Hello, My Name is Grumpy

I feel like I spend all weekend trying to Get Stuff Done for the coming week, only to then spend the week Trying To Catch Up.  No wonder I never want to do anything on a Friday night - my one and only chance to sit back and relax for a few hours, without feeling  guilty.

This is what I get for taking a crazy course load and refusing to sacrifice (all of) my sanity.  (Just most of it.)

In other news, the weather has been crazy up-and-down lately, going from beautiful blue skies one day to cold, damp, and rainy but still with hints of blue another.

notice the rubber ducky? He? She? lives on the dash of my car and I have not been able to figure out if it is a
 male or a female.  Shirt is cut rather ... risque for a female, but those eyelashes are just not male.

I just want spring - to be able to go outside and enjoy nice weather on my lunch breaks, to walk to and from Thursday nights without risking slipping on ice, breaking a leg, and freezing to death.  

That is the weather I want - picture is from something in the Philadelphia Museum of Art's collection, but hell if I can remember anything about it.  (Hrm, possible final project for Museum Informatics?  Upload your pictures from the museum, and the site will (hopefully) give you information about the art?)

In happier news, I have solved the problem in Print O The Wave, turned the heel in the second sock, and gotten around to ordering more yarn for Urban Aran.  And started OpArt, for the same classmate/coworker as Sheldon.  (The baby was born last night, 11:05pm, 7lbs, 7oz, 21".  How big does the blanket need to be then?)

Hrm.  I seem to be all over the place tonight, writing is uber-sloppy, AND I'm grumpy.  Hello, February, how are you?

Why I Will Never Fall Asleep before 3am for Spring 2008

(picture at the bottom for those who wish to skim.  Not that I blame you.)


This semester is going to kill me.  At the very least, it is going to kill my sleep cycle.

I only have class three days a week.  Three days in a row, even.  A three hour class on religious conversion in the Early Modern world of the Middle East on Monday.  An hour class on research methods on Tuesday, followed by a frantic dash  across campus to my car to meet a classmate and drive 1.9miles to the local YMCA for an hour and a half of rock climbing.  And a three hour class on ethnicity and class on Wednesday.

There's also a web-based class, for which I have five exams and two papers.   Oh, and attending five events held at my place of employment.  No, I see no problems with saying "sorry, can't work then.  Instead, I have to spend my paycheck on tickets for that event."  (just a tad bitter about that one, huh.)

There's also that pesky little thing called my "undergraduate honors thesis."  Which is due April 18th.  People, I HAVE NOT YET STARTED.  I have to write 40? 80? however many pages by April 18th.  Good news is, binding margins are 1.5" on the left hand side.  I shall love that half an inch, I imagine.

I think ten pages a week until spring break is TOTALLY reasonable and doable and yes?  No?  Should I just go cry in a corner now and forget all about it?

The research methods class, while also promising to be very boring and good lord, that woman talks a lot, seems like it will help me with my thesis.  The class is designed for honors students to have help with the research part of their thesis, or even deciding on their thesis topic.  Hopefully, that shall provide a nice kick in the butt to get working.

There's also the whole "applying to grad school" thing.  Because I decided to apply rather late in the game, I didn't have time to study and take the GREs.  I found four highly respected and ALA accredited programs that do NOT require GRE scores from students with a certain GPA (or higher).  Universities of Illinois, Maryland, and Wisconsin and the Indiana University.  My first pick is decidedly Illinois, and of course, that's the only one that's complete as of yet.  Of course, that's also the school with the earliest deadline and such. After that.. I don't know.  Maryland is close to TheBoy and rent, for a not-nicely-located-to-class studio apartment will be some $800 a month.

Illinois?  Three blocks from campus, hard-wood floors, fire place, dishwasher, utilities included, and I can have a cat?  $550 a month.  For a one bedroom.  That I wouldn't have to share.  And includes parking.  AND a washing machine and dryer.  That's just from scanning Craig's List, people.  Imagine what I could find if I tried!

Of course, there's that part about whole writing essays and trying to pimp yourself, at which I suck.  "Accept me because otherwise, I will live in a cardboard box.  Also, I can read."  That's pretty much what I want to write, but somehow, I don't feel the admissions committee is going to love it.

