The sun has driven the Sims outdoors

All of a sudden people are outside walking around from place to place instead of remaining holed up in their rooms, and the sudden burst of life and movement is a nice reminder that there really are other people living here. I have my doubts sometimes. Whenever I look outside my window, I'm reminded of a Sims neighborhood and would love to scroll a mouse over peoples' heads to see where they're going.

For the first time in a while, I'm completely happy here because there are no loose ends . . . even though I have no data for the astronomy lab due on Wednesday. That's saying something.

Also: yesterday I spoke into the wrong mic for the entirety of the radio show. For once, I am SO GLAD that nobody listens to the radio. Heh.

Thursday's small accomplishments:

• I was only five minutes late for astronomy.
  
• The dishes that have been sitting on my desk since before break are finally clean (and yes, I recognize how completely gross that is).
  
• Katy and I singlehandedly finished a pizza and watched The Darjeeling Limited.
• I finished my creative writing comments the night before they were due rather than the morning of.
• I did my laundry without risk of it ending up a soggy lump atop one of the dryers because nobody else was using the machines. It was epic.
• The Miracle-Gro must've revived Jamila because she is flowering once again!

Friday's agenda: MEDIA PROM.

Prime example of why I love my professor

In class the other day, he was talking about this conference he went to in Bologna over spring break and how he took a day trip to Florence. He told us that he tried to go visit some famous museum, but didn't because the wait was three hours long. After silently pondering for a second, he added (along with his signature awkward chuckle), "I wouldn't wait three hours in a line for anything . . . I mean, maybe if I was going to talk to Shakespeare, then I'd wait."

We totally have the same priorities.

No, you may NOT borrow a laptop

Just once I would love to deny someone a laptop just for the heck of it, responding with a blunt "NO" when they asked to borrow one. I often wonder about the parallel universes in which I never hold back the things I'm thinking; I imagine I wouldn't have many friends in any of them. Heh.

For example: yesterday some girl checked out a book from the Course Reserves, and she asked me if she could make copies from it. I pointed to the copy machines and was like, "Well, sure, right over there," and she looked at me like I was crazy. She repeated the question and asked me if I knew what she was talking about, and I asked if she was worried about copyrights in making photocopies of it and she gave me this face . . . I almost burst out laughing because I knew we were both thinking that the person on the other side of the counter was a complete idiot. I still have no idea what she was trying to ask me, but I'd like to think I wasn't being the dumb one.

Time to shelve picture books!

Safety goggles, no. Sunglasses, hopefully!

As I told Ellen and Julie yesterday, my tolerance for this place grows exponentially as the amount of sunlight increases. You'd be surprised how optimistic a person can become when not feeling as if she lives in a black hole.



Katy and I are on a mission to find this poster for our room next semester. After searching eBay, the Flinn Scientific website, and Google, we couldn't find ANYONE selling it.

We will find it, though. Mark my words.

Reasons why today is a good day:

• I wrote and handed in a four page paper today that I am pretty darn pleased with
• My calligraphy is finished
• Apparently there's another refund check waiting for me in Erwin
• I don't have to work today
  
• My hair looks good

It's not so bad being back here. I'm just a big baby.

Mad love for the internetz

The past few hours have been dedicated to I Can Has Cheezburger, a website comprised of cat pictures with ridiculous captions that are all spelled incorrectly and are all hilarious. I have a new appreciation for the site now that I have my own LolCat to laugh at. Ginny goes from being adorable to hysterical and I am always entertained. I never thought I'd be a cat person. Ever.

Other than that slight distraction, though, I've totally been plowing through work this week. Most of it is slow going, but I feel so much more productive at home than I have been in a while. It's a good feeling.

I'm writing and doing major edits on my short story for Monday's workshop; while I'm still fairly happy with the idea itself, I didn't realize that I'd come across so many stumbling points along the way just in getting it down on paper. I got the idea for the story from Overheard in New York (incidentally, another one of my favorite websites), this blog where people can post bizarre or funny conversations that they've overheard in the subway, on the street, in line at Starbucks . . . it's very entertaining. Anyways, I was reading through the posts and trying to find a shred of inspiring stuff when I came across this entry:

Geek: Well, she was dog-sitting and the dog died. The family, I guess, was someplace where they couldn't get home, so she had to take care of it.
Dude: Take care of it?
Geek: Well, she was in Boston but didn't have a car and didn't know what to do with it because she couldn't carry it, so she put it in a rolling suitcase to take it to the vet. On her way there, some guy saw her struggling with the bag and offered to help her carry it. When they were almost to the vet he asked what was in the bag, and, because I guess she didn't think she could tell him that there was a dead dog in the bag, she said, 'Electronics!' Apparently, he looked at her, looked at the bag, punched her in the face, and ran off with the dog! Can you f'ing believe it?! He stole the dead dog!

