ran up the steps and into the building as if I knew what I was doing. This illusion was promptly broken when I was unsure of where to go, to the left or up the escalator. Luckily a woman waved me up to the 3rd floor for buses. Another crisis when I found a completely deserted ticketing counter. There was a sign from Bonanza buses about a bus to Rhode Island leaving at 8 am, and I was quite sure that this was the bus I needed to take (pay the driver at the bus). In something of a daze I considered calling Peter Pan about what bus to take and how to pay, and I absent mindedly wrote out some luggage tags. Then I wandered around a little bit, and finally realized the ticketing counter on the other side was open! So I did get my proper ticket from Peter Pan from a super friendly woman. At this point I decided to get a chocolate donut to reward myself for finally figuring out the station.

Got on the bus without a problem, but unfortunately got a rather sleepy seatmate that was perpetually on the verge of tipping over in his napping onto me. Luckily his balance held out (usually the bus would jolt him awake over a pothole in the road before he was in a deep enough sleep to capsize) and at Springfield I snatched a seat with a girl in my Spanish class. I had almost talked myself out of going to Spanish, but even with arriving at MHC five minutes late I had time to ready myself for class and bolted off. I didn't have my interpretive question for "Chac Mool" (I forgot) but Prof. Pesola smiled when I said "me olvide" and let it go. Did get to hand in my paragraph, which at least one person hadn't done yet (I like to measure myself against worst case scenarios like that, it makes me feel happy about myself).

I had a rather extended lunch of soup and carrot sticks, and ate my ice cream on my way to Kobe's. Kobe was in fine form today! We took a walk and did a little fetching, she ran full on into me at one point, and was throwing stuff around for herself. She skidded out trying to catch up a tennis ball in her mouth and actually fell down, did a half roll, and picked herself up again for another try. Crazy dog. Some guy in a red car slowed down while I was walking her, and had the goofy "I know you know I want to ask you something, thanks for stopping there and obliging me as I roll down my window" smile. So I waited, and he finally asked "Is that a Leonberger?" To which I replied, yes, the couple down the street own her, I'm just a student who walks her. He has one too, apparently, down the same street in the opposite direction. There was a snow flurry, so I explained away my trying to tug Kobe on her perhaps not liking the snow and going in the direction of the wind. But really I always have to tug her along after she sniffs at one plot of dirt for five minutes.

Newton was likewise admired on his walk by a couple of FM workers who didn't think he could see with all his fur in his eyes. Saw Newton's father again as I dropped him off.

I hate it when professors say they'll put something out for you and then forget or do it after you stop by... Must go to Prof. Pesola's door again this evening, as I'm nervous about how I did on my Spanish paper that I didn't like and wrote before the fire alarms were supposed to go off.

Daley's gone =( And she would have so enjoyed Prospect's dinner tonight: quesadillas!

Yay I posted a lot today. Tonight must continue with To the Lighthouse (which is much better the second time around) & attend a hall committee meeting.
Dear Lord, I must have missed about a week of your posts, Merrers! Because I just read them instead of getting ready for my Kobe walk!! Totally understood your confusion on the stand as-Raymond or as-Merrie... ack!! Sounds like the next class was a hell of a lot easier though, you seriously cut out paper snowflakes and talked about what you're thankful for?? Damn. Maybe I should get that AP English book out for you so you can get some additional studying in ;)

Glad you saw Scotty for his b-day, I just sent him a card/letter thingy. Tell me how everyone is?

Uhm, as for where the heck I've been since Friday, I'm going to leave that for a later post, maybe tonight when I have more time to include details for once!