Weekend Review

Friday: Went for a run, edited my big paper on and off throughout the day with procrastination in between, went to the grocery store and video store, watched The Holiday with a bag of popcorn and a glass of red wine, because I'm classy like that.

Saturday: Worked on the paper some more, went to Target and McDonalds, worked on the paper again, then went for a run. Went to a wine and cheese party with the other history graduate students. We students are poor, so the wine had to be under six bucks, and the cheese was creative- I took sliced cheddar shaped like Mickey Mouse, and I ate lots of cheese puffs.

Sunday: Church, back home for lunch and a nap, then planned (well, still planning) a different history paper. Plus procrastination on the internet and America's Next Top Model (which was one of those "new" episodes when they just rerun "never before seen" footage- cheaters).

In honor of National Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month, and while I do not especially care for poetry, or pretend to be a poet myself, I thought I'd share this poem I wrote in 2001 (I think), which is based on a true story.

*****

The other day at work, I had to clean the loo.
I'm happy to admit it's not my favorite thing to do.
I started with the women's, "the first door on your right,"
When something in the second stall greeted me with a fright.

For on the floor, next to the bowl, a small brown object lay.
Various thoughts ran through my mind and I did not know what to say.
I kicked it just a little, so see if it was true,
And judging by the smear it left I knew the thing was poo.

"Oh gross, oh yuck, oh foul!" I cried, "whatever shall I do?"
"Must I clean up this object that is someone else's poo?"

I ran outside to grab fresh air, I thought that I would puke.
"Why must I be the one to clean this dump that someone took?"
I regained my composure, and prepared myself for the job,
Then went back in and once again faced the smelly log.

I gathered toilet paper, a half a roll at least,
And bent down really quickly to pick up the messy piece.
Quick as a flash the poo was gone, swirling down the toilet.
I wiped my brow and sighed aloud, glad the challenge had been met.

Later that day I told my boss the story of my torture.
He squirmed and cringed and filled the air with lots and lots of laughter.
He gave me a quarter and promised a raise for cleaning up the mess.
"Of all the girls I think you, Andi, seem to amuse me the best!"

Officer Andi

Say hello to the new List Serve Moderator for the NCSU History Graduate Student Association. This is a pretty important position, let me tell you. It reminds me of that year I was secretary for the National Honor Society in high school.

Whoop-de-do.

it's not the heat...

Today was the first of what will surely be an endless summer of me thinking, "Why do I live in North Carolina again? Or Virginia? Or anywhere with humidity???"

my lake

I love my little lake. It looks like this.


Or, from a different position, it looks like this.


There are many turtles at the lake.


And geese.


There are also ducks, and they can pose obstacles for runners and bicyclists on the path.


On an average outing to the lake one can see old people and young people of all sorts. Sometimes they wear hats.


Or they might be fishing.


The lake is especially nice on a sunny day. The turtles think so, too.

Weekend

After Williamsburg, Easter, and my Birthday, this weekend was mucho mellow and relaxing. Friday I went for a run and worked on a paper. I watched As Time Goes By Friday night. Saturday I read and graded papers, went for a run, graded more papers, made drop scones and watched Love Actually, and read a little more. Sunday I went to church, ate Greek food for lunch and graded, went to a lecture at the art museum for some culture, then graded and read at a coffee shop. I also spent time this weekend being sad for VT, enjoying the sun, sitting in my parked car for thirty minutes to hear more of A Prairie Home Companion, and being thankful the flies are gone, at least for now.

Shoo fly.

This morning I was awakened by the bug man at my door. I (finally) called the office yesterday and told them about my fly problem. In the last week I've killed so. many. flies. and it's so. gross. The guy said they're probably the kind of flies that grow up on dead animals, so maybe there was something dead outside my window. I mean, seriously, that's the kind of information he could have kept to himself. He sprayed outside, and told me to get myself some bug-killing spray. "Especially for the summer," he said. Oh dear. The minute I thought about having my own apartment in North Carolina last year I started worrying about bugs. And I won't even be here most of the summer, so every time I come in I fear I'm going to greeted by one big bug nightmare. I'll just have to make sure I have a flip flop handy.

