Woolgathering

What just happened?

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 18:14:55 GMT

Weirdest thing happened last night. I went to bed at about one, and woke up at about four in the morning to a splitting pain in my eyebrow. It wasn't internal like a headache. It was certainly in my eyebrow. It finally woke me up enough that I was like "maybe I should take a look at this," so I wandered into the bathroom to find a gash about a quarter inch long, and wide, just under my right eyebrow. Bleeding and everything. What the fuck?

Once I've got a bandaid on there, I go to my room and try to puzzle out what the hell happened. There's nothing on the bed that used to be on the window sill, and for that matter nothing that was on the window over my head was heavy enough to have done that kind of damage. It doesn't look or feel like a cat scratch. The only thing I can think of is that I must have knocked my head into the window sill while turning over in my sleep. Which would have required that I pretty much smack my head into the wall as well, since the sill only sticks out maybe a centimeter. But it's the only thing that makes even a modicum of sense.

Two hours later I wake up to what sounds like Simon hurking in the hallway, though I couldn't find any cat puke when I hauled my ass up to look around.

In short, not a great night. And now I have to haul ass to get all the way to the other side of town to Fabric Depot for cotton yarn. Decided to knit my dad dishtowels for Christmas. With music notes on them. Hope he likes them. Might also get him $5 on the iTunes store.

I should get on that.

Of the first dream I remember nothing, except that it ended with a bizarre strong pain in my eyebrow. Wonder where that might have come from.

In the second dream, one of the girls from my Enviro.sci class was telling me that she met my dad, and he told her that he was disappointed in me, and she thought he was an alcoholic and a psychopath. I asked what evidence she had for the latter, which mostly amounted to "he was drinking at the party", which I dismissed. Then Irisa was my roommate, and I was asking her if we were gonna get together with her friend Meghann to watch Firefly.

Then there was a bit of dream that was inspired by a combination of Dirty Jobs, Cake Wrecks, and going to bed peckish. Some people were getting married, and their wedding cake was fashioned in a huuuuge elaborate beautifully decorated (and fondant-free!) pig. Mike Rowe was there making his usual commentary, and the cake was delicious. Someone commented on my shoes, saying I must really have liked my toes to have them stick out like that (even though when I looked down I was wearing shiny tealish pumps that didn't show my toes at all).

And that's when I woke up to my cat hurking. And decided to have a slice or two of turkey while I was up, because I was famished.

So weird a dream.

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:53:37 GMT

Dreamed I was cooking, like, all the food in the world or something. I was following the directions of some kind of cooking show, and I spent all day cooking and eating, cooking and eating. My "roommate" came out and asked if he could have the TV yet (this was an entirely fictional house, with an entirely fictional roommate). I said yeah, sorry about the mess, I'll do the washing up later. He then told me I couldn't do the washing up, because he had a personal doctor. Or something. I was confused even in the dream.

I went out back to my tent, where apparently I slept, and chased a family of mice out from under it.

Then there was some kind of talent contest going on, where you had to do whatever it was you were good at while masturbating to orgasm. So this lady would be playing the piano one-handed while the other was busy. Or this guy who juggled. That was impressive. And then like 20 minutes later you had to do it again. Apparently that was to test your endurance? I dunno.

And then there were big troughs cut through Mt Tabor, because people living on the middle bit wanted privacy?

It was a weird dream.

Anyway, I get my iPod today, woot! :-D Going over there as soon as I finish my coffee. Also taking back my library books. I hope they're open. If not, I ain't payin' no late fee.

Grades!!

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 05:32:37 GMT

I did it!! :D :D :D

Stats: B
Spanish: B- (!!)
Comp.Relig: A
Enviro.Sci: A
Seminar: A

GPA, fall term 2009: 3.488

I'm pizazzed. I was totally counting on a C in Spanish and a B- in math, but I'm safe!! Huzzah!

And now, that bath I was talking about.

Bathtime, and my roommates suck.

