(no subject)
these past two days have been the days of getting back every major assignment i've written/worked on since this semester started. so far, so good, but what a rollercoaster ride of grade-getting. not just grades, though, but comments, too. it feels kind of like going down that line of hand-shakers at an awards ceremony or graduation in middle/high school. you know, some people like you better than others. some are more affectionate, more ecstatic. some handshakes are sturdy and say best in the class, really, i'm proud of you and others say yeah, you're all right, could do better, but congratulations on moving on in life regardless. not that all of this stuff matters so much to me.
yeah, right.
suddenly i'm reminded of smoking pot in the car post-graduation 2003 with doug and steph, getting caught by the graduates in the bus. what a wonderful moment that was. and how strangely my brain works.
i spent all of last night designing a site plan for a riverfront property in beacon, ny--an assignment for my urban planning class. it was hell until way early in the morning when i got to the coloring-in part. what fun! me, a pack of colored pencils, a color code, sidewalks to line yellow, circles of trees to shade green. i don't know what i'm talking about really. i was just struck by how satisfied i was to do something even slightly unacademic, though i must admit i've been enjoying my academic work a lot more lately, too. it must be a season of plenty for me.
registration is coming up. too bad i have a balance on my account because my ridiculous stepdad doesn't understand that if he makes more money, tuitions costs go up, aid goes down, and he doesn't help make up the difference (he partially caused), i have to pay more. he just takes it as a sign of my tricking people into thinking that vassar had good financial aid. anyway, i can't register until i give notice that i'll have the balance paid. oh geez. looks like i'm going loan shopping again. maybe if it was like online shoe shopping at zappos.com, i would be more inclined.
i mention registration because i'm excited (truly excited, not just kind of excited) by one class and one class only, which is fine. i'm not trying to emphasize a lack of excitement; rather, i'm trying to emphasize the intensity of excitement for this one particular class. it's called militarism and cultural fantasies. it's being offered in the international studies department, and is being taught by a (kind of hot) young gay professor from the german studies department, herr schneider. he studies notions of masculinity and male sexuality in fin de siecle germany. i wrote a paper on that once, and was fascinated. in fact, it almost made me want to study german history as a singular academic pursuit. it was only a brief affair. i was still studying russian at the time, and felt obliged to maintain my current cultural path. OH RUSSIAN!
have i mentioned that i bought terrance a hampster for our one-year anniversary (which was last saturday, the 23rd)? yeah, his name, after long deliberations, somehow became otis. i think i suggested it, but not really with the intentions of it catching on. before terrance got back from utah, i was calling the hamster hans. i grew rather attached to the name, but terrance doesn't like it. and it's his hamster, etc.
he's cute. a european black bear hamster, which is actually a new breed of syrian golden hamster--the most common type. he likes the wheel, but not people.
wasting time, wasting time. i bet i have updated my livejournal about academic affairs more than anybody in the entire, worldwide livejournal community. i'm willing to make that bet. seriously, i think about, and i can think of nothing else that's going on in my life, unless i rant about the election. sometimes it bothers me more than others--less in the fall/winter, when, i don't know, a slowing of my blood pressure makes me sleepy and warm and comfortable all the time, and i'm perfectly content to sit under lamplight and read a book.
of course, that means i leave clean clothes in a massive pile in my chair for over a week. i should put those away. i apologize for my terribly long, boring updates, but i guess i don't really write for other people. i mean, not in a livejournal-communication kind of way, not like these crazy vassar kids who sometimes communicate more through livejournal than through any other means. crazy.
yours truly,
boring dusty.
yeah, right.
suddenly i'm reminded of smoking pot in the car post-graduation 2003 with doug and steph, getting caught by the graduates in the bus. what a wonderful moment that was. and how strangely my brain works.
i spent all of last night designing a site plan for a riverfront property in beacon, ny--an assignment for my urban planning class. it was hell until way early in the morning when i got to the coloring-in part. what fun! me, a pack of colored pencils, a color code, sidewalks to line yellow, circles of trees to shade green. i don't know what i'm talking about really. i was just struck by how satisfied i was to do something even slightly unacademic, though i must admit i've been enjoying my academic work a lot more lately, too. it must be a season of plenty for me.
registration is coming up. too bad i have a balance on my account because my ridiculous stepdad doesn't understand that if he makes more money, tuitions costs go up, aid goes down, and he doesn't help make up the difference (he partially caused), i have to pay more. he just takes it as a sign of my tricking people into thinking that vassar had good financial aid. anyway, i can't register until i give notice that i'll have the balance paid. oh geez. looks like i'm going loan shopping again. maybe if it was like online shoe shopping at zappos.com, i would be more inclined.
i mention registration because i'm excited (truly excited, not just kind of excited) by one class and one class only, which is fine. i'm not trying to emphasize a lack of excitement; rather, i'm trying to emphasize the intensity of excitement for this one particular class. it's called militarism and cultural fantasies. it's being offered in the international studies department, and is being taught by a (kind of hot) young gay professor from the german studies department, herr schneider. he studies notions of masculinity and male sexuality in fin de siecle germany. i wrote a paper on that once, and was fascinated. in fact, it almost made me want to study german history as a singular academic pursuit. it was only a brief affair. i was still studying russian at the time, and felt obliged to maintain my current cultural path. OH RUSSIAN!
have i mentioned that i bought terrance a hampster for our one-year anniversary (which was last saturday, the 23rd)? yeah, his name, after long deliberations, somehow became otis. i think i suggested it, but not really with the intentions of it catching on. before terrance got back from utah, i was calling the hamster hans. i grew rather attached to the name, but terrance doesn't like it. and it's his hamster, etc.
he's cute. a european black bear hamster, which is actually a new breed of syrian golden hamster--the most common type. he likes the wheel, but not people.
wasting time, wasting time. i bet i have updated my livejournal about academic affairs more than anybody in the entire, worldwide livejournal community. i'm willing to make that bet. seriously, i think about, and i can think of nothing else that's going on in my life, unless i rant about the election. sometimes it bothers me more than others--less in the fall/winter, when, i don't know, a slowing of my blood pressure makes me sleepy and warm and comfortable all the time, and i'm perfectly content to sit under lamplight and read a book.
of course, that means i leave clean clothes in a massive pile in my chair for over a week. i should put those away. i apologize for my terribly long, boring updates, but i guess i don't really write for other people. i mean, not in a livejournal-communication kind of way, not like these crazy vassar kids who sometimes communicate more through livejournal than through any other means. crazy.
yours truly,
boring dusty.