Brobdingnagian.
I think I've fallen into a different dimension, where things aren't markedly different but they obey slightly different laws of physics or something. I've not quite decided anything beside my life has been odd for the last couple of days.
Friday was a boring day of running around constantly. I had my 8AM lecture, a math quiz at 9, Chemistry lecture at 10, and an exam at 1. The exam was a breeze (Rocks for Jocks, after all) and I ran back to my apartment to do some last minute straightening up before my mother came and lectured me for being a slob. Mary showed up with her bags, excited to be leaving (literally) the campus for the first time since she came seven weeks ago. (Serious.) ((Campus town, where the church she goes to Mass at, doesn't count, since it is right across the street from the MU.))
My mother, in a super rare act of bonding, brought her younger sister Violet with her. This was the first time I had spent any time with my aunt in probably five years, and it was just a little strange. She looks good though, far better than the last time I had seen her fleetingly last year before her hysterectomy. But the difference between my mother and her sister- who is five years her junior - is remarkable. Violet has been wrapped up with drugs for years and looks older with a permanent expression of extreme tiredness. I think she is clean, but her family aren't, and the topic of her children, who my mother makes no bones about disliking, was studiously avoided. Still, it was great to see her, and we had a good time.
We went through IA city to go home and stopped by a consignment shop there, where I bought something like five or six pairs of pants, including the most amazing pair of corduroy I have ever yet laid eyes upon. They are raspberry color, and they are tight, loud, and beautiful. I wore them today with my black and white striped shirt, black waistcoat, and black sneakers.
And I got one compliment. Oh well, next time.
I also bought a few pairs of jeans that- strangely- seem to have pantlegs of different lengths. Not a whole lot, I don't think it would be noticeable if I were to wear them, but you can tell when they are folded up neatly. How very strange. But the second best purchase (after the cords) is this pair of pants that made me change what my Halloween costume is going to be. They are brown dress pants.
With blue pinstripes.
Oh yes, I'm going there. I only need to get a jacket and waistcoat that match closely (not difficult) a brown overcoat (not too difficult) cream-colored high tops (not bad) black thinky specs (Reading glasses, anyone?) keep my hair short, and find something that looks like a sonic screwdriver or some other prop. Tailor or sew the clothes so that they are a little tight, temporarily or permanently dye my hair brown (Iffy) and spew jargon constantly, and I should be good. What say you guys?
Unless I can find a good Five costume, of course. (Love that guy)
But I digress. We left there, dropped my aunt off, bought groceries, and rolled into my house at 9 or 10 that night. Mary got the grand tour, and she seemed genuinely impressed with our place. "It's really homey. My house isn't like this." I realised then and there that if we moved in together (this weekend was an experiment to see if that would work. The conclusion? Inconclusive.) she would have to agree to let there be random shit everywhere. I'm thinking, since we'll be out here at Freddie with the same furniture and dimensions, that we'll have my oddball collection of blankets spread over the couch, chair, and beds. Seriously, I have some strange ones, including but not limited to one commemorating my hometown's landmarks, a B&W outline of the Beatle's Abbey Road cover, Will Turner's giant face, Jasmine and Raja from Aladdin, and so on. Add my various pieces of art, posters, knick-knacks, as well has hers and those of our possible roommates (We could spring for a two person apartment, of course) and in my mind we'd have the most bohemian place on the entire campus.
Or the ugliest. She said it would be okay as long as it wasn't garrish looking. I guess that's why I have a Physics major friend, she'll keep me in check.
So we went to bed, talked for an hour after the light went out, and woke up the next morning to her alarm clock going off at 7. Oh, hell no... But I handled it as gracefully as I could (by not saying a word and thanking god she couldn't read thoughts) and began the day with a bowl of cereal, a haircut, and a shower. In that order. Because aparently I hate hair stylists everywhere.
We disappeared inside for a couple of hours while mom went to town to set up for the Relay for LIfe, and I spent the time repairing some jeans with my sewing machine and chatting. When we left to go to town it was raining, a cold and gloomy experience. I could tell then that the plans for the day had to be reconsidered. Went to the Relay (held on the track & football field in town) and found people bundled up under raincoats and umbrellas. Mary and I defected to my brother's house for a couple hours, which was MADNESS.
See, the day was supposed to start as a party for my nephew, my brother's roommate and sons' birthdays, then continue over to the relay. But things went wrong, and not just with the rain. The 'party' that was supposed to start at noon? Yeah, didn't even have the food for it by then. The ribs were put on to cook at one or two, the rest of the food was ready later, and it was a mess. Jerm and Tab had to go to work at 5, I had had made alternate plans to go to Ontinia's house for game night, and everyone was hungry. It was an absolute mess. We snuck out without alerting Bill so that we could leave before he realised half of us were not eating. I felt horrible, especially when mom called to find us and then she later told me that my nephew had loved his new bicycle he received. The whole afternoon was pretty much shot and I was incredibly depressed going to Ontinia's house.