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 04:49:49 GMT

What the crap. I'm gonna whack my roommates with a baseball bat when they get back. They left in the middle of last week, and put the thermostat up to friggin NINETY before they left. Felt like a sauna in here when I walked in. And it's been empty almost a week. So wrong, on two points.

Anyhoo. I'm back in Forest Grove for a couple reasons. One, to drop off library books and pick up my iPod, which is waiting for me in the PIC. Also, to take advantage of my roommates not being here and take a friggin BATH. With candles and smelly shit and bubbles and the WORKS. I just finished making a Bath playlist in iTunes. I'm stoked.

First, I'm eating beans n rice and turning the thermostat OFF. I seriously hope they don't have winter 3 classes. I'm REALLY looking forward to not having to deal with them until February.

One of those awesome immersion dreams, rich with color and detail.

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:39:53 GMT

I dreamed of Jamaica last night. Blue waters and bright sun, dark, happy people with pearl-white smiles. It was a city on ropes, in trees over the water, and I was clumsy as I tried to manage the rope bridges and keep my balance. I witnessed the death of a corrupt politician, by murder, by a woman who framed the maid. I met a wise old man who looked remarkably like Candle Guy. He asked if I'd had anything to smoke in my time here in Jamaica, and I shook my head sadly no. So we passed the bong back and forth on our way down to the harbor.

There he had to pass away, into the sea - there was a feel of legend to this moment. He left his pipe of clay to me and turned his daughters into goldfish, and we passed into the sea and were never seen again.

I remember floating in the shallow blue water for quite some time, drifting along from harbor to harbor, clutching the pipe of clay. I only barely surfaced when I needed fresh air, and there were long intervals between. It was night now, and things were that deep dark ocean blue, the people mere silhouettes in the moonlight.

I floated toward another harbor, where something drastic was happening. I heard the whirring of a saw, saw flashes like the welding of steel. With a sense of dread I swam under one of the ramps. There was a collection of young people all watching what was going on. The people were building something. I couldn't tell what, but I could tell that the sound was disturbing to the stillness of the water. It made me unhappy.

My head bumped the ramp and lifted it off its moorings. As I put it back in its place, two of the young people turned from the proceedings and asked what I was doing here. "I've come to see what's going on," I said. They asked where I'd come from, and I pointed back the way I'd swum and said "Across the bay... Jamaica." They asked if I had anything to smoke, and I pulled out the pipe of clay, which amazingly still had a fresh green bud in it. We passed it around, and the sharp noise of industry turned into a concert, bright and noisy still, but invigorating instead of disturbing. I wanted to get closer, but I didn't want to leave the water, so I made do, and wondered if maybe the fish liked listening to our music.

I woke up with the same headache I went to sleep with, which is always disappointing.

sleep

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 06:49:58 GMT

Intensity: 3
Duration/time: crept up on me sometime in the last few hours.
Methods of alleviation: I'm going the fuck to bed pretty quick here. Also had some water.
Probable cause: Tiredness, bad posture... and I think this one might actually have something to do with my TMJ. I've noticed myself clenching a lot today. Don't know if I'm actually doing it more or just noticing for some reason, but... ::shrug::

Also, I'm inexplicably hungry. I've had soup and toast and spaghetti, but for some reason I still find myself peckish. I need some jerky or trail mix or something I can nosh in my room. Grah.

Sleep time now.

Ode to a Great Class

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 02:14:31 GMT

I am gonna miss that class so hard. All my other classes I'm just happy to be done with, but Greer? He was fabulous, and the class was amazing. I want to have him teach me friggin everything. Him and Ross and Sarah Bentley-Quintero. Maybe Dr Ken too, but I didn't have as much of a personal attachment to him. He was just a more than decent chem teacher.

I liked this class because it had the feel of a conversation. Sometimes it would be me and Greer going back and forth for half the class - him talking and me answering and asking shit. Then other people would hop in and say their bits, but if it was silence after his questions or his propoundings, if no one else had anything to say, I would. By the end it was like, my duty to keep the conversation moving. Other people got up the gumption to talk more too, but I was always the one with an answer to just about everything.

