So last Tuesday went as I predicted. Took a nice ride home with Erica and talked about pets, boyfriends, rides to Boston, MHC, etc. The short week was WONDERFUL and MUCH APPRECIATED! I had my first ESB meeting (very short) and another Verbosity meeting (which was "crashed," you might say). And then Andrew was here!

Friday we weren't too active, just GRE studying in the evening (it was raining). Fell asleep without brushing and all the lights on (oops, that's what happens when your eyes are burning from lack of sleep!)

Saturday we got a slow start... headed out to Rao's for coffee and study, but unfortunately it was parent's weekend at one of the other colleges and Amherst was overrun with people. It turned out OK, however, as Andrew found us a table with a view to the outside world. I read my criminology for the week, and some KM. Man next to us noticed the KM and knew who she is. Wow! Told me "The Garden Party" is her best. I disagree, I think "Bliss." But whatever!

Afterwards we headed to Fresh Side for dinner. Andrew had the satay (pretty good) and I tried the 8 Treasures Rice (pretty good except for the gluten, what an odd concept... very mushy). Also had Black Sheep for dessert. Yums... Back in my room I immediately started getting ready for Las Vegas Night. Had to wear my pink and black tube dress again, as after I graduate I will have no place to wear it! Attended Emily & Korisha's preparty which was fun and probably a better place to socialize than any other of the evening... so crowded at Chapin and in Blanchard! They had boys, too, so it seemed like a more normal environment. Andrew and I stuck together, and luckily Julia and I had the same views on dancing (ie, we didn't). The boys seemed quite impressed with the MHC dorms. Initially they thought Emily and Korisha's room was a quadruple. Right... When Korisha launched into why she needs a Buddhist fisherman, I almost lost it. And the Hampshire boy she was telling all this to was completely flabbergasted and tried to reason with her (which made him look a bit silly. PS, Andrew spotted him dancing with this girl later at Chapin. But they didn't look good together).

Then, in Blanchard, we met up with Karuna, her sister, D. Becky, Kathleen, etc. Andrew was set upon the Ipod and gambled while we socialized and ate the fondue. Then D Becky and I decided that the music was better in Blanchard than in Chapin, so we danced there. I stole some of the snacks and put them in my coat pocket (but one of my trail mix packages somehow was lost -- very unfortunate). I'm going to turn into one of those old ladies who steals salt shakers at restaurants.

Finally we found that -- big surprise -- we hadn't won anything. Party in Chapin super sketch. Very crowded and sweaty. Was glad I warned Andrew that we'd need to shower post-dance. Yuck! Good night though overall. Didn't get to bed till around 4 am though!

Somewhere between 4 am and 10 am someone STOLE MY DOORMAT. Who does that? I sent my floor an email alerting them to this fact, and Andrew later found it in our kitchenette. VERY CURIOUS. I called Public Safety to ask if perhaps FacMan had done it, and the woman said she didn't know anything about it, but that if I wanted to report it missing, I was welcome to do so. Tempting -- I'd enjoy being in the Public Safety log for "Student reported doormat missing after LVN debauchery."

Sunday we got a slow start. Studied in our sunroom for awhile. Very pretty and peaceful and quiet. Decided we'd go to Noho with Karuna and her sister for dinner.

In the later afternoon Andrew found the perfect place to get a pumpkin. We drove five minutes to a farm -- McClury's or something like that? Petting zoo (lots of white geese like our one strange bully goose at Lower Lake, very big horse, pony, sheep, rabbits, chickens, goats, etc.) and ice cream and hayrides and pumpkins. It took us a long time to pick out the perfect pumpkin (no surprise there! throw two indecisive people together and tell them to pick the best possible pumpkin for carving and baking seeds... ack).

The pumpkin rolled a bit in the trunk on the way home, but we managed. Then we headed to Noho for dinner at the Indian House. Very beautifully decorated -- low lighting, deep colored woods, candles, metal statues...Our table had a glass top with elephants carved in relief on metal beneath it. I had Masala curry... sooo good. Andrew's buriyani (I think?) wasn't as much my favorite. But the Masala... yum. Apparently I'm the mild spice sort.

Had a fun ride home, and a quick stop to Rao's for the coffee addicts (Andrew and Karuna's sister!) Studied some more words with Andrew, had M&C's and my leftover cake, and then we launched into practice GRE tests. I got a 690 on the verbal and a 710 on the quantitative. WTF! I've studied verbal all summer and no math till like, last week, and I still get a better score on that section. CRAZY!! Andrew did slightly worse on the verbal and aced the math.

Saw Andrew off this morning and was lucky to catch a very pretty, very pink sunrise. Then I slept till class =)

Today I was sitting about in my room, working on my personal statement, when I received an email and a phone call alerting me that there were flowers ready for pick up at Blanchard. I was like "what? who's sending me flowers? did dad randomly send flowers? who doesn't know my address and would send them to blanchard?" etc. etc. So I walked over, and realized on my way, duh, it's our one year anniversary tomorrow, maybe Andrew really DID keep a secret from me! So in Blanchard I saw this pretty bouquet with roses and baby's breath, and I walked up to get it. Then Rhea reached behind the desk and was like, no, you get the BIG one, and pulled out this huge bouquet of roses and ferns and baby's breath and, yes, the big red bow. I was like, shoot, I need to clean my room in order to bring these home! Everyone I knew had something to say when they saw me walking back to the Delles... Andrew was very clever and ordered a bouquet with a vase (last time I remember trying to put flowers in a big plastic cup...) So I had to call him right away and tell him how surprised I was and how pretty they are =) They're doing a marvelous job at making my room smell nice (instead of the smell of my icky radiator paint).

Ran down the hill to meet Dale for dinner, which was lovely. Salmon and Caesar salad and Thanksgiving food. Yay! So tonight I sent suggestions to Dining Services: 1. I threw up a week and a half ago, do something about that salad at Blanchard. 2. Dinner at Prospect = amazing. 3. Must do something to address poor student sanitation in the dining halls. NOTE: Do not use the same place twice -- you get your saliva-y germs all over the serving utensils. Get a NEW plate instead and save us all from eating your germs!

That pretty much catches us up...

FLU VACCINE ALERT
As many of you know, our country is, yet again, experiencing a flu vaccination shortage. No big surprise there, right? I mean our priorities are in the right place, right? You can get a botox injection anytime you want, Viagra pills on demand, but flu vaccinations? Nah, not a public health issue. No, 36,000 people didn't die last year, did they? Oops, maybe they did... Oh well! How many millions of dollars were lost in productivity due to the flu? How many people suffered through fevers, pains, cramps, vomiting, etc.? COME ON PEOPLE! Let's learn something from Britain and not put all our eggs in one basket next year. Like any good investor, DIVERSIFY! Let's get some domestic companies making flu vaccines, get the government to step up and make some wise decisions for a change (wait, I'm asking too much, the gov. can't even do that when it comes to wars!) ARGH! I'm an English major at a liberal arts college and I STILL feel better qualified to order flu vaccinations than our FDA. Shouldn't this be a priority? We worry about biological warfare and order smallpox vaccinations, but what about known killers? 36,000 people in one year, that's nothing to sneeze at (no pun intended). Why can't we even harness the basic medical expertise that could keep people well and healthy through the flu season? I'm feeling no trust in our government... if we're going to have a huge gov., can't we at least have one that can do something useful??

To read about the chaos and problems this shortage is causing, here's one article out of dozens of examples: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/14/health/14flu.html?th=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1098148324-6ZGBLQSoK/JbFgAneuivjw