Catch Up #4: Topics in Linguistics

As I said, Linguistics was a very interesting class, especially once we started talking about things other than parts of a sentence. I learned how to transcribe a word--write it the way it sounds rather than the way it's spelled. It's like learning a whole new alphabet. That's more difficult than you would think, because there are many words that people pronounce differently because of dialects. For example, some people (especially those in the South) are likely to pronounce 'pen' the same way they pronounce 'pin.' So the word 'pen' can be transcribed in 2 different ways.

Here are some other topics we covered that I thought were very interesting:

1. Sometimes, words are spelled differently from the way they are pronounced. For instance, you don't pronounce the 'w' in 'whole.' The pronounciation of words started changing from Middle English to Modern English in about the 1400s, which means the way words were pronounced started changing. This is why 'e' at the end of a word is often silent, why we say 'laf' when it's spelled 'laugh.' Apparently, a man named William Caxton brought the printing press to England in the 1490s. This was very important for spelling. Eventually, if he had not brought the printing press, spelling would have become more based around pronounciation. Now, we spell many words very differently from how we pronounce them. Without the printing press, they would be spelled and pronounced the same way.

2. I did not expect this topic to be raised in Linguistics, but communication between the genders--genderlect--is apparently a studied area for linguists. This was my favorite part. There was only one boy in the class, so we girls had a lot to say about it. We learned that:
A. Men interrupt more than women
B. Women ask more questions than men
C. Men lecture, but women converse
D. Both genders talk roughly the same amount (believe it or not!)
E. Women stay on the same topic more often because they go into great detail; men change
topic more often.
F. Women engage in facilitation--making sounds to show they're listening (yeah, uh-huh,
wow, etc.), and men do not.
These are just a few of the things we learned about the differences in how men and women communicate. I think that it would be very useful for men and women to learn about these differences. I think it would help lessen miscommunication and improve relationships. For example, women often complain that men don't listen to them; what they don't realize is that men don't feel the need to facilitate conversation as women do. It does not mean that they aren't listening. If you're interested in more of this topic, look up Deborah Tannen. She is the leading researcher in this area.

3. Everyone who speaks English follows discourse patterns that are familiar in our culture; when someone does not follow the pattern we expect, we become confused and uncomfortable. When we call someone on the phone, we expect them to say hello, or something along those lines. But according to one study, when we expect that, and someone answers, "Smith residence," we often pause, and say, "Uuh... is Beth there?" Though this is normal in other cultures, it isn't in America. Another example has to do with compliments. Have you ever noticed that many people become uncomfortable when someone compliments them? We're not sure how to respond. If we say "thank you," we feel like we're being egotistical. Another study found that continually complimenting a person makes them suspicious and angry. Ever told someone, "You look so pretty today," and then they replied, "Ok, what do you want?" Apparently, this is pretty common. We don't like to be complimented. Here's a good experiment that, eventually, I will attempt: Compliment someone over and over and over. See how they react. They won't like it after a while.

Those are the three most interesting things I learned in Linguistics. I hope you find the information useful!

Catch up #3: Library Card

I finally decided to go to the library to get a library card! It turns out, I already had one....from 5 years ago when I used to live here. And it had $17 in late fees on it. Apparently, I used to bring a lot of books back late. It's a good thing library fines don't accrue interest. So I paid it, got a new card, and picked out a book: Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll. It was very very funny. Absurd, really, is the better word. I really have been wanting to read it, and then I found out that there's a Tim Burton movie (starring Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter) coming out sometime soon, and I knew I HAD to read it. So I did. And I loved it. One of the Queens said something that I've heard before, but I never knew where it came from: "Sometimes I've believed as many as 6 impossible things before breakfast." "Jabberwocky" is in the book, and so is "The Walrus and the Carpenter." There are so many puns, and things don't work the way you would expect them to. For instance, the Mad Hatter's watch tells what day of the month it is, not what time it is. I can't wait until I have children, because it's the perfect book to read to them, and I hope they love it as much as I do.

Catch Up #2: Picky Customers

I went into work yesterday and manager #2 said someone complained about one of my cakes. So I asked what the person said.

1. There were no sprinkles around the edges of the cake. So I looked at the order form and I told her that whoever took the order did not check 'sprinkles.'

2. The girl whose cake it was is allergic to chocolate, and I put kit kats on the cake. I looked at the order form and 'kit kats' was checked.

3. For her cupcakes, she said they seemed kind of smaller than they usually are. That was because all of thes coopers ere broken, and it was hard to fill the cups with spades.

4. The customer wanted lime green icing on the cupcakes, and I had put light green. I looked at the order form again and guess what it said: light green.

So none of these problems was my fault. This next complaint, I had a problem with:

5. The writing on the cake was too thick.

Really?

Too thick.

I was just a little bit outraged. Who complains about writing that is too thick? It was perfectly legible, very pretty cursive handwriting (if I do say so myself), but it was too thick. I could not get over this complaint for the rest of the night.

So anyway. Manager #2 and I fixed everything with the woman rushing us as we tried to finish, saying she was in a hurry and she needed to go. So manager #2 brought her cake and cupcakes out to the front, and the customer dropped the cupcakes.

So manager #2 brought them back, and added some sprinkles and put them in a new container. She didn't even try to fix the frosting. She was ready for this woman to leave, and I don't blame her. So the woman left. End of story.

Or so you think.

Manager #2 gets a phone call 10 minutes later. "My cake is melting!" Well yeah. Duh. We had it out for 10 minutes trying to get it fixed to her liking, and then she was rushing us and she took it and left. She said, "Well I could have come back at 6 if I had known it was going to melt." That would have been nice to know while she was rushing us to get it done! So she decided she would bring it back for a refund because her "party was ruined!"

What a wonderful night at work...

Catch Up #1

So it's been a while since I've written...over two weeks. It's hard to write without my boyfriend here; I just haven't felt like it. So I'm going to play a little game of catch up with a few blogs.

My first two LSUS classes are over and done. Biology, I'm not gonna lie, was mostly boring. We learned mostly about the functions of the human body, and I wanted biology, not anatomy. We barely got into genetics at all, and that's what I was looking forward to most. I did okay on the tests, mostly low 90s. I don't know about the final test yet, but I'm hoping that I got an A so that I will have an A in the class.

Linguistics was great! At first we were learning how to identify different parts of sentences and things like that, but then we got into the history of the language and language across cultures and genders. It was very interesting, but that's for another blog. I wrote my Flowers for Algernon paper and got a 97 on it! I was thrilled about that. I know I have an A in the class, and that makes me happy.

Now I'm taking an Astronomy class. I don't know what to think about it. I haven't come to a firm conclusion about whether the professor will be interesting or not. The class involves some math-specifically memorizing formulas. I'm not happy about that. But hopefully the rest of it will be okay. And hopefully it will go by quickly. We'll see.