This was the most relaxed final ever. It was totally just hang out and chat for a while. Only half the class showed up, which was a relief (and it was only worth a few points of extra credit anyway). So it was just the core people who'd been the main contributors, who were there for every class and always engaged - hanging out and talking about our ethnographic experiences. It appears that tea and cookies is pretty much the common denominator of all religious services. Afterward I told Greer what I said at the top - I'm glad to be done with everything else, but this class was sanity all term, and I'm sad to see it go. He said, "I know you shouldn't tell students this, but this was like, the best class - so many interesting people," and he said he was really glad to have me in the class, glad that I spoke up because I always had something interesting to say, and that I saved his ass a few times when he'd just be mumbling along, and I'd pick up on it and respond, and... ::sigh:: I'm so happy. You know that teacher crush you can get sometimes? When it's not necessarily I want to bone you, but definitely I love you, for your mind and your awesomeness. This was Greer. Like Ross Kouzes before him, Greer was fabulous in how he could engage and enlighten, allow the classroom to become a sanctuary where your brain evolves and changes, absorbs and synthesizes. Being a truly good teacher takes a few things: charisma; confidence; enthusiasm for your subject matter. Greer has these things in spades.

The fact that he looked rather like David Tennant of course didn't hurt in the slightest. (Only with less hair and a pointy little goatee. And if anything, he was scrawnier. Hardly healthy, that.)

And he's got the coolest first name ever. Aarons unite!

And on that very positive note, I am DONE WITH FINALS and DONE WITH THIS TERM. ::doing a dance::

In other news, it's raining. It's been so dry lately. I've quite missed the rhythm of rain outside the window. Very soothing.

And I want yellow chicken curry like WOH.

A meme.

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:18:15 GMT

First sentence of the first post from each month this year...

January: "I haz a successful MP3 player!!"

February: "Being productive today."

March: "There is absolutely NOTHING milky in the fridge to put in my coffee."

April: "Spanish: Not exactly the kind of class you want to frequent when you still have a chest cold."

May: "Some say the world will end in fire" (yes, I was quoting Robert Frost.)

June: "Things that are out of the way:"

July: "Excellent day at the river beach."

August: "Allowing myself to pig out on the leftovers from two separate dinners over the weekend, because I'm going to the gym later on."

September: "You know how when you're a little kid, a week or a month seems like forever, because your total sum of time contains so few of them?"

October: "Grr."

November: "Trying not to have a panic attack."

December: "You know, I probably could have learned Spanish a lot better had I tried writing fic in it."

Sarah has reassured me by doing the math that the worst I can do is a B- in math. Which is annoying, but better than a C. I've got my ethnography and all the answers to the final questions written, typed, and ready to be printed, and I'm feeling pretty decent about my final final.

In just a few hours, I WILL BE DONE. I'm so pleased.

I kinda want to take my Bath tonight, but I have only two wimpy candles and no bubble-making stuff, or bath soak, nor anything I like to put in my baths. I could, um, bus into Portland, grab stuff, and come back out here for the evening? ... Meh. Or I could wait until next week when I can actually have the whole suite to myself. Holy crap that'll be awesome.

Well, shit.

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 19:14:58 GMT

I guess I should have anticipated that.

The problem is, I never remember that the shit we learned way back when even exists, so naturally I don't think to study it before the final. Which I guess is a problem because that means my long-term memory of it was shite. But fuck. We haven't calculated a straight-up probability in MONTHS, and there are two of them on the test. That wasn't in the practice problems, dammit!

::SIGH::

Out of ten questions, I managed seven of them with no issues at all. Did those in the first hour. Then I spent the next hour and a half beating my brain on a brick wall trying not to fucking cry. In the end I wound up grasping at straws, groping in the dark, scouring the index and the early chapters of the book looking for ANYTHING that might be helpful. URGH. ::kicks self::

Yeah, fuck it. And the prof said this final is worth something like 30% of our grade. Fucking hell. I was doing just fine in this stats class until today. If I get a fucking C on the final... I mean, I HOPE it wouldn't drop me down from a solid B all the way to a C. But it might. It probably will drop me to a B-.

