Sad story . . . BYU lost to Michigan State today in basketball :-( This was a very important game for them to win because one of my fellow inmates, Laurie, is from the town where Michigan State is located and is a huge fan. I was really counting on BYU to defend my Cougar pride today, but I guess I have to accept defeat and prepare myself to face Laurie. It would be easier to face her if we hadn't trash-talked each other so much this week :-) I guess it's okay though because when Michigan State played Michigan in football, Catherine, who is a Michigan graduate, had a good time taunting Laurie, so I guess Laurie needed something to be happy about.
Today was a very fun day--I got to have an early Christmas! I went up to Sullivan and met Greg at his parents' house, and he made the most delicious lunch ever. It was awesome! He even made pumpkin pie! We had a fun day together, and since I'll be out in Utah for Christmas, we exchanged gifts today. He gave me a beeeeautiful string of pearls, which I totally love. Earlier today I had to go meet with Dan to finish up one of our Mr. Riccio projects, and he was nice for a change, so that was good. Tonight I need to do some homework and stuff like that. I should probably also clean my room. It kind of looks like a bomb went off in here because during the week I didn't have time to put any clothes or papers away, so it's quite the mess. Hopefully the forecasted freezing rain won't really come tonight--that would make it a little hard to get to church tomorrow, so we'll see what happens. I am NOT a fan of freezing rain. I like it better in Utah where it either rains or snows--none of this in-between freezing rain junk :-)
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Friday, December 7, 2007
The First Real Snow
Hooray--last night we had our first real snow, and this morning we woke up to a winter wonderland! I wanted to go outside and enjoy it, but I was barricaded in my room until about 3:00 this afternoon trying to put the finishing touches on the paper--or we could call it the icing on the cake :-) I had hoped to finish the paper last night, since it was due today at 4:00 p.m. and I had other stuff I needed to do today, but for some reason I worked on it all evening and into the late hours of the night yesterday, but just couldn't quite pull it together. It was like the never-ending paper, and it felt like the more I did on it, the more I still had to write. Anyway, the paper was printed out this afternoon and delivered to Dr. Reid at about 3:30. I hate turning things in at the last minute, I did the best I could. I also don't know if I like the paper very much, but I added some pretty pictures to it, so hopefully that will make Dr. Reid happy :-) After handing in the paper, I read to Dr. Hardeman for a while, then picked up some pizza and came home to meet with Alisha to work on part of an assignment that is due for Mr. Riccio's class on Monday. If it weren't for Mr. Riccio's assignments, life would be totally good. We got the assignment done, but when Alisha went to leave this evening, her car wouldn't start. Her battery is probably toast, but hopefully we can figure out what to do about it tomorrow. I took her home this evening. Tomorrow I have to get up and go work on the website narrative with Dan--which is due tomorrow night, and I am not looking forward to this! I've decided that if Dan is going to be a jerk, then I'm not going to go out of my way to try to be extra nice to him--because he's acting totally lame. So I imagine our meeting in the morning will be very short, curt, and cold. As Patrick would say from Spongebob Squarepants, "Dan has issues!" I am really looking forward to taking some time to relax tomorrow and hanging out with Greg up in Sullivan.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
The Eleventh Hour
Well, it is the eleventh hour, as it were, here in Charleston. The time has finally come that my paper has to be done, so there is no putting it off until tomorrow anymore. For the last few nights, and I can imagine that is how it will be tonight, I have been on the 5:2 sleep schedule. I sleep five hours at night, then two hours in the afternoon. The problem is that I don't always have time for the 2 hours in the afternoon. But, after I turn in tomorrow's paper I'll only have one more research paper to finish (and a whole bunch of other stuff, but I won't think about that right now), so hopefully everything will fall into place all right. Like they say, if it weren't for the last minute, a lot of stuff would never get done.
This morning I had my very last class of the semester! We'll still have finals next week, but classes have officially ended for us. I have loved Dr. Small's historic preservation class. Speaking of Dr. Small, she and Mr. Riccio (they are married, but she still goes by her maiden name because that's how everyone in the world of academia knows her) have rescued some horses from a mean guy here in Charleston. I guess that the guy would beat his horses, and they were pretty much starving, so the police seized all of his animals and tried to find good homes for them. The Small/Riccio house has a barn, so they fixed it up and have adopted two horsies. The poor horsies are quite traumatized, but they're working with them to help them get used to people--nice people--and are nursing them back to health. They said that the horsies are really skittish and timid around people--understandably so, so they have commissioned me as the "horse whisperer" to come over on Sunday afternoon and talk to the cute horses. I'm totally excited! Some of the other girls want to go with me so we can shower the horses with love, affection, and carrots, and hopefully make them feel happy. The mean guy who abused these horses should be put in the stocks on town square and left out in the cold (I think that the stocks should be reinstituted as a form of public humiliation, or humility as Dr. Hardeman's students would call it).
