Three more weeks until Spring Break... three more weeks until Spring Break... three more weeks until Spring Break...

So Audrey, Court, and I were talking about graduation when I jokingly said, "Yeah, I'm nearly done with both my degrees so I have this horrific vision of me getting bored and adding another one."

"And here I am ... with my one degree," Audrey laughed.

I really was joking, but later I thought, "I wonder how many more classes another degree would take?"

One.

One extra class to get a third degree in Latin.

Books this semester cost me almost as much as my rent for a month.

I hate putting things into perspective.

I am officially all moved in and such. Several things worked out in my favor, like the last resident forgetting to shut off the electricity. I've been conserving it, but considering the minor fiasco that occurred while trying to purchase it, I think a week's worth of free electricity (free to me, at least) is mildly deserved. A girl's gotta eat, y'know.

Speaking of, no microwave, so I woke up at 7:45 this morning and made oatmeal over the stove, enjoying it with a cold cup of juice on my little table. Aside from the pile of boxes left from unpacking everything, my apartment is quite nice. I'm very happy with it, though the wall is cracked and the pseudo-landlord is having it fixed Saturday.

Today Courtney and I went to campus so that I could get a new ID (my old one's in San Antonio) and talk to financial aid, with the added bonus of figuring out the bus system. I had never ridden on a bus in my life, save for once with Alicia and Courtney when we went to somewhere or another. I am so afraid of getting it wrong that it is honestly bothering me more than upcoming classes. Dead language I haven't taken in five years and three upper-divsion English classes scare me less than where my bus stop is. Gah. I'm a country girl through and through, y'all. Anyway, for now if I can just figure out how to get to campus tomorrow, I will be happy. Gradually, I'll add more things onto my repetoire like how to get to HEB and Court's apartment later. Maybe one day I'll be an old pro at this. Probably when I graduate.

So yes, new ID is pretty aside from the fact my hair will never, ever look domesticated, but my face doesn't look like a chipmunk anymore, so happy about that. Also, the financial aid lady said that apparently I had a grant given to me for spring semester that never came through until after the semester ended, so they basically deposited an extra $2,200 into my account, hoping I wouldn't notice or something. This is good, but also a bit vexing since I would have liked for them to have told me this, but free money is free money.

Aaaand my computer is still not working (I am on Dad's now, using Court's internet), but my mom got a call from the computer place and he said to call her back. She thinks maybe they forgot to do something or it may not be my computer at all... hopefully I'll have Crush back! I miss him so.

Was going to post my schedule, but photobucket has no love for broke chicks.

I hope everyone else has a great school start!

Happy birthday, Court!

And to my brother, too, as he just turned twenty-one yesterday.

Other good news: Mike is building a house up in Lago Vista, near Lake Travis. I rode with him one morning to keep him company. Afterwards, he told me he had the entire day free, so we went up to Austin to check on my financial aid. The man I spoke to said everything was in order, so I should be good when I move in around ten days from now.

Mike bought me lunch at Kearby Lane, we talked, and then headed back home.

Also awesome, I found out that I got into my final class. My schedule is now set, with my shiny new American Realism class in place.

So instead of studying for my sociology test this Monday, reading Heart of Darkness, going to the gym, badgering my mother so I can finally get this FAFSA in, or even doing anything remotely resembling productivity, I have instead ate pizza, watched a marathon of due South, combed through the summaries of four seasons of Northern Exposure on tv.com, run out of bandwidth downloading episodes of Corner Gas, convinced myself to become a forest ranger, and spent a truly ungodly portion of my time sucking down Coke Zeros and scouring the 'net for good fanfiction.

... and it was glorious.

* Minor success this morning at the gym! There is an extremely cute guy who works there, swiping people in. I see him every morning and try to make a point to smile and say, "Good morning." I came close to giving up on my assault until this morning, he was swiping a mass of boys in. When he got to me, I was pleasantly surprised when he looked up, made eye contact, smiled and said, "Good morning," and held my gaze for just that second longer.

* On the way out of the gym, I passed a group of NROTC guys jogging past. One of them physically turned around while running to look at me. Very nice.

* All of the fire extinguishers on my floor are gone. I passed by an empty case the first time and thought, "My, that's strange!" but the one by the laundry room has disappeared as well. Slightly worrisome.