Hurk. I was feeling so good before the test and so good for the first 7/10. Now... guh. Fucking world. I need to go kick some shit.

::siiiigh::

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 03:20:07 GMT

I wish I could say I were studying. I really do.

Which I suppose means I should study, instead of writing this LJ entry.

I had a dream about Carl Sagan last night. I was all puppy-crushing on him, and following him around like a shadow wanting to talk to him, shake his hand, tell him I loved him and his books. Finally (in a Taco Bell), I went up to him and resolved to shake his hand. And when I did, he didn't let go, but looked me right in the eye and started *talking* to me. He told me ten rules to never forget (which, of course, I've now forgotten - some of them were really silly, and one of them was about the arrow of time and singularities), and we just shared this awesome connectedness where I was about to cry and he just looked supremely happy. I think he kissed my hand? I remember that his was very very warm, and he spun me around a couple of times and held my hand for a very long time. It made me happy.

Then I was buying illicit merchandise. So, uh, dunno where that comes from.

Then I woke up all curled up with my kitty, and proceeded to skype a D&D encounter during breakfast while I wrote something for comp.relig. Heh, I'm awesome.

Wow. HA! Wow.

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 17:11:22 GMT

Ok. So first, I thought the final was at 8 when it was in fact at 8:30. Oh well, so I got an extra half hour to study with the peeps who were there.

So Deke hands out the case studies before the test. My 80% bullshit paper got a 92% A and a "Good job!". Whatcha. My powers of bullshittery are massive.

Then I see a grade in purple up at the top. He tells us that this is our grade in the class as it stands now, before the final. There too is a 92% A. Alright. That means this final won't hurt me too much, even if I didn't get as much studying done as I maybe should have.

Then about five minutes into the test he says "Oh, and by the way, I forgot to mention... If you like your grade in purple, you can hand me back the test and walk out right now, and that grade is what you get."

Everyone sits there stock-still for a moment, then "What??" "You're kidding, right?" "Seriously?" "Thanks Deke, that would have been nice to know!" And half the freaking class leaves. Myself included, because you know what? Fuck that final. I have an A in environmental science.

Which means that I can probably count on 3 As this term, something I haven't dared think I might get since WAY early - like September. And if I manage to scrape my ass up to a B or a B- in Spanish, then fuck, I have NOTHING to worry about.

Oh man. I could be pissed off that I woke up hours earlier than I really needed to this morning, or that I got frostbitten fingers for nothing at all, or worried that my case study grade (60/65, which comes out to 92%) is the same as my (92%) grade in the class, (what if he got them mixed up and I'm actually riding a B - that'd be a bummer at this point). Ok, so maybe I am a little worried about that last one. But those others? Not. Because I have an A in environmental science, and I didn't have to take the final.

Huzzah.

ETA: And now I found out I've won an iPod! And all I had to do was fill out a survey! Today's been a good day!

Procrastinatrix....

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 06:05:56 GMT

Yet again, studying that totally did not happen.

::sigh::

S'not my fault that half of what Deke has on the study guide wasn't in my notes.

... Or maybe it is. Would be if I hadn't been so stubborn in writing my own notes instead of taking his stupid lecture-outline things. I hate when professors micro-manage like that.

My head hurts. Not like yesterday, mind, but enough. I think I'm getting a cold. Stuffy and snerfly and coughing a bit, and my nose constantly itches like I need to sneeze. When I do sneeze, it's not entirely satisfying, but it is quite forceful.

I should go get my laundry and go the fuck to bed.

It sucks when you need boots, legwarmers, three sweaters, a coat, a scarf and a hat just to go twelve steps to collect your laundry. I keep seeing people walking around in jogging shorts and I'm like "WTF U CRAZAY IZ LIKE 12 DEGREES UP IN HEA."

They're always walking very quickly, I might add.

Fuck today.