So yeah. Example of snags that have come about: the family is away on vacation, so where is the character supposed to find a large suitcase for the dog?

We'll see what happens.

Things that are wonderful about home:

• Walking around the house looking like Bellatrix Lestrange fresh out of Azkaban and not feeling obliged to appear otherwise
  
• Practicing calligraphy without having to clear the contents of my desk onto the floor nor Swiffer the tile in order to find workable space
• Waking up to find a cat curled in the niche of my bent arm
• Hugging the coastline along the harbor while driving
• Starbucks twice a day, just because I can
• "Welcome Home" signs from Keira hidden all around my room
• Being with my favorite women in the world
• Erin pretending to grudgingly try on her prom dress eight million times while knowing she relishes each modeling session
• Spending time with old friends
• Singing and not wearing flip flops in the shower
• Tea and Irish soda bread
• Feeling like I belong somewhere
  

When the moon hits the sky like a big pizza pie

Funny story: I'm in the middle of writing a short story for class tomorrow, and Katy and I decided we were hungry so we called Mia's to have a pizza delivered. After hanging up, Katy laughed and made a joke about how I referred to the order as a 'pie' rather than a 'pizza,' because apparently that's a Long Island thing. Anyways, she likes to eat pizza with bleu cheese dressing, so I called back to ask if they could put some on the side, and a different guy picked up the phone. He asked for my name and what I'd ordered, so I told him I'd gotten a large pie.

He responded with a confused "WHAT?" and I repeated myself, not realizing the perceived misnomer for a few seconds. When I did, though, I was just like, "A PIZZA. A large PIZZA," and he replied, "Oh! Yeah, sure, I can do that!"

Teasing ensued.

Billy and I chat over coffee

I feel like I'm trying to carve what I need to say into a desk with a pen cap. It's just one of those days when I can't seem to get my ideas together without making everything more difficult for myself. It's not like the assignment is even that hard--all I have to do is type up a two-page informal paper analyzing two short stories. Not a big deal at all.

I found Billy Collins on the bookshelf before and he commiserated with me. He's brilliant. I wish everyone ascribed meaning to the world like he does. Y'know how people will ask you, "If you could have lunch with one person, dead or alive, who would it be?" I just now realized that my person would be him.

Reasons why I cannot fall asleep:

• after finishing my creative writing, I still have to complete a plate for calligraphy
• I'm so very nervous about my astronomy test on Thursday
• it's finally sinking in that some things in my life have irrevocably changed, and while I'm okay with that, it's still a very weird concept
• now I just keep thinking about what I'd talk to Billy Collins about if he were ever sitting across the table from me

Sigh. I will leave you with this, one of my most favorite lines of all time.

Most of all,
I want to write on your skin
with the tip of my finger,
printing one capital letter at a time
on the sloping vellum of your back.
I want you to guess the message
being written on your flesh
as children do in summer at the beach,
to feel the shape of every letter
being traced upon your body--oh, ideal reader--
to read with your eyes shut tight,
kneeling in the sand, facing the open sea.

Medium, Billy Collins

Dear girl wearing black,

Shut up. No one at the circulation desk wants to hear you rant and rave to your poor mother on the phone, acting like a little bitch while the rest of us are forced to endure your temper tantrum. You're embarrassing yourself.

Also, leggings are not pants.

--Meg

I will surely have carpal tunnel before long

is for calligraphy, or the past seven hours of my life. I wish I were exaggerating. I had to make versals, which are the decorative block letters (like the C to the left) that appear in the beginning of storybooks and whatever. I won't lie, it was fun.

Until I ripped a hole in my project, that is. It's not huge, and it didn't damage the letters themselves, and I refuse to make another. I think the grand total is seven drafts.