* My mother has (almost) given me all the information I need for my FAFSA. I sent her a list of questions I needed answered and got about three answered. So I sent the remaining questions, got a few more answered. After about four emails, I am down to three questions I need answered.

* I should probably start figuring out what we've been doing in sociology, since I really haven't been paying attention. At all. Ever. Something about butsudan and matsumuri, I think.

I wish this post was more interesting, but alas, I am boring.

Ingredients:

1 Facebook game
2 assignments
2 classes
0 idea of what's going on
5 cups of coffee


1. Take two assignments, due Monday after Spring Break.

2. Mix with ridiculous game that is impossible to stop playing.

3. Download football movie with Keanu Reeves and laugh hysterically.

4. Wait until 4:00 a.m., then gently introduce panic, whipping into frenzy.

5. Write something completely random and hope he grades easy.

6. Enjoy! The panic part of this recipe, not unlike frosting, will stay good for the next two years. The flames of hell, or school, will reheat as necessary.


In other, not entirely unrelated, news, Mom found these self-heating coffee things so that I don't have to keep buying Kinsolving coffee. I have very little idea of what coffee is supposed to taste like, but I'm reasonably sure it's not like that. If they told me that the stuff I was drinking was actually a small, dark alien crouched cunningly in a paper cup, I would believe them. It's when they tell me that it's coffee that I become a skeptic.

The point of this, however, is that they're amazing and brilliant and I've discovered coffee. More accurately, I've discovered coffee equals three hours of sleep.

I never have to sleep again!

This means I'll actually have time to do my homework instead of making it up as I go along and hoping my professors don't notice! This is... really new for me, actually.

Well, today started out like a particularly bad dream.

Here was the plan:

1. Get up at 9:30.

2. Go get breakfast.

3. At 11 a.m., register for classes.

4. 2:00 p.m., go get lunch with Courtney.

5. Wait for all this to blow over.

What really happened:

1. Got up at 12:03 because alarm clock failed to go off.

2. Frantically try and log onto computer, only to find that it (a) shut itself down, meaning I lost every single thing I had downloaded between the last time I shut it off and today, and (b) wasn't letting me restart at all.

3. Fight with computer, finally get it to restart.

4. Try and pull up Internet, only to find that everything I did to make the Internet work in the first place has gone back to its original settings.

5. Get that figured out, go online, find registration has passed for me. Gone. I have tomorrow from 3 to 12 to figure it out.

6. Realize this means I'm going to get the crappiest classes out of the McCrap crappy pile.

And I didn't get breakfast.

I have got to get this computer fixed, but right now I have no way of backing up any of my files short of buying an external hard drive with money I don't have.

Screw that. I'm counting it as a needed educational expense. I can't do any work on this thing until I can back it up, crush its soul, reboot, and have it grovel at my feet like it's supposed to. None of this computer rebellion for me, thank you very much. I have things to do, places--well, things to download, at least.

Matt and I finished around 3:00 a.m., at a staggering 11,000 for word count of the main paper and an additional 3,000 words in the citations.

I have never been so glad to have finished something in my entire life.

Not much else has been going on. Mike, Mary Ann, and I are going to buy a Christmas tree and decorate it tomorrow; I'm going to call Wells Fargo on Monday and get my loan taken care of; I have a few miscellaneous chores to accomplish and have an entire week to myself as Mom and Dad are going on vacation to Florida.

Dad went to the sleep clinic in Floresville last night, and they confirmed that he most definitely has sleep apnea. Moreso, he apparently has not been getting any REM. He was in a much better mood today, and I'm wondering if it's not because they hooked him up to their little machine, so he actually rested. He even offered to buy me a plane ticket to Australia to visit Bianca next year, which is, well, kind of brilliant awesome.

I also had to give a persuasive speech a few weeks ago, and I delivered mine on "Hitchhiking: Why It's a Great Idea". We have to give a similar "call to action" speech this coming Tuesday, and I asked my teacher, "Would it be alright if my topic was, 'You Should Hire Someone to Write Your Papers For You'?"

My teacher cracked up and said, "That's gold." I sent him my outline two days ago and received this email back:

Kitty,

This is outstanding work! One of the best speeches I have ever seen. Let me make a one minor point with the goal creating an immortal speech--provide some research to show how stressful college is to justify what may be considered extreme, unusual action.

I will re-read this being that I was so excited I read the outline very quickly.