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 05:49:13 GMT

Ok, so I finally wake up from a nap at like 4:30 - I've lost track of how many naps I took today. I basically just slept whenever I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore, which was most of the time. Anyway, I woke up at like 4:30 and I think "OH THANK GOD", because my head doesn't feel like it's been hit with a flying freight train, and I don't feel like I'm about to barf if I roll over too quickly. Hurray!

So of course that means I get right to work on studying for my Spanish test tomorrow morning.

Right.

Ok, you can stop laughing now.

No, as a matter of fact, it does not. I've totally looked at my Spanish book for a grand total of 15 minutes today, and no, I'm not pleased by it, and no, I could not be doing that instead of writing this right now because screw it, I'm done. Done. Fuck this Spanish class. Even if I get a C, it won't totally ruin my GPA, I can still keep above a 3.0 and so long as I stay afloat next term, I'll keep my scholarship for next year and that, my friends, is all that fucking matters.

I still feel like a dumbass for getting myself so off my head last night and suffering so long today. I totally did not mean to do that. ::Siiiiiigh:: The one time I go out all freaking term, and it's the day before I have to study for the final I'm the most worried about. Fucking idiot.

::sigh:: And now Guitar Guy is shredding his death metal upstairs. Fucking asshole.

I'm gonna go stick my face in a book.

Swimmy.

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 18:34:45 GMT

Paying the price for last night's partay. Shoulda had more water. And something to eat. Or some asprin. Or something. Point is, I'm feeling a little delicate right now.

I didn't quite realize how drunk I really was until they dropped me off here at home. Then it was like... woah...

Time was I could drink like a fish and not get a hangover. Ever. I would drink as much or more than I had last night and the next morning perk right up and say "Hello world!". No longer. What changed? Did my metabolism slow down? Was I smarter back then about how to avoid it? Did that one Epic hangover with August kill my liver enough that I will now experience delicacy every morning after? bleh.

Well. I guess I'd better go, like... try to study Spanish. Or go shopping in the 16 degree weather. Bluh.

I love long dreams like this.

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:24:57 GMT

Fascinating dreams last night. I met Redge on the bus and we actually, like, made eye contact and started talking, and then we were going to Sylvia's house and gonna have a party of some kind. I think there was gonna be anime? And I was supposed to bring some kind of foodstuff?

Then he was gone, and Captain Jack Harkness was chasing a weevil through the streets of Portland. The 57 was on Woodstock for no apparent reason, and Jack had to call the bus driver to open the doors while driving so that he could jump out and catch the weevil. He didn't make it, wound up chasing it down a side-street, the weevil always just out of reach. (Some people have dreams where they're chased by monsters. I have dreams where dashing heroes chase monsters. ::shrug:: ) When he finally caught it, he (who was then turning into I) looked through the pockets and found a big wad of business cards and random scraps of paper, like you'd find in a wallet that hadn't been cleaned out in far too long.

I went back to Woodstock, intending to head for Papaccino's, and stopped briefly to fill out a survey for a pizza place I'd never been to, but had been in the weevil's pocket.

When I got to Papaccino's, it looked closed and deserted, but I went in anyway. Abbey Road started playing. The new manager guy came out, and come to think of it he looked rather like my Spanish professor, but I didn't make the connection at the time. He asked what I wanted, and I said I was looking for a job. Told him I'd worked here before and loved it and wanted to come back. He looked skeptical and said he did all the work around here - except the baking. On cue, the baker came out, and she looked rather like Chelsea, whom I did used to work with at Papaccino's. She started making drinks, and all of the sudden the place was full of people, and my dad was there. We kept standing at the counter, talking about what we wanted to drink.

A girl who was sitting by the window started playing a drum very very loudly. I was offended. She was interrupting Here Comes the Sun. When she reached a calm point, everything went silent, and into this awkward quiet my dad said something like "If she keeps playing that we'll all feel very harassed." The girl hid the drum behind her back and, looking very upset, said something like "I didn't touch his genitals. ::pout::"

Then the Chelsea girl handed me a cup of black coffee and said "Here, you can have a breve." I had wanted my hazelnut latte. Dad told me to go behind the counter and get my hazelnut - practically shoved me back there. I did - the bottles were all weirdly slender and pretty, not your typical torrellini bottles - and then scurried back to the customer side of the counter. I was just wondering whether I should go back and steam my own milk as well when I started to wake up. I had Here Comes the Sun in my head, and felt very very rested. Ten hours of sleep will do that to a person.