Birthday Weekend o' Fun

Birthday: Grandparents woke me up with a 7:30 phone call, but I went back to sleep. Post office woke me up with a phone call next, at 8, but I again went back to sleep. Parents woke me around 9:30 with another call, but I went back to sleep again. Finally woke up around 10:15 and did some homework. Drove to Fosters Market in Chapel Hill to do homework with a delicious chai and scone, and Allison joined me. Drove back home while talking to my other grandparents, then got showered and ready for birthday fun. Tess (the other birthday girl) and Elizabeth came over, and we went to Humble Pie for a tapas dinner, which was delicious and fun. Next we went to the area on Glenwood with tons of fun bars, where another friend and her boyfriend joined us, and hopped around.

(This is Tess and me. However, you will notice by the absence of a birthday aura that this picture was taken on Saturday night, instead of the actual day of our 24th birthdays. That's because I couldn't figure my camera out in time on Friday.)

Saturday: Slept in, and read a tiny bit in bed. Went to the Nippon Club picnic with Allison and Sam, where we ate noodles, watched guys in funny shoes drumming, and saw guys who looked like this get hit on the head:

Went to a coffee shop to eat soup and read. Stopped by Target to look at clothes, but ended up with two new CDs instead. Picked Tess up and drove to her boyfriend's bar in Chapel Hill, where we saw The Back Beat, a Beatles cover band (complete with older guys with shaggy hair).

Sunday: Up (relatively) early to meet Douglas (one of my friends from the Williamsburg trip) and his wife Meg for coffee and church. After attending this church since August, this was the first time I actually sat with people I knew. It was exciting. Afterwards we (plus another guy) went out for lunch. Got home but had to take a nap. Started organizing my research and writing my big paper, which looked like this:

You can see the black container, which holds tons more notecards. No fear losing all my work with a crashing computer!

Took a break to watch America's Next Top Model, eat, and talk to dad about tax stuff. Back to paper-writing until after 1am.

The Birthday Lineup for April 13:

Guy Fawkes
Thomas Jefferson (!)
F.W. Woolworth
Butch Cassidy
Eudora Welty
Al Green
my friend Tess
and ME!!!

I just killed eight more flies.

And I know of one still at large. Grroooossssss.

student email

The students I TA for are currently writing group research papers, and I have the job of reading their drafts (not to mention reading and grading the actual papers once they're turned in next week). One student emailed me his paper, so I edited it with comments and sent it back. This morning he emailed back with this reply:

"Thank you for your comments. I don't envy your task."

I've killed at least a horde.

Flies keep appearing around the windows of my apartment. The closed windows of my apartment. They're driving me insane. I can't figure out where they're coming from. Unless they were bred right here in my apartment, which is gross. But why would they go from invisible to huge and slow? When I see one, I grab my flip flop and kill it. It's such an awful and disgusting process, however, that I never try to seek out more. But this morning I said, "enough is enough!" So I drew up all the blinds and killed about seven. It worked for a few hours. Early this evening, however, I killed another five. Seriously, where are they coming from?! Are they sneaking in through a crevice in the window? Or the side door, maybe that's it. But they're so huge, how do they do that? And it's not like they're hanging out around the kitchen or trash, so I don't feel like my apartment is this sty that attracts them. Anyway, they're gross and I'm about to go nuts.

Weekend Review

Friday: Read and wrote a paper. Around 6pm after working in bed all day I decided I had to get out of the apartment, so I went for a short run around the lake. I came back extremely allergy-faced. Made dinner and did some more work.

Saturday: Finished up the paper, then went out to buy allergy medicine and a birthday card for a friend. Couldn't stay at Borders to study because there weren't any more tables, so brought my free latte home to try and research here. Later my friend Elizabeth came over and we drove to Richmond. Visited with my grandparents a little and ate dinner. Went over to aunt's house to see her and cousins. Took Elizabeth downtown to Capital Ale House.

Sunday: Went to mass with grandparents and Elizabeth. Even though it was Catholic mass and I never know what to do or say, it was still nice to be with all three of them at church. Gave Elizabeth an hour-long driving tour of Richmond. Went back to the house and all the family came over for a big Easter dinner, complete with the annual lamb cake. Hunted for Easter eggs. (That's right, I refused to be a "big kid" and hide the eggs because I wanted to look for them, too.) Visited with everyone some more, and finished up my laundry, then hit the road again. Got back to Raleigh, ate some squash for dinner, and watched America's Next Top Model. I've decided to take an Easter break from homework, so I'm going to go to bed now and try to get to work earlier in the morning.

