Back to Madison tomorrow.
I'm sad to leave here, since it's so comfortable and well-supplied and filled with my family, and I'm not stressed here. But at the same time, I'm ready to go back. I've fueled up here, and now I can take that energy (hopefully) and just barrel through the last two weeks of school. And then I'll be back!
But yes, Madison looks much more appealing - or at least liveable - now than it did before this trip. Which is wonderful. Plus, as much as I love my parents and siblings...it's also nice to live on my own.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Work Party!
I'm currently at the Panera on Walnut Street, listening to the Killers and working on my Trollope paper. It was a pain to get started, but it's better now - though I am realizing now why I always start early: because it BLOWS to start late and spend the last two weeks in abject panic. Sigh. Oh well...worst case is an incomplete, and that's not the end of the world. I will survive.
Ben and Andy are here too, working as well. Ben's doing book reviews for his class on semiotics, and Andy's reading DeLillo for his dissertation. It's nice...I'm enjoying it. We've been here awhile, though I don't feel like I've done enough to show for it, but with them here I feel like I can hack out a few more hours. And then shopping and home! So nice to be going back to something really fun.
Thanksgiving itself was great. Tasty food, low stress levels, adorable cousins, general enjoyment. After dinner and cleanup, Andy and I went to pick up my college friend James, whose family also moved to Cary four years ago, and he had dessert and cocktails with the family. And then it was off to Flex for the drag show, a Tarsa (18+) children holiday tradition. It was a slightly rocky start, but we all ended up having a good time. I myself had a *blast*; it's been a long time since I went out with a group to something as fun as that, and I loved it. My brother and his boyfriend, one of my favorite college people, and my own boyfriend, together, mostly drunk, and giving dollars to drag queens and cheering our lungs out. It could only have been better if it had been a karaoke night.
Friday we got a late start, but then went shopping. It wasn't too crazy, since we went later, and so it was a pretty nice day out and about. I finally bought a new camera, which I'm ecstatic about. It's a Panasonic point-and-shoot, and since I actually spent about 25 minutes reading the manual, I already know more about how to use it than I ever learned about my old one. I'm sure I'll never use 75% of its features, but it's nice to know that, should I need it, it has a special mode for taking pictures of pets. I also bought Christmas gifts for my counsins, a small one for my sister, and a few odds and ends for myself. Black Friday is the last day I'll buy myself anything til after Christmas, so I always indulge a little. Andy bought a bunch of clothes and some cute things for his niece, and we made it home in time for Melissa's birthday cake. A good day.
Today I spent the morning playing with Gabriella (and, to a lesser extent, Juliette) and watching classic Looney Toons. Around 12:30 Andy went running, and then we came here. And...that's my vacation so far.
It's pretty awesome.
Ben and Andy are here too, working as well. Ben's doing book reviews for his class on semiotics, and Andy's reading DeLillo for his dissertation. It's nice...I'm enjoying it. We've been here awhile, though I don't feel like I've done enough to show for it, but with them here I feel like I can hack out a few more hours. And then shopping and home! So nice to be going back to something really fun.
Thanksgiving itself was great. Tasty food, low stress levels, adorable cousins, general enjoyment. After dinner and cleanup, Andy and I went to pick up my college friend James, whose family also moved to Cary four years ago, and he had dessert and cocktails with the family. And then it was off to Flex for the drag show, a Tarsa (18+) children holiday tradition. It was a slightly rocky start, but we all ended up having a good time. I myself had a *blast*; it's been a long time since I went out with a group to something as fun as that, and I loved it. My brother and his boyfriend, one of my favorite college people, and my own boyfriend, together, mostly drunk, and giving dollars to drag queens and cheering our lungs out. It could only have been better if it had been a karaoke night.
Friday we got a late start, but then went shopping. It wasn't too crazy, since we went later, and so it was a pretty nice day out and about. I finally bought a new camera, which I'm ecstatic about. It's a Panasonic point-and-shoot, and since I actually spent about 25 minutes reading the manual, I already know more about how to use it than I ever learned about my old one. I'm sure I'll never use 75% of its features, but it's nice to know that, should I need it, it has a special mode for taking pictures of pets. I also bought Christmas gifts for my counsins, a small one for my sister, and a few odds and ends for myself. Black Friday is the last day I'll buy myself anything til after Christmas, so I always indulge a little. Andy bought a bunch of clothes and some cute things for his niece, and we made it home in time for Melissa's birthday cake. A good day.