In summary:
Four day weekend = awesome
Three day week, with classes starting at 2:30pm = not getting up before noon
Thesis = the death of me
Applying to grad school = pimpage of self, at which self sucks

Time for a kitty picture?


(This is Kit, known as the World's Most Opinionated Cat.  I'm surprised her mouth was shut in this shot, because she was NOT happy with the camera in her face.  Hence the squinted eye.  And the tail, which was most decidedly twitching.)

It's the fever talking

Well, I'm alive.  I still have yet to decide how I feel about that, but I am alive.

For some odd reason, I no longer get a stuffy nose or a runny nose when I get a cold.  Rather, I get post-nasal drip, a nasty sore throat, and pressure in my ears.  The sore throat gets worse when the coughing sets in, but then it tends to only be a few more days before I can swallow again.  There's no more tea left in the apartment, so I've been drinking hot water.  Yeah, I know.

To top it all off, I have to read a two page paper outloud in class tomorrow.  I can't stand the professor, so I would rather NOT have to explain in the beginning of class that I can't talk.  Also, the guy is going deaf, which does not help matters.

I've been knitting in one class - it is three hours long and discussion based, so he shouldn't be able to yell at me for it.  Or maybe he doesn't notice.  Who cares?

I tried Blaze on the other day, it DOES fit.  YAY!  I think I have about 6" done, only another foot or so to go.  I ought to measure the length of some of my favorite sweaters and figure out how long I want this one to be.

Ok, I can't seem to maintain brain function often enough to write a real post.  And Blogger hates pictures this evening, so no pictures for you.  Maybe, however, there will be pictures after the weekend, when I sit down and take pictures of everything that has changed since the last time I took pictures.

Christmas came a little bit early

 It has been a very few exciting days around here.

But you'll get to read the same old boring topics.  YAY for you!

I've finished with all but one class - Hist 401.  Of course, this is the class for which I must write a 20 page paper.  I'm currently on page ten and about ready to curl up in a ball and cry in his office, begging him to just give me a B+ and I'll take it, thankyouverymuch.

Something tells me that I'm just gonna have to suck it up and write the paper.  

I've only received one grade so far and oddly enough, compulsively checking eLion to see if any other grades have been posted doesn't seem to be working.  I've decided to blame technology.

The realtors made a surprise visit yesterday to make sure we're all abiding by the lease.  One section of the lease (on the bottom of page 9, actually) states that only four people get to live here.  Oddly enough, that's the one section of the lease we can't seem to get Jendrew to follow.  Surprise of surprise, they were both here when the realtors knocked on their door and she got a talking-to.  About twenty minutes later, they both left.  She's returned once, to pack up toothbrushes and medications, and we've only seen them once since.  The atmosphere here is SO much more relaxed now. 

If he spends more than two nights a week here again, we're gonna have a little talking-to ourselves.  I am, in a sick and twisted sort of way, looking forward to that very much.

I'm fairly certain that she is pissed at us, believing that we called and complained.  I find it so very satisfying that a) she is angry for getting in trouble for doing something she is not allowed to do and that we have asked her, multiple times, not to do and b) that we had nothing to do with it.  Here's to hoping that they remain not here for the rest of the school year.

To follow that wonderful Christmas surprise (I promise, there is no sarcasm what-so-ever in that sentence), Ryan locked himself out of his room.  (We have taken to locking our bedroom doors when we leave because we have reason to believe that Jendrew went through Ryan's room while he was at mass.  Papers were not were they had been left and a rather mean-spirited note that he had written to relieve stress and anger was found on top of the papers it had previously been underneath.  Plus, there were a number of holes in his practice exam, as if the exam had been stabbed with a knife.)  All told, I think he spent about two hours waiting for a locksmith to let him back in his room.  I suggested billing Jendrew for the cost of the locksmith, but the idea was vetoed.

TheUrmily had similar issues this morning, but that was related to her car and the fact that she locked not only her keys, but also her cell phone and id card in her car, making it impossible for her to either call anyone for help or return to her room and ask a neighbor for the use of their cell phone.  

