Happy Birthday to me

Today, I turned 20 years old. I am having a minor qualm about this. I realize everyone who will possibly lay eyes on this post is older than that. So before you sputter in protest that this "youngin doesn't know the first thing about getting old and I wish I was still twenty", and so on, please consider that life occurs in a forward linear progression and I have nothing to compare to age 20.

Let me explain. When I was younger (so, like, last week) I always thought that a twenty-year old would be sage and worldly wise, secure of their position in life, and completely independent. Note to younger self: lies, all of them. I still feel 16, on an extended vacation from my parents' house. I'm still so so naive about the workings of the world and dependent on my family for everything (moral support, intellectual guidance, money, healthcare, etc). I can't even get the oil changed in my car by myself. Hello, pathetic.

That's not to say that I'm desperately seeking a release from my family or something. In fact, completely the opposite. I would be a useless bag of bones without them, honestly. [Hey parents, I appreciate you! ]I just have this feeling like I should be more independent.

Whatever, it's just something I have to get over. I know, my life is just beginning and all that jazz, it's just a mental state. So calm down, oldies.

Inner broodings aside, let's talk about my birthday celebrations. I made it into a weekend event because I like to milk every opportunity to be in the spotlight. Also, I have too many friends to celebrate with at the same time. Yes, my middle name is Humble.

Friday night, my roommate and our floor mates, Lauren and Shannon, took me out to O'Charley's for dinner and it was a really good time. They gave me presents and paid for my dinner! Saturday morning I had to work from 8:45-1 but it wasn't too bad. The time went fast. At 6, I met all the gang from meeting (minus Arun, but he is never here on the weekend anyway) at Olive Garden for dinner. Death threats notwithstanding, they got the wait staff to sing to me and bring me a cake. It was utterly embarrassing. But the cake was good. I waited and waited for my bill but it never came. Convinced I would have to wash dishes on my birthday, I pulled the waitress aside and asked if I could please pay for my food but alas, my kind friends had paid for my meal yet again. (Birthdays are a lucrative business. I wouldn't mind it if I had one every month.) We all went back to the Braund's for some games and I spent the night there, since union meeting was close by the next day (a.k.a today).

I must take the time here to say that while I enjoy spending the night at people's houses, I loathe sleeping on beds that are folded into couches during the day. There is no comfortable way to position yourself on such a matress. This one in particular was quite ridiculous. The middle contained a giant lump and somehow, no matter which end I had my feet, they were always higher than my head. Since I was sharing it with Amanda, I couldn't exactly spread eagle for comfort. I had to fall asleep like a beached whale on a seesaw, with all my major organs slowly sliding into my throat.

This morning (after I got my spleen out of my chest cavity) we went off to meeting. Afterwards, Carole cooked up a big brunch of pancakes, breakfast casserole, and fruit salad. Then they suprised me with a wonderful cake. It was awesome. The morning dissolved into a comfortable afternoon, everyone enjoying the sunshine. Rachel and I laid on the driveway like two lazy cats and stretched our arms out, embracing the warmth that has been absent since early November. It's like we've been underground for the last five months. I hope the sun lasts...

Anyway, here's some pictures (gasp! pictures!) for your viewing pleasure.


Everyone is a star.



Um. We were dancing? Actually, I have no idea. It's just a funny picture in all it's awkwardness.


Rachel, moi, Lauren. Two of my favorite girls!


Joseph and Amanda. precious.


Amanda and me. squint squint.


mmm cake. Joseph made it for me! He should go into the business, it was fantastic.


Me and rooms, because she has been so good to me. I'm excited to live with her next year too!

There are more pictures but they're of the same people as above so you get the idea.

A capital weekend, indeed. I only have a month or so left down here before school breaks for summer, so not much time left. Well, it is high past bed time and officially not my birthday anymore. I have class in six hours so I should catch a wink or two before then. This is Two Decades Eleanora, signing off. Good night, America.

sooo....how ya been?

I'm alive.

The end.

Oh I'm sorry, were you expecting an actual post? Well come back in a week when spring break is over and I've taken the cucumber slices off of my eyes.

A Day in the Life Of...

I'm totally copying Jami on this one. shhh....

A Typical Day for Moi

Actually, my schedule changes on a day to day basis so maybe we'll title this a typical Monday.

A Typical Day for Moi
A Typical Monday for Moi

There, that's better.