Speaking of Dr. Hardeman, I worked with him for a few hours this afternoon, but we didn't get much done because he spent the whole time telling me stories. When I got there, he told me to kick up my heels, take a seat, grab a mint julep, and relax, and then I made the mistake of asking him if he'd ever had a mint julep (because I've heard they're really quite gross). This launched him into a whole slew of stories, most of which were about these Ukrainian girls he knew in college who had hollow legs so they could drink and drink and drink alcohol without it ever affecting them. :-) We also had to read some judicial affairs documents to prepare him for some cases he has to oversee tomorrow to decide if the dumb students (and in this case they really can be called dumb because they do some really stupid things) should be kicked out of school. I won't elaborate, since I was sworn to secrecy, but there are some messed up students here. Then Dr. Reid came upstairs to eat some candy with us, and we had a good time chatting. She's big into politics, and so she brought up Mitt Romney's speech today about religion. Even though she and Dr. Hardeman are very emphatic Democrats, they both agree that it's kind of lame that Mitt has been given such a hard time about his religion. Dr. Reid said what I've been saying all along: "If someone's religion keeps them from being voted as President, then America really isn't as free as we all claim it is." Amen. Well, unfortunately my procrastination has gone far enough and I must be off to finish the paper!
This morning I had my very last class of the semester! We'll still have finals next week, but classes have officially ended for us. I have loved Dr. Small's historic preservation class. Speaking of Dr. Small, she and Mr. Riccio (they are married, but she still goes by her maiden name because that's how everyone in the world of academia knows her) have rescued some horses from a mean guy here in Charleston. I guess that the guy would beat his horses, and they were pretty much starving, so the police seized all of his animals and tried to find good homes for them. The Small/Riccio house has a barn, so they fixed it up and have adopted two horsies. The poor horsies are quite traumatized, but they're working with them to help them get used to people--nice people--and are nursing them back to health. They said that the horsies are really skittish and timid around people--understandably so, so they have commissioned me as the "horse whisperer" to come over on Sunday afternoon and talk to the cute horses. I'm totally excited! Some of the other girls want to go with me so we can shower the horses with love, affection, and carrots, and hopefully make them feel happy. The mean guy who abused these horses should be put in the stocks on town square and left out in the cold (I think that the stocks should be reinstituted as a form of public humiliation, or humility as Dr. Hardeman's students would call it).
Speaking of Dr. Hardeman, I worked with him for a few hours this afternoon, but we didn't get much done because he spent the whole time telling me stories. When I got there, he told me to kick up my heels, take a seat, grab a mint julep, and relax, and then I made the mistake of asking him if he'd ever had a mint julep (because I've heard they're really quite gross). This launched him into a whole slew of stories, most of which were about these Ukrainian girls he knew in college who had hollow legs so they could drink and drink and drink alcohol without it ever affecting them. :-) We also had to read some judicial affairs documents to prepare him for some cases he has to oversee tomorrow to decide if the dumb students (and in this case they really can be called dumb because they do some really stupid things) should be kicked out of school. I won't elaborate, since I was sworn to secrecy, but there are some messed up students here. Then Dr. Reid came upstairs to eat some candy with us, and we had a good time chatting. She's big into politics, and so she brought up Mitt Romney's speech today about religion. Even though she and Dr. Hardeman are very emphatic Democrats, they both agree that it's kind of lame that Mitt has been given such a hard time about his religion. Dr. Reid said what I've been saying all along: "If someone's religion keeps them from being voted as President, then America really isn't as free as we all claim it is." Amen. Well, unfortunately my procrastination has gone far enough and I must be off to finish the paper!
