School stuff

Today, Austin told me in his critique of my story that I “could be the Joseph Conrad of our generation if you stick to it, which I’m positive you will”.

!!!

*grin*

Okay, so Nathan is like the most critical person in my creative writing group. And he gave me, not a good, but glowing review in his critique. Really makes me like him a lot more now. Well, he had been growing on me, so this just cemented it. If he likes my stuff, he can’t be all that bad. XD And of course, Sam’s and Lela’s and Sarah’s reviews were all excellent too. Mark’s was nicely constructive. ^_^

God I sound like I’m giving a thank you speech. But, this sort of was like being given an award or something. A lot of praising done in that class. *grin*

This class has so just made my day.

*cannot stop grinning, but must go do homework now*

Some brainiac decided to set fire to the posters on the fifth floor (apparently the ones where it says no smoking/fires/candles/etc). So I have been up since 2 a.m. That makes it almost THREE HOURS now. Grrr… I really feel like smacking whoever did it. I’m tired, I’m cold, I’m wet (it’s snowing pretty heavily out there). I feel like having a tantrum. But I won’t, since I’m not three years old unlike the person(s) who caused this misery. So I’ve decided that I’ll stay up until 6 am when the gym opens, go do my workout, shower and then sleep.

That is all.

I am sooooo tired. I was up for 26 hours yesterday. Then during the night I kept waking up every hour to check what time it was because I was paranoid that I wouldn’t wake up when my alarm went off. So now… well, feeling weird. I’m tired, but I know that if I try to nap, I’ll just lie in bed fully awake. So I don’t know what I’ll do. Kinda hungry, but I can’t be bothered to actually go find something to eat. Need to go buy milk though. Hmm, I’ll do that a bit later.

I guess I should unpack. I just bought most of my books for this semester. $100 and that’s not all of it. *rolls eyes* But at least they look interesting. Not that into Ovid but ah well..

Yayness, I’ve completed my Shakespeare paper. And my very lovely friend Gabe read it over for me and helped me tweak it. Yes, Gabe, the nit-pickiness is very good. My teacher used to be a lawyer so he wants evidence to back up any claims that we make in our papers. I’m so relieved that that’s over and done with. I’ve also finished my extra credit paper for that class, but I’d still want someone to look it over for me.

So now I’ve got two sci-fi papers to write, but those I can just pretty much just sit down and write in one evening if I’m feeling very inspired. It’s only seven pages in total, which is what I had for my Shakespeare paper + extra credit. And those two were tough ones. So I’m not too worried.

Exams are on Tuesday and Wednesday. >_< At least I’ve got the study notes written up for one of them. Too bad it’s not an open-note test, just open-book. It’ll help everyone who has decided to deface their textbook by underlining and writing notes in it. Not me though. I just can’t bring myself to write in a book.

Stephanie’s here, so I’m gonna go. :)

Well, Oliver left yesterday morning. Not really a fun way to start December. But I will get to see him in about four weeks. Now only if I had a ticket to get out of Missoula… XD To make myself feel a bit better last night, I watched Bridget Jones’s Diary. It really did lift my mood. Colin Firth is just so happiness inducing. What I’d really like would be the Pride and Prejudice movie that he stars in. At least I’ve got the Keira Knightley version of it for my PSP. Something to keep me occupied during my layovers. :)

Still need to work on my grandfather’s Christmas present, but everyone else’s is pretty much finished. Well, I have to wrap them up, but otherwise they’re ready. Oh God, how am I going to fit everything into my suitcases? O_O

Well, I gotta get back to writing up study notes and working on my paper for Applied Literary Criticism. Due on Friday! Plus, I still need to memorize my meager lines for the play we’re performing on Monday and Tuesday. Augh, so much to do!

Three good things that are making me giddy, in ascending importance: 1) Sci-fi class was cancelled 2) Justin (the really cute guy) talked to me 3) Oliver’ll be here tomorrow!!!!

So yay! Oliver’ll get in tomorrow evening at 11 pm. I cannot stop grinning. I get to see and be with my sweetie tomorrow night! *squeeeeeeeeeeee* Two whole weeks of being together. I can’t wait! Seriously, it’s been so long and he’s finally coming over and… lol, well, yesterday Katie told me to stop being so giddy because it was making her giddy. These emotions just rub off really easily among us girls. XD

Then yesterday when I was in the library working on our Rushdie thing with Katie I ran into Justin and we chatted for awhile. Today, before class started, he’s the one who started the conversation. ;) He is just so cute. He has to be the best looking guy in that class. Plus, he looks me in the eye when we’re talking. I’m not used to having people return my gaze when I talk to them. I have no idea why, but people don’t usually look others in the eye for long, but he does! Sort of hypnotizing actually. He’s got the best smile too. Would you look at that. This is what the US has done to me. I’ve started using superlatives to describe things. Take that statement about the smile for instance. All I meant with that was that he has a nice smile, noooo, I say that it’s “the best”. *rolls eyes* Even Jaz says that I’ve become a ditzy American.

And then the final, minor thing. My last class was cancelled. The class which bores me to death anyway, so it’s a win-win situation. ^_^

It is soooooooooooooo cold over here. The weekend was fine. Around +15C. Then Monday morning I wake up to snow on the rooftops. Been freezing ever since. *rolls eyes* But I like it. Even if I do have a slight cough left over from Saturday’s really weird illness I had. Oliver almost scared me into thinking that I had meningitis. But after sleeping for like 11 hours, I felt fine. Now I’m just a bit stuffy.