And now I'm reading about voudo. I really am.

Oof.

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 03:01:45 GMT

Tired. BUT ALMOST DONE.

Case study is 80% bullshit, but it's turned in on time. I'm almost done with homework. Just have one reading for tomorrow's comp.relig, and then all I have to do is study for and pass my finals. Wow I am so ready.

Three of my four finals are at 8 or 8:30 in the morning. LAME SAUCE. And the one that's later, the one at 3pm, is the easy one, for comp.relig. Stand up and talk about our ethnography for a few minutes. Spanish, enviro.sci, and math - in other words, the ones that take REAL brainpower - are all bright and early. Why do they do this to me? XP

And I do think I'm getting a cold. I feel all congested and snerfly and want to sleep. Maybe it's just finalsitis.

Speaking of cold, holy fuck it's freezing lately. I mean it literally. It hasn't got above freezing in like two days. Y helo thar wintr, nice to see you again. Kinda.

It hasn't been precipitating though. If it were, it'd be snowing. People keep predicting snow, but there is just no moisture in the air. We've been having weird winters of late here in the Pacific Northwest. Y'know. Snowy. And not solid rain for 5 months. It's weird.

Other people say it won't snow this year, because it never snows two years in a row in Oregon. They haven't been paying attention. It's snowed that last, what, three years running?

I want to be asleep. I really really do.

ETA: Intensity: 4.5 (It had crept up to about an 8 by the time I went to bed. Maybe 8.5.)
Duration/time: Been creeping up since, let's call it 3. Right side, muscular.
Methods of alleviation: Coffee, water, nap, none of them helpful. (Water superficially. Nap just seemed to make it worse.) Should probably try taking something. (Took ibuprophen late, and it didn't do squat.)
Hypothesized cause: Tension, possibly sleep deprivation.

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 03:03:43 GMT

::Siiiiigh:: What the hell brain.

I hate this fcking case study. But that doesn't excuse wasting time reading fic. Ruddy thing's due tomorrow, and it's barely half finished. And I've still got my Spanish composition to do after, too.

Dear Deke,

Not every paper must be written in lock-step. Your "answer the questions" method does not make for very good paper-writing, and having to conform to your format makes it REALLY difficult to actually, oh, write, to get some momentum going, to build a structure and presentation that makes sense. So if you get a jumble of facts and assertions that looks like my dog spat up on it, don't come running to me. It's your own bloody fault.

Also, it'd be nice to know what your expectations are as far as, oh, LENGTH. Like, how the hell detailed do you want us to go? There are whole books that are basically the answer to ONE of your questions. Would you like me to recite the whole history of agriculture, from neolithic on forward? Because the only indication you give is that we'll be graded based on "how thoroughly you answered the questions and the amount of effort you put into this project." So... would you like me to write a book? Well that's a fine fuck you too.

Sincerely,
Disgruntled Student #3849

In other news, some girl just came to the door offering brownies, but since none of my roommates knew I was home I didn't get any. I guess that's what I get for not blasting my hip hop music.

Sleeeeeeeep

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 07:05:25 GMT

Muh. This case study is going to be annoying.

So I've come into Portland so that I may go to the study gathering Sarah's having. She came out to Forest Grove and gave me a ride.

I hate how the questions are formulated for this case study. It's either ridiculously broad ("What is the problem?") or ridiculously specific ("what governments are responsible for the problem?"). I've ended up with plenty of answers to questions 1, 5 (and by extension 6), and a few for 3 and 4, and I've brainstormed some answers to 2, 7, and 8. It's just hard to sort of synthesize them. Gurh.

Anyway. My knees hurt.