Mr Williams

I also checked my grades a while ago and my government teacher already has my "A" down on my unofficial transcript, though it's not even December yet.

The only thing that has not been fantastic is that I have to return an immunizaiton record to UT by December 3; I recieved it two days ago. So yesterday I gave it to my doctor, who returned it unfilled out, so I took it back to her. Today, a nurse dropped it off at 5:30 at the office, and told me I needed a tuberculosis test, and to fill out when I had chicken pox.

I read the thing, and it says "only students born outside of the U.S." need the TB test. Barring that, she also forgot to sign it.

I can't fax it either, so I guess I'm going to have to pay for same-day delivery in order to get it to UT on time.

Frustrating, but do-able.

All in all, things are--

Confound it ... Satisfactory.

--Nero Wolfe, to Archie Goodwin in "The Doorbell Rang"

Let's Do the Time Warp Again from the Rocky Horror Picture Show (movie version).

Got my grade on my paper that I was rather snarky on and pointed out how wrong he was--50/50.

* Broke my 9 minute mile two days ago! It was 8:56, but still less than 9 minutes.

* Writing my research paper for Texas Government has been as amusing as it is appalling. My topic is the Texas Rangers, and the stories about them are hilarious. During the Mexican War, they were incredibly irregular and disorderly, pillaging and plundering like modern day pirates on land. The Mexicans (and some Americans) referred to them as "los diablos Tejanos", the Texas devils.

General Taylor used their fighting skills shamelessly, at one point telling them to go take a town and hold the line, planning to bombard the town with ammunition. The Texans ignored this and not only took the town, but overran its inner defenses too. Taylor was so annoyed he bombarded it anyway, figuring they'd get out of the way.

Then the Texans turned around and raided a town, and when Taylor ordered them to stop, the entire set of companies ignored him and kept on going. The regular army was so afraid of the Texas Rangers, Taylor had to rescind his order to stop and pretend that he wanted them to do it all along.

Just as he was about to get frustrated to no end with them, the Rangers told him that a drunken senorita let slip that there was a Mexican trap at Agua Nueva, and he should go to Buena Vista. Taylor did, winning a major victory and basically guaranteeing himself as president.

When he went to thank the Texas Rangers, though, they'd already gotten drunk in celebration, picked a fight with the regular army, and started a riot that took hundreds of state police and an entire troop of calvary to control.

Then, of course, there's the tale of the infamous Governor E.J. Davis, who took hold during Reconstruction and refused to leave office, so the new Governor, immediately after being sworn in, had to create the Texas Rangers just to take his rightful office. Governor Davis ended up sneaking out the window and leaving the state in disgrace.

I love Texas history.

* I went to see my niece yesterday! The new one, obviously. She's small and red and has dark blue eyes, like most babies. Mike said that when she was coming out, her forehead looked like a Klingon's and he was really worried they'd have to rename her Worf.

* Mike also saw the Batmobile two days ago, the old Adam West one, traveling on 1604. He called me up yesterday and asked me to e-mail Aaron (who's in Iraq right now), and "tell him about the baby, and the Batmobile!"

Apparently he called Matt yesterday and said, "The best thing just happened!"

And Matt said, "The baby was born?"

Mike replied, "No, better!"

Mary Ann was not as amused as we were.

* We just got a message on our answering machine that's this poorly recorded techno music. And it just keeps going! For like three minutes, it just goes on! So hilarious. No talking, no dialogue, just... music. And then it suddenly cuts out.

The Chinese yellow river dolphin is now extinct, leaving only four freshwater dolphin species in the world. All of them are critically endangered.

I am not normally a politically active or environmentally concerned person; the extent of my contributions include switching to vegetarianism and donating $10 when I can afford it to the WWF (World Wildlife Fund), but this upsets me. My brother once asked what would happen if a species disappeared. He used the giant panda as an example, seeing as how it's one of the most visible of the endangered animals.

Truthfully, I was unable to give him a reason why it should bother me so much. If you think about it logically, it probably wouldn't make a difference. There'd be more plants, less oxygen being taken up, and unless it's a keystone species--which very few large animal species are--then the rest of the environment would not suffer. Moreso, one could point out that it is simply a matter of natural selection. The panda, relying on one major food source, and requiring large amounts of that food, would naturally die out faster than others who can easily adapt.

