The Mini Adventures of Me #16

Why #16, you ask?  Um...because it's the 16th of November.  Best reason I can give you.

It has been a sufficiently strenuous, yet productive, week.  Today I decided that I needed a Friday treat.   On the drive home, I passed Piggy's on Central.

Yes, pink-like-a-little-piggy pink. 

It's rumored that they have good Phillys.  I've never been to Philly, but I like a good Philly. 

It was a good Philly.  :)  And the fries?  So thin it was like eating batter.  Add in the Dr. Pepper and I think I can safely assume I've gained all the weight I need to this holiday season.

I Just Don't Know...

...well, a lot of things.  I'm at one of those points on the Education StairMaster when I have an inkling of just how ill-informed I am.  Like I told a professor a few weeks ago, "I feel like I know just enough to be blatantly ignorant."

But I digress.

Today, what I just don't know is how it's all going to get DONE.  The classwork.  The reading assignments. Let me give you the run-down of what I currently have hanging over my head before next Tuesday (because my life seems to revolve around Tuesdays now).

Heritage in Anthropology:
-Two journal articles to read
-Short response paper to compose and submit

Native American Art History:
-Two journal articles to read
-Memorize the artist and time period for ~60 artifacts
-Study for exam on Thursday

Theory in Ethnology:
-Read four journal articles for class Tuesday (which I will be co-facilitating)
-Come up with a facilitation outline, handout, and discussions questions for class
-Map out and begin writing paper due in a week.
-This is a three-hour seminar.  It can be brutal.

In addition to normal classwork:
-Meet with Heritage profs to confirm a topic for my term paper.
-Begin reading and writing for said paper.
-Begin reading some of my 15+ journal articles on Northwest Coast art for a ~20 page term paper for art.
-Begin thinking of topics for theory final paper.

Ah yes, and I work 18-30 hours every week.  *headdesk*

As you can see, there is a reason they only let grad students take three classes.  It's enough to drown them.  On top of this, I would kind of like to have a "life."  This life is fairly simple - I just want to go to bed before midnight, spend about an hour practicing the piano every Thursday, maybe go to a church activity once in a while, and go on a hike a few times a month.  Really, I don't feel like I'm asking for a whole lot here.

This first semester has been awful.  I've never hated school before, so this loathing to go to class and get through all the homework is an entirely new sensation.  Also, I've always made good grades.  Getting put through the wringer again in an attempt to squeeze out a proper writer was something I thought I had left in high school, because that was honestly the last time anyone said much about my formal writing skills, and I was an English minor. (See preceding run-on sentence for confirmation.) Yes, accepting criticism is something foreign to me as well.

Somehow, every week, it all gets done.  Somehow, every month, the bills get paid.  Somehow, I still haven't gone crazy.  (At least, I think I haven't.  You may have to ask my housemate.)  But despite the proof that I always manage to DO it all, I wonder the same thing every week: how on earth am I going to get it all DONE??

Random Thoughts

Consider this a stream of consciousness series of sticky notes and marginalia that have been running around my day planner, calendar, fridge, and notebooks this week.

Tuesday is going to be happy day - my 4 disc set of Avengers will be waiting for me when I get home from class.  I haven't got a Blu-ray player to watch all the extras, but I'm banking on the internet being flooded with them within 24 hours anyway.

Also Tuesday, NCIS premier!  Save the Ducky and the Hippo!

I feel destroyed.  I spent Saturday morning hiking, Saturday afternoon playing tennis, and Saturday evening ice skating.  There is an enormous bruise on my knee, which is all the closer I got to learning to skate backwards.

I really don't want to do my homework.  Mostly, I think it's nerves because I have a test tomorrow, and I've not had to take a test in several years.  I always wrote papers.  I'm not sure I can memorize a series of slides and affix proper names and dates to them.

It's really true - it is harder to learn the older you get.

I am missing from this equation.  I have found myself in every other cranny of life, doing every other thing than what I am supposed to be doing.  Is this a sign I'm in the wrong place, poor adjustment skills, exhaustion, or something else?

I need a lamp in my living room.  It's very dark in here.

There was a knock at the door last night.  Roommate's gut reaction was to grab the frying pan - which she did.  "Frying pans - who knew?"

My sister is having a baby.  She is at the hospital.  Right now.  I wish I was there.  I wish I was rich and could get on the next flight to Salt Lake and surprise her.  I feel guilty.  I miss her like crazy.

The Mini Adventures of Me

Mini Adventure #1  (food!)

I've set myself a new challenge.  I'm going to prove to myself (and maybe some other people) that it's possible to eat well, have fun, and explore even when you're dirt-broke, reading 300 - 500 pages for class every week, and working two jobs.

You're right, I'm crazy.

But really, I'm going to do it.  The Mini Adventures of me will be things I eat, see, hear, and, well - experience.  It might be something I plan, it might be something cataclysmic going down, or it might be something small and interesting I notice.  If I focus on the beauty and adventure of the small things, maybe I'll learn to appreciate them more.

So.  We begin.  :)

My first Mini Adventure is something New Mexicans are known for - green chili.  As far as I was concerned, chili was something with beans that came in a can, and  you heated it up and ate it on Halloween.  But here, green chilies are amazingly tasty peppers that have been roasted, peeled, and put on something to jazz it up.

My first encounter with the stuff was at the Frontier restaurant, right next to campus.  I had something called a Fiesta Burger, which is essentially a delicious cheeseburger - with green chili on it.  Oh. My.  Goodness.  It is quite possibly one of the best things I've ever eaten in my life (shawarma is still a bit better IMO)!!  After that I had it on an enchilada, also from the Frontier (don't worry, it was a different day), and I decided I MUST have this green chili in my life.