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 01:22:29 GMT

Intensity: 5
Duration/time of day: Crept up around noon, during stats, was really bad by enviro.sci lab.
Methods of alleviation: Water, nap, both unhelpful, just had a Maxalt, we'll see if that does anything this late in the game. Came with a feeling of sick, so might be migraine-related. It's very much in my face though, the whole left side behind my eye. We'll see.
Possible causes: Honestly, I don't know. It came up right after I ate lunch, but I can't think what might have caused it. Too much garlic? Salt? Rosemary? Dunno. The sick feeling intensified after I ate two brownies and a little tart thing at lab (Deke brought treats), but I don't think that was the direct cause.

So Sarah's gonna come pick me up in a couple hours and take me to Portland for her study party tomorrow. Which means cuddles tonight. Grin!

I made it through this week alive! That's dance-worthy. Now just two more days of regular class, then finals, and then it's OVER. For a while. Anyway, I found out that I have three finals in two days next week, which is freaking bollocks. Spanish at 8:30 on Thursday, which reminds me, I'll have to email the library folks that I can't work the slot I was scheduled to work because it overlaps with Spanish. And then comp.relig later - though that really won't be too bad. Stand up, talk about your ethnographic experience for a few minutes, call it good. And then enviro.sci final on Friday. Why the FUCK are both of the finals I was kinda worried about a) first, b) ass-early in the morning, c) back to back days. Blarghle.

It's been bitter-winter cold of late. People keep saying it's gonna snow. I say, not yet. Winter is here, but hasn't settled in to stay just yet. This is the first cold snap, and it won't snow until the second or third. Some say it won't snow at all this year, since apparently it never snows two years in a row in western Oregon. Bollocks to that, it's snowed the past like three years running. Just because last year's was particularly intense and long-lived doesn't mean there wasn't snow the year before.

Unless I'm imagining things and there really wasn't, but I'm pretty sure there was. And I know there was snow the year before that, I remember it making me late to work when I was at Papaccinos. Busiest day ever, that.

I'll stop wittering now.

And probably go curl up in a ball until my head explodes. Or the headache goes away. Whichever comes first.

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:32:46 GMT

Dreamed last night that I was working in a coffee shop, and all the clubs and things that I signed up for earlier in the year showed up to ask why I hadn't come to any of the meetings. I was torn between sitting with them having a good time and doing the work I was supposed to be doing. And then I was getting on the bus with Sarah, and the seats were all jumbled in at odd directions. For some reason I thought it was... cute?

Anyway. Sleeping past 8 constitutes a serious lie-in these days. Man it was nice. (And totally not the fault of staying up until 1 reading fic. Nope.)

Mmmm, coffee. With eggnog and cinnamon. Wintery heaven.

OI.

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 05:29:23 GMT

SERIOUSLY WHY CAN I NOT STOP FUSSING WITH MY DAMN ICONS.

I think I've almost got the moment's perfect batch now, though. I'm pleased with it, at least. For the moment.

Ianto, however, is exasperated. He would be. I am.

Went over to my Spanish TA's dorm and she helped me with my composicion. I wish I'd spent more time with her this term, getting tutoring and things. Probably would have helped immensely. Part of my problem with the class has been that I need that feedback on my homework, so that I don't learn it wrong and not get it corrected until the test. Going to tutoring would probably have helped fill that gap.

Anyway, after we corrected my thing we sat around chatting for like an hour. That was fun. Though I might now be sort of committed to actually showing my face at the party on Saturday. Did I mention that? The roommates are having a party on Saturday - a going away party for Ivana, so that's nice, but... really, the Saturday before finals? C'mon guys. ::sigh:: At least they warned me this time. And invited me to come out and play. Which I guess was nice, since I haven't exactly been receptive to them in the past. I've turned myself into a bit of a shut-in. ::shrug:: I guess I'll go to the party (not that I'll have to go far) this weekend and see how socializing works. Helen will be there. (That's the TA, btw.) So I'll have at least one person to talk to.

I guess I should get to work correcting my composicion now. Ought to do it now while I remember all her advice.

OW.

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:14:24 GMT

UTERUS. BAD. TIMING.

Ok, so it was my birth control's timing. My point stands.