Letters from Bootcamp

I've gotten two letters from my wonderful man in boot camp! They came pretty closely together, too. I wasn't really sure if he would write me or not, but he's doing a pretty good job of it so far. Every single day I check the mailbox at least twice, just to make sure that I don't miss any scraps of paper that could possibly be from him. And my fingers have come to know the inside of that mailbox very intimately because I reach into every corner to check for a letter. I love hearing from him. I want to know everything that's going on, but I know he doesn't have time to write that much. He told me that things are pretty tough for him. There's a lot of work, and he's probably worn out at the end of the day. He's only getting 2 minute showers, and that's tough on him, too. He likes to spend a lot of time in the shower.

I've sent him a letter every day. They're usually pretty long letters. I even sent him some pictures of Kitty's bath. I don't know if he has time to read them, though. I also don't know if he's gotten any of them yet... He gave us the wrong address. It's mostly right, but he spelled the street name wrong and gave us the wrong number for the building. I suppose he'll get them eventually. They'll be all out of order, but I guess that's okay. At least he'll have them, and he'll know that I'm thinking about him.

Kitty's First Bath

V and I gave Kitty a bath! That was an experience. Giving a cat a bath is always interesting. Kitty was not happy about it. She tried to claw her way out of the sink a million times and got her claw stuck in a sink plug. I don't think that made the experience any better for her.

It wasn't fun for any of us, but she felt so soft when she was finally dry. And she smelled good, too.

Crawfish Night

For the first time in my life, I watched people eating crawfish. I went out to dinner with V, her guy, and his family, and they ate crawfish. They couldn't believe I had never seen anyone peel crawfish, but it's true. It was a whole new (and messy) experience. Even though I'm a vegetarian who doesn't eat fish, I tried half of one just to see what it tastes like. It wasn't worth giving up vegetarianism. V peeled it for me, because I didn't want to touch it. Then, they told me that they throw crawfish in the boiling water when they're still alive! I was kind of upset about it. It made me feel bad. I didn't like it. So no more crawfish for me.

Kitty Has Changed

Kitty is being unusually sweet lately. It's making me very suspicious. She wants to be petted and she slept with me all night. This morning, she even laid in my arms for a while. Tonight, she stayed in the bathroom with me while I took a shower. She goes in the back yard with me when I tan, and she stays there. She lays in the shade and goes inside when I go inside. It's adorable.

I think she's devising a way to destroy me through over-affection, and then she's going to rip it away from me. Cats are mean that way.

It's Official

I am now a Louisianian. I got a Louisiana driver's license today. It's a little late, but I wanted to wait until I was 21: I wanted the sideways license instead of the up and down one. It's my ID for the next four years, so I'm glad it ended up being a halfway decent picture. I also registered as an organ donor and registered to vote. Yay for me!

Update

I haven't written in a few days. I've been busy trying to keep my mind occupied so I won't be so sad thinking about my absent darling. I finally got his address, so I can send him letters now, but it doesn't make up for him being gone. I noticed this weekend that weekends are the hardest. I don't have school to concentrate on, and nothing else really to do, so missing him is a constant.

However, I did celebrate my 21st birthday on Saturday. V was at a motorcycle class all day, so I went to work. After she got done, her, her guy, and I went to Ruby Tuesday to have dinner, and I ordered my first drink. It was pretty tasty. I didn't really know what to do after that, because I'm not really a partier, so we just came back home and watched tv until I decided to go to sleep. Very exciting night. My darling's mother brought over some Hello Dolly's for me. I decided those are my favorite dessert. How can you pass up coconut and pecans and chocolate chips all mixed together on top of pie crust with sweetened condensed milk poured over it? You can't. Trust me.

I took my first Biology test on Friday. I got a 90. I wish I had done better, but I'm okay with what I got. I'm not sure how the next test will go, though. It has a bunch of formulas like C6H12O6 (the formula for glucose) and acetyl Co A (still not sure exactly what that is). It's all about bodily processes like digestion and circulation, and it's all so complicated. I don't like it. I'm also mildly worried about my first Linguistics test on Wednesday. I keep getting Object Compliments confused with Direct Objects. Grammar is not my favorite part of English, but it will be useful when I actually have to teach it.

Well, I guess I'm off to hit the books...

Official Cake Decorator

That is my new title at Coldstone. The bosses relegated the job to me after the other girl who made cakes left. I have to say, I like this job much better than having to serve ice cream. As long as I make sure there are 36 cakes in the freezer in the front of the store at all times, I can go into work anytime I want. Very flexible schedule. I thought it would still give me plenty of hours, but I might have been wrong about that. There are 50 cakes in the freezer right now, so I don't really have anything to do. Until people buy some cakes, there is no more space to put anymore cakes in there.

Oh, I also get a pay raise. And I still get tips.

I do need more practice actually writing on the cakes, though. I'm not amazing at it. I'm always having to wipe frosting off the cake and redo it. Practicing writing is a good way to gain hours.

Anyway, the point is, I do actually like my job now. It makes it much easier to go to work.

Grammar Lesson

I learned sometime in middle or high school that ending a sentence in a preposition is not "correct grammar." It's one of the few rules I've remembered by name, even though I don't always adhere to it. Sometimes, I do notice it, though. A sign on campus reads, "Log onto compass to sign up." 'Up' is a preposition. However, since 'up' is part of 'sign,' I was wondering if it was still technically wrong.

Linguistics is so useful. I learned today that it is not. We started learning about verbs, and there is a type of verb called a phrasal verb. 'Sign up' is one of them. In sentences like, "The man turned into a werewolf," 'into' is not a preposition. It's part of the phrasal verb.

I just thought it was cool that I learned something I'd been thinking about for a couple of weeks.

School's great.

In Case You Weren't Sure How Nerdy I Am...

For my Linguistics class, we have to write a term paper. Linguistics is all about language, grammar, syntax, and how trends in language change, so the paper has to have something to do with languag. The professor gave us many possible topics, and I thought about maybe doing something like a comparitive essay for British and American English . But I had a better idea, one that I am SOOOO excited about. I cannot wait to write this paper.

Flowers for Algernon is a work of fiction written like a diary. The narrator is a mentally challenged man who will soon undergo some sort of procedure to make him smarter. The diary, written by this man, changes in language. Before the operation, it has many spelling and grammar errors, and the language is simple and childlike. After the operation, the reader can see the spelling, grammar, and language becoming correct and more sophisticated. I thought that this would be such a great book to analyze in terms of language. So I mentioned it to the professor, and he agreed. He even seemed pretty excited about it, too.

As soon as I got out of class, I called V and told her all about my brilliant idea. She didn't seem as excited. But then, she isn't as nerdy as I am. That's okay. I told my darling's mother and she seemed interested. She even wants to read the book when I'm done. I just have to go buy it first...