So why does it bother us? Pushing aside the alarmist nature of most environmentalists, what is there that we should worry about? Sure, future generations should be able to enjoy animals as we do, but have you, personally, suffered from the lack of the dodo? Have you felt a pang of remorse at not having ever seen a wooly mammoth?

The answer is that there really is no rational reason why endangered animals should be so important to us; why the preservation of seemingly inconsequential species should rile us. The final answer to the question of is there any lasting consequences to the loss of most endangered species is simply no.

When people ask me what good the liberal arts are, I have to explain that though they may seem inconsequential, the liberal arts are the key to civilization. Science would never advance if there existed no means of recording results and applying them to future situations. Taken on an individual basis, survival itself is dependent upon the written word. Observations are made about smallpox; tests are made, results recorded; a cure is made. A person who at some point might have died from smallpox is cured. Without the ability to write, that person would have died.

In the same way, the seemingly inconsequential loss of a species is monumentally important to the human race. If not for anything else, the loss of a species shows our own inability to maintain the survival of a thing we deem important. The baiji died because of pollution, overfishing, and boating that interfered with the almost totally blind dolphin's ability to hunt.

So why does this matter? Why do we care, when rationally, we shouldn't?

I don't have an answer. I can't figure out logically any serious social or economic ramifications--besides the potential loss of any number of medicines and scientific advances--of losing a species.

But it still makes me overwhelmingly sad to think that there is one less species on Earth that I am going to study when I perform my graduate research, one less dolphin species swimming and hunting in a river.

PALO ALTO COLLEGE

Incomplete transcript on file, official transcript needed thru Spring 2007


I DIDN'T GO TO SCHOOL AFTER FALL 2006. THAT'S IT. I PROMISE.

The message keeps changing, but it's the same idiocy.

ETA: So I called this morning, and got a nice guy instead of the snippy lady I have been getting. He said that it's because they need the transcript from this current semester, but that everything about my admission and relating to the deadline is in place, and I had no need to worry. So, great news on that count!

I also went shopping yesterday, which I probably shouldn't have, but I just couldn't resist. Stef went with me and played Barbie. I bought a pair of wide leg jeans, khaki corduroy, a burnt orange sweater with ivory trimming, and a turquoise striped shirt, mainly because Stef pointed out that I have fifteen black shirts, of varying styles. Everything was on sale for half-off, too. Then we went to Starbucks and got a pumpkin spice latte, then went by Bath and Body Works. They're selling their apple and pumpkin scents again, which I absolutely adore, but I had already hit my limit and I just decided that I didn't need to spend any more money. Still. I love pumpkin and fall scents--anything very earthy.

I mentioned in an earlier post about my speech teacher's "banned words" list that we weren't supposed to use. So today we were supposed to especially concentrate on not using them, and then write a paper on it. This irked me. It seems a way of just obfuscating what you're saying--instead of saying, "I am not coming over," you have to say something like, "I'm staying at home tonight". It's just rewording. I'm not an overly blunt person, I don't think, and I just don't believe that using "just", "but", "no", "not" or any form of not has any effect on how I'm perceived.

This in mind, I started writing the paper, then looked up speeches from literature and history--the "Cross of Gold", "We Will Fight on the Beaches", "Tear Down This Wall", "Friends, Romans, Countrymen"-- and have been highlighting every instance they use a "banned" word, then pointing out there are no inherently good or inherently bad words, but all how you use them. If you're saying, "No, that's not a good idea", then of course you'll sound negative. If you're saying, "I don't have that file", it makes no difference.

So I wrote a complete defense of my position, respectfully including that it does have its benefits, such as making you think about what you're saying, but ending with saying that I don't believe it makes any difference in success.

One of my main examples was William Jennings Bryant's "Cross of Gold" speech, which is one of the finest examples of oratory ever delivered. It's riddled with examples of banned words--the very name comes from the last sentence, which contains two banned words: "You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns, you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold".

I agree with the fact that it does make you think about what you're saying before you say it (which should always be encouraged), and you do tend to sound, if not more positive, than certainly more forceful, but I hardly believe that it is a requisite. Some of the examples I gave are Martin Luther King Jr.'s, "... judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character"; John F. Kennedy's, "Ask not what your country can do for you,"; and even in literature, Mark Antony said, "I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him."