I went to the grocery store and bought a jar of it (in mild, because I'm still acclimating).  Since then I have eaten it straight out of the jar, substituted it for pickle relish in my tuna fish, and slathered it onto grilled cheese sandwiches.  My housemate keeps laughing at me because if something is bland or boring, I just pull of the jar of chili.  The stuff is amazing.  I'm definitely bringing my parents some when I visit .  And chocolate from Trader Joe's.  But that's another adventure.  :)

Zero Hour

So this is it - I'm moving tomorrow morning.

Honestly...I don't feel like I am.  I feel like I'm going on an extended camping trip with lots of stuff.  I'll come back in a week or so and have to go back to work, remember to wash the towels, and feed the dogs at 6 every night.  In all actuality, in a couple of weeks I have absolutely no idea how I'm going to feel.

But in the meantime, I'm procrastinating.  There are still lots of songs I need to get off my dad's PC and onto the laptop if I ever want to use my iTunes again.  There is a basket full of clean laundry that needs to be folded up and put in a box.  There are several boxes that need to be take out to my car.  I should probably write down the address of the hotel, the apartment, the credit union, etc.  I should clean out Ophelia's cage again.  But honestly, I just want to take a nap.

This whole business has been incredibly draining and taxing.  I will be happy for it to be over, just so I can get back into a routine again and not be worried about what random thing is going to be needing taken care of next.  Of course, I'll have a whole new set of things to worry about, like finding a new job, getting a credit union account set up, feeding myself, etc.  But I look forward to a while after all that, when life develops a natural pattern again, and I can start finding out what normal is, because I'm pretty sure I've forgotten.

I am super excited though.  I'm excited to figure out a new city, and it be MY city - my parents won't automatically know more about it than me.  I'll have the quickest routes, the double turn lanes figured out.  I'll know where's cheap to eat, and where's good to eat.  I have new everything: new apartment, new bed, new car, new dresser, new school, new professors, new weather patterns, new church, new amusement park, new stores....It's a grand adventure, and I'm thrilled to get to do this by myself.  :)

Separate Ways

Sold the truck.  Sold my Gilgamesh.

It was necessary.  But oh man...I didn't want to.

So we'll play Sister's theme song for him.  :)  Journey – Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)

Critical Directions

Seriously.  Who eats their Junior Mints in TWO sittings?

Nerd Crush #12

The Avengers is full of delicious looking men.  I mean, seriously, there should be a law against that much male attractiveness being in one film.  Captain America, Thor, Hawkeye, Loki...

But I digress.  As much as I adore those other beautiful men, I have developed quite a nerd crush on Agent Coulson.  :)  I thought you should know.

'The Day'

Today was 'the day.'  That day that everyone waits for their whole lives, when everything lines up perfectly.  It was the day I've been waiting for since I was 12; the culmination of dozens of things I've tried to do.
...But I'll try not to wax poetical.  :)

It was very simple: I didn't meet anyone, I didn't get married, I didn't have a child, or anything huge like that.

Today it was just me, my truck, my music, a great drive, a beautiful place, and my own (very small, but still!) archaeological survey.

I've been wanting to feel that kind of freedom, competence, ability, and independence for a lifetime.  It only lasted maybe four hours.  But it was there.  It was 'that day.'  It will probably be another 25 years before I get another day like that.  I'm very grateful though, that I was able to recognize it when it came.  And I'm pleased at how simple it was - nothing fancy or dramatic.  It was just for me.

The Pets

Meet the pets -

First to greet me when I get home in the evening is Samson, or sometimes Sammy, better known as Sambo, who drives a Lambo.  Part Boston Terrier, part Grayhound - pretty much the cutest dog ever, and he loves to snuggle!  He will also get little black hairs EVERYWHERE, and has terrible breath, but I forgive him, because he loves me unashamedly.

Samson is followed by Archie, also known as Sir Archibald Hetherington Nastyface, Laird of the West Loch and Kirby's Landing.  He'll jump at me a few times, then return to whatever mischief he's been up to.  I'm pretty sure he knows we hid his training stuff in that drawer and he wants to dispose of it quietly...

In my room, living in #21 B Baker Street is the fair Ophelia, who is adorable, loves climbing, digging, and eating treats.  Every time I clean her cage I give her an old sock.  She chews on this in such a way that she makes a little dome with multiple entrances, and then half buries it in wood chips.  She's very talented.  She is also camera shy, obviously.

This is the late and lamented Watson (RIP), the previous occupant of #21 B Baker Street.  He was a very calm dwarf hamster, and would run around on my bedspread and let me carry him around the house.  He also woke up every morning and chirped at me while I get ready for class.  I had no idea hamsters could chirp, but it made me happy.  :)

Quote

"Now tell me what's amiss with me."
"I'm in love with somebody else."
It was my turn to jump out of my chair.
"It's nobody in particular," she explained, laughing at the expression on my face, "only an ideal.  I've never met the kind of man I mean."

-Gladys, "The Lost World"

Logistics

Moving is rough.  Rough for lots of reasons, but today for all the logistics involved.  Too many options on apartments, not enough options on apartments.  So many places I could work, but no one hiring.  I get a few things accomplished, and suddenly there are ten more problems, multiplied like tribbles and trying to eat me. 

So.

If he can say that, then I can certainly say it.  And the more you tell yourself something, the more you believe it, right?  :)

Hope springs eternal!

Music

For the past 20-odd years, my dad has been trying to convince me that he and I used to watch operas when I was a baby.  Apparently, I loved them.  I was not convinced.
Until I fell through a spotify portal and straight into a Marx Brothers movie (seriously, that's what it felt like).

Mario Lanza – Drink, Drink, Drink

He's not bad-looking, either.  :)

So then I decided since I was in the movie, I might as well have fun.

Groucho Marx & Bing Crosby – Lydia The Tattooed Lady