New Moon

I am a huge fan of the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. I got into the series late, but I've read all of the books a good 4 times. I was so excited when the movie came out last year, and I am so excited that the second in the series is coming out in November. For those who don't know, it's a vampire romance pretty dissimilar from most others. The story is so romantic (or creepy, depending on who you ask), and became a teen sensation from the beginning of it's publication. It's readership has spread, though. I've even heard of boys reading it. (I haven't quite convinced my guy to read it, but maybe he will someday....not).

Anyway, the trailer for New Moon, the second movie, came out yesterday. I can't wait until November!

Love Quote

I have a myspace, and on my page, I have love quotes. I like quotes. I really like the one that was on it today: "Sometimes your nearness takes my breath away; and all the things I want to say can find no voice. Then, in silence, I can only hope my eyes will speak my heart." -- Robert Sexton

Just thought I'd share that.

First Day of School

School started today! I've been so excited all week, and this morning, the nervousness set in. It's that I'm-in-a-new-school-and-don't-know-anyone nervousness. I know the feeling well. My two classes seem pretty simple though. For Biology, I won't have any homework. The only grades are the 4 tests, so I'll have a lot of studying to do. It's the same for Linguistics, except there are 4 tests and one short paper. Again, very simple. Though I have to admit, I've never had a class where the only grades are tests. It makes me kind of nervous that each test is 25% of my grade. I'll have to make sure I study very very well.

I found out that I won't really need my biology book, because the tests come right from the professor's lectures. Fortunately, I ordered the same edition that is in the book store, so I can just sell it back to them at the end of the semester.

Now, I need to go and do my chapter reading. It's very important!

Overheated Car

I forgot to mention this a few days ago, but when I brought my baby back to the Army people so they could take him away from me, my car overheated. He noticed while he was driving the the car was running a little hot, so he told me to take it slow going home and to check my coolant later. When I got about halfway home, it overheated so much that I knew I had to stop. So I called my baby's parents to let them know what was going on, and I pulled off at an exit, turned the car off, and popped the hood to help it cool down. I sat there for what seemed like forever, and then realized, I might have some coolant in my trunk. So I checked and voi la!! I had coolant. And then I saw the big hole in the bottle and the puddle of green sitting below my spare tire. So I called his parents again and let them know, and his dad drove out with some coolant to put in my car. He drove it home to see if was still overheating. I drove his car (did I mention they live next door?). It didn't overheat, and it hasn't had any problems since. Hopefully, I was just low on coolant and it won't happen again!

Misspelled Words

It really irks me that so many people cannot spell congratulations. I was walking by a car in a parking lot today, and on the back of it, it read, "Congradulations class of '09." Why do so many people think there is a D in congratulations?

Another thing that bothers me is when people spell things wrong on signs. When I went to school in Florida, I lived on campus and there were always signs on the hallway walls. When I saw them misspelled, I would go back to my room, get a pen, and cross it out and put the right letters. It's embarrassing to be in college and see misspelled signs all around campus.

Now I'll admit that I mess up now and then, but it's usually just typos.


All this talk about misspelled words reminds me of a funny story. My old roommate got a tattoo our freshman year, and she wanted it to say unforgettable on her wrist. She came home and showed it to me and it looked like this:

It's hard to see, but it says, "unforgetable." I asked her, doesn't unforgettable have two ts? It does. She had to go back to the tattoo artist to get another t drawn in. It was pretty funny.

Short and Sweet

School starts on Monday and I'm so excited!!!

I'm such a nerd.

Lucky Me

My summer payment for school at LSUS was due on Tuesday. My financial aid had not showed up on the website yet, so I went to the financial aid office unsure if I would have to empty my bank account or if I would get amazingly lucky.

I got lucky.

It took nearly an hour, but they finally found my financial aid in whatever system it was hiding, and awarded me $400 more than I even needed. So I get a reimbursement check! I'm getting paid to go to summer school!

It's really bad, though, because since I'm getting money that I wasn't expecting, I keep feeling like it's okay for me to spend more money than usual and it's not! I went shopping with V yesterday, and almost bought a pair of tennis shoes (but didn't) and almost bought a shirt or dress (they were super cheap, but I didn't). How's that for self control?

Party of One

The love of my life left today. He's gone to boot camp. He left Tuesday, but he couldn't be processed to leave because it was so busy. Tuesday night, he was in the hotel and I was all alone in the house. It was very empty without him here. Soon after he left, I started putting away his shoes, his clothes, and all of the things he left out. I wasn't sure if it would be harder to put them away or harder to look at them and know that he wasn't coming home for a while. Hopefully I'll be able to remember where everything is when he comes back.

Going to sleep Tuesday night was difficult. Crying a lot wears me out, but I kept waking up in the night. Then in the morning, I woke up much earlier than I was planning to, and I couldn't go back to sleep. I was hoping to have a full day with plenty to do so I wouldn't be focusing on him being gone, but for a good hour and half I didn't really have anything to do.

On Wednesday, he called me and gave me the wonderful news that I would get to see him one more time before he left. V and I picked him up around 3 (I was afraid I would get lost if I drove by myself; we got lost anyway because my baby accidentally gave us the wrong directions). She brought us home, and I took him to lunch before we drove around so he could say goodbye a second time to everyone.

Then he and I came home to spend the rest of the day and the night together. We woke up early this morning, and I brought him back to where he was supposed to be. After a second tearful goodbye (on my part, not his), I left him and came home to an empty house.


He should be on a plane to Fort Benning sometime today. He's really excited about boot camp, and I hope he enjoys himself. I'll be waiting impatiently for his first letter and counting down the days until he's home again.

Pictures from Six Flags

V's Guy:
V and her guy:

Me and my guy:

All of us:

Me and V:

Six Flags Weekend

V, V's guy, my guy, and I all went to Six Flags this weekend. My baby and I left early Saturday morning and spent the day at Six Flags until around four o'clock. It was supposed to thunderstorm, but it didn't, which I am very happy about. The clouds even cleared and it turned sunny early in the day. I kept worrying about my sunglasses flying off my face on the rollercoasters. It was a pretty great day: I almost blacked out on the Titan, bought some ridiculously expensive french fries (they should really get a vegetarian stand at Six Flags), and tortured my feet with hours of walking.

Then I walked some more. Because after four o'clock, my baby was so sweet as to indulge my shopping tendencies. We went to the Galleria, a three story shopoholic dream with an ice skating rink. He and I shopped by ourselves until V and her guy got there around 6:30. I bought a bathing suit for 11 dollars. 11 dollars!!! Women, you know what a miracle that is. It was on super sale. Then I bought the most divine drink from Godiva. Who knew Godiva had drinks? It was a dark chocolate raspberry drink. I don't know what was in it besides dark chocolate and raspberry sauce, but it was amazing. And a decent price: only 5 dollars. I wish there was a Godiva store here. I would so get fat off of those drinks. Then I bought a beautiful pair of white summer heels from Payless. I was looking for a summer dress, but I couldn't find one I liked. V and I tried on the same dress. It was short, strapless, and made for people who do not have wide hips and shoulders. I couldn't get it off. Very embarrassing. My guy had to come in the dressing room and help me. I repeat: very embarrassing.

