The plague years
I'm back from a weekend visiting family in the New York area, and now I'm all nice and sick. Mom and I seem to have caught the same upper respiratory infection from one of my cousins. Right now I'm just on a self-prescribed regime of rest, cough medicine, and vitamin C. If it degenerates into bronchitis, I'll go to the doctor. Otherwise, they'll just tell me to do what I'm doing anyway. And also that I'm pregnant, which is, to understate the circumstances somewhat, vanishingly unlikely.
Whinging aside, it was actually a wonderful vacation. I got to see some aunts and uncles who I hadn't seen in ages. All of them seem to be doing well, and every bit as batty as is expected in the family. Good times. And it was fabulous to swap recent woes and adventures with some old friends in the city. They also seem to be well, and about the right level of crazy for basic life adaptation, which is to say a fair bit saner than most of the family. Good times.
The downside to all this, of course, is that I'm more behind than ever on all my work, and not likely to get caught up while hibernating my way to health. It would also be really, really nice if various universities would get back to me with financial aid (or lack thereof) offers, so that I could, you know, make final decisions and start applying for U.S. federal student loans and the necessary student visas and all that. These are things that should have happened MONTHS AGO, people! Not to mention that I have to worry about my Greek competency exam...
The one firm decision that I have made is that if I stay here for my Ph.D., I'm switching apartments. Right now I'm in a university-owned graduate student residence that can only be described as an unholy combination of a fully functional Victorian townhouse, an oversized standard apartment, a dorm, and a boarding house. There are a lot of good things about it: there's a nice sense of community among most of the residents, the landlord (i.e., the university) and the maintenance are top-notch, and it's right across the street from the gym. (Where I have not been since I got back, thanks to you, you stupid upper respiratory infection.)
But I really can't go any longer without having an animal around. Back in my undergraduate days, I could go home a lot more often, so it wasn't that bad. Now, however, I am in serious Kitty Withdrawal. I've got to be someplace where I can have a pet.
Other tidbits: they released the cover art for Harry Potter 7! Go check it out at http://www.mugglenet.com if you haven't already - they've got the full Bloomsbury-licensed and Scholastic covers. I must say that they're possibly the least revealing covers of the series, which is not entirely surprising. Slytherin's locket definitely seems to signify - are the Deathly Hallows, in fact, the Horcruxes? The Trio will apparently be going through a treasure horde in what seems to be a Gringott's vault (although I could be wrong) - more Horcrux-hunting, no doubt. Oh, and it looks like Harry will be having a confrontation with Voldemort at some point. Shocker, that one. (No, I really can't wait - why do you ask?)
Other news: Lost continues its apparent recovery, although I'm very skeptical about tonight's episode. I can't wait for Heroes to return from its scheduled hiatus. That will happen before HP7 is available, but I have to admit that it's somewhat less exciting. Ah well. I'm really hoping to be able to catch the Planet Earth miniseries on one or another BBC/Discovery affiliate. It's supposed to be unbelievable. I missed the first installment - out with friends and family in New York, so no regrets - but I'm hoping they'll rerun it. And we all know how happy nature program(me)s make me.
Whinging aside, it was actually a wonderful vacation. I got to see some aunts and uncles who I hadn't seen in ages. All of them seem to be doing well, and every bit as batty as is expected in the family. Good times. And it was fabulous to swap recent woes and adventures with some old friends in the city. They also seem to be well, and about the right level of crazy for basic life adaptation, which is to say a fair bit saner than most of the family. Good times.
The downside to all this, of course, is that I'm more behind than ever on all my work, and not likely to get caught up while hibernating my way to health. It would also be really, really nice if various universities would get back to me with financial aid (or lack thereof) offers, so that I could, you know, make final decisions and start applying for U.S. federal student loans and the necessary student visas and all that. These are things that should have happened MONTHS AGO, people! Not to mention that I have to worry about my Greek competency exam...
The one firm decision that I have made is that if I stay here for my Ph.D., I'm switching apartments. Right now I'm in a university-owned graduate student residence that can only be described as an unholy combination of a fully functional Victorian townhouse, an oversized standard apartment, a dorm, and a boarding house. There are a lot of good things about it: there's a nice sense of community among most of the residents, the landlord (i.e., the university) and the maintenance are top-notch, and it's right across the street from the gym. (Where I have not been since I got back, thanks to you, you stupid upper respiratory infection.)
But I really can't go any longer without having an animal around. Back in my undergraduate days, I could go home a lot more often, so it wasn't that bad. Now, however, I am in serious Kitty Withdrawal. I've got to be someplace where I can have a pet.
Other tidbits: they released the cover art for Harry Potter 7! Go check it out at http://www.mugglenet.com if you haven't already - they've got the full Bloomsbury-licensed and Scholastic covers. I must say that they're possibly the least revealing covers of the series, which is not entirely surprising. Slytherin's locket definitely seems to signify - are the Deathly Hallows, in fact, the Horcruxes? The Trio will apparently be going through a treasure horde in what seems to be a Gringott's vault (although I could be wrong) - more Horcrux-hunting, no doubt. Oh, and it looks like Harry will be having a confrontation with Voldemort at some point. Shocker, that one. (No, I really can't wait - why do you ask?)
Other news: Lost continues its apparent recovery, although I'm very skeptical about tonight's episode. I can't wait for Heroes to return from its scheduled hiatus. That will happen before HP7 is available, but I have to admit that it's somewhat less exciting. Ah well. I'm really hoping to be able to catch the Planet Earth miniseries on one or another BBC/Discovery affiliate. It's supposed to be unbelievable. I missed the first installment - out with friends and family in New York, so no regrets - but I'm hoping they'll rerun it. And we all know how happy nature program(me)s make me.