Today I spent the morning playing with Gabriella (and, to a lesser extent, Juliette) and watching classic Looney Toons. Around 12:30 Andy went running, and then we came here. And...that's my vacation so far.
It's pretty awesome.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Southern Living
Home in NC for Thanksgiving, with Andy.
It's wonderful. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.
It's wonderful. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Dreaming Spires
Boo. I miss Jamie and Tom. Last night was Waugh night at Hertford, to celebrate the illustrious author and his short tenure at the college. My first trip to Oxford was for Waugh night, and I was there for it last year as well, and so missing it this time around makes me kind of bummed. Not that like, I wasn't expecting it. One cannot expect to fly to England every November on a grad school salary. But still...boo. I miss Jamie and Tom.
Boo also to working on papers in Memorial all day. Boo.
You know what's weird? Precalls. Talk about something I would never have had to do, or even known people did, before grad school. In undergrad I just wept and gnashed my teeth when the books I wanted were gone. Now I bombard my peers with annoying emails.
Also, I really do like writing papers. I do. It's my favorite part of grad school. I hate the deadlines, the pressure, the wading through useless article after useless chapter to find the information I need, the constant pressure/guilt I feel when I'm not working and should be, and the painfulness of those first 30 minutes of a long session when you're not in the zone and would rather be watching TV on the couch. But I love the writing itself, the crafting of an idea, making the words come, adding pages to my documents, the flash of insight when it comes together. It's the best and worst part of my semester, really.
The other thing writing papers makes me realize is how much terrible academic writing there is out there. Great ideas should not need to be couched in horribly convoluted and ridiculously over-the-top terms. They should just be written. What is this notion that if your writing is clear it's not important. I maintain that this is bullshit.
Also, it's way too dark. The end.
Boo also to working on papers in Memorial all day. Boo.
You know what's weird? Precalls. Talk about something I would never have had to do, or even known people did, before grad school. In undergrad I just wept and gnashed my teeth when the books I wanted were gone. Now I bombard my peers with annoying emails.
Also, I really do like writing papers. I do. It's my favorite part of grad school. I hate the deadlines, the pressure, the wading through useless article after useless chapter to find the information I need, the constant pressure/guilt I feel when I'm not working and should be, and the painfulness of those first 30 minutes of a long session when you're not in the zone and would rather be watching TV on the couch. But I love the writing itself, the crafting of an idea, making the words come, adding pages to my documents, the flash of insight when it comes together. It's the best and worst part of my semester, really.
The other thing writing papers makes me realize is how much terrible academic writing there is out there. Great ideas should not need to be couched in horribly convoluted and ridiculously over-the-top terms. They should just be written. What is this notion that if your writing is clear it's not important. I maintain that this is bullshit.
Also, it's way too dark. The end.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Covered In Rain
- I'm so proud of my country. And I forgot how amazing it is to have a president I can respect, admire and want to follow. Or rather, I'm not sure I ever knew until now. It's an amazing feeling.
- Grading over 100 essays in a week is a horrible, horrible task.
- It's made even more horrible by the creeping knowledge that the semester is drawing to a close and I have done NEXT TO NOTHING for my final papers. Those who know me know that this is really unlike me - and it's freaking me the fuck out. I have a ghost of a topic for both of them, which hopefully will bloom into two full-blown topics by this time next week. Or I might die or panic.
- The weather is Not Good. I'm upset it will be so gross Saturday, since I'm taking pics outside and it will be all grey - and possibly also snowing. Oh joy.
- On a related note - I miss LA.
- Andy and Mashelle's birthday celebration tomorrow! Much drinking and cake-baking to ensue this weekend.
- I have missed lifting weights. It's nice to be back in the gym.
- Grading over 100 essays in a week is a horrible, horrible task.
- It's made even more horrible by the creeping knowledge that the semester is drawing to a close and I have done NEXT TO NOTHING for my final papers. Those who know me know that this is really unlike me - and it's freaking me the fuck out. I have a ghost of a topic for both of them, which hopefully will bloom into two full-blown topics by this time next week. Or I might die or panic.
- The weather is Not Good. I'm upset it will be so gross Saturday, since I'm taking pics outside and it will be all grey - and possibly also snowing. Oh joy.
- On a related note - I miss LA.
- Andy and Mashelle's birthday celebration tomorrow! Much drinking and cake-baking to ensue this weekend.
- I have missed lifting weights. It's nice to be back in the gym.
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