The next day at Six Flags,it was also supposed to thunderstorm, but we only got a few drops. If anything, it was sunnier than the day before, and I have the sunburn to prove it. We did most of the rides again (except I didn't ride the Titan again; I didn't like that whole almost-blacking-out thing), and they all rode Superman. It's not my kind of thing; too high, too much stomach fluttering. We all rode the Roarin' Rapids, and we sat on opposite sides of the boat to see who would get more wet. At every single bump of the rapids, V and her guy got soaked. V's hair got soaked, which was a disaster, because she straightened it. My shorts got wet because I sat down on a wet seat. That was the extent of the damage to me.

We left the park around 4:30 (after walking around the entire thing once more so we could find a certain kind of candy that was only at one store in the entire park). I was ready to get home. All that walking made me sleepy. As soon as I have the energy to put the pictures on the computer, I will post some.

Today's Latin Quote

Today's Latin quote is a keeper: Bene legere saecla vincere. To read well is to master the ages.

Briefly Normal Kitty

I caught Kitty acting like a normal cat last night. I wish I had taken a picture because I don't know if anyone will believe me. It was late, and I got out of bed to look for my water bottle. When I walked into the living room, Kitty was curled up in the middle of the couch. Very normal and very unlike her. But she was back to sleeping in the sink when I got home from work this morning. So I guess the normalcy isn't sticking.

The Reason You Should Never Put Money In Your Mouth

I was watching America’s Funniest Home Videos, and there was a video of a 2 or 3 year old standing by the stove in her birthday suit. Stuck in the crack of her hiney was a quarter…

A Not-So-Comfortable Afternoon of Reading

I went to Books-A-Million today for a comfortable afternoon of reading a book I didn’t have to pay for. And when I say comfortable, I mean sans shoes and sitting Indian style. I was about 6 or 7 pages from the end of a book when a guy around my age came over and said hi. I said hello and he walked away. Then he came back a minute later and sat down in the empty chair across from me. Then he began to try and have a conversation with me. While I was reading my book. This is a pet peeve for me. I don’t want to be disturbed when I’m reading. Especially by someone I don’t know trying to get a date. So he told me his name, and I told him mine (he seemed harmless enough), but he wasn’t picking up on my disinterested body language. I kept looking down when he stopped talking and trying to read, and then he would start talking again. I didn’t want to be rude, so I would look up when he did. He interpreted my disinterestedness as shyness.

Then he sat up in his chair and scooted forward and said, “I hope you don’t mind me asking you this, but would you like me to massage your feet while your reading?”

(Pause for dramatic effect)

“No thank you, I’m good.”

Tip for men: This is not a good pick up line. It’s creepy

Kitty Might Be In Heat

When we got my Kitty from the pound, they told us she had already been fixed. She had purple stitches in her tummy and everything.

But here lately, we're not so sure... She sleeps in the sink (have I mentioned she's weird), and in the morning there are little blood spots all over the sink. And Kitty hairs, of course. Another worrying sign is that she has been so nice lately! Apparently, being affectionate is a sign of a cat in heat.

Since we think she is not as fixed as she is supposed to be, we're not letting her outside for a little while. And hopefully we're not too late. Hopefully I won't have lots of little kitties in two months...

Jane Eyre

I’ve decided not to finish the Lord of the Rings series. It wasn’t interesting enough, and I gave up.

I did finish Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. This was the second time I read it, but the first time, I was so young that I really couldn’t comprehend what it was about. Even now, there were a lot of words I had to look up, because I had never heard of them before. I have to say, now that I understand it, it has become one of my favorite books.

Jane Eyre has been hailed a love story, but the love story is such a small part of the overall novel. Jane’s journey to autonomy plays a larger part than her love with Mr. Rochester. She is able to rise above her identity as an orphan relying on the dubitable charity of her aunt. She blossoms at school as a student, and again as a teacher. She strikes out on her own as a governess for Mr. Rochester’s ward, and she and Mr. Rochester slowly and subtly fall in love…in a very unusual love; a sometimes detached love. They are very plain with each other, always telling the absolute truth and not sparing any feelings. It is made immediately aware that neither the hero nor the heroine is especially attractive, though Jane’s beauty heightens as Mr. Rochester’s love grows.

The author of the introduction writes, “Men must be stripped of arrogance and women must become independent for any happily ever after to endure between the sexes.” Jane and Mr. Rochester’s love reflects this. Bronte’s view of love is more modern than many of her contemporaries. Even though the novel is more than just a love story, it is the love story that makes it most appealing to me. It is definitely worth reading.

How Awful is This?

Babies born on the same day in the same hospital were switched at birth and found out 50 years later. I would be so sad if I were one of them. Or if I were one of their mothers.

Ready for School to Start

I finally have classes for summer and fall. I'm so excited! Six months out of school after 15 years in school has been a little miserable. My brain has gone to waste. I'm taking as many classes as possible so that I can catch up with my credits, because not all of them transferred as requirements, but I don't really mind. For the summer sessions, I'm taking 2 classes in the first part, and 1 in the second part. It will be a good way to keep me occupied while my baby is gone. Biology, linguistics, and astrology are my line up for the summer. In the fall, I'm taking six classes, but only on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and then one on Wednesday nights. That way, I can still substitute 3 days a week. I'm really looking forward to it.

I'm so nerdy...

Belated Mother's Day Post

I didn't have time yesterday, but I want to wish all moms Happy Mother's Day. I found an interesting article on how much moms would make if they were paid for their job, which is, admittedly, one of the most tiring jobs ever. You can also calculate how much your mom would make. When all three of ous kids were living at home, my mom would have made between $55,000 and $88,000 a year, in addition to the two jobs she had at that time. That was living in Louisiana. Now, she would be making between $64,000 and $103,000. That's with one kid living at home that she still supports, and one lives with his dad. She's in Massachusetts, and cost of living is higher there. It's too bad moms don't really get paid for being moms, but it's great that they do the job anyway. I think they love us :)

Today's Latin Quote

Today's Latin quote seems appropriate for today. He'll be gone for six months: Ut incepit fidelis sic permanet---As loyal as she began, so she remains.

My Whining Blog

The love of my life signed up for the Army Reserve today. He leaves for boot camp May 26th. 18 days. He'll be gone for 6 months.