6:43 a.m. Wake to sound of roommate's alarm. Try to convince myself that it's Saturday and she accidentally left it on. She gets out of bed and turns it off.
6:45 a.m. Wake to sound of my alarm. Hit the snooze. Begin to doze.
6:50 a.m. Wake to sound of my alarm. Turn it off, and swing my legs down beside the bed, muttering under my breath. Poke roommate. Pour our breakfast cereal.
This process is repeated every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday but sometimes the roles are reversed.

7:20 Sleepwalk to class with roommate after pulling on clothes only a half a step up from our pajamas.
7:30-8:20 Sit through Intro to International Politics, alternately being poked by and poking Catherine to keep focus on what Prof. Targ is mumbling.
8:30-9:30 Visit the elliptical machine in my residence hall exercise room.
This only occurs if I have gotten at least 5 hrs of sleep the night before. Otherwise, I go back to bed until 10:30. Guess which one happens more often.
9:45-12:00 Shower, put on actual clothes, catch up on reading, lunch.
12:30-1:20 Attend Oceanography lecture. Learn about ocean sediments. Try to care.

1:30-3:20 Go to Cafe Royale, order a chocolate chai and read Apollonius or some other classical work for my next class.
3:30-4:20 Discuss said classical work in Classics on Film. Realize anew just how odd the professor is.
4:30-8 Procrastinate on homework and get dinner.
OR
Work Meghan's shift at the office and think fondly of dinner I will not get to have for another few hours.

8:00-9:00 Sit through weekly WRH Club Board meeting and vote on stuff. I actually never have anything to contribute since my position is just a figurehead and all actual responsibilities left with the population of freshman I was supposed to oversee.
9:01-9:02 Check mailbox and grow excited to see actual mail but it turns out to be another credit card offer. Think fondly back on '06 when I recieved a care package in the mail from a beloved aunt. Wonder if my barren dusty mailbox will ever recieve anything so wonderful again. ahem.
9:05-9:30 Do the USA Today online crossword and sudoku and amaze myself at my fantastic mental prowess.
9:30-12:00 Actually do homework. Visit with my roommate whom I'm seeing for the first time since our class that morning. Watch the Daily Show or the Colbert Report and talk politics.
12:00 A quiet descends.
12:30 Begin to dream of Saturday when I can sleep in.

Interspersed in my day is usually sporadic email checking, phone calls to my family, giving tours of the res. hall, watering of the chia plant, and frantic visits to the computer lab to print off the latest paper that's due in 10 minutes.

I have a planner the size of a billboard, you would think I would be more organized. What I forget to pencil in, however, is motivation to follow the schedule. Ah such is life.

I believe we have entered into the "actual homework time" so I should go. Even though it's Tuesday and Monday's schedule is entirely thrown out of the window.

But before I go, I have to clarify who deserves to win the Superbowl. The Giants. No contest. If you side with the Patriots, the terrorists win. I'm pretty sure Bush covered that in his Union Address* last night.
Ha. Bet you wish you stuck around for the whole thing like I did, am I right?

Thought so.

*I actually have a whole other post on the State of the Union address but it's pretty politically involved and there's probably zero point zero interest in my opinion about that out there in the blogosphere. So I'm not going to post it unless there's a big demand. By that I mean if the 2.5 other people that read this besides my mom want to see it.

alas she speaks after a long silence

blah.
well obviously I survived Dead Week. and Exam Week. Grades weren't ones for the charts but I'm at peace with them. Winter Break was fun and eventful. Went to VA to visit Mom's parents and then unexpectedly to NY because Eva was in a snowboarding accident but you'd know about that if you read my mom's blog. Sam and I came home on New Year's day, drove in a blinding blizzard the whole way and I went to work for the rest of break. I nanny for a family of 8 in my neighborhood whenever I'm home on break. It's crazy, hectic, and sometimes I want to lie on the floor in the fetal position, but the pay is the best, the schedule is very flexible and I love those kids. I've been working for them for about two years and I keep saying next summer I'll get a steady 9-5er for the work experience but I really can't beat what I've got. Last summer for instance, I was able to go on vacation like 6 times and I reaaaally don't want to give up the fabulous Carolus summer trips.

