Another full week... I'm all done!! Except for one presentation that doesn't count for anything tomorrow in the Eng. Dept...

Tues: Last day of undergrad. classes!! I was kind of tired from staying up and working on my presentation for Eng. 319, but, it wasn't so bad... running on adrenaline & excitement. At 4 pm we had strawberries & champagne, which was awesome. The champagne was gross, but the strawberries were good. And it was fun drinking ANYTHING at that point, just to get tipsy and celebrate, FINALLY! I took some funny pictures of Beth & Korisha... dancing on the back of a truck. Well we were sitting on the truck because there was no where to sit but on the grass, and then there were these guys coming over and we were sure they were going to tell us to go away, but they didn't... Lots of mingling, some stealing of champagne, and even a perfect picture of Beth yelling into the photographer's camera! I hope that one makes it into the yearbook...

Anyway, after about one and a half glasses, I was done. I hadn't eaten since lunch, & I hadn't been sleeping much. So of course in this condition I went to the English Dept picnic. I saw Quillian & Emily C., and Quillian asked "Is Becky drunk? I've never seen Becky drunk." To which Emily wondered when he would have, but anyway... Corinne arrived shortly after, and we had one of those movie moments where we both ran toward each other and hugged. I gave her my resource books & articles to check my citations, and then we had picnic fare... Decent veggie burgers, but no dessert!!! So much fun. So many people I love in one place! We sold t-shirts, I made people endure picture-taking with me, & we went on mingling expeditions. Afterwards, we never-missed-a-swipe, and then got ready to go to Prof. S's house for our Stoppard party. Jess got us there without any problems. Such a cute house! We ate Rosencrunch & Guildenpop while watching Shakespeare in Love, which is SO MUCH BETTER than I remembered. I got the Twelfth Night stuff, since I'd just seen the play at school, but I definitely did NOT pick up on John Webster or Christopher Marlowe the first time around. And it was just way better after reading/ seeing more of Stoppard's work. Many similarities... it was tempting to bring it into my paper on love ideologies... But anyway! That was another amazing time -- how often do you get to sit with a room full of people who have read Stoppard fairly extensively, love him, & want to talk about it? Ahh. And popcorn!

The ride home was a tad scary. First, Jess got lost. Then, we started seeing broken down cars and cemetaries, and some car was following right on Jess's butt...and we started comparing our plight to scary movie beginnings. I was specifically thinking of the beg. of Night of the Living Dead... or Urban Legend. But we ended up turning around and getting back to MHC minus any zombie encounters or hooks attached to car doors.

Weds: Started selling English Dept. t-shirts at lunch, and I started writing my final papers. I had dinner with everyone at Wilder... our last Gracious dinner!! And it was pretty amazing. Lots of random appetizers, like seafood pinwheels & terra chips & cherry tomatoes with fresh mozarella. But the desserts... ahh. The strawberries were incredible -- smaller and sweeter, like our Oregon strawberries. And mini cheesecakes w/ fudge sauce. Ahhh...!

From dessert, I went to the SAW dessert in the Great Room. The chocolate dipped strawberries weren't as good, but I ate them anyway. Along with a big piece of fudge cake. Good times! =) We talked about the program & what we'd learned from it... a nice wrap up. And they gave us MHC tote bags which made me happy (although the art museum ones are sooo perfect... but now that I have, well, now I have three khaki totes since my advisor gave me one to carry books in, too, now I can't see buying a fourth!) They'd also asked our profs to give feedback to mentors... I love my Prof.!

After SAW, it was time for the last V8's jam. Somehow, they made Gamble look cool w/ twinkly lights. The singing was great... esp. their new song, "At Last." Kathleen & I were very impressed. Then it was back to work on my Stoppard paper, which I worked on till late!

Thurs. was more of the same... Selling t-shirts, mentoring, and writing the Stoppard paper. I stayed up till quite late... drinking rooibos tea & eating leftover strawberries & cheesecake. Walking around this campus at like 10:30 at night during finals is an odd experience. Everything's blooming right now, so walking around campus first of all is a very... well, aromatic experience. Then people were playing softball in the dark on Pageant Green. Strange.