Also, I'm going blind. My sight is getting worse. Maybe these allergies are making it really bad right now, or being tired, or driving a lot, or reading too much, but whatever it is it's no fun. Fuzzy eyes make tired eyes that want to close and sleep instead of doing homework.

The gray clouds are coming....

If I stop for more than about two seconds and think about the fact that I have a 25 page draft of my history paper due in just over a week, I pretty much want to crumple up on the floor and die. So I'm off for a free coffee drink at Borders and to do more research.

a random assortment of things I'd like to tell you

I think I'm getting sick. My dad thought maybe it was because of my "wild living," but it's probably just allergies. The entire city of Raleigh is yellow right now, covered in pollen.

I'm dealing with my first plagiarism case(s) as a TA. It's no fun. I had one student walk away from our private little talk close to tears. Ugh.

I just ate beans on toast for a late dinner. And orange juice.

Duke University is like a different world, totally different than NCSU. My archives class went there tonight to see old photographs in their special collections. First of all, I'm surprised I even found my way to the campus because the directions I had weren't working out. Secondly, they're too busy looking fancy and Gothic to put up signs and maps, so it took some extra wandering to find the library. Thirdly, everyone there is skinny and tanned and beautiful. Anyway, the collection was really great, and I tried to be excited, but my nose was sniffly and my body started to ache and I mostly just wanted to go home.

Luckily my drive to and from Duke was fun, thanks to the mix cd my new friend gave me.

Warm weather is making bugs pop up all over my apartment. A spider here, a fly there. I keep a flip flop handy to smash them.

History Field Trip Weekend

The obligatory Colonial Williamsburg picture. Uncropped.

Friday: Up early to meet at professor's house by 8:30. Rode with two fun guys to Jamestown. Ate lunch at the fake Jamestown, then had group tour with an archaeologist at the real Jamestown. Got sunburned. Checked into hotel, then went to The King's Arm for large group dinner. Didn't eat much peanut soup. Somehow ended up in the tiny group with late tickets for the Legends Tour, so went with three other students to a tavern for drinks. Played fun dice games. Went on Legends Tour, but we all had to pee the whole time. After tour met back with the larger group at the same tavern for more drinks and more dice games. Got slightly rowdy, but definitely had a good time. After the tavern closed at 10:30 we walked back to the hotel and the cool kids ("kids" is relative- I was definitely one of the youngest ones there) hung out until after 2, with more drinks and pizza.

My awesome car mates in their awesome hats.

Saturday: Woke up early for hotel breakfast. Stood with the group in the sun on the loud crunchy walkway by the buses and listened (or tried to listen) to a lecture for way too long. Off to explore Colonial Williamsburg. Toured the Capitol and Governor's Palace, plus lots of artisan shops. Finally got to sit down and eat lunch, then back on the streets for more exploring and note taking. Starting asking around about the Native Americans, or the lack of Native Americans. Learned female blacksmiths didn't wear shirts to work. Was super tired and hot and dehydrated, but stayed strong until 5. Went back to hotel for short nap, with tired feet and exhausted body. Up again to walk back to our same favorite tavern for dinner and more dice games. Off to learn about 18th-century dance at the Capitol. Back to the same tavern for more dice games with our favorite waiter. After tavern closed walked back to hotel to hang out in same hotel room again, but not as late this time.

(I would show the picture of me with the apron on, but I'm hunched over so it will stay up. Since that doesn't look very flattering you get to look at my back instead.)

Sunday: Up early again for hotel breakfast. Back to Colonial Williamsburg to finish exploring. Sat in the chapel at the Wren building at William and Mary for thirty minutes chatting with my new friend. Met back with professor and group one last time for roll call, then headed back to the car and on the road. Stopped at hugest Arby's ever for lunch. Had great fun talking with my car mates, and decided to start a band. We're gonna be rock stars. Rock stars who just had a great weekend in Williamsburg.