I've had a couple of amazing days, and sad news. Butr let's start with the good news (it's in chronological order that way):
Yesterday: A really beautiful day. Warm and sunny, I was running around, walking Kobe, skipping lunch, to go to Prof. Demas's house. I'd eaten, well, not much -- a banana and milk, some juice and a little cereal -- and we ate cookies, fruit, and cake at Corinne's. Really yummy, but talk about a sugar high. Corinne's house is beautiful, too, and her dog was awesome, as were the donkeys. A really lovely class, with the breeze going through the house, and everyone there...
But in the evening, work set in on the online journal. 8 pm till after 11:30 ... crazy! Luckily Ije and Heather are fun to work with =)
Today: Another pretty warm day! And I slept in! Turned in English department award applications, ate at the picnic with Laura and Dorothy, distributed the first of our verbosities... lots of misdelivered periodicals today! My last peer mentoring class went well -- we had a little discussion of everything that was helpful in the class and we were all bonding like crazy and feeling totally thrilled with ourselves. It was a bubble moment.
Had a long conversation with Mum and Mer tonight... and we're dealing with things =(
Friday, April 30, 2004
Tuesday, April 27, 2004
Another happy weekend to report on!
Friday night was the student reading for the Glascock poetry competition-- I got there rather early, & sat next to Jamie (half of our eng. 280 class was in the audience). I wasn't expecting Andrew to get to MHC in time for the readings, so I was super suprised and happy when Miranda pointed and asked "Isn't that your boyfriend?" The readings were... well, some were really good, some were rather strange, and others were plain funny. I think we all laughed when the guy from Columbia started singing "A-hunting we will go, a-hunting we will go!" The reception afterwards was good EXCEPT for the fact that the raspberry cream cheese chocolate bars were no where to be found. AND the fact that I forgot my ID so I couldn't have wine (not that I particularly like wine, but still). Finally met Merry, a friend of Andrew's that graduated from MHC last year.
After, we went dogsitting and watched some tv. Saturday morning we took Windy on a long walk and then packed up for the day. I wanted to find some place fun to bring Andrew to since I'm going to miss his birthday (as he'll be vacationing while I'm doing finals, ick). So we went to Mt. Tom state park, which was pretty with a lake (but a bit muddy still). I was really enjoying the peaceful woodland setting, until we spotted these men dressed in crazy bright striped outfits, running through the woods like a bear was after them. Me and Andrew thought the same thing: escaped mental patients. But no, it turns out, it was just a sprint orienteering event. As in, people sprint between hints (rather like a running scavenger hunt) that tell them which way to run with their little compass and stuff. Yeah, you have to be pretty damn dorky, right? So we left and looked at the dinosaur prints in the rocks along the Connecticut River =) I remembered the site pretty well as we had to draw pictures of it for physical geology last year.
After another Windy walk we decided to eat dinner. I finally experienced The Hanger in Amherst, and cheese fries (surprisingly good). Then we went to The Black Sheep for some sort of birthday dessert. Andrew introduced me to the best cake ever, and I tried out the chocolate mousse (which gets extra points for sounding like the large antlered herd animal). Back home we ate dessert and watched Pulp Fiction. Or rather, Andrew fell asleep, and I watched Pulp Fiction. It was my first time seeing it I think, and it was awesome. Very very exciting for me. And Andrew slept right through it =)
Sunday we got a fairly early start out -- ate brunch with Ashley at Blanchard -- and started on our way to Lee. I'd been outlet shopping there once before, so I vaguely remembered the layout. I bought a summery halter top, it reminds me of something Mum would pick out. Then we went into "Lee proper" and found this cute bakery/tea/coffee place. I had some really yummy fruity tea, and we shared a peanut butter brownie. I'm very focused on what I eat, aren't I? I'm just realizing that I vividly remember what I eat during all of my weekend adventures...
Anyway! After Lee & toiletries shopping, we had to set aside a few hours for work. Lots of Spanish, and it took me forever to write one damn little paragraph on the movie for Postcolonial lit! As a reward for actually doing work, we ate some pizza at blanchard and then finished off Andrew's cake. Also watched the first episode of Six Feet Under which I found incredibly disturbing. All the talk about fixing up dead bodies really worried me. It reminded me of conversations had with Mum and Mer on the possibility of being cremated. Ack. I think after that show I'm more convinced that I'd rather be dusty than embalmed =/ (and yes I do worry about these things).