Tangent aside, it's the start of week 3 for the new semester and I just might lose my mind. I scaled back on the credit hours but I picked up a job and even though I'm only working ~15 hrs a week, it's pretty hectic. I work in the main office of my residence hall. I answer phones, sell stamps, rent out movies, spare keys, make copies and shred stuff. I was thrown into work with a very very inadequate training session and an associate who thinks she's boss of the universe that likes to point out everything I do wrong. We have to fill out cash reports at the beginning and the end of every shift because they rotate cash drawers in the registers and those were the bane of my existence for the first few days. I kept messing up little details (because I had no idea what I was doing) and formerly mentioned boss of the universe (hereafter referred to as B.O.U.) admonished me with a shocked look on her face as though my omission of decimal points in reporting there were $35 in ones would cause our esteemed university to crumble to the dust. I have to stifle the wierd urge to curtsy whenever B.O.U. speaks.

I take it all with a grain of salt, however because B.O.U. is not actually my boss. She is the full time admin. assistant I take over for on Tuesdays. She did not hire me and she does not sign my paychecks and while I respect her opinion, I am not intimidated by her constant criticism. I recognize that my training was inadequate but I am a fast learner and I'm doing the best I can.

In other news, my classes are all interesting, even my Intro to Foreign Relations class that's taught by a fossil at 7:30 a.m. three days of the week. I have that class with Catherine so we force each other to get up in the morning and exchange pen jabs during lecture if we see the other falling asleep. Have I mentioned that I love my roommate? She brings me food when I have to work through a meal time at the office. Another class I'm taking, Intro to Oceanography, is with Lauren, who goes to my meeting and that's been really great.

My oddest class is shaping up to be my Ancient Classics on Film class, taught by a professor I had a year ago. This is one of the quirkiest professors I have yet to meet. Class is never boring. We read the Odyssey the first week of class and were supposed to watch the film version but according to him, "it's lame so we're going to watch Ong Bok instead". Ong Bok is a martial arts movie that has absolutely NOTHING to do with Homer's classic. We were still studying the Odyssey last week and what did we watch this time? A French Brigette Bardot film from the 50s. While it keeps things interesting, I am having the hardest time drawing parallels in my discussion essay. The most interesting class is A History of the Modern Middle East, where we discuss at length the cultural and political background of Middle Eastern countries and how it has shaped the region of today.

Anyway, this is longer than I intended it to be but it's been awhile since my last post. It is early but I'm going to bed because I'm sick for the second time in two weeks and tomorrow is going to be a really busy day. I'm pretty sure I will have lost my voice entirely by tomorrow which will make answering the phones at work rather difficult:
[in a hoarse whisper] "Good afternoon, Windsor Main Office."
"Why are you whispering??"
"Because sign language is harder over the phone?"
Oh well, I'll just siphon down copious amounts of chamomile and honey before my shift.

Good night.

Dead Week

At Purdue, the week before Final Exams is called "Dead Week". The professors call it that because we are technically not allowed to have any exams during this week in preparation for finals. The students, however, think this is an oxymoron. It is anything BUT dead. All our final presentations, papers, and homework are due this week and it's usually when the intense studying begins. And for some reason I always have a few professors who think they are exempt from the "no exams during Dead Week" rule. I think calling it Dead Week is only appropriate if you are referring to the collective physical and mental state of all students at the end of the week. By Friday afternoon, your average student (a.k.a. ME) will be lying on the floor gasping for breath, surrounded by worn textbooks, empty ink pens, and a few reams of looseleaf paper settling around the room like fallen snowflakes.

Honestly, I have come to dread this week more than Finals Week itself.

This semester, especially. I have my final oral exam and composition in French, two papers and an exam in Archaeology and World Prehistory, my last lab in Political Statistical Analysis, and various, assorted other gems in my other classes. Not to mention I have the last meeting of the semester for WRH Club AND a job interview tomorrow.

If that's not enough, B wants all the kids in meeting to come over for a crab leg dinner party on Friday. Some soiree that will surely last all evening. Trust me, I will be lucky if I get to scarf a peanut butter sandwhich. Friday evening is when I'll start mad cramming for my six exams the following week.

Besides, I hate seafood.

I also hate the bitter cold wind that slices to the bone and blows in heavy grey clouds that seem to perpetually hang over campus until Mid-April. And also how for such a great engineering school, we seem to have the most poorly planned sidewalks in the nation that are concave and fill with water that turns into ice even when it hasn't rained or snowed in weeks. And the fact that I can't seem to get enough sleep these days.

With these happy thoughts, the Grinch is going to sign off and study French with her roommate.
Cheers.