He's been talking about joining some branch of the military for about the past two months, so I've been mentally preparing myself for it for that long. Both of my parents were in the military, so I've experienced the military life, but it's an entirely different prospect when the man you love is going in. I am really going to miss him. I had to be away from him for nearly 4 months while I was in Florida finishing a semester of school. This is longer. The only bright side is I might get to see him a couple of times. His actual boot camp ends in August, then he goes to San Antonio for additional training. I'll get to see him at his graduation, and hopefully get to visit when he goes for the extra training.

It's going to be hard without him. He won't be here to keep me warm when it turns cold; he won't be able to bring me with him to awful movies that he'll like; I won't be able to force him to see New Moon with me when it comes out; he's going to miss my birthday; no double dates with V and her guy. I won't even really get to talk to him much. I'm hoping he'll write me letters fairly often; I know I'll be writing him.

I guess I'll have school and work to keep me occupied. Summer might be the hardest, because I'll have more free time. But his family will be here to help me, and I have friends to get me through it. Hopefully that will help it go by quickly.

Photoshoot

Remember my photo shoot for V's final? I have pictures! Here is my personal favorite:

The sun was in my eyes, and just as I was going to tell her to wait because the sun was too bright, she snapped the picture. I'm very photogenic; can you tell?

This is the one she used in class. Her professor said it was strong:

Kitty kept getting in the way, so V took a few pics of her too. In this one, she had climbed the tree...then fell out.

It was a fun afternoon, and hopefully V will get an A.

Vet Visit

I took Kitty to the vet yesterday. Well, after I finally found it... My gps told me to turn left in the middle of a field, and there was no vet there. But I did find it, and I took her in, and me and V tried to keep her from being too terrified of all the dogs running around. When I took her into the exam room, I let her explore, hoping it would calm her down a little. It didn't work. She explored, but she knew something was up. She wouldn't even drink out of the faucet when I ran it for her. I told the vet she has worms, and he believed me and gave her a shot. I have to give her a pill in two weeks to make sure they're completely gone. Then I can take my pills and get rid of my worms!

The First Invisible Car

This is so cool!!

The Fellowship of the Ring

I finished J.R.R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring last night. I have to admit, I wasn't impressed, and I think I know why. There was too much description of the landscape for me. Mostly, I just scanned the description paragraphs for anything that looked important to the plot of the story. I love dialogue and the thoughts of the characters, but excessive descriptions bore me.

Since it's one of the few books I've read after I've seen the movie, it was interesting to see how they are different. They really did cut out many parts of the book. My boyfriend, who has read the books, wished they hadn't cut out Tom Bombadil, one of his favorite characters in the book. I thought Bombadil was scarily happy. It kind of creeped me out, even though he is a good guy.

I found it interesting that only two female characters featured very prominently in the book: Tom Bombadil's wife and the lady elf towards the end of the book. Both seemed very ethereal. Arwen was not in this book as much as she was in the first movie.

I'm going to finish the series, but I think it's safe to say that I won't fall in love with these books. I'm still working on Jane Eyre, but I should be done soon.

Weekend Events

This entire week has been singularly uneventful. I was not called to sub once. I did not work at Coldstone all week. My man worked all day every day. The only times of interest were when I went out with V on Monday and Tuesday.

This weekend hasn't been too bad, though. Saturday, V took about 100 pictures (no exaggeration) of me. She's a photography major, and one of her finals is to take some portraits of people. So we spent nearly an hour outside, trying to work with the light changing and the camera adjusting before every picture. Sometimes, the sun would be out and I would make funny faces when she took the picture because the light was hurting my eyes (when she emails them to me, I'll put up a few). Other times, the sun was hidden behind cloud cover and the pictures were too dark to see. Kitty was outside at the time, and I caught her climbing a tree. She had a hard time getting out of it; she fell rather ungracefully on some stone. Her tail was in one picture. She scared us a few times, running away from things too little for our eyes.

That night, my baby and I went to see Wolverine. We loved it (even though we had to sit in the front row because the theater was so crowded). I would recommend going to see it. I love the X-Men movies, and Wolverine is one of my favorite characters, so I loved learning his story. And if you read my Australia post, you should already know my views on Hugh Jackman...

Last night, we had an awfully loud thunderstorm. It woke us up in the middle of the night and the thunder was almost scary. It made a lot of different sounding noises. I'm used to that boom it always makes, but last night it was making crackle-booms and all kinds of other sounds. Apparently, we're supposed to have more tonight...

After work today, we went next door to my darling's parent's house where his mother had dinner for us. She made the most amazing veggie burgers! His parents are vegetarians too; he's a carnivore. They were much better than the usual Morning Star brand. She even had guacamole spread to go with it. I've never had guacamole on a burger, but I like the way it tastes.

So that was my weekend! I only have 20 pages left of The Fellowship of the Ring. I might even finish it tonight. I'll let you know what I think.

All Grown Up

I went to the doctor today for the first time all by myself. I got lost in the hospital all by myself. I got blood drawn for the first time all by myself (that one's really big because I abhor needles). I lost my car all by myself. It was a day of doing things alone. I'm all grown up now! I kind of hated it...

Anyway, remember how I was sick and couldn't do anything all day because I was nauseous? Since that was something that has happened pretty frequently, I thought I should get an official opinion on why it keeps happening. I formed a theory about 2 weeks ago: I got worms from my cat. Lovely. I told the doctor this, described what had been happening, and she agreed with me. She gave me the prescription to get rid of them, but warned me not to take it until I got the cat dewormed. Otherwise, I would just get it again.

And then! She told me that I needed to have blood drawn. I didn't think I would need that, so I didn't ask anyone to come with me. I have never not had someone to hold my hand before, and I haven't had blood drawn since I was eleven or twelve. She said I could come back and have it done when I had someone with me, but I said I would brave it on my own. It was easier than having to come back anyway. Well, I survived to tell the tale. The nurse was nice and gave me tissues for the tears when it was over.

Oh and I might be a little anemic. I'm a vegetarian, so I expected that one. I guess I'll get the lab results on Monday.

Selective Memory

It's funny how I can remember where my darling's shoes are at 6:30 in the morning when I'm half asleep, but I can never remember where mine are. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I have so many pairs...

A Day with the Dictator

My bladder and the cat woke me up at 4:30 this morning. I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to fall back asleep and be doomed to boredom for the rest of the day because everything I need to do would have been done by 7:00.

I lay in bed thinking about what I would wear today (very 18th century female of me, I know) for a good 20 minutes. However, I was thinking about it so hard because V positively forced me to buy new clothes yesterday at a discount clothing store called Plato's Closet (where I might be able to get a job!!). V needed new shorts, but since she is abnormally tiny, she couldn't find any. We thumbed through racks of clothes for at least an hour, and I ended up with a very cute pair of white shorts and a shirt I can wear when I sub. Ironically, it was a shirt that V almost bought at Wet Seal about a month ago. I also found a shirt that I thought my darling might wear, and when I showed it to him, he said he would. He really needs new pants, but I am not sufficiently confident enough to buy his jeans yet. V found a pair of Buckle jeans for a whopping $25! Since they would usually cost in the neigborhood of $150, she was, needless to say, in heaven.