That's all for now! It was quite sunny out and DIDN'T RAIN! Take that, weatherpeople!!
Friday night was the student reading for the Glascock poetry competition-- I got there rather early, & sat next to Jamie (half of our eng. 280 class was in the audience). I wasn't expecting Andrew to get to MHC in time for the readings, so I was super suprised and happy when Miranda pointed and asked "Isn't that your boyfriend?" The readings were... well, some were really good, some were rather strange, and others were plain funny. I think we all laughed when the guy from Columbia started singing "A-hunting we will go, a-hunting we will go!" The reception afterwards was good EXCEPT for the fact that the raspberry cream cheese chocolate bars were no where to be found. AND the fact that I forgot my ID so I couldn't have wine (not that I particularly like wine, but still). Finally met Merry, a friend of Andrew's that graduated from MHC last year.
After, we went dogsitting and watched some tv. Saturday morning we took Windy on a long walk and then packed up for the day. I wanted to find some place fun to bring Andrew to since I'm going to miss his birthday (as he'll be vacationing while I'm doing finals, ick). So we went to Mt. Tom state park, which was pretty with a lake (but a bit muddy still). I was really enjoying the peaceful woodland setting, until we spotted these men dressed in crazy bright striped outfits, running through the woods like a bear was after them. Me and Andrew thought the same thing: escaped mental patients. But no, it turns out, it was just a sprint orienteering event. As in, people sprint between hints (rather like a running scavenger hunt) that tell them which way to run with their little compass and stuff. Yeah, you have to be pretty damn dorky, right? So we left and looked at the dinosaur prints in the rocks along the Connecticut River =) I remembered the site pretty well as we had to draw pictures of it for physical geology last year.
After another Windy walk we decided to eat dinner. I finally experienced The Hanger in Amherst, and cheese fries (surprisingly good). Then we went to The Black Sheep for some sort of birthday dessert. Andrew introduced me to the best cake ever, and I tried out the chocolate mousse (which gets extra points for sounding like the large antlered herd animal). Back home we ate dessert and watched Pulp Fiction. Or rather, Andrew fell asleep, and I watched Pulp Fiction. It was my first time seeing it I think, and it was awesome. Very very exciting for me. And Andrew slept right through it =)
Sunday we got a fairly early start out -- ate brunch with Ashley at Blanchard -- and started on our way to Lee. I'd been outlet shopping there once before, so I vaguely remembered the layout. I bought a summery halter top, it reminds me of something Mum would pick out. Then we went into "Lee proper" and found this cute bakery/tea/coffee place. I had some really yummy fruity tea, and we shared a peanut butter brownie. I'm very focused on what I eat, aren't I? I'm just realizing that I vividly remember what I eat during all of my weekend adventures...
Anyway! After Lee & toiletries shopping, we had to set aside a few hours for work. Lots of Spanish, and it took me forever to write one damn little paragraph on the movie for Postcolonial lit! As a reward for actually doing work, we ate some pizza at blanchard and then finished off Andrew's cake. Also watched the first episode of Six Feet Under which I found incredibly disturbing. All the talk about fixing up dead bodies really worried me. It reminded me of conversations had with Mum and Mer on the possibility of being cremated. Ack. I think after that show I'm more convinced that I'd rather be dusty than embalmed =/ (and yes I do worry about these things).
That's all for now! It was quite sunny out and DIDN'T RAIN! Take that, weatherpeople!!
Tuesday, April 20, 2004
Monday, April 19, 2004
Ahh such a lovely weekend. But I haven't updated in awhile! Last weekend I was dogsitting Kobe, but me and Andrew sneaked in a visit anyways -- he came over Sunday afternoon and we enjoyed the spring weather and watched the sunset... we drove all over! Ended up at Dairy Queen!
So after that brief recap of the last week that I haven't updated, here's more about this last weekend =)
Friday: I met up with Andrew at the mall (after I bought the first version of his birthday present -- a real picnic basket) and we shopped a little, ate, it was fun =) I found some cheap summer and work clothes, yay! Then I was on duty but the dorm was quiet (thank god).
