It's been awhile... but for good reasons. I got through Thursday and Friday (the first days of classes) quite easily. The weekend was great. Andrew came out, and Friday night we played tipsy Taboo with friends in Abbey. Took some really embarrassing pictures, and couldn't stop laughing. Ahh if only all of college was like that (wait, it could be, too bad I'm at MHC instead. No, I'm just kidding, I love MHC. Or at least, sometimes I do...)

Saturday was the big senior carrel day. I woke up damned early after our late night, procured food for Andrew, and then sat in line for awhile. Something of a bonding experience for all us seniors, standing out on a Saturday morning to get a desk in the library. Woo-hoo! Crazy times at college! I didn't get quite the desk I wanted, but it's pretty good nonetheless. Sixth floor, one window to myself, one row west from the row Katherine Mansfield's books live down. Pretty good placement!!

So anyways, we soon headed out to Amherst for lunch (Bub's BBQ, fun "truck stop" sort of place and good food). Did some shopping -- had indecision over which kind of mixed drink to make at some point later -- decided to get ice cubes for my fridge -- etc. On the way out we went to Puffer's Pond and had a cool nature walk. Idyllic looking place. I saw some big frogs, turtles, and a crawdad. We walked around half the lake and then scaled down a gully to wade in the stream. Very pretty... such a nice break from being on campus!!

In the evening we had dinner at Blanchard and then watched Along Came Polly with the new drink service. Don't worry Mum, I still have never been really drunk. I don't seem to ever drink fast enough, and since I don't exactly practice a lot, I don't think there's much danger of my getting sick from it! We had some sort of pina colada mix thing with coconut rum. Doesn't taste good without ice -- discovered that that's a necessary part.

Sunday we had brunch at Abbey with everyone (went table hopping to do all the visiting!) Visited the carnival, discovered that Oregon does all voting by mail, ate cotton candy, and a snow cone (for free! thanks MHC, you kill me, but I appreciate the free sugary confections that remind me of fairs at home!) In the afternoon Andrew had a soccer game to go to in Amherst, and I did some vocab words out on the blanket on the lawn. Very nice. Killed a couple of mosquitoes (yay me! on my quest to purge the world of mosquitoes, we've got two less to worry about!) Then I had a Verbosity meeting, and soon Andrew was back.

For dinner we wandered around Noho comparing various places. Decided on the Northampton Brewing Company. It was lovely...sat by a window inside with cool fans. Low lights, not too busy, with a kind of midsummer night feeling. Great food, too... I had some sort of blackened cod with mashed potatoes and veggies, and Andrew had spicy jambalaya. Yum =)

On the way back to my room we encountered my floor's first meeting. Oops. I sat in on the last part of it. Had a quiet rest of the evening. Sad to see Andrew leave in the morning =(

The rest of the week since then... CRAZY. Spanish class fiascos, entire days spent wandering around campus, waking up feeling sick to my stomach every morning from worrying, UGH!

Today, for example: Woke up an hour before my alarm went off and felt worried about things. Checked email to see if a professor got back to me yet on possible classes to take. Left early, visited the registrar's office, went to Am. Lit. III, ate lunch at the Rockies with Karuna, Claudia, and Jasmine, then scooted off to Carr for an Intro to Old English class (awesome, by the way, even if I don't get to actually take it), went to Nina's office and talked to her (very reassuring and helpful), went to the library to do some errands, then went to Corinne's office for my meeting. Thank God for Corinne. We talked for like over an hour and a half about my thesis, grad school, life, the summer, critical schools... ahh! I left feeling SO MUCH BETTER. The sick feeling in my stomach? Gone! Noticed again how beautiful today was, warm and sunny and summery. Walked to dinner, and enjoyed talking with Katherina and some new friends. Then I had an Org meeting, which was boring. Went to Pearson's to sell my flip and fold, and then to the library for more errands. Then to the Delles, where I sat in on some of Karuna's hall activity (magician, I hid the green cork!) and ate cake. And now I'm here!

Dilemma: Choice One -- Take Old English this semester and skip out on Spanish seminar on Latin American colonial studies with Nina, and then take Spanish seminar on cinema in the spring with Justin? Choice Two -- Take Nina's class and save the extra spot in the spring for another English course or anything else that strikes my fancy.

Note: Sorry for any typos. I found some but don't have time to proofread lately.

PS. We covered TS Eliot today in AL3 (funny how Brits and Americans alike claim him). Tonight I was in N. Delle's living room for Karuna's activity. Connection? TS Eliot visited the Blackstick Society (literary magazine that was very exclusive -- by invitation only) here on campus in 1933. They met in North Mandelle!