Begin Again

Back in Iowa City. 24 hours late and $200 in the hole. Travels didn't go as planned but I'll be taking my revenge. Give me free airline tickets now!

And now it's back to work. Latin project with Liz to be filmed tomorrow. Latin to be translated. Essays to be written. Meetings to be attended. It's only getting worse. SCUBA starts on Tueday though so that should be exciting.

Text messaging is not a real form of communication. Nevertheless it seems to be the only way boys communicate (or don't) with me. An experiment yielded interesting results tonight. Apparently the farther away the boy, the faster he communicates. The ones who are only a mile away can't be bothered. This doesn't bode well for him.

Hey, thanks.

Hey, Lacroix, thanks for feeding me last night. And thanks for pointing out that I can be a real snob when I want to be. Perhaps not be a snob but have the right to criticize (and criticize fairly) the things which, given their luxury, I probably shouldn't be criticizing as a 21 year old college student who works in a warehouse. We were totally right about the food and service though. It was a nice night, not topnotch though. I fear Lacroix may be tricking diners and food critics all around the nation.

However, evenings like that make it impossible for my standards to be met. How am I going to be satisfied when someone takes me on a date to a place like Verde? I know how the "elites" live! I am not easily impressed anymore. Damn. Fortunately, I've adapted by having a sliding scale of standards. I assess al factors of the situation and adjust the standards as necessary. In Iowa CIty, I have lower standards for dates, based on the location, resources available, and population. It's quite simple really.

Now, things to do. Dentist/campaign video/resume/everything else.

Air travel

CID -> ORD
ORD -> PHL

Here's to making it there today.

Donezo

Yep, that's it. Today will be cleaning, packing, and finishing Lauren's bridal shower invitations. Maybe something else if I feel productive. And why not? I did nothing yesterday so a little usefulness today will be good for me.

Happy Palm Sunday!

'Free agency' is definitely the way to go right now. And given the deals that have been offered, it's clear that nobody's signing now.

Spring Break!

Ahh yes, it is indeed spring break. Went out with the roommates last night and we were all too dramatic. (See previous post.) But that's ok because it was entertaining. But I stayed up too late and woke up too early. Now I'm watching the History Channel's Banned from the Bible. It's about books that didn't make it into the Christian bible. Oh I know how to be on spring break.

I have to work on the following things over the next week:
Lauren's bridal shower
my resume
10K VIP party
Latin project
Art, Law, and Ethics project
nonfiction essays

Now I'm watching Dirty Jobs. Happy Ides of March!

F that. It's all entertaining when you don't take it seriously. I'm offended, kind of, but because it's laughable, I can't really do anything about it.

I should work on my billiards skills.

Ouch/Not Ouch

I burned my fingers when I picked up a plate I knew was very hot. And then I did it again. Good thing I learn from experience. Now the skin on two fingers of my left hand is tight and may blister. We'll see how it is in the morning. These sensitive hands really shouldn't do anything but turn pages of books and sometimes write things down. But not too many things because then my hand might cramp up.

As I was walking down the street earlier this evening, Coworker drove by and waved at me! Unexpected but I was quite pleased because I wouldn't have even noticed it was him if he hadn't gotten my attention.

Planning parties, especially when they're supposed to be professional, is hard. Mom, I'll need some tips. How I ended up being in charge, I haven't a clue but I'm pretty sure I'm better at having parties than anyone else on the committee.

Talking things out is hard when the other person doesn't really say anything. Or says stuff that doesn't actually mean anything or keeps saying that it can't be explained. But I guess talking is better than not and then being weird. Whatever. I think I kind of like just saying whatever I'm thinking without censoring it. The thoughts are transparent, nothing veiled, nothing avoided. Who knew honesty could be so satisfying?

So close

One midterm left. Of course I haven't studied for it and it is the one for which I really do need to study. Plan: wake up early and study. Truth: Wake up early and do anything but study. No matter. This seems to have worked reasonably in the past. Although i don't know nearly as much about Near Eastern art as I have about the other art history classes I've taken. An exercise in trickery, that's what this exam will be.

Really looking forward to being home for a few days. As usual, drama increases just before a break so I end up wanting to be away from Iowa City. Not really drama but the events of life.

Caitlin (I mean Per Se) is taking the girls out to dinner which will be lovely. We haven't had time together for too long. Perhaps I will avail myself of the wisdom of their years. I have to get my life together.

I have to go to sleep.

Conversations

Sometimes talking it out doesn't work. That's just the way it is.

Too many mashed potatoes

I ate mashed potatoes for dinner. Too many. I feel a little sick now. Maybe I should go to the grocery store and buy some fruits and vegetables. I might be getting scurvy.