The class is really interesting; I love working on something with my hands, as it's a creative endeavor that doesn't involve a whole lot of brainpower. The change of pace is nice. However, I go a little off-the-wall when I can't get things perfect and end up spending hours and hours copying the same monologue from Macbeth . . . then begin to think of all the other things I'm not getting done because of calligraphy.

Funnily enough, I'm ready for my classes tomorrow, which means I can go to sleep before 2 on a weeknight for the first time in a while. Yesssss.

When you just can't spell it out

It is 5:38 in the morning and I just can't fall asleep. Like I said before, I'm just in the mood to write, but when I look at the open page nothing comes forth. Too bad pencils and paper don't work as Ouija boards; I could just let the pencil guide my hand and read over whatever it is I'm actually feeling after the fact.

Shucks.

The implications of a snowstorm

This afternoon I woke up to hear freezing rain bouncing off the window screen with little ping pang noises; it was lovely just to lay in bed and listen to it, not feeling obliged to get up and do anything at all. The feeling was bittersweet, though--the weather prevented Michal from driving up today to visit, and while I'm glad she isn't attempting to make the trip by herself, I really wish I'd gotten to see her. We're postponing 'til next week--I'm going home on Saturday afternoon, so either that night or the next day we'll meet up before she goes back to Israel on Monday.

Sigh.

On the bright side, Double Feature Power Hour takes the air waves by storm again tonight; hopefully the weather will keep at least some people in, and maybe a handful of them will listen to the radio. Just a few listeners is all we need. I want so very much to give away some glow sticks.

I wish I'd gotten a copy of the assignment for creative writing; I'm in such a mood to write right now. Maybe that mood extends to essay writing as well, in which case I could get a start on the anthropology due Tuesday . . . hmm.

Jack Johnson always makes me feel like my mind is slowly rocking back and forth in a hammock. Between that and the fact that I'm warm and sated despite what's going on outside, my existence is like a slow exhale at the moment. It's a nice change.

Excerpt

Thoughts of him kept her awake like a cricket nestled somewhere under the radiator during the summertime. Days would pass without him entering her thoughts, but in the cover of night he'd be impossible to ignore, crunching and screeching his bow against the strings of the heavy, muffled air. The only difference was that it was the dead of winter, and sounds were carried on and on by the wind, empty and biting.

Still not sure what I want to do about this.

Walking back from the library around 1, I passed the big gazebo and looked over when I heard coughing. There were clouds of white smoke rising from it. Oh, Geneseo.

Excuse me while I go die by way of creative writing critiques.

"I have a rash on my back."

Abe Lincoln: Have you ever been so attracted to someone that you're afraid you'll blurt out something stupid?
Joan of Arc: I have a rash on my back.

Oh, Clone High.

I have recently been faced with an interesting predicament, which I can either brush off or take by the horns. Complications may arise no matter what I choose to do, but the latter will certainly shake things up a bit.

Stay tuned.

Medium, one sugar. Ribbit.

(coffee frog recommends the biscotti)

My new favorite work activity

Hamlet: The Text Adventure

I need a paper bag for my head

So I'm working at my favorite table in the library next to Shakespeare, and sitting with his back to me is this guy wearing baggy red sweatpants and a black tee shirt.

This wouldn't be at all notable except for the fact that I'm wearing the exact same thing. I think it's a sign that I should stop going out in public looking like a hobo in a flannel circus tent.

they say that if

they say that if the universe made a sound,
we’d never be able to distinguish
it because it’s always been present;
we’ve never not heard it

but lately when i think of you,
a constant lovely murmur
accompanies my musings
so i can only conclude

that planetary motion
(sunrise, sunset)
is all you,
the steady humming of my universe

Shuffle

I'm rewriting my fiction assignment for tomorrow's class, where I'll have to distribute copies to everyone before it gets workshopped on Wednesday. Having to give up my writing to a bunch of people still freaks me out a little bit, because everything I write is close to home . . . ergh. The problem is really just coming up with something I'm completely confident in, because if I can stand behind my work then I don't really care what the reaction is.

I love when my iPod knows just what I want to listen to. Shuffle can be finicky sometimes, and when it spits out a succession of perfectly applicable songs to whatever mood I'm in, it's a beautiful thing.

The past three songs: Kissing the Lipless by the Shins, Guster's Timothy Leary and Reasons Why by Nickel Creek.

Despite the long night of work looming ahead, I am completely content.