OW.

So, Spanish test? ::siigh:: We'll see. It could have gone worse, but...

Whatever. I'm done caring.

Also when I handed in my (four) cultural activity write-ups, Victor said to me in this Very Disappointed tone of voice "You know you're leaving everything to the last minute?" Yeah, fuck you too, asshat. Your students are all stressed to tears and trying very very hard not to sink, and you think berating someone for actually turning stuff in, and NOT on the very last day of class, is a good way to encourage them? Fuck off.

And now I play Farmville. Or go back to sleep.

Am I crazy yet?

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 07:23:07 GMT

You know, I probably could have learned Spanish a lot better had I tried writing fic in it.

Not that the vocabulary I learned that way would do me much good on the exam.

Heh. I said "do me."

OK SORRY I'M REALLY REALLY TIRED.

Garh. That exam is in just under nine hours and I want to spend most of that asleep, but... yeah, studying? Totally... happened.

No really.

... yeah, no it didn't.

Book didn't even get in my lap.

But now my eyes are going all fuzzy, and I really have spent most of today at least THINKING about Spanish. I managed to get TWO of my five required "actividades culturales" out of the way in one day today. How's that for workin' the system? And I wrote the write-ups for both of them, AND called my dad to talk family history for the next composicion, AND... um. I know there was something else I did.

... No, that was it.

Right. I was supposed to do some studying for the exam. But I didn't.

Cos I'm a sucker like that.

PS: Email is to snail mail as Twitter is to postcards. Eh? Eh?? Am I or am I not an analogical genius?

... Don't answer that.

This isn't helping.

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 06:00:17 GMT

Intensity: In waves, 2.5-3.75
Duration/time of day: Crept up around six or so, been sorta coming in waves since. Always low-grade, but with a lot of visual distortion and disorientation, kinda dizziness.
Methods of alleviation: Water. (Kinda helped?)
Probable causes: Sleep deprivation, stress, overdose of John Barrowman.

Yeah, I spent most of the evening watching vids of the Torchwood cast on various panels. Mostly the notably innuendo-laden bits, obviously. It's funny how all you have to do is get John and Gareth in the same room (or hell, just John, in any combination, but it seems particularly stellar with Gareth around) and the naughty just flows. As it were.

... I did a couple math problems. And I... sorta thought about that interesting-family-story assignment. (C'mon, Erin, you only need five or six sentences for that, the bare bones. Surely you can do at least that before you sleep?)

Yeah. AND, I did the reading for tomorrow, and came up with a question or two and something to say about it (for my Text Analysis, capital T capital A, oh I really have been hangin' with the Innuendo Squad, haven't I?). And I went shopping. Actually I did both of those at just about the same time. How's that for multitasking? (Or rather, I read on the bus.) So that was some real productivity. It amounted to about two hours of the entire afternoon, but.

I also turned in my time card. And made a to-do list for the rest of the week, organized by day. So I have no excuse for not doing those things on those days.

Whatever. I'll come up with a story about an interesting family member, write my sentences, and then sleep. Yeah. That's a day.

Inane babble.

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 23:27:09 GMT

Just got my last Spanish composicion back. It looks rather like he peed on it in green ink. ::sigh:: Guess I've got some corrections to do. (This wasn't the one I just turned in today, btw. Last one.)

Anyway, I've now spent FAR too long fussing with my LJ icons and I REALLY ought to go to the store. Or do homework. Or something constructive, because I think I've been fiddling with my icons for like an hour, at least. That's even worse than wasting time on farmville. ::sigh:: They're, like, almost half Torchwood. Again. Or still, I'm not sure which. Might be more than half. Shuddup, I like Torchwood, and they make pretty icons. :P

Ok. PRODUCTIVITY HO.

ETA: I did a count. (Because that's totally productive.) Out of 49 icons, 2 are Star Trek, 3 are seasonal, 5 are science-related, 5 are bookish, 7 miscellaneous, and a grand total of *27* Torchwood/Doctor Who. ::sigh:: All my best icons are TW/DW. So sue me.