Start of a brand new blog!

Have been in town for almost three months. Job status: unemployed, with sporadic babysitting gigs that allow me to buy enough gas to run my car for a week or two. Maybe one of those subpar heat and eat Indian entrees that are supposedly "Suitable for vegetarians" too. Note: if thou art a history major deadset against teaching and uncertain about grad school, then be prepared to work retail or watch a lot of daytime tv. Or eat good food that often. I can't even find a job as a secretary because I don't have 1 year experience in an office setting. Ok, it's basically answering phones and typing stuff. Is 1 year experience really that important? Kindergarten kids can answer phones and use computers. Not hard, mmkay?

Pfft. The Sequel.

Graduation is exactly two months away. I'm trying not to think about it, really. Partially because I have so much other stuff to do, but also because I feel like I started freshman year yesterday and I'm not quite sure I'm ready to leave. Yeah, I've had my complains about this place, but the whole college experience is something I'll never have again. Supposedly graduate school is the new college, but how much truth is there in that statement? Graduate school is where you go to get a degree that will earn you an actual living (but only if you're a humanities or psych major-- everyone else pretty much has it made), so means no more slacking off. Showing up to class in pajamas will be out, as will late night trips to WaHo (that's Waffle House to you-- that unfortunate clotter of Southern arteries) followed by the late nights spent awake wishing you had just stayed home. What else will I be missing out on? Major study sessions which have all ended in one of three ways.
1) A trip to Waffle House
2) Duck chasing. Nuff said.
3) A nervous breakdown by one or more people.
The higher the number of people having breakdowns is directly related to how
challenging the study guide is. The biggest ever group hissy fit: US
Diplomatic History

Having no classes on Tuesday is a little bit of a drag. Yeah, I'll be really glad about that a little later on in the semester when I have to seriously start working on my senior thesis, but now it's a little boring.

Last night I went to a Green Student United meeting, and managed to be appointed chair of the waste reduction committee. As chair, I get to help get the school adopt some sort of recycling program, and figure out how much trash the school as a whole gets rid of. That will probably involve, though I try not to think about it, getting up close and personal with the trash. Nah, I can handle it.

Having survived my first few days back at school, I can honestly say that I feel pretty good about being back up here. Despite everything. Everything being that I have to write a senior thesis, take the GRE, get my grad school applications in, get the fat naked guy to stop lurking by my window, and find a way to get Sallie Mae to quit screwing with me. "Dear Ms. B---, Congratulations on graduating early. Screw you. Now pay us a bunch of stupid fees that normal students don't have to pay."

Last Days of Summer

So yeah, school is right around the corner. I have mixed feelings about this. I'm thrilled that pretty soon I won't have to worry about the whole secret double life thing, but I am less than thrilled to be going back to isolated College Town. Also the girls in the dorm last year wouldn't ever shut the fuck up. Maybe it'll be different this year. Either that or I'll have to introduce them to the wonder that is Tylenol PM.

Despite having the last week and a half off work (gotta love being a contingent), all I've managed to do is pack up two boxes for back to school, totally messing up my room in the process. Oh yeah, thanks to my mother's Swiss-made food chopper, one of my fingers is a little bit shorter than it used to be. My accomplishments are few, but massive. Because hey, lets face it, only the massively clumsy can manage to slice off 1/8 of a pinky finger. And only the massively lazy can boast about having packed up two boxes. After I found my IPod ("missing" since early May), I lost interest in the packing.

Three months

Poor neglected little blog. Poor overworked little blogger. Place of Employment is crushing my soul. Asheville weekends rock though. Where else can one run around a hotel built on a mountain (and come really close to crashing a wedding-- whoops), fall off a chair at the JCC pool, read really funny parts of Cosmopolitan out loud at Barnes and Noble, and bake vegan cookies for an extremely lactose intolerant Israeli camp counselor?

Ok, maybe you can do those things anywhere.

On no longer being SLAMmed

Yesterday was my school's first ever undergrad research symposium, oddly named SLAM. I'm not the world's best public speaker, and yet I did a presentation. I can practice for hours, and I did, but then I step out on stage and my mind goes completely blank. Somehow I managed to survive the presentation without a) running out of the theatre, b) having another mini-breakdown in which I questioned my sanity, or c) making people fall asleep in their chairs. My good feelings about my presentation kinda evaporated after the college sweetheart gave her presentation, but hey, that's life. I'm kinda glad that we were presenting in the same session. There would have been a lot less people there without her.

Our keynote speaker was, pretty much, the world's foremost scholar on hip hop. Visit her website, she's awesome! Hip hop and rap aren't my favorite genres, but after hearing Dr. Rose's lecture, I was struck by the urge to start listening to more rap and hip hop. Funny how easily something/someone can come along and change your entire opinion.

It's also funny how an entire college campus can piss and moan about having to go to all the presentations, but then have no problem showing up for an iPod drawing. Ahh, people.