But it cleared up upon seeing my best friends. The roommates were there when we arrived with Ashley joining us soon thereafter. I gave Ontinia her birthday gift, Ashley had a bottle of Absinthe, Julie drank some wine, I bemoaned the fact that I had to drive home but settled for sniffing the Absinthe and sipping the wine. We made Papa Murphy's pizza, Mary ate some salad, and we pigged out on Spinach Dip (Heavenly.)
After eating, we played the one round of the one game we got in that night. It was a new one for us, brand new out of the packaging, called Quelf. It was described as "Cranium on Crack," and indeed, that is the best explanation I can give. Julie had to pretend to be a human boomerang, Ashley had to hold the plunger like a sword, Ontinia professed her undying love in a Shakespearean sonnet-like way, which was all quite funny.
But the most memorable was when Mary drew a card and- taking her spatula with her- excused herself to the bathroom. We thought nothing of it, and it being the first time in six weeks that we were all together, we talked, laughed, ran into the library, danced, hit on each other (Ashley and I, anyway) and carried on for 45 minutes before finally deciding that her card must have said to go to the bathroom and not come back. When I knocked on the door she gasped "FINALLY!" but in my defense, people disappearing after dinner for long stretches of time isn't that unusual when it comes to my family. My oldest brother is the most regular human being on the planet, I swear.
By the time we finished the game, it was eleven and Ashley was a bit removed from sober, I was exhausted, and we had to be back home that night. So sadly we said our goodbyes and walked out into the cool fall night.
It was nice to be reunited with my car. You tend to forget that you can pretty much go wherever you want when you have one. Sadly you also have to pay gas, insurance, upkeep, and speeding tickets. (KIDDING! I've never been pulled over, miraculously.)
The next day, we went for a walk to the bridge, wandered around the place, packed the car, and left for Ames. The drive itself was unexciting, as was the grocery shopping, the saying goodbye, the homework, the sleeping, and the waking up this morning.
But today was interesting in itself. Things kept going slightly pear-shaped. I woke up at 6:30 as usual, took a shower, and instead of going to lecture (I didn't skip it, there was no class today) I laid around and read fanfic. (Found a Teenage!Stephen/Teenage!Jon fic told through the medium of texts that was quite entertaining.) I remember distinctly it being 9:15 and that I had class in 45 minutes. I closed my computer at that time and finished getting ready.
I swear I didn't do any more goofing off, but somehow it was suddenly 9:45 and I needed to leave NOW.
And I couldn't find my keys.
My bedroom was trashed from laundry, stuff I brought back from home, groceries that wouldn't fit into my kitchen cabinet, and blankets from unmaking my bed, amongst other things. I finally found the keys in my bed (I knew I had just had them) and ran out of the house, pedaled as hard as I could, and arrived at chem lecture winded. Nay, beyond winded, my lungs ached and I was coughing. But I made it and sat in there for an hour, recovering and sipping my coffee. (Mmm, coffee creamer...) I hadn't noticed that I was feeling distracted or anything, I felt pretty normal, if somewhat rushed.
But it was Monday after all.
I don't know what I was thinking beyond subconsciously I must have realised something was wrong. I jumped onto my bike (well, not literally jumped, but you know) went over to the building I have math lecture in, went into the room, and sat down, wondering where the instructor was. I nearly had a heart attack when an older man from some Eastern European country came in and started lecturing on Calculus.
I have no idea why I went in there, I don't have lecture at 11 (math I either have at 9 or 12, depending on the day) and never right after my chem lecture. Chem lab, yes, but that is a totally different class. It was the right room, yes, but still, why did I think I had math then? My mind was racing as I thanked god I sat toward the back. I considered escaping- impossible, I was sitting across the room from the door- and decided to go for incognito. I turned to a blank page and did my best to take notes.
And you know what? The lecture actually made some amount of sense. It was all functions and tangents of things or other, and even though I couldn't quite apply the equations, I could almost work them out. They were slightly twisted versions of what I'm doing in my far easier math class, after all. By the end of the period I had even decided to do this again, maybe even often. It wouldn't hurt to get a little extra stuff, maybe it would stick and hey, it has to be more productive than killing time in a computer lab. When the lecture was over, I moved forward a couple of seats and waited for the Noon lecture to begin, and sighed with relief when Devin came in to teach.
Easily that was the most surreal part of today.
After that, I went to Geo, came home, cleaned my room, went back to my Learning community class, came here, and plowed through my chem lab report for tomorrow. Those things are dull, man. Reviewing my past ones, I tried to fix as many mistakes as I could, so it took forever, but I feel that it is definitely the best one I have done so far. So, win.