Friday: more of the same! I sold t-shirts at Blanchard for a little while, walked Ashley to the main dining service building, proofread my Stoppard paper, and started my 319 paper. In the evening I got ready for dinner out for Andrew's birthday. I got rather dressed up, & curled my hair... Fun ways to procrastinate. I took him to the Indian restaurant in Noho (the good one). I had the same thing as last time... so excellent. Andrew enjoyed it, and said afterwards that he's now decided he likes Indian food. Yay =) Afterwards we had our romantic evening, but Andrew fell asleep during Heathers. Strange movie. I didn't really get all the croquet playing, but I went with it.

Saturday it was raining and miserable out. Andrew slept in till like, 2, while I balanced & made out Verbosity accounts for the audit. Which I passed with flying colors, might I add! & Verbosity got the full amount we asked for, $800, so... go us!! I think next year they should ask for even more and start publishing once a semester, or just step up the quality of the one edition per year. Since it was pretty gross out -- windy and rainy -- Andrew decided to nix his plans of hanging out in Amherst alone. So he came with me to our floor reunion dinner since he knows most everyone. Hilarious... kept going back to toilet humor. And I stole even more italian ices to add to my collection (which I had started after eating with Kathleen in Abbey a few days prior... they had so many ices... I put three in my hoodie pocket).

I worked a bit more in the evening on my paper, and finally finished!! Then I talked Andrew into driving me over to the library to turn in all my books. We carried them together, & I warned the girl working there that the 19th century books seirously need some tape to keep body and soul together. We rented Almost Famous because I'd never seen it... and the girl working was so rude... It sounded like she said: "It's due on ten" or something, so I wanted clarification and asked, sorry, what? She gave me this weird look, raised her eyebrows, and said "On the TENTH, the TENTH of MAY" like I was being stupid. Not exactly scoring points on customer service, our library! And you'd think a senior done with papers & her thesis would be cut a little slack... but no.

Anyway, we then went over to Big Y. Did you know that Ben & Jerry's has tons of new flavors? I didn't. I talked Andrew into getting Fossil Fuel, which went well with brownies... Loved Almost Famous. I recommended it to Mom because I'm sure she and Tim will love the music.

Sunday was slightly better weather-wise. We took a Dunkin Donuts run, and then headed to the mall. I finally found a white dress for a decent price, since I'd heard from a reliable source that the dress I was going to wear looked like a nightgown =/ Also got the sandals at the Gap that I had wanted but couldn't afford till they dropped below half off =)

Back at MHC, Andrew proofread my 319 paper, and then we went to Fresh Side for our last time ever dinner there! Ahhhh! Sadness. Tea rolls & some spicy Korean noodles that I didn't think were that special... I prefered my standard ginger tofu rolls, personally.

Afterwards, we watched Desperate Housewives, which is getting so so good! Then... yummy Black Sheep dessert =) I'm going to miss that espreso cake...

Today was the last Monday morning that Andrew will drive away from the Delles to work... ahh! Sadness. I napped a little, and then read a little, mentally prepped for my defense, handed in my last paper... My defense went pretty smoothly I think. Prof. M was great (my third reader), MJS was wonderful as always, and Corinne was her amazing and supportive self. I got my usual chair, and Corinne her, for that feeling of continuity. They all had amazing points that I would love to incorporate if I ever come back to Mansfield. Afterwards they shook hands with me and C. blew me a kiss. Strange how they turned that into something enjoyable!

Afterwards... I rushed to Blanchard for sushi. I wasn't early enough for salmon & avocado, but I did manage to get spicy tuna rolls. Ate with Laura & Rhea & shared defense stories. There were four of us just done with our defenses, about to go, or prepping. Also saw Miranda, and chatted for a little bit. Then I planted myself in the art dept. computer room for about 3 hours to work on my poetry entry for the Clio-M. prize. Ate dinner with Kathleen & the third floor gang over at Prospect... got itchy from the bugs...

And now I'm back... Just got to prep for this thing tomorow... and I'm... really and truly... DONE!