The Other Boyfriend
Sorry Greg, I'm afraid you're going to have to share me with another man. His name is Lincoln, and he is my latest boyfriend :-) Just kidding--Lincoln is a cat, but everyone teases me about him being my boyfriend because every time I go over to Catherine's house, he sits behind me on the couch, puts his paws on my head, and tickles my ear with his tail. Isn't he cute? This picture was taken at Catherine's house last Sunday. It was ridiculously cold outside, so I had put on my black gangster hat to keep me warm, and Lincoln loved it. The hat is now covered in white kitty hair because he liked it so much. Catherine adopted Lincoln from the Charleston animal shelter earlier in the semester, and he is one of the most adorable, cuddly cats I have ever seen. She also adopted Lincoln's sister, Sassi, but Sassi doesn't like me as much as Lincoln does.Well, it is now 2:00 a.m. on Thursday morning. The last time I remember looking at the clock it was 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday night, but then I kind of got on a roll on my material culture in slave life paper, and time got away from me. It's so much easier to work on papers at night because you don't have the interruptions that always pop up during the day, but the problem is that it's hard to stop writing to go to bed, and then when you do go to bed you keep thinking about your paper. I'll try to go to bed anyway though. This seems like the never-ending paper, but it will have to end soon because it is due on Friday!!! I've got plenty of information, but I'm just having a hard time piecing everything together and saying what I want to say. I seem to work better under pressure though, and there will be plenty of that tomorrow (actually later today--since it's already Thursday morning), so maybe I can pull it together then. Then I have one more research paper to do before next Wednesday, but it's about Tilford Dudley, and it's mostly done, so it will be a piece of cake (one of the academic cakes I am becoming very proficient at baking!) to finish it up. Okay, well, I'm going to head to bed. I think I am becoming nocturnal.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Barbie Nation
When my phone rang this morning, I thought for sure it must be Mrs. Miller calling to cancel class, but alas, it was not. The voice said, "Hi, I'm looking for Jackrabbit Shipping." I get calls for Jackrabbit Shipping all of the time! I guess it is a Utah shipping company that went out of business a few years ago, and I ended up with their old phone number. One day when I answered the phone, the person said, "Hello. Is this Jack from Jackrabbit Shipping?" So unfortunately it didn't snow enough last night to prevent class from happening this morning. It didn't really snow at all here--just a few flakes--but oh it is FRRRREEEEEEZING here!! This morning the wind was blowing so hard, and Aly and I thought our faces were going to freeze off just walking from the parking lot to our classroom.
Today was my last day of Wednesday classes, and they were both really fun and interesting. Even though Wednesdays have been my busiest days all semester, they've been my favorite days because I learn so much. This morning in Mrs. Miller's class we watched this movie about a slave auction reenactment they held at Colonial Williamsburg in 1994. The group of African American interpreters they have at Williamsburg wanted to do the slave auction reenactment to put a face on an aspect of history that most people can't really comprehend. But then came the NAACP :-( There were Virginia NAACP people there protesting the reenactment--even though it was black people who thought to have it in the first place. The NAACP guys said that it was a disgrace to their ancestors to turn their trials into entertainment. The key is, it wasn't going to be entertainment--it was going to be education! Some people are totally lame. So the NAACP people made a big ol' ruckus, but finally the reenactment was able to take place, and it made all of the people in the audience--including the NAACP people--cry because it was pretty powerful. They had one married slave couple get sold to different people, and even the angry NAACP people couldn't deny that it was an effective educational presentation. So that was a cool video.
Then in Material Culture today, we also watched a video. It was crazy! It was called "Barbie Nation," and talked about the history and evolution of Barbie and how she and Ken have had an effect on American culture. We watched the movie as a part of our discussion about material culture and popular culture. The movie had some pretty outrageous stuff in it, and we were pretty much laughing the whole time because it was so off-the-wall. There was some seriously messed-up stuff in there.
Remember how a few weeks ago Dr. Reid and Dr. Barnhart nominated us to receive an award from the graduate school for our work on the Dudley project? Well, we just found out that we received it! The award is for about $550, and we thought of splitting it up amongst ourselves, but we've decided to reserve it to use on the spring field trip we will have at the first of next May. Well, I'm off to write more on my paper (shouldn't I be done by now?) and finish my house surveys--projects that will take me all night and then some.
Today was my last day of Wednesday classes, and they were both really fun and interesting. Even though Wednesdays have been my busiest days all semester, they've been my favorite days because I learn so much. This morning in Mrs. Miller's class we watched this movie about a slave auction reenactment they held at Colonial Williamsburg in 1994. The group of African American interpreters they have at Williamsburg wanted to do the slave auction reenactment to put a face on an aspect of history that most people can't really comprehend. But then came the NAACP :-( There were Virginia NAACP people there protesting the reenactment--even though it was black people who thought to have it in the first place. The NAACP guys said that it was a disgrace to their ancestors to turn their trials into entertainment. The key is, it wasn't going to be entertainment--it was going to be education! Some people are totally lame. So the NAACP people made a big ol' ruckus, but finally the reenactment was able to take place, and it made all of the people in the audience--including the NAACP people--cry because it was pretty powerful. They had one married slave couple get sold to different people, and even the angry NAACP people couldn't deny that it was an effective educational presentation. So that was a cool video.
Then in Material Culture today, we also watched a video. It was crazy! It was called "Barbie Nation," and talked about the history and evolution of Barbie and how she and Ken have had an effect on American culture. We watched the movie as a part of our discussion about material culture and popular culture. The movie had some pretty outrageous stuff in it, and we were pretty much laughing the whole time because it was so off-the-wall. There was some seriously messed-up stuff in there.
Remember how a few weeks ago Dr. Reid and Dr. Barnhart nominated us to receive an award from the graduate school for our work on the Dudley project? Well, we just found out that we received it! The award is for about $550, and we thought of splitting it up amongst ourselves, but we've decided to reserve it to use on the spring field trip we will have at the first of next May. Well, I'm off to write more on my paper (shouldn't I be done by now?) and finish my house surveys--projects that will take me all night and then some.
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