And then I just found out that Ken Burns will be on the Colbert Report tonight. How awesome is that?!
Friday was a boring day of running around constantly. I had my 8AM lecture, a math quiz at 9, Chemistry lecture at 10, and an exam at 1. The exam was a breeze (Rocks for Jocks, after all) and I ran back to my apartment to do some last minute straightening up before my mother came and lectured me for being a slob. Mary showed up with her bags, excited to be leaving (literally) the campus for the first time since she came seven weeks ago. (Serious.) ((Campus town, where the church she goes to Mass at, doesn't count, since it is right across the street from the MU.))
My mother, in a super rare act of bonding, brought her younger sister Violet with her. This was the first time I had spent any time with my aunt in probably five years, and it was just a little strange. She looks good though, far better than the last time I had seen her fleetingly last year before her hysterectomy. But the difference between my mother and her sister- who is five years her junior - is remarkable. Violet has been wrapped up with drugs for years and looks older with a permanent expression of extreme tiredness. I think she is clean, but her family aren't, and the topic of her children, who my mother makes no bones about disliking, was studiously avoided. Still, it was great to see her, and we had a good time.
We went through IA city to go home and stopped by a consignment shop there, where I bought something like five or six pairs of pants, including the most amazing pair of corduroy I have ever yet laid eyes upon. They are raspberry color, and they are tight, loud, and beautiful. I wore them today with my black and white striped shirt, black waistcoat, and black sneakers.
And I got one compliment. Oh well, next time.
I also bought a few pairs of jeans that- strangely- seem to have pantlegs of different lengths. Not a whole lot, I don't think it would be noticeable if I were to wear them, but you can tell when they are folded up neatly. How very strange. But the second best purchase (after the cords) is this pair of pants that made me change what my Halloween costume is going to be. They are brown dress pants.
With blue pinstripes.
Oh yes, I'm going there. I only need to get a jacket and waistcoat that match closely (not difficult) a brown overcoat (not too difficult) cream-colored high tops (not bad) black thinky specs (Reading glasses, anyone?) keep my hair short, and find something that looks like a sonic screwdriver or some other prop. Tailor or sew the clothes so that they are a little tight, temporarily or permanently dye my hair brown (Iffy) and spew jargon constantly, and I should be good. What say you guys?
Unless I can find a good Five costume, of course. (Love that guy)
But I digress. We left there, dropped my aunt off, bought groceries, and rolled into my house at 9 or 10 that night. Mary got the grand tour, and she seemed genuinely impressed with our place. "It's really homey. My house isn't like this." I realised then and there that if we moved in together (this weekend was an experiment to see if that would work. The conclusion? Inconclusive.) she would have to agree to let there be random shit everywhere. I'm thinking, since we'll be out here at Freddie with the same furniture and dimensions, that we'll have my oddball collection of blankets spread over the couch, chair, and beds. Seriously, I have some strange ones, including but not limited to one commemorating my hometown's landmarks, a B&W outline of the Beatle's Abbey Road cover, Will Turner's giant face, Jasmine and Raja from Aladdin, and so on. Add my various pieces of art, posters, knick-knacks, as well has hers and those of our possible roommates (We could spring for a two person apartment, of course) and in my mind we'd have the most bohemian place on the entire campus.
Or the ugliest. She said it would be okay as long as it wasn't garrish looking. I guess that's why I have a Physics major friend, she'll keep me in check.
So we went to bed, talked for an hour after the light went out, and woke up the next morning to her alarm clock going off at 7. Oh, hell no... But I handled it as gracefully as I could (by not saying a word and thanking god she couldn't read thoughts) and began the day with a bowl of cereal, a haircut, and a shower. In that order. Because aparently I hate hair stylists everywhere.
We disappeared inside for a couple of hours while mom went to town to set up for the Relay for LIfe, and I spent the time repairing some jeans with my sewing machine and chatting. When we left to go to town it was raining, a cold and gloomy experience. I could tell then that the plans for the day had to be reconsidered. Went to the Relay (held on the track & football field in town) and found people bundled up under raincoats and umbrellas. Mary and I defected to my brother's house for a couple hours, which was MADNESS.
See, the day was supposed to start as a party for my nephew, my brother's roommate and sons' birthdays, then continue over to the relay. But things went wrong, and not just with the rain. The 'party' that was supposed to start at noon? Yeah, didn't even have the food for it by then. The ribs were put on to cook at one or two, the rest of the food was ready later, and it was a mess. Jerm and Tab had to go to work at 5, I had had made alternate plans to go to Ontinia's house for game night, and everyone was hungry. It was an absolute mess. We snuck out without alerting Bill so that we could leave before he realised half of us were not eating. I felt horrible, especially when mom called to find us and then she later told me that my nephew had loved his new bicycle he received. The whole afternoon was pretty much shot and I was incredibly depressed going to Ontinia's house.