So. I put that all in as respectfully disagreeing as I could. I'll let you know how it goes.

....... I think sometimes I'm too opinionated for my own good.

I’ve been in a bit of a bitchy mood of late, so I’m seeking to (somewhat) remedy this by making a list of random things that annoy me so hopefully I can let it go:

1. The other day Mike said that I was predictably unpredictable. When all three of my brothers went to A&M, he said, it was natural that I decided to go to UT.

I hate how any action I make on my own is reduced to a reaction to something my brothers have done. I chose UT because it had the best liberal arts program, which is what I’m mostly interested in.

2. There is no neutral pronoun in the English language, so whenever I’m talking about the position of governor in Texas, I have to type out “his or her cabinet” or whatever. It’s very annoying. Someone should get to work on this.

3. My speech group has to do an informational speech on Tuesday, with each member speaking 1-2 minutes on one point of a main topic. Ours was DeBeers, so after class, I went to the library, pulled every book and magazine that had something to do with it. I organized a formal outline, broke the topic into four sections and listed a brief description of the pertinent information in each book, along with the title, author, and page number. Then I attached the outline to an email, sent it to all the group members, and said I’d take whatever point no one else wanted.

Only one person has replied: my cousin, Stef.

And now, for some things that are good to cheer me up:

1. My housing and admissions application is in, now I’m just waiting on a formal admittance.

2. I did a degree audit on the UT website, and it looks like all but one of my classes count towards my degrees, which is way better than I thought.

3. I’m super ahead on government. I think I can be done with the class entirely by September 27.

4. I haven’t spent any money recently, got a paycheck, and have a somewhat more substantial paycheck on the way in a couple of weeks.

5. Sean finally got accepted into the Houston Police Department! He’s moving in October, which means I finally have that side of the house to myself! I can box up his books and clothes, clean the place up, and hopefully paint it so that it looks way nicer than it does now. I’m very excited about this. I’m excited for him, but really looking forward to having some space, as well.

6. Mike instituted “X-Files Night” when everyone who can gets to his house on Fridays and watches X-Files. It’s very fun and relaxing and I love it.

7. I’ve lost more weight and am nearly down to 155. Speaking of which, “lost” is a stupid term in that context. Seriously. It implies I might find it again, or that I somehow miss it. From now on, I’m saying that I killed pounds because it’s closer to reality.

8. I’ve renewed my love affair with blues, swing, and jazz. I listened to Frank Sinatra, Michael Buble, and Charles Mingus all last night.

9. Torchwood premiered finally! Mom and Dad couldn't understand what the people were saying, but Sean and I like it.

10. One word (literally): fantabulous. How awesometacular a word is that? Use it and use it often.


AND I finally got around to uploading pictures from the Utah trip. They are here.

Excerpt from the summary of Chapter 8: The Texas Legislature:

“Throughout the 1990’s only one year—1998—was free of either primaries or general elections being conducted under legally challenged redistricting maps. The challenges came from both parties and the same basis for the complaints. Democrats sued using the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in the earlier part of the decade. Republican legal action was based on the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution, citing race as the sole basis for determining districts. Thomas v Bush was filed in federal court challenging 13 senate districts and 54 house districts as gerrymandered. On September 1995, the court ordered an agreed settlement under which eight senate districts and 36 house districts were changed. Redistricting has been used by both parties and individuals, for both questionable and worthwhile goals, and has survived many different legal renderings. Texas Senator Jeff Wentworth offered a reform bill several times, but it has been brushed aside again. This is not altogether a bad thing, as redistricting efforts are often rife with irony and possibly the most entertaining thing to read about in this chapter.”

“The amateur, limited legislature, highly criticized, was designed for a primarily rural state with an agrarian economy and an individualistic, skeptical political culture. The book states the latter is obsolete, but this is strictly a matter of opinion on the part of the author.”

Hello, darlings.

I'm trying to send in this application by tomorrow, so quick analysis and comments would be extremely helpful.

Two required essays:

The statement of purpose will provide an opportunity to explain any extenuating circumstances that you feel could add value to your application. You may also want to explain unique aspects of your academic background or valued experiences you may have had that relate to your academic discipline. The statement of purpose is not meant to be a listing of accomplishments in high school or a record of your participation in school-related activities. Rather, this is your opportunity to address the admissions committee directly and to let us know more about you as an individual, in a manner that your transcripts and other application information cannot convey.