Saturday: A perfect day! Warm finally, and sunny! We took a picnic lunch up to this lake (Wyola or something? Andrew knows, but I'm bad with names), and it was so quiet and calm. Just people fishing, but we had the park area to ourselves. I forgot napkins (which made things rather sticky since we were eating peanut butter sandwiches). Then we continued on the road trip and found this great lookout point over Quabbin reservoir, which Andrew spotted last weekend on his way to work. It's this circle of stones just off the highway, and I found a nice stone to sunbathe on. A couple of other cars pulled over but I think they just stopped because they saw other people there and were curious what the fuss was about. The sun was so bright, you forget in the winter how blinding it can be... So that's now on my list of cool places to go with a picnic.
Afterwards, we continued on our way to Brattleboro, VT. We got lost -- Andrew somehow got us unlost. We got to VT, and Andrew claims you can see the difference (more hilly? woodsy? more church steeples?). Anyway, it was the first time I'd been in Vermont (and we passed through NH, also a new state for me). In Brattleboro we explored the local stores -- a bead store, an antique store, a used stuff store, a record store... and of course Mocha Joe's for coffee (and yummy mango tea).
After walking around and people watching, and exhausting the cool store possibilities, we were pretty tired of walking. So we got back on the road =) Ended up in Northampton, where we ate bagels and walked across that old train bridge. Found a place to sit below the bridge and read for awhile. It was a cool place to sit and read, a little out of context, but a great view. Shopped a bit in Noho, and then Korisha called us as I was right across the street from where they were going to dinner. Also met Netta at this point, we always run into some of Andrew's college friends while wandering around in the valley! So I had my first real sushi experience, Andrew says I handled it pretty well =) Some of the actual raw fish tasted good, but it was hard to get past the fact that it was like raw flesh. I kind of set myself up for failure thinking about what I'm eating... But I think I'll get over that. It was fun to be out with everyone for dinner, too, post-Julia's-MCAT's.
We tried to get ice cream after dinner but the line at Herrell's was SO long. So me and Andrew got some ben and jerry's at the supermarket instead. Yum and convenient! I was on duty again so I was pretty stuck to my room. We started Pulp Fiction but Andrew was too tired to pay attention! Anywho, it was a more eventful night in the dorm but things didn't get out of control.
Sunday was another outdoorsy day. After breakfast/brunch at blanchard, we hiked up Mt. Holyoke. We took the straight up the mountain side trail on the way up, but then took the trail I've always taken on Mountain Day down. Saw lots of cool dogs! We sat for awhile at the top and just enjoyed the view and the sun... I'm finally getting an idea of the geography of the valley... Some views of the park up there really should be in postcards (so I can send them home to mum =) Oh, and I finally discovered why we always end up in someone's backyard, walking around by some old barn. There are now signs posted up -- "PRIVATE PROPERTY" and such -- and signs back to the real trail. Which is much more direct and doesn't drop you off on the highway. So that mystery is finally solved, I always wondered where the correct trail breaks off from the trail I've taken before.
Then we drove to Amherst, returned the picnic basket (after realizing that it wasn't going to be good for our hiking adventures, trying to lug that unwieldy thing around with us -- instead we found a backpack picnic thingy which should be perfect and encourage us to actually hike before sitting down for a picnic =), got food, and wandered around the Holyoke mall looking for said backpack. Said backpack isn't sold in stores, but we found it on ebay! Or rather, Andrew found it. And we won it which was exciting =) I hope next weekend is good weather so we can use it!!
Back in my room we ate Fresh Side (yum), then headed over to Dwight so I could take this dreamweaver course (Andrew sat and read for awhile -- adding to the population of "taken guys" in our library that Dale always complains of). I learned how to do stuff to my webspace which was muy muy exciting =) Then we had a snack/dessert from Blanchard (I got the hugest piece of fried dough ever), and I finished some reading... Which I should get back to now =) But it's so hard to work after having such an amazing weekend... ahh pobrecita =)
Signing off for now!
