Picture It! Sicily, 1918...
...or Northeast Texas, Fall 2005.
JACK, youngest brother of this diarist, has arrived at a small-town Texas elementary school for a couple of weeks of instruction during the family's period of evacuation. His AUNT, a librarian at the school, is showing him around and introduces him to LIBRARIAN 2. LIBRARIAN 2 is painted in what AUNT calls "East Texas Makeup," including thick eye makeup and unnaturally arched brows . LIBRARIAN 2 explains the library policies and programs to JACK, who studies her carefully the entire time.
LIBRARIAN 2
Now, do you have any questions?
JACK
Actually*, yes...are those your real eyebrows?
*JACK's siblings know that this word rarely precedes a bland remark.
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Sleep patterns for the past few days have been...erratic, to say the least. Thursday and Friday night of last week, I couldn't get enough sleep. Saturday and Sunday night, I lay awake for over 2 hours each night after turning off the bedside lamp. I tossed and turned and fretted over things that really don't matter.
I've decided to drop down to twelve hours for next semester - partly because I'll have enough to work on, with thesis work, planning for the next semester in Deutschland, work, etc. And partly because the class I'm intending to drop, Enlightenment to 1850, covers a period that we've already covered pretty well in 2 of my honors courses, and I would rather drive this here pencil through my eye than read Adam Smith for a third time.
So, my schedule is...
Hist 4046 (19th c Britain)
MWF 12:30 - 1:30
Germ 3082 (18th c Literature)
MWF 1:30 - 2:30
Germ 2075 (German History)
T Th 4:30 - 6:00
Poli 2057 (Intro to International Politics)
M 5:00 - 8:00
Not bad at all. I'll still graduate by Spring 2009, and hopefully the reduction will allow me to finish the semester with my small social life and my nerves intact (see Fall 2006, the semester of the three honors course, in which our heroine was never NOT working on a big essay or project - I know, I know, such is the life of a student).
I've been doing more research for my thesis. Things are shaping up very nicely. Yeees...all is going according to plan.
My ring finger and little finger of my left hand have been asleep for five days now.