So, Halloween has come and gone, and so has a few other really crazy things. We’ve gotten a boatload of snow here, as we had a crazy snowstorm over the weekend and it isn’t all gone yet!
It’s been really cold, coat weather for sure. And sweaters. And scarves. And gloves. You get the idea…
This past weekend, I got to see not only my mum, who visited for a few days for parent’s weekend, but Oliver! It was every different kind of exciting and amazing and perfect and I wish they could have both stayed for longer.
I’m starting to work on NaNoWriMo today, as I didn’t start it when Oliver was here (yesterday), and it’s actually flowing pretty well now that I’ve gotten in on it. In addition to that, I’m settled into classes by now, I think.
Oh, and I’m a zombie. For now. Hopefully I’ll make the cure mission today, and go back to being a human, but for now I feel the need to feed on my fellow students, haha.
It’s going to be an interesting second half of semester for sure!
Hello world! Been a while since I updated over here - with the new half of the semester having started, however, I’ve made a plan to ammend that.
I’ve got a few things to report on today, first of all being the ever exciting mail. Now, some of you may know that I was having problems with What Pumpkin sending me an order of prints. Well the good news is that they came today, and they’re GORGEOUS ohmygosh.
Here’s a picture of my newly adorned walls:
In addition to the prints, I also recieved a pin set:
And a package full of cool stuff from home!
Pictured: recorder (for Renaissance Music), pad thai noodles, peanut butter, comic books (BUFFY SEASON NINE IS IN THERE :D).
Not pictured: more correspondance from family lawyers on my Great Grandfather’s will, tea balls, some spices, pad thai recipe, pair of knickers, wool sweater, adorable little cat thing, can opener, gold eyeshadow palette.
It’s been getting colder around here lately, so I’ve been breaking out the winter clothes a little. Wore one of my wool coats for the first time of the season just the other day. I’m really excited for my first “real winter” as some might put it - even if the snow will probably be annoying after a while, I’m really looking forward to it.
I start two new classes next week in addition to the courses I’ve already been taking - I’m adding Renaissance Music and Costume + Prop Design + Production to my courseload for the second mod, as well as an hour of Rock Climbing on Wednesday nights, which I started this week already. My arms have been absolutely killing me for two days, but hopefully I’ll build up the muscle soon, not to mention some calluses on my hands. Definitely in pain from that.
I get my midterm grade report today from my advisor, Quincy, so I’m really sort of nervous and excited about that. Everything I’ve gotten back so far has been pretty good; I got a B on my Literary Christianity paper, despite some complications which I’ll talk about in a minute here, and 82/100 on my Bio exam, neither of which is amazing, but both of which is pretty good. I’m not sure what I got on my Philosophy paper or exam yet.
So I learned a valuable lesson with that Literature paper… Make sure to clarify what kind of seven pages the teacher wants you to write. Just because a teacher has told you to “never turn anything double spaced in to them” in the past does not mean that that also applies to term papers, apparently. Nothing like opening up your paper and finding the first comment to be a rather mystified “this is twice as long as I assigned… why didn’t you double space?” penned in the top corner of your first page. Despite all the extra trouble it caused me, I still did well on the paper, and it makes for a somewhat comedic college tale to tell if I need a go-to story, I suppose. I may have spent twice the amount of time writing that I needed to to finish it, but it was an interesting paper to write, so ce la vie.
That’s all for now, I think. I’m going to go grab some lunch!
Just got back from a trip to a local farm with my biology class, and I think I may have worked a bit too hard.
Helped pull up dead tomato plants today - I think I went a little crazy with the farm worker work ethic, as well, my hands have literally been rubbed raw, and I pulled up near sixty plants by myself. On the bright side of things, I got a bunch of tomatoes, a little baggie of late-season basil, and a handful of kale to bring home with me!
On the less bright side, my hands are burning, I’m exhausted, and my hair is completely drenched with sweat.
Time to go hunt down a shower and some olive oil! I think I’m making my own dinner tonight.
This week overall has been… not so great. I’ve been kind of intermittently sick, and as a result have missed some classes. So I’m struggling with absences as well catching up on classwork. I’m not so far behind anywhere that I can’t catch up still, however! And I’m meeting with my counselor either later today or tomorrow to talk about the issues that have been, shall we say, plagueing me lately.
Whoops, I’ve been preoccupied and forgot to update over here. Will make serious mental note to do better at keeping up with this!
Anyway, for today’s quick update, I thought I’d share what I got in the post!
First off: a whole MESS of textbooks! I got all of my books for Biology, my copy of Plato’s Symposium (just in time - we’re starting on it next week, I believe), and several of the books we’ll be reading in my Literary Christianity class, which I transferred into this last week.