So after that brief recap of the last week that I haven't updated, here's more about this last weekend =)
Friday: I met up with Andrew at the mall (after I bought the first version of his birthday present -- a real picnic basket) and we shopped a little, ate, it was fun =) I found some cheap summer and work clothes, yay! Then I was on duty but the dorm was quiet (thank god).
Saturday: A perfect day! Warm finally, and sunny! We took a picnic lunch up to this lake (Wyola or something? Andrew knows, but I'm bad with names), and it was so quiet and calm. Just people fishing, but we had the park area to ourselves. I forgot napkins (which made things rather sticky since we were eating peanut butter sandwiches). Then we continued on the road trip and found this great lookout point over Quabbin reservoir, which Andrew spotted last weekend on his way to work. It's this circle of stones just off the highway, and I found a nice stone to sunbathe on. A couple of other cars pulled over but I think they just stopped because they saw other people there and were curious what the fuss was about. The sun was so bright, you forget in the winter how blinding it can be... So that's now on my list of cool places to go with a picnic.
Afterwards, we continued on our way to Brattleboro, VT. We got lost -- Andrew somehow got us unlost. We got to VT, and Andrew claims you can see the difference (more hilly? woodsy? more church steeples?). Anyway, it was the first time I'd been in Vermont (and we passed through NH, also a new state for me). In Brattleboro we explored the local stores -- a bead store, an antique store, a used stuff store, a record store... and of course Mocha Joe's for coffee (and yummy mango tea).
After walking around and people watching, and exhausting the cool store possibilities, we were pretty tired of walking. So we got back on the road =) Ended up in Northampton, where we ate bagels and walked across that old train bridge. Found a place to sit below the bridge and read for awhile. It was a cool place to sit and read, a little out of context, but a great view. Shopped a bit in Noho, and then Korisha called us as I was right across the street from where they were going to dinner. Also met Netta at this point, we always run into some of Andrew's college friends while wandering around in the valley! So I had my first real sushi experience, Andrew says I handled it pretty well =) Some of the actual raw fish tasted good, but it was hard to get past the fact that it was like raw flesh. I kind of set myself up for failure thinking about what I'm eating... But I think I'll get over that. It was fun to be out with everyone for dinner, too, post-Julia's-MCAT's.
We tried to get ice cream after dinner but the line at Herrell's was SO long. So me and Andrew got some ben and jerry's at the supermarket instead. Yum and convenient! I was on duty again so I was pretty stuck to my room. We started Pulp Fiction but Andrew was too tired to pay attention! Anywho, it was a more eventful night in the dorm but things didn't get out of control.
Sunday was another outdoorsy day. After breakfast/brunch at blanchard, we hiked up Mt. Holyoke. We took the straight up the mountain side trail on the way up, but then took the trail I've always taken on Mountain Day down. Saw lots of cool dogs! We sat for awhile at the top and just enjoyed the view and the sun... I'm finally getting an idea of the geography of the valley... Some views of the park up there really should be in postcards (so I can send them home to mum =) Oh, and I finally discovered why we always end up in someone's backyard, walking around by some old barn. There are now signs posted up -- "PRIVATE PROPERTY" and such -- and signs back to the real trail. Which is much more direct and doesn't drop you off on the highway. So that mystery is finally solved, I always wondered where the correct trail breaks off from the trail I've taken before.
Then we drove to Amherst, returned the picnic basket (after realizing that it wasn't going to be good for our hiking adventures, trying to lug that unwieldy thing around with us -- instead we found a backpack picnic thingy which should be perfect and encourage us to actually hike before sitting down for a picnic =), got food, and wandered around the Holyoke mall looking for said backpack. Said backpack isn't sold in stores, but we found it on ebay! Or rather, Andrew found it. And we won it which was exciting =) I hope next weekend is good weather so we can use it!!
Back in my room we ate Fresh Side (yum), then headed over to Dwight so I could take this dreamweaver course (Andrew sat and read for awhile -- adding to the population of "taken guys" in our library that Dale always complains of). I learned how to do stuff to my webspace which was muy muy exciting =) Then we had a snack/dessert from Blanchard (I got the hugest piece of fried dough ever), and I finished some reading... Which I should get back to now =) But it's so hard to work after having such an amazing weekend... ahh pobrecita =)
Signing off for now!