After our successful shopping trip, I thought her and I should cook some dinner. We made stuffed zucchini and mashed potatoes. It was great. It was the first time V ever had zucchini and she said she liked it. Here's the recipe:

4 medium zucchini squash.
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 small onion, minced
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
1/4 grated parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons minced parsley
Salt and pepper to taste

Cut zucchini in half lengthwise. Scoop out pulp, leaving 3/8 in. shell. reserve pulp. Parboil (What is parboil, by the way?) shells in salted water 2 minutes. Remove and drain. Set aside. Chop zucchini pulp. In a skillet, heat oil over medium-high. Saute the onion and chopped zucchini until tender. Remove from the heat and conbine remaining ingredients. Fill shells. Place in a greased baking dish. Bake at 375 degrees until heated through.

I only used half and onion; we're not big onion lovers around here. And it's a good thing V was helping me. It would have taken me all night to cook this on my own. Scooping out the shells and slicing everything took the longest. Not to mention peeling the potatoes. I had a great day, even thought V is a dictator who made me buy stuff. Hopefully she won't make me buy anything today....

After Much Argument, We Decided on Australia

Yesterday, V and I made plans for us and our guys to go to Holiday in Dixie, a fair held every year in April. It was the last day, and we thought we would check it out, especially since it was free if you arrived before five pm. I didn’t get off work until four and V had to pick some stuff up around that same time. We also had to make sure the boys were ready on time.

I rushed home from work to change into less smelly clothes only to find that my guy was going to meet someone about selling his bike. He also hadn’t taken a shower (after mowing lawns all day, a shower was very important). I told V that I didn’t think we were going to make it on time. I was right. We took the bikes, got on the interstate, and after about 10 minutes, the drove by an empty parking lot where my guy thought the fair would be. After a short talk, we realized that the drivers (the guys) had no idea where they were supposed to go.

We had 10 minutes to go, and when we finally pulled into a parking lot, it was 5 o’clock. We walked up to the entrance and to our happy surprise, no one sitting at the ticket booth! However, the ride tickets were ridiculously overpriced. The fair was fairly small, so we left after only a few minutes.

At a loss for something to do, we ended up at the Boardwalk thinking we would see a movie. The conversation went something like this:

My guy: We should definitely see Fighting.
V’s guy: Dude yes.
Me: (I just gave a look that said, I dunno about that).
V: I don’t care.
My guy: Oh is Crank out? Dude Crank!
V’s guy: Naw man totally lame.
Me: I want to see Earth.
V: Uh no.
My guy: There aren’t any movie times for Earth anyway.
V’s guy: What’s wrong with Fighting? You girls get to see sweaty men without shirts on.
Me: (Another look). What about Monster vs. Aliens?
V: That sounds good.
V’s guy: Great. So you guys can see Monsters vs. Aliens, and we’ll see Fighting.
V: I’d rather see a movie with you.
My guy: So we’ll see Fighting.
Me: I just don’t like the idea of you spending money for me to see a movie I don’t want to see.
My guy: Oh. Well that makes sense.
V’s guy: Well, we have the movie times so let’s go eat and we’ll talk about it while we eat.

It took about ten minutes longer to discuss it than it took you to read it. So we had dinner and argued some more over which movie we ought to see. I finally suggested, “How about we rent a movie. Or two movies. One for you guys, one for us, and we’ll watch both. Or we could go to V’s house and pick a movie.” Her parents own their own movie store worth of movies. We agreed to this. So we all went back to her house to argue some more. We finally agreed on Australia (we can’t pass on a Hugh Jackman movie; he was sexiest man of the year!). So we went back to my house and proceeded, for the next gazillion hours, to watch Australia.

About half way through the movie, I thought it was over. It had had a climax and a conclusion (not a very satisfactory conclusion, but the boy got the girl, and I thought that was the end of it). But no: it kept going! I felt like it was supposed to be two different movies. After that first conclusion, the tone really shifted. The first half was funny, a little silly, had a bit of conspiracy, and then everything was (unsatisfactorily) resolved. The second half was World War II movie that I couldn’t see half of the time because I couldn’t stop crying. And the ending of the second half was much better. Overall, it was a great movie, but only watch it if you have lots of time on your hands!

A Vindication of the Rights of Women

I finally finished A Vindication of the Rights of Women. It doesn’t always take me so long to finish books, but sometimes those 18th century works are difficult to get through. It was interesting, though, to see how some things have changed while others, regrettably, have stayed the same.

One of Mary Wollstonecraft's main points was that women cannot be expected to possess virtue when they are not adequately educated. She says, “True grace arises from some kind of independence of mind.” Independence of mind cannot be learned when women sit at home with nothing more to occupy their time than sewing, dressing, and catching husbands. She argues that women are so focused on their looks and how they accessorize that they cannot possibly be gaining any sort of morality. Vanity, I know, has not much changed, even though women are more educated than they were in the past. I will even admit that when I walk by my reflection in a glass or a mirror, I glance at myself to see how I look. However, I don’t spend a lot of time on myself in the morning. It takes me only about 15 minutes to get ready (minus breakfast). I might comb my fingers through my hair, and if I’m going to sub, I wear a little make up. That is the extent of my morning routine (I shower at night).

She also put forward some ideas for education reform. She believed that schooling should be both public and private. Boys were sent away to school and girls only had tutors or schools of deportment, where they learned to be graceful and silent. Wollstonecraft suggested that boys and girls go to school during the day and come home at night, much like school is today.

This edition is a Norton edition, and Norton always adds footnotes for better comprehension. Wollstonecraft says, “What can be more indelicate than a girl’s coming out in the fashionable world?” Norton’s note reads, “’Coming out’ meant in the eighteenth century what it does now.” In some circles, it may mean the same: “A young girl’s debut into the social world;” but most often, I hear it used to describe someone “coming out of the closet,” admitting to being gay (another word whose meaning has changed). I thought that was pretty funny.

Next up, I’m reading two books (well, four if you want to be specific): The Lord of the Rings series by J.R.R. Tolkien and I'm rereading Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. We’ll see which one I finish first!

It Was Supposed To Be...

Today was going to be a very busy day.

First, wake up at 6 am and substitute. Instead of the usual 3 classes with one block off, I was supposed to sub all four blocks, but for two different teachers. One of the teachers had lunch duty, so I didn't have time to eat lunch.

School gets out at 2:30, and I had set up a 3:30 appointment with my advisor to discuss my transcripts and what classes I should start taking in the summer. I have been trying to meet with him for two days in a row, plus twice before then. We finally made an appointment so that I wouldn't have to make another wasted 20 minute drive.