Went to a haunted house last night with Alysha and Michelle. Boy was that creepy. Alysha screamed so much when the chainsaw man appeared. XD But because she was wearing cardboard boxes, she couldn’t run that well. We all got dressed up and everything. I went as a pregnant gypsy, Alysha was a box of M&M’s and Michelle was a hippie. What a fun bunch, eh? Anywayz, I’ve got pics and I’ll put some up eventually if anyone’s interested. If not, then I just won’t bother. So tell me!

We rearranged our room today. Nice and clean now too. And loads more space now that Michelle’s desk is underneath her bed.

And since it is past midnight, I’m going to bed. Need my energy for tomorrow’s play rehearsals. We’re putting on Shakespeare’s As You Like It. Don’t know my role yet, but I’ll let y’all know once I know.

Yay, I’ve finished off my bibliography which is due on Monday, and started the two big-ish things that are due the week after: my short story and my Shakespeare paper. I’m feeling very productive right now for some reason. Not complaining though. ^-^

Also, the blanket I’m crocheting is coming along nicely. It’s way too small if I keep it at the 48 squares the instructions tell me to make, so I’m making it bigger. 5x6 or 5x7 instead of the 3x4. We’ll have to see once I’ve attached the rest of the squares I’ve made so far. And, I’ve finished my mom’s present. It’s so nice, I almost want to keep it for myself. But I won’t. I chose everything for her and it’s gonna be hers. I’ll just have to make one for myself at some point. There will be pics up of them eventually.

As I was on my way to the library, I saw squirrels on the Oval. Not that special in itself, there are a lot of squirrels on campus. But the three that I saw playing were just so cute! Then there was a nutty squirrel trying to dig something up from the ground. Usually, I like squirrels. They keep me entertained as I walk to class in the mornings. But why on earth do they try to pelt me with acorns from the trees?? Today was the second time in four days that I’ve almost gotten hit by stuff flying from the tress. Okay, so I’m not totally sure it was a squirrel doing it, could’ve been a bird just knocking stuff down by accident, but still! I like my head the way it is, no need for bumps to give it character. Grr.. vicious little creatures. Cute, but vicious.

It’s really really warm in our room for some reason. I have the shades drawn so the sun won’t be glaring with full force into the room (our window faces to the South) but it’s not making it much better. The windows are as open as they can be (which no doubt will invite the stink bugs in!) but, again, it’s not any better. Oh! We have a fan, I’ll just turn that on now.

I’ve started my response paper for Monday on Shakespeare. It’s almost done actually. Yay me. All I need is a conclusion. Which I’ll come up with tonight. Then hopefully someone’ll be on MSN and I can make them read it for me and tell me what I need to improve/clarify, etc. And then it’s time for a response paper for Applied Lit Crit. Plus the annotated bibliography that’s due in two weeks. I just need to hunt down three more sources, type it up (it’s all handwritten in my notebook now because I’ve been working on it at the library) and print it out on Michelle’s printer.

Speaking of Michelle, she left this morning for Ireland. I’ll have the room to myself for two whole weeks. It’ll be a bit weird not talking to her everyday, but at least Alysha’s still here during the week. She went home for the weekend, but left me her key so that I can go feed Herbie (her goldfish) and watch TV in her room. Which I fully intend to do tonight after doing a bit more schoolwork.

I talked to Becky a few days ago about genealogy and she told me about this one website where I might be able to track down some ancestors. It’s a site by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints called Family Search and OMG have I found a ton of people! So far I’ve been concentrating on my dad’s dad’s ancestors because they’ve got a ton of records from the town that they’re from. It’s such a huge distraction though. I’m not getting much school stuff done. XP

And since I’m on the subject of distractions, the discs Oliver made for me arrived yesterday. So I showed Michelle an episode of Fawlty Towers and Absolutely Fabulous. She liked them. Although I did have to keep rewinding bits of them so that she could make out what they were saying. Still, it’s nice to have something to keep me entertained while I eat breakfast before class.

Alysha, Michelle and I have all decided we’re going to start exercising and trying to get in shape/lose weight. So yesterday morning, we all dragged ourselves out of bed at 6 am and climbed up to the M. Well, the two of them went all the way up, I started feeling really really ill about halfway up (hadn’t eaten anything, but still felt like throwing up) so I stopped there and waited for them to come down. They were so sweet for being worried about me. “You’re not gonna die on us, are you?” was one of the things they asked me. Anyway, since Alysha went home yesterday and Michelle flew away, I decided to go jogging/powerwalking by myself after class. I like the feeling I get after doing a workout, mainly after walking/runnung for a bit. Makes me feel good. So I think I’ll keep doing that instead of trying to kill myself getting up to the M. I’ve been up there once and I don’t need to go again. :P

And now I’m going to go have dinner. I don’t actually mind eating alone because that lets me catch up with my reading for classes. Right now I’m reading Salman Rushdie’s Haroun and the Sea of Stories. It’s actually quite good. Really funny. :)

Gabez - Sep 4, 2006

Suddenly “I don’t understand anything!111” is constructive criticism? Oh, well, happy to help anyway! Let me know how it went. Also, I want to go ice-skating even though I’m rubbish at it.

---