( Reply )

Many students expand their view of the world during their time in college. Such growth often results from encounters between students who have lived different cultural, economic, or academic experiences. With your future growth in mind, describe a potential classmate that you believe you could learn from either within or outside a formal classroom environment.

( Reply )

So please, ANYBODY, critiques?

For laughs, I thought I would taunt myself with fake entries from the future I have planned for myself now.

Because I'm a masochist, apparently.

FAKE ENTRY FROM APRIL 14, 2008:

Ugh. Classes are boring, interspersed by moments of mind-numbing panic when I realize I have a test coming up, followed by an hour of stomach clenching, "Wait, was there a back?" and "I KNEW IT WAS A. DAMMIT. I PUT B, WHY OH WHY DID I PUT B?" and further resolutions to double-check my work that will be continually disregarded because I cannot stand to spend another moment within the confines of the classroom.

The only bonus is that a paycheck is coming up from a job that is only moderately less dignity-crushing than school itself.

It warms my heart when my meager pittance from the higher-ups comes down to me, when I turn that check into my bank, who then charges me for foolishly spending .10 to buy Ramen noodles when I had nothing in the bank. This being the same bank, of course, that takes five days to deposit my check into my account, but two seconds to realize I've overdrafted.

In any case, the warming of the heart, et cetera, knowing that that's one less $180 I'll owe after college.

Now I only have $25,000 to go.




FAKE ENTRY FROM APRIL 26, 2010:

Finally, almost graduating. After years of intense work calculating the minimum input of work for the maximum grade output (most of it defaulted to my math major roommate, who needs the extra practice; plus, I cook for us), I have managed to reach the end of the line. The last semester of my undergraduate years. Two degrees, one of them almost completely meaningless, the other only marginally less so, and I'm on my way to bigger and better things! Yes, siree, I mean defaulting on loans and hightailing it to Mexico where I'll put my Marine Biology to good use by working on a shrimp boat and my English degree to good use by speaking Spanish all the time.

What could be better?

It took me probably 3 years longer than it should have, but I'm almost there.

... Wait, when are finals?


FAKE ENTRY FROM MAY 1, 2010:

You know there are actually more than three seasons in a year? Seriously. I just found that out today. After years of thinking in terms of fall semester, spring semester, summer, they spring this on me. What's with that?




FAKE ENTRY FROM OCTOBER 29, 2012:

Never expected the Peace Corps to send me here. Well, kind of. I was expecting them to send me somewhere the exact opposite of where I requested (seriously, I'm sure they need English teachers in Jamaica. How many people can request the Caribbean each year anyway?), but this...

Well, who knows those wacky whims of the whatever.

Last year I'm here. It's surreal, to finally be heading home. I feel like I should sum up with this great thing about how I've written a novel about my experiences, made new friends, and learned something valuable about another culture...

But mostly I'm just looking forward to running showers again.

And being able to take a drink of water without feeling it squirm on the way down.




FAKE ENTRY FROM AUGUST 29, 2013:

I don't know why everyone complains. Grad school doesn't seem to be the soul-sucking abyss that I was led to believe.




FAKE ENTRY FROM SEPTEMBER 3, 2013:

Grad school is the soul-sucking abyss I was led to believe.




FAKE ENTRY FROM NOVEMBER 19, 2013:

Oh, God. Make it stop, make it stop.




FAKE ENTRY FROM FEBRUARY 5, 2015:

Last year of studying to get M.S. My soul is gradually rebuilding itself against the ravishing done by my advisor. The only thing that gets me through the day is long bouts of daydreams in which I find a glorious job as a research assistant, studying dolphin habits off the shores of Belize and formulating a thesis that (a) hasn't been done before, and (b) won't be obliterated by research three years into it.




FAKE ENTRY FROM DECEMBER 8, 2018:

Met a philosophy grad student today who told me that all he did for his thesis was sit in a room, think, then read a paper aloud for his defense and spouted a bunch of philosophic mumbo-jumbo when they asked questions.

Punched him in the face.




FAKE ENTRY FROM JANUARY 1, 2020:

Ever feel like you've wasted your entire life and you just now realized it?

I hope some dolphin out there appreciates the fact that I just wrote a 150 page paper on how their calves ride the ambient energy caused by their swimming in order to keep up with them.