Saturday, April 10, 2004
Thursday, April 08, 2004
Crazy busy days. Unfortunately didn't get to the student meeting on dining service cutbacks and cutbacks in general. Next one, I promise... Yesterday I did make it to the forum on "Opting Out" -- women choosing to quit jobs in order to be home with the kids. That was totally different from what I expected...talking to Thomasena afterwards, we agreed on that... we also agreed that we didn't really know what we had expected in the first place. Bottom line: by the time you get out of grad/law/medical school, you have about five years to get your career going and then you may just give it all up. Things to remember.
It was balmy this morning. Then it became overcast (but not rainy). I climbed on top of my desk to get to my window, and proceeded to "wrassle" with my window. I managed to get the storm window up, and I secured it with the putty FacMan put all around my window to keep the cold air out (because I distinctly remember an incident last fall... sleeping and waking up at 3 am to a loud crash -- it was my storm window falling down from its upright position. F-ing ridiculous. Someone's going to have a hell of a time getting that storm window down again. GOOD LUCK!!) I then finally, after much personal injury (aka getting my hands filthy with window grime), managed to get my screen down. So now I can get air AND keep bugs out. What genius!
Oh yes. Advising is next week. Here's what I want to take, must pick four out of the proceding five:
American Lit III: because I really should take some, and I'd love to read some more recent literature...
Independent: because I hope it'll turn into a thesis.
Spanish seminar -- Sex and the City or the Witches and Utopia: because I need a Spanish seminar and I should take it immediately upon returning to campus as the longer I go without Spanish, the worse I become at speaking/reading/hearing/writing it.
Criminology: because I still need a damn social science! And because Prof. Moran is teaching it and my one line in Junior Show was spoken as him (even though I didn't know who he was).
Existentialism: because I've always wanted to take this and it wasn't offered for a full year and a half...
It was balmy this morning. Then it became overcast (but not rainy). I climbed on top of my desk to get to my window, and proceeded to "wrassle" with my window. I managed to get the storm window up, and I secured it with the putty FacMan put all around my window to keep the cold air out (because I distinctly remember an incident last fall... sleeping and waking up at 3 am to a loud crash -- it was my storm window falling down from its upright position. F-ing ridiculous. Someone's going to have a hell of a time getting that storm window down again. GOOD LUCK!!) I then finally, after much personal injury (aka getting my hands filthy with window grime), managed to get my screen down. So now I can get air AND keep bugs out. What genius!
Oh yes. Advising is next week. Here's what I want to take, must pick four out of the proceding five:
American Lit III: because I really should take some, and I'd love to read some more recent literature...
Independent: because I hope it'll turn into a thesis.
Spanish seminar -- Sex and the City or the Witches and Utopia: because I need a Spanish seminar and I should take it immediately upon returning to campus as the longer I go without Spanish, the worse I become at speaking/reading/hearing/writing it.
Criminology: because I still need a damn social science! And because Prof. Moran is teaching it and my one line in Junior Show was spoken as him (even though I didn't know who he was).
Existentialism: because I've always wanted to take this and it wasn't offered for a full year and a half...
Tuesday, April 06, 2004
It's been sooo long since my last entry, I'm going to resort to vague updates:
1. Saw The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Mystic River (both highly awesome).
2. Partially climbed Mt. Holyoke with Andrew and explored the halfway house.
3. Went to Boston with Andrew and did some rushed apartment looking and job applying.
4. Had an interview that went really well and it looks like I have a job for this summer! The same day (almost the same exact time) Andrew found out that we do, indeed, have a sublet! So I have a room and a way to pay for it!
5. Andrew drove me back and stayed Monday night with me at MHC. We had a celebratory dinner and finally just sat and relaxed =)
1. Saw The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Mystic River (both highly awesome).
2. Partially climbed Mt. Holyoke with Andrew and explored the halfway house.
3. Went to Boston with Andrew and did some rushed apartment looking and job applying.
4. Had an interview that went really well and it looks like I have a job for this summer! The same day (almost the same exact time) Andrew found out that we do, indeed, have a sublet! So I have a room and a way to pay for it!
5. Andrew drove me back and stayed Monday night with me at MHC. We had a celebratory dinner and finally just sat and relaxed =)
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