Anyone remember Archie?
Dad: Did Mom tell you what she wants from Famous Dave's?
Kelsey: No.
Dad: She must want us to decide what she wants.
Kelsey: What do you think we should get?
Dad: Cole slaw.
Kelsey: She likes cole slaw. What else?
Dad: Nothing else.
Kelsey: Just cole slaw?
Dad: Yes.
Kelsey: What are you getting?
Dad: Cole slaw.
Kelsey: What am I getting? I don't have to get cole slaw, do I?
Dad: No. You get cole slaw.
Kelsey: But I don't like cole slaw.
Dad: Doesn't matter. You only get cole slaw.
Kelsey: But I want to get something else. I don't want to get cole slaw.
Dad: Do I have a dime in my pocket? I think I do. Well you can use the dime in my pocket to call somebody who cares. Except I think the phone call would cost more than a dime. And you would have to find a phone. So really I don't think it would be practical.
Sometimes Dad makes me laugh.
Kelsey: What do you think of Cuba?
Dad: Why do you ask?
Kelsey: I'm thinking about visiting Cuba next winter with my school. Not a lot of people visit Cuba. It would be nice.
Dad: I thought you wanted to visit Italy. You love Italy.
Kelsey: Yeah, but I looked, and there weren't any trips to Italy next winter. The Italy trip is in the summer, and I want to take summer classes. But the Cuba trip sounded cool.
Dad: Are there any other places you can go?
Kelsey: There's another trip, to various cities, like Sarajevo. I've always wanted to go to Sarajevo.
Dad: Why?
Kelsey: It's where Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated. That's one of my favorite history stories.
Dad: His wife died, too.
Kelsey: Yeah. His last words were to her. He was telling her that she couldn't die, because someone had to take care of the children.
Dad: Interesting.
Kelsey: What is?
Dad: His final words. Do you know what he was the archduke of?
Kelsey: That's a complicated question. He was a member of...of...of that big important house, they used to rule Spain as well as Austria-Hungary...
Dad: And Herzegovina.
Kelsey: Right. The Hapsburgs! He was an archduke of the Hapsburg family. His wife was a countess, she was beneath his station. He had to fight to marry her.
Dad: Or was he beneath her?
Kelsey: No, he was above her. But all the eligible princesses were all nineteen, and he was in his mid-thirties, and Sophie was in her early thirties. He loved her and wanted to marry her. But because she was so far beneath him, they had to agree that her kids couldn't inherit his titles, and his heir was still his nephew. He set up his kids to be wealthy landowners instead.
Dad: And then there was a civil war.
Kelsey: Yeah.
Dad: People died coming home from work. Businessmen carrying briefcases were shot down. Fourteen-year-old girls were killed by snipers. Ordinary people, mothers, shoppers, salespeople, office workers, bus drivers and cab drivers, they were all shot dead on the streets.
Kelsey: Yeah.
Sometimes Dad makes me feel sad.
My final grades for the semester:
Adv Comp: B+
Folklife: B+
Third Reich: C-
Hist of VA: B
Philosophy: A-
I think my final philosophy grade was submitted late on Christmas Eve, so the unexpected A was a delightful Christmas present. That's a 3.0 for the semester, and a 2.83 overall. Once I retake the Historical Methods course, my GPA could lift to 2.9. As long as I'm dreaming, we can imagine that I'm getting an A, or a 2.95 GPA overall.
Sigh. Maybe I'll get enough in my other courses that I'll cross the 3.0 cumulative benchmark and become the Best Student Ever. Of course, between appendicitis, walking directly into jagged, rusty poles, having to get getting a new radiator and new brake pads, just altogether I'm feeling like I'm not the best anything.
You know what? I've raised my GPA from 2.45 to 2.83 in a year. I know I can get it even higher. I'm not the best, but I'm doing pretty good anyway.
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