At 4:00, I was supposed to be at work in Coldstone. Since I didn't know what time I was supposed to work until after I had made the appointment with my advisor, my manager generously told me it was alright if I kept the appointment.

My busy day was all destroyed when I started feeling nauseas around the end of 3rd block. I had to call the secretary and tell her that the sub needed a sub, and I felt awful about it. This wasn't the first time it happened. I'm sick. Dunno why, but unfortunately, I need to make a doctor's appointment to find out (I don't like going to the doctor). This abominable nausea is interrupting my life. I have had to leave both jobs because of feeling sick, and let me tell you, it's not fun.

Being sick is when I think I miss my mom the most. She's not around to make me soup and tea and clean up after me when I can't make it to the bathroom in time (fortunately, I have made it every time I needed to so far!). Adult-itis is no fun.

Salty Kisses

My darling came home today after a long day of work outside. He works for a man who builds things out of wood, and today they were on sight seeing how the things they built fit the customer's house. It was a beautiful warm day today, but he was wearing coveralls, so he was a little overheated. He said he even let himself get dehydrated. When he got home I gave him kisses all over his wonderful face. A minute later I licked my lips, and they tasted like I had dipped them in salt. It's a good thing our shower works...

Today's Latin Quote

I thought today's Latin quote of the day was particularly apropos, and since it will change tomorrow and be gone forever, I want to post a blog about it. It says: Feles mala! Cur cista non uteris? Stramentum novum in ea posui. Translation: Bad kitty! Why don't you use the cat box? I put new litter in it. This does not apply to my current cat, but I have had cats in the past who seemed to avoid their litter box as if it carried a disease.

A Brief History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

I am not a big fan of science. My subjects are English and History, and I have really neglected all things scientific over the years. However, my sophomore year of college at Lynn University, I was forced (forced!!) to take an honors seminar class once a month that revolved around science. Our textbook: A Brief History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. I was not excited about this class, to say the least. However, after I read our first assignment, the first three chapters, I was pleasantly surprised to find that this science book was not like all of the other put-you-to-sleep science textbooks I had seen. This one was interesting. I learned that this is probably because Bill Bryson is not a scientist. He is just a writer who did a lot (a lot!!) of research to write a book chronicling the history of the world in science. For the first time in my life, I understood Einstein’s Theory of Relativity. Unfortunately, it would be beyond me to explain it.

Well, what reminded me of all this is an article I found on-you guessed it-Yahoo. Apparently, some scientists in jolly old England found a planet similar to Earth. It’s tiny, but might have really deep oceans. If you’re interested in this sort of thing, read the article. If you want more information about our blue planet, read the book.

I Almost Got Run Over Today...

...by a golf cart.

This could have been me:


My wonderful man was doing this crazy thing with his truck (he chopped the top off and it's a convertible truck now...I still have misgivings about it) at his best friend's house.

*His best friend's girlfriend also happens to be my best friend (very convenient, since I have to see her all the time. Our boyfriends can't seem to live without each other).

Anyway, the boys were working on my darling's truck, so us girls decided we needed something to do, namely shopping. My friend (we'll call her V) needed to go into her boyfriend's house and get something, and thought she would take one of the golfcarts (his dad fixes them, so there are a few in his backyard). After about five minutes of putting her foot on the gas and pushing levers up and down and sideways, she couldn't get it to work. So she called me over...not that I could do anything because I don't know how to work a golf cart. I start walking toward her, in front of the golf cart as fate would have it, and she gives the gas one more firm try, and the golf cart finally responds. It leaps forward, and I dash out of the way just in time to avoid leaving V with a week of hospital bills. I know she was grateful for my swiftness, and she's not the only one...

How Color Alters Our Behavior

I found this great article in the Yahoo archives today about how people associate different feelings and concepts with different colors. I had always associated green with envy, purple with majesty, and red with anger, but I never delved any deeper than that. I knew that flowers all have different meanings and importance (like Ophelia's flowers in Hamlet). This article discusses how yellow can make people more energetic and white can give people who work in offices headaches.

I've always been excited to have my own home so I could paint the rooms different colors. I can't right now because I'm renting, but some day I will. I think I would paint the bedroom some shade of green (to match the olive green sheets I just bought). The living room would be yellow (I think that would match our 70's orange furniture). I may have to take this article into account when I have the chance to paint; it could be helpful.

Poor Birdy

I really hated my cat this morning because she made me feel like an awful awful person. For the third time this week, she brought a bird into the house. For the second time this week, it was a baby bird. For the first time, the bird was still alive. I woke up to the most wild squeaky chirping, and I wondered, how did a bird get in the house? Then I dismissed that thought because a bird couldn't have gotten in the house. The sound stopped. I started to go back to sleep. Then the sound started again, a little further away. I sat up and blurrily saw a gray spot about the size of my cat running out of the room. I put my glasses on and followed her, and the bird was in her mouth. Every time I got close enough to grab it, she picked it up in her mouth and ran away with it again. I had to pull her tail and hold onto it to move her out of the way so I could pick up the bird with a paper towel. I didn't know what to do with it, because it was still alive. I didn't know how to nurse it back to health, and I didn't know how to kill it to put it out of its misery. I put it outside and it tried to stumble away, but didn't really get away. I went back in the house, and went back to sleep. I woke up a few hours later and looked for it; it was laying on it's back and still breathing. I'm not letting the cat outside today as punishment. If I have to be miserable, so does she.

Photo Booth Pranks

My sister sent me this video on myspace. Watch it. You won't regret it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PiPPAJuKBg&feature=player_embedded

How To Drink More Water

I love Yahoo articles. Here's a good one that I read today on how to drink more water. I love water, so I'm always drinking it. I even drink water at restaurants, partly because it's healthy and partly because, as the articles points out, it's free! One of my very good friends has a very big problem with water. She doesn't like it. She drinks a million tons of Coke a day. I don't understand how she's a size zero in jeans and not a million pounds. I stopped drinking soda when I went to college. I lived on campus and there were soda fountains in the cafeteria. I knew that if I didn't cut soda out of my diet, I would drink it at practically every meal and gain a lot of wait. I can only have one vice, and that is chocolate. I also read somewhere that the average American would lose 11 lbs in one year if he/she stopped drinking soda. So drink water: It's good for you!!

Waffles Coming Out of My Ears

When I go to Coldstone, I do my best to avoid actually working with the customers. I'm not exactly your role model if you want to learn customer service. I don't mind working with customers...now and then. But Coldstone almost always has a steady line that lasts forever. Many times, it goes out the door. So I have devised my work avoidance plan: Do everything else. Most times, I never run out of other things to do. I fill spoons, fill ice cream, fill napkins and cups and straws, I wash dishes, clean the front counters, prep food, take away all of the empty containers from the front, and finally, make waffles. If I run out of these things to do, I help customers...until I need to start all over again. And really, I prefer doing all of those things to actually making ice cream. I'm kind of a quiet person (understatement), so singing and lots of talking and socializing...not my thing. So naturally, I make a lot of waffles. The other day, I was walking to my car after my shift and I had an itch in my ear. I scratched off some dried waffle batter and ta da...waffles coming out of my ears!

