State of the Jenni Address
New semester. Woo.
School
In other news, Shiny the Laptop went away for a while. It's currently at the Toshiba repair station in... Tennessee, I believe? Should be receiving new speakers or a new sound card or something, as first the speakers died, and then I lost the ability to hear with headphones plugged in. And I could deal with one or the other, but not both. It's been gone for a week and a half, and I have heard nothing. I miss my computer. The monitor for the old desktop died, and borrowing my mother's monitor for a few hours a day would be a giant pain in the ass (cord management = not our family's forte). I'm currently using her laptop while she's at Emma's football game, and I use the Laurels computers whenever possible.
As annoying as it is to not be able to read webcomics***, the biggest annoyance is that it cuts off most communication with people--all forms of IM are out, which means instant-type communication is largely limited to people I know in meatspace who have my phone number and an accommodating texting plan. This causes sadface.
*UST is a tiny little school; 20 makes for a large class, especially at the graduate level.
**"It's for learning!"
"That girl is riding a dinosaur."
"Which I clearly need to learn how to do, having suffered from a distinct lack of dinosaur-riding lessons as a child."
***I might have an addiction DON'T YOU JUDGE ME.
School
- Dante - This class is either going to be utterly fascinating, completely kick my ass, or possibly both. We're going through Dante's Vita Nuevo, Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. The professor is the nerdiest nerd to ever nerd, and it's clear that he loves the subject he's teaching, which makes the lectures far more interesting. This is one of the biggest classes I've ever had at UST; I think there may be more than 30 people enrolled*, and it's a dual class--both undergrad and graduate students are in the room, with the grad students doing extra work. Plus I think some people are auditing because it seems so interesting. Dr. Lowery showed up last class, and I think she'll be sitting in. She takes much more comprehensive notes than I do, but I am terrible about that sort of thing if the subject holds my attention. A sure sign that I am totally lost is a page full of notes.
- The American Girl in Literature - Not the American Girl as in the dolls/books series, but the concept of young female persons in the U.S. and their representation in the literature aimed at them. We're reading a ton of books in this course, including A Wrinkle in Time (one of my favorites). They're by and large very quick reads, though, being Young Adult novels. My big presentation and research paper is going to be on the representation of girls in comics/graphic novels aimed at a teen/YA audience. I'll be looking at DC's now-defunct MINX line, and Marvel's Spiderman Loves Mary Jane, as well as Runaways. There will also be some indie-type comics thrown in there (Hey, poisonrational, would either Side A or Side B be classified as YA? I'ma buy them either way). I will more than likely be making a post in the near future asking for comics suggestions. After all, far be it for me to turn down a chance to get my parents to buy me comics.**
- Literary Criticism - A class where I get to shred stories from various perspectives? Be still, my beating heart. It helps that I am very familiar with the two big novels we have the option to analyze - Dracula and The Great Gatsby. Should make for fun times.
- Laurels - We have a much smaller group this semester, as a bunch of regulars graduated (I make such a sadface when I think about it, I cannot even tell you). Managing six people is a hell of a lot simpler than managing eighteen, though. And the folks we do have seem pretty awesome, so that helps quite a bit.
In other news, Shiny the Laptop went away for a while. It's currently at the Toshiba repair station in... Tennessee, I believe? Should be receiving new speakers or a new sound card or something, as first the speakers died, and then I lost the ability to hear with headphones plugged in. And I could deal with one or the other, but not both. It's been gone for a week and a half, and I have heard nothing. I miss my computer. The monitor for the old desktop died, and borrowing my mother's monitor for a few hours a day would be a giant pain in the ass (cord management = not our family's forte). I'm currently using her laptop while she's at Emma's football game, and I use the Laurels computers whenever possible.
As annoying as it is to not be able to read webcomics***, the biggest annoyance is that it cuts off most communication with people--all forms of IM are out, which means instant-type communication is largely limited to people I know in meatspace who have my phone number and an accommodating texting plan. This causes sadface.
*UST is a tiny little school; 20 makes for a large class, especially at the graduate level.
**"It's for learning!"
"That girl is riding a dinosaur."
"Which I clearly need to learn how to do, having suffered from a distinct lack of dinosaur-riding lessons as a child."
***I might have an addiction DON'T YOU JUDGE ME.