But it cleared up upon seeing my best friends. The roommates were there when we arrived with Ashley joining us soon thereafter. I gave Ontinia her birthday gift, Ashley had a bottle of Absinthe, Julie drank some wine, I bemoaned the fact that I had to drive home but settled for sniffing the Absinthe and sipping the wine. We made Papa Murphy's pizza, Mary ate some salad, and we pigged out on Spinach Dip (Heavenly.)
After eating, we played the one round of the one game we got in that night. It was a new one for us, brand new out of the packaging, called Quelf. It was described as "Cranium on Crack," and indeed, that is the best explanation I can give. Julie had to pretend to be a human boomerang, Ashley had to hold the plunger like a sword, Ontinia professed her undying love in a Shakespearean sonnet-like way, which was all quite funny.
But the most memorable was when Mary drew a card and- taking her spatula with her- excused herself to the bathroom. We thought nothing of it, and it being the first time in six weeks that we were all together, we talked, laughed, ran into the library, danced, hit on each other (Ashley and I, anyway) and carried on for 45 minutes before finally deciding that her card must have said to go to the bathroom and not come back. When I knocked on the door she gasped "FINALLY!" but in my defense, people disappearing after dinner for long stretches of time isn't that unusual when it comes to my family. My oldest brother is the most regular human being on the planet, I swear.
By the time we finished the game, it was eleven and Ashley was a bit removed from sober, I was exhausted, and we had to be back home that night. So sadly we said our goodbyes and walked out into the cool fall night.
It was nice to be reunited with my car. You tend to forget that you can pretty much go wherever you want when you have one. Sadly you also have to pay gas, insurance, upkeep, and speeding tickets. (KIDDING! I've never been pulled over, miraculously.)
The next day, we went for a walk to the bridge, wandered around the place, packed the car, and left for Ames. The drive itself was unexciting, as was the grocery shopping, the saying goodbye, the homework, the sleeping, and the waking up this morning.
But today was interesting in itself. Things kept going slightly pear-shaped. I woke up at 6:30 as usual, took a shower, and instead of going to lecture (I didn't skip it, there was no class today) I laid around and read fanfic. (Found a Teenage!Stephen/Teenage!Jon fic told through the medium of texts that was quite entertaining.) I remember distinctly it being 9:15 and that I had class in 45 minutes. I closed my computer at that time and finished getting ready.
I swear I didn't do any more goofing off, but somehow it was suddenly 9:45 and I needed to leave NOW.
And I couldn't find my keys.
My bedroom was trashed from laundry, stuff I brought back from home, groceries that wouldn't fit into my kitchen cabinet, and blankets from unmaking my bed, amongst other things. I finally found the keys in my bed (I knew I had just had them) and ran out of the house, pedaled as hard as I could, and arrived at chem lecture winded. Nay, beyond winded, my lungs ached and I was coughing. But I made it and sat in there for an hour, recovering and sipping my coffee. (Mmm, coffee creamer...) I hadn't noticed that I was feeling distracted or anything, I felt pretty normal, if somewhat rushed.
But it was Monday after all.
I don't know what I was thinking beyond subconsciously I must have realised something was wrong. I jumped onto my bike (well, not literally jumped, but you know) went over to the building I have math lecture in, went into the room, and sat down, wondering where the instructor was. I nearly had a heart attack when an older man from some Eastern European country came in and started lecturing on Calculus.
I have no idea why I went in there, I don't have lecture at 11 (math I either have at 9 or 12, depending on the day) and never right after my chem lecture. Chem lab, yes, but that is a totally different class. It was the right room, yes, but still, why did I think I had math then? My mind was racing as I thanked god I sat toward the back. I considered escaping- impossible, I was sitting across the room from the door- and decided to go for incognito. I turned to a blank page and did my best to take notes.
And you know what? The lecture actually made some amount of sense. It was all functions and tangents of things or other, and even though I couldn't quite apply the equations, I could almost work them out. They were slightly twisted versions of what I'm doing in my far easier math class, after all. By the end of the period I had even decided to do this again, maybe even often. It wouldn't hurt to get a little extra stuff, maybe it would stick and hey, it has to be more productive than killing time in a computer lab. When the lecture was over, I moved forward a couple of seats and waited for the Noon lecture to begin, and sighed with relief when Devin came in to teach.
Easily that was the most surreal part of today.
After that, I went to Geo, came home, cleaned my room, went back to my Learning community class, came here, and plowed through my chem lab report for tomorrow. Those things are dull, man. Reviewing my past ones, I tried to fix as many mistakes as I could, so it took forever, but I feel that it is definitely the best one I have done so far. So, win.
And then I just found out that Ken Burns will be on the Colbert Report tonight. How awesome is that?!