Bastards.




FAKE ENTRY FROM JANUARY 1, 2020 (LATER):

"The Hydrodynamics of Cetacean Drafting"

This thesis is dedicated to my parents, who never supported me during this entire endeavour.

Also to my advisor, who was right up there with them.




FAKE ENTRY FROM SEPTEMBER 17, 2021:

Curses. The RA position was filled by someone (undoubtedly) less qualified than I am--I'll have them know I've crashed more seminars than anyone else on my quest for free food--and I've been reduced to being a TA for Introduction to English Literature During the 19th Century.

I hope I wasn't this stupid as an undergrad, but I probably was.



FAKE ENTRY FROM JANUARY 3, 2023:

All is well! Found my Belize job! Not in Belize, but I'll take what I can get. Shark Island, folks! Yes, don't let the name fool you, there are sharks there.

... But there's also dolphins, which is the important thing. That and I have made a solemn promise to keep all of my arms and legs away from any pointy teeth I see, unless they belong to a really hot Australian guy. Or girl.

In any case, this almost makes up for the years of misery spent at the hands of various people.

Almost.

Actually, only years of intense therapy and cash can make up for that, but I'm willing to give this a shot.






......... A girl can dream, can't she?

( College Essay; A Bit About My Life )

Comments, thoughts, editing, rallying war cries for the patrician ruling class to step down and create a communist utopia?

I think the hotness fairy must have visited me in the dark of night while I was sleeping.

In two days of work, I had four separate guys ask me for my phone numbers, and another one gave me his phone number with the note, "Call me some time on it". Another, while I was getting the food bagged, asked Vanessa if I was "old enough".

Vanessa was gloating and laughing all night long about how much I was getting hit on.

I've had two guys tell me I had a "cute smile", and one of them asked me to smile for him again when he left.

Then today, I dressed to the nines because I was feeling kind of down and figured, "Why the hell not?" So I put on a tight, low-cut white button up shirt, a black skirt that hit mid-thigh, some hose (I hadn't shaved my legs), and some black high heels. Topped it off with some makeup (just foundation and some light lipstick) and a tan trenchcoat and walked outside.

I swung by work first, to find out when I had to come in on Wednesday, and a guy held the door open for me.

"Thanks," I said, ducking inside.

"How are you?" he said.

"Fine. How are you?"

"Fine. You look good."

"Thanks," I said, mentally tacking on, 'not that I asked'.

I went to school next, and passed a guy talking on his cell phone. I went to sit down in the hallway when he hung up and walked up to me.

"You look too good to be sitting on the floor. You need a chair or a desk," he informed me.

I kind of laughed it off, but he went and got a chair for me. It was kind of awkward, sitting in the hallway on the only chair with everyone else hanging out on the floor, but I couldn't really refuse.

It's really weird and I don't understand it. I mean, honestly. I look in the mirror, and I think my face lost that extra baby fat I was carrying around, and my bangs give me this Farrah Fawcett look but nothing warranting this.

Took some pics of me in my outfit today. When I get them developed, I'll post them and let you be the judge.

In other cool news, I finished my last test in zoology in under five minutes--and got a 99. I went to turn it in after four minutes (48 multiple choice, 1 short answer, 5 definitions), and he said, "Oh, did you find a prob--"

I turned it in, and he stops.

"No. You're finished. Of course." Louder, he tells everyone, "This is why you don't have a curve this semester" and points to me. Cheryl rolled her eyes and Mr. Chandler laughed. "Ah, Cheryl's, 'I can't believe this' eye roll."

"It's ridiculous," she muttered.

I always finish first, but usually it takes me at least fifteen minutes. My lab practical that I blew off? 81.

Aaand my manager wanted to take me bar-hopping.

I also got bored today and was dressed up with nowhere to go, so I went to HEB and talked to Jacob, who is this guy that used to work at McDonald's before I started. For some reason, he always made sure to wave at me and smile and ask how I was doing, and even knew my name and recognized me after one meeting. Since then, he's just come through the drive-through, but he's always really friendly. William thinks he's going out with Jerry?

But anyway, we talked for a while, and I bid him goodbye, then I went to Dollar General to look for some stuff. I got kind of down about then, for no real reason at all, so I went to Target and looked through the Christmas decorations and such, which cheered me immensely.

So... doing well. Doing really well. I feel good.