Next up, some truly fabulous shoes I co-ordered from eBay with my wonderful mum. These shoes are the most adorable shoes, and also exactly what I’ve been looking for for months. I’m super happy with them!
and lastly, two Alphonse Mucha posters that you can’t see very well - a print of Les Saisons, and one of The Moon.
I’ll be back tomorrow with a more lengthy post and maybe even a video, but for today, I’ve got work to do and I’m a little bit exhausted - and I have a lecture to go to in an hour! So I’m gonna end it here, and keep it short and sweet.
Rory again. Not much to say really, except that today was not the best of days.
The weather is less hot, so that’s nice, and I did get a chance to do my laundry, AND I found my student ID, which went missing, but I managed to lose my glasses (the other ones, which I’ve been wearing more) somewhere in the room, and I’m having a lot of problems around money stuff. By which I mean, the payroll office and forms and banks and stuff.
Curse you, Murphy’s Law.
On the bright(?) side, I found like, exactly the boots I want to get for myself, so that and the prints I was planning on getting to put on my walls will likely wind up being my congratulatory gifts to myself for surviving the first week of real classes/setting up my bank account (which I hope to do on Saturday).
I was planning on doing a blog entry tonight, but I don’t have much to report on, and I’m kind of beat. And I have a bit of classwork to do for classes tomorrow.
Overall, I think I’m finally starting to really get settled in, although you wouldn’t be able to tell by the number of cardboard boxes still in my room. I’ve still got to sort a few things out, and I haven’t gotten enough free time that I didn’t really just need to relax in yet to do anything that’s nonessential to my survival yet, if you will.
Other things… well, in addition to my classwork, I’ve started attempting to teach myself the Tolkein elvish dialect of Quenya, including the writing system, tengwar, and all its orthography. It’s really fun, and I don’t feel like I’m wasting time by using learning it to unwind. I’ve also been startled to discover that, although I’ve always heard of the Finnish influence on Tolkein’s elvish languages, something that I’ve picked up from my studies so far that I hadn’t heard is how much similarity it has to Hebrew and Arabic. There’s even a few words that had me raising my proverbial eyebrows at Tolkein (matso is the Quenya root word for food, for instance). Of course, the writing system is similar, with its system of vowels going above and below the consonant letters, but the grammar is similar as well, and that’s proving very helpful in learning it.
Although I did just start, and I have quite a ways to go still.
Anyway, I’m going to draw and see if I can’t finish up my reading for my Bio class.
Transliterated, it says ‘mardryan ar rory: pedo mellon a minno’, which, in english, translates more or less to ‘home of ryan and rory: speak friend, and enter’.
Where you see me now: In a comfortable lawn chair in front of the Student Union, enjoying a bit of Ellie Goulding, a nice breeze, and a delicious apple.
Where I expected to be right now: In my Sociology 100 class.
Why I’m not there: So I just ran all over campus trying to figure out where I could access a wifi signal, so that I could check the room number and building code again. I was also hoping to track down a printer nearby to print out my Seminar coursework, which I finished this morning just before leaving for class.
Of course, as soon as I located a signal, where I’m sitting now, and opened my email to track down the building code, I was startled to find a recent email from Academic Affairs, informing me that, should I find my Sociology class, I would find it quite empty, being as Francisca (my Sociology professor - she is also my academic advisor), was very much not there, having been, at the most recent time of 11:30 am, or thereabouts, trapped in Connecticut traffic.
While I am a bit disappointed at not being able to start that class today, I’m not taking it too hard: there’s a chapter of my Philosophy book to read, and I’d love to get some drawing done out in this wonderful, summery, breezy day. I am, however, somewhat amazed by the fact that both of my courses today managed to be cancelled.
Ah well. More time to relax, I suppose. It is a beautiful day out, and I plan on enjoying it.
…I’ve also got to do laundry today, before I run out of everything. This is my last clean shirt… and pair of underwear.
Anonymous asked "not a question, just exclamations of joy!!!!!!!! Sounds like that first day was inspiring. So I am thrilled. BTW, we can order your books for Freshman Seminar online if you get me the list. We'll have then sent straight to you. I love you soooooo much. Thank you for creating this blog. Mom"
Excellent. I went ahead and bought my Philosophy book in the store, because I need to read it tomorrow, but other than that I will get you the list.
I’ve made a complete list of all the books I need for my classes so far, and I can send it to you if you’d like.
Day One: Adventures in the Mad Dash (August 29, 2011)
Hello everyone back home! Can I call it the Western Front? Because you’re all on the West Coast? Would that be amusing, or tacky? Probably tacky. And innacurrate, because I actually don’t know who’s planning on reading this.
Anyway.
If you’re here, it is, pretty much undoubtedly, because I’ve given you the link, and therefore, you are one of my close friends or family members. If you’re not well, I suppose you can read this too, but it probably won’t interest you at all.