Workshop today wasn't awesome. Not that people didn't like the piece or have good things to say. We just get distracted easily so not much time is spent on the essay. Nevertheless, I've got a lot of things I can do to improve the piece. I do fear that people have gotten the wrong idea about it. Generally, when people say what they think a piece is about, I'm fairly impressed because it turns out they realize what I'm trying to say even before I do. But today, I heard responses that seemed too serious/critical/menacing than anything I intended. But perhaps, as before, they can see what I am unconsciously saying. I'm anxious for my next workshop though because the essay I turned in is unlike most things I've written. I'm fairly certain it doesn't have any serious undertones but I could very well be mistaken. I also felt like a jackass because the other two essays were really good. Especially one of them. The writing was superb, absolutely beautiful. I'm just jealous.

Spring is here! I'm sure of it. I woke up to birds chirping over the weekend and today I didn't wear a winter jacket. 4 day until spring break. I'm going home for a few days and that will be lovely. But no crazy plans for this girl. I hope I can do something productive and fun. I might mean write something good when I say productive and fun. But I also might mean play with McGriff because that's good for me and fun.

In other news...

I had never seen what happens to a Car Bomb if you don't drink it fast enough. It's gross. Good thing I always down mine fast. Funny that something delicious like that can go so wrong. Irish Night = Success.

Now I should be studying for midterms but that's not my style. I really want to be writing my next piece for Nonfiction but I just don't know what it's going to be. After the response I got from my professor (Stephen Kuusisto) about my last piece, I feel good. Encouraged, hopeful, and rather flattered. But now the pressure's on because I want to deliver again and it just isn't happening. I know from past experience that if the writing can't flow out, if I have to think about what comes next then it isn't going to be good. I've been told to write about my obsessions but how many essays can I turn in about my family? Eventually someone is going to call me out on it. I'd like to challenge myself to expand my subject matter but every time I do, it spirals into nothing. Or I force it into being and am not pleased.

But I'd better spend my words on that rather than here. I'll pull something together.

Time to Start Running

Yep, it's looking like the time for me to run is approaching. But I'm going to try not to. I much prefer swimming but I want to swim in an ocean and be warm and have a tan. Because that's what I like.

Fire House is being rebuilt as we speak. But hopefully fire-proof this time. Also, construction workers, can you not block my driveway? Thanks.

I'm in such a muddle.

ESPHI

Eta Sigma Phi National Convention, you are mine. Even though this means spending my hard-earned cash on one of the nerdiest things I will ever do, I'm going. Classics Kids, you will all probably fall in love with me because I'll be the coolest person there. With the exception of Nick and Liz. They're cool too. Anyway, it should be fun/funny. A good experience and the Department will be impressed.

So I'll be out of town March 28-30. This will make scheduling High School Party very difficult.

Clean Room, Clean Mind

I rearranged my room which means I also cleaned my room today. I was feeling pangs of a vague discontent but they may have been remedied by this shifting of furniture. My other options were dying my hair (although it's always a shade of brown nearly indistinguishable from my previous color), buying something (usually clothes), or cleaning the whole house. I had actually intended to do some serious cleaning but my room proved to be a challenge unto itself. Nevertheless, I am please with it and will continue the efforts.

The University of Iowa can be a very tiny place indeed. Connections between people that I never expected. Yes, they all know me but turns out they all know each other too. Frightening. Another reason why it's probably for the best that I'll be leaving here soon.

Honor Me

I was invited to join Phi Beta Kappa so that was a pleasant thing. I didn't pay much attention to it until I got a bunch of emails from all my Classics professors. Guess I'll update the resume (I don't have a complete resume yet; it's been on my to-do list for 3 months). I have many things on my list, none of which I will accomplish tonight.

Sunday night

Ben Folds concert was good. He played some new stuff which I rather liked. Eef Barzelay opened and he was also good. Now i"m staying up late and not doing work. The work most notably being workshops for my nonfiction class. I read the pieces and got slammed with spiritual epiphanies, affairs, and parents dying. I can't handle that right now so I just put them down and turned on the TV. I know, I know. Sometimes I just need my mind to be blank though and now's one of those times. Especially because I seem to be in the midst of some sort of drama of which I was unaware. Perhaps I unwittingly did something wrong? Offended someone? The course of action here is to simply ask people if there is drama and if I should be concerned.

Too long?

Tonight's the second night of the epic Tour de Bars. We'll be hitting up Gilbert Street and probably causing a little trouble. I'm anxious to see the shirts and to see how the turnout is tonight. We did well with Retirement night but now it'll be easier to identify who's really on the tour. Also, I can't go out other nights because then my weekend is completely lost. Spring break is soon; I'll be better then.

Definitely, Maybe: A cute movie.