She Loves Us....

I've been waiting for it since we started letting Kitty outside and it finally happened: She brought us a present.

The Bliss Of My Own Shower

The bathroom is fixed! I showered in my shower for the first time in two weeks. I was so happy and I just sat around in my robe for ever. The love of my life and his father and our landlord worked on it most of the day. Apparently there was a 3 feet blockage in the pipes that accumulated in the past 50 years. The hole under the house is so deep and long that I keep expecting the house to just break in half and fall into the hole. I'm picturing Titanic, except with my house instead of a ship. My darling keeps assuring me it won't happen, so I guess I'll just have to trust him until he gets all the dirt put back under the house.

Bathroom: Out of Service

About a week ago, a friend was using the bathroom in my house. When he came out, he asked, "What is all that death in the bathtub?" Confused, my darling and I looked at him, and asked what he was talking about. We followed him to the bathroom and he pointed out the death; or rather, the black gunk that had risen through the pipes to fill the tub.

We called a plumber, and he came out the next day, checked the pipes, and declared that one was broken. It turns out, our dishwasher had backed up into the bathtub. The solution: Tear out the bathtub (which would include ripping out the toilet, probably the sink, and probably the wall). Then, we would have to put everything back in. Very pricey.

However, my darling's father presented another solution after our landowner came by: we (and by 'we' I mean my darling and his father) could dig under the bathroom and fix it our (their) selves. So there is a humongous hole in our front yard that my wonderful man has been working on the past two days. Hopefully, we'll be able to use our own shower again soon.

A Day in the Life of the Substitute

So I had to wake up entirely too early this morning so I could go and sub at a high school. It was for an English teacher, so I got to help students with things like "Young Goodman Brown" and American Romanticism. Anyway, since I knew this teacher had 3rd block off, I didn't bring lunch with me. I was planning on going home to eat lunch. Naturally, things didn't work out the way I had planned. One teacher needed a sub for just 3rd block.... Lunch was out.

Turns out, though, I knew this teacher who only needed a sub for 3rd block. He looked familiar, so I asked him, "Did you sub or something for Mrs. Teacher at R. Middle School?" He said, "I student taught for Mrs. Teacher." I told him, "I was totally in her class and you were the student teacher!" He replied, "Wow. You're making me feel old..." The reason I remembered him so well is because he was the first man I had ever known who had a white patch of hair on his head. Very memorable to a 12 year old.

When the day was over, as soon as that 2:30 bell ring, I was ready to get home and fill my stomach! So naturally there was a train at the end of the street blocking me from getting off campus. My poor belly was rumbling like the stupid train blocking me from my food!

A Conundrum

Sometimes, teachers have student teachers. When said teacher is absent, though, the school still calls in a substitute. I don't understand this. There is already someone there to watch the class--teach it even--yet someone else has to be called. Why am I called to supervise someone who is obviously more qualified than I am? I'm not complaining too much, because I like the money and all, but it doesn't make sense to me. Today, I substituted in a girl's gym, and there was a student teacher. I didn't have to do anything except try to stay awake. It was interesting to talk to her, and I did learn a few things, so that was a plus side to it. It just seems to make more sense to use the student teacher rather than calling someone else.

Time of Death: 1:16 pm

My phone kicked the bucket today. I knew it was coming. I just didn't know it was coming so soon.

The phone is two weeks old. The past few days, it has been doing weird things such as turning off when I went too long without messing with it, thinking it was still open when it was actually shut (my sister heard a whole conversation between me and a friend about Buffy because I closed my phone when she didn't answer, and it showed up in her voicemail), and not sending text messages. Today, I finished substituting, came home, and my phone was off. I had to pronounce it dead. It's being stubborn and won't turn back on.

The love of my life had a great solution: go to the ATT store and let them take care of it. However, since we set up our plan and bought our phones online, the ATT people need the box the phone came in, all the papers that came with it, and the UPS box the phones were delivered in...

I threw all that away. Who keeps that? I only kept the phone guides, in case we wanted to know how someting works on our phone.

So I am phoneless; it's a scary prospect in today's technology dependent world. But somehow, we will fix this.

Miraculous Recovery

The camera has been revived! I slapped it against my hand a couple of times. Isn't the ivy pitiful?

I Think I Killed It...

I've been wanting a houseplant for a while. It always seems like homes have plants in them, usually ivys. Grow up, get a place, get a plant. Seemed logical enough to me. So I wanted to get a plant to pretty up my place. I told the love of my life's mother, and she, with her green thumb, grew a little ivy for me. I put it in (what I like to call) my library. I watered it, gave it plenty of sunlight (didn't quite decide to talk to it), and my ivy was thriving. Then we bought the demon cat. I noticed one day that my ivy was missing some leaves, and some dirt was on the floor. I didn't think the dirt had jumped out of the basket, and when I saw Kitty chewing on the leaves, I knew exactly who to blame. So, for the protection of the plant, I placed it outside in the backyard.

Problem #1: Temperatures have, a couple of times, dropped to freezing since then.

Problem #2: Out of sight, out of mind: I forget to water my poor ivy sometimes.

Problem #3: We now let Kitty outside sometimes during the day. She rediscovered the plant.

With all of these problems combined, I'm pretty sure my plant is dead. Or dying. Giving its last gasps of life.

I was going to put up a picture as proof, but apparently my camera died, too...

And that reminds me; my week and a half old phone is on the verge of death. I swear I only dropped it once!

Chapter One

The title of my blog comes from Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Amor Vincit Omnia is Latin for "Love Conquers All." In case that doesn't give you a clue, I love to read. I like to challenge myself to read not only novels and stories that I'm likely to enjoy, but also essays and criticism that I'm not entirely positive I can wade through. For example, at the moment I'm reading A Vindication of the Rights of Women, by Mary Wollstonecraft (you might better remember her daughter, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, the author of Frankenstein). Be warned: This won't be the last time I write about books...

The last blog I wrote can be found here: http://blogs.lynn.edu/anopenbook/ I wrote about college life in Florida and all the craziness that entails. I have since moved to the great boot state of Louisiana, so hopefully, this new blog will have an even wider range of topics.

I live with the love of my life and our demon cat who will only drink out of the faucet. We very inventively dubbed her Kitty. I have two jobs: one that I hate, one that I love, Coldstone Creamery and substitute teaching, respectively. I took a semester off college when I moved here, so I start again in the summer. I can't wait. For the first time since I was five, I'm not in school, and I miss it. I want to be back in the classroom and soaking up knowledge like a ShamWow.

I have this disease called adult-ism, and it came on fast. My life is just getting started.