There is no knitting content because I have been doing no knitting.  I sit at my computer and I type and read and read and type and play a few games of Freecell so my mouse doesn't feel as if I no longer love it.  Ryan shall have to go home hat-less, as I think it would be better if he went home in such a state and I finish this paper before it is due.  (Time: 19 hours and 45 minutes.  And I think sleep might be a good thing at some point.  Perhaps?)

There will, however, be knitting content once I get home.  We'll see how fast one can knit an applied i-cord edging to a other-wise completed hat, finish the remaining 1/4 of a sock, figure out gauge for Blaze, start upon highly complicated chart-reading-requiring socks, and go to the barn and deal with family and maybe see the boyfriend for a little bit.  And let us not forget about the holiday parties which, by definition, involve food and alcohol that is (mostly) free.

I lied

Word continues to mock me. The cursor, it sits there and blinks, waiting for me to actually WRITE something. Sometimes, it gets bored and wanders off, much like my mind (or even me, for that matter). I am stuck on BOTH papers. 

For the one, I'm just overwhelmed by the amount of information I've found. I'm writing about the domestication and early uses of the horse. There's more than enough information to go on for pages and pages, so its not like I picked a very narrow topic. Rather, I don't know where to start. I THINK I've got a rough outline, detailing the major ideas I want to discuss and a basic order for doing so. Hopefully, I can write a large portion of that tomorrow, after discussing it with my professor.  

For the other.. I have ideas, but I'm not sure where to go with them, where it is POSSIBLE to go with them. I might end up writing about The Picture of Dorian Gray, discussing influence and evil and good/bad angels.  I like the idea, I think I could carry it out for 5 pages, and I found a quote I really liked in the text.  If I can get cracking on THAT paper, I can go to office hours on Friday and see what she thinks and finish the paper and then worry about the 20 page paper over the weekend, cause writing 20 pages in two days is SO the smart thing to do. 

I've been trying not to knit.  I keep ending up staring at my blank computer screen, so maybe I should knit and let ideas float around in my head.  Hrm...  And I lied, I did break open the alpaca and knit a swatch.  And oh, good lord, am I going to LOVE this sweater.  The yarn is soft and squishy and yummy.  I don't think it will be itchy, but we'll have to see what happens when I finish it.  Worst case, I have to wear a tank top under it.  No big deal.  I'm supposed to wash my swatch.. has anyone had Knitpicks Alpaca grow/shrink when wet?   

I've started the ear flaps of Ryan's hat!  Since I put the other stitches on waste yarn, I made him try it on.  It seems to be a little bit big for him, but I think it will work out.  The addis I ended up buying are NOT a US #2, but 3mm.  So the fabric with them has a bit more drape, which I think works with that section of that hat.  I like it so far.  See?

   

Tina's sock is kinda being ignored in favor of the hat.  I think Ryan is leaving on Wednesday or Thursday of next week and I'd kinda like to be able to give it to him before he leaves.  So long as I can figure out how to knit an applied I-cord, I think that's do-able.  Clearly I'm going to be avoiding my papers enough to manage that! 

In other news, I looked at the apartment I'll have next year.  It is small - an efficiency - but actually really cute.  Unfurnished, room enough for a double bed, dresser, desk, large table, and still space to move around all of that.  The kitchen is TINY, there is about 8 square inches of counter space (really, just the edges of the cabinet the sink is in), and the kitchen floor squeaks.  I'm fairly certain that I'll end up hitting both elbows on the walls when I use the toilet and the shower stall isn't much larger.  But - it will be only me and occasionally a friend or two.   I have  a balcony (which, actually, is about the size of the kitchen).  And it is on the second floor, which is where I always seem to end up - at home, freshman and sophomore year, at the apartment over the summer, this year, and next year. 

I'll leave you with one of my favorite toys ever.  It's actually a doggie toy, but hasn't been touched by doggies.  There's a tube inside that makes squealing noises when you move it just so.  Mostly soft and gentle, this thing CAN cause bruises if you are tossing it back and forth with your roommate and kinda forgot to pay attention and caught it very close to your face, in fact - close enough to your face that the tube actually hit you on the nose between your eyes.  And then you might end up with a bruise that looks like dirt, judging by the number of people who asked me why my face was dirty that week.  But you know, stuff like that would never happen to me.