The Story of a Man Who Enjoys a Nice Hyphen in the Morning

Damn you, MARTA. D'yARTA.

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 17:28:15 GMT

So, MARTA sucks.

Seriously, a full one half of the times that I've had to ride MARTA, something has prevented it from running on time. What ever happened to reliable service?

Today, just as I got to the MARTA station, right before I went through the turnstile, the police showed up, and shut the station down. They were like, "You need to leave, now. Get outside the station."

They wouldn't say why.

I sat downstairs for awhile, not having any other way to get to class, and becoming progressively later. Eventually they brought in a K-9 unit.

After awhile with no visible conclusion, they said it was safe to go back inside.

So I got to class 20 minutes late.

Sigh.

I'm so frustrated by my latest reading assignment that I don't even know what to title this post.

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 04:20:30 GMT

I slept awfully last night, because I knew that Karaya (bejipan) was arriving today. Not really because I just couldn't wait to see her (though I don't mean to belittle my excitement at seeing her), but because I've just been really inappropriately anxious lately, and that was just one more straw on the camel's back, so to speak.

Anyway, after sleeping awfully, I got up and went to class. Well, before that, Karaya did, in fact, arrive safely and is now living at my house. So, after I welcomed her to the house and whatnot, it was time for me to leave for class.

I should say that I got up this morning, and immediately had to start reading a scholarly article for class. It was basically a critical history of "the novel", and where the novel's critical theory stands today. It was particularly awful to read, because it quoted from a humongous list of scholars whose work I'd never heard of, much less read. Just take my word for it... It was rough. Also, I don't want to hear any condescending, "you should get used to it, because that's how scholarly articles are." I know what scholarly articles are like, and this one was particularly bad.

School itself was kind of rough today, though explaining why may require more time and energy than I'm willing to put forth right now. I think I'm going to stick a more straightforward recital of my day, for now.

After class was over, I finally was able to go get my student ID, which was an event that made me somewhat sad. I wore a nice shirt and did my hair today, specifically so that I could have a good-looking student ID. Well, when I got there, the guy doing it was totally rushing me, and wouldn't let me see the picture, or take another one. See, basically what happened was that I sat down on the chair, and the guy was like, "Okay, smile." And I was like, <smi-> and he was like <click>. So my picture is of me halfway between smiling and looking serious, which altogether looks like I'm kind of pissed off. Sigh. Also, my goatee is huge because I'm growing it out for DragonCon. Huge like XBox.

Anyway, I rode MARTA home after that. Then Megan, Karaya and I went out to dinner to celebrate her arrival. A sort of 'welcome home' dinner.

As soon as we got home, I had to immediately start reading again. This time, it was Vathek by William Beckford, written in 1816. It was... Meh. I mean, it was great in many ways, but it was a serious chore to read. The problem with it is that it's probably about 3/4ths longer than it has any right to be. Yeah, I know, welcome to writing in the 1800's.

What I enjoyed about the book was that I could see many things in it that would later influence the fantasy genre, particularly in things like Conan. What I hated about the book was that not only did it have too much description, but it frequently digressed into these long-winded episodes that seemed to be mostly extraneous to the larger story of the book. It just made for a very frustrating read, and ended up taking much longer than anticipated. I spent the whole night reading it, and now I've just finished it a few minutes ago, and it's time for bed.

If anyone else has read it, and has comments, feel free to give your feelings on it.

Annnnyway, tomorrow is my early day, so I expect to have some time to write a longer post regarding my thoughts on graduate school so far. They may or may not be helpful for anyone contemplating graduate school someday for themselves, though as I think about it, it's more likely that it won't be helpful, since I'm something of a rare case.

You know what I liked about Vathek, now that I think about it? I felt vaguely like I was reading my own livejournal because of the heinous comma abuse. <grins>

On that note, it's time for bed.

High tension?

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:17:18 GMT

Man, my anxiety level has just been way too high for the last two days.

I've been seriously stressed out about school and whatnot. No, nothing has particularly been wrong... It's just been kind of exhausting, being in a new situation.

You know, I've been busy for the last two months with house stuff, but my life was pretty quiet, you know? Really, for the last year, my life has been really quiet. Going from a quiet life to... Well, to taking the train every day to school, having to find my way around an absolutely tortuous mess of a campus, meeting new people, trying to fit in, being surrounded by people... It's been a bit much, you know?

So as a result, my nerves are a little fried.

I came home today and vegged out in front of the TV for awhile, took a nice hot shower, and just generally tried to relax a bit. It has and hasn't worked. When Megan gets back from the store, we're gonna go grab a bite to eat, and maybe that'll help as well.

Meanwhile, my class today was pretty great. The teacher seems really cool, and the class is 19th Century British Fiction, and the focus is the short story. Which is kind of awesome, because we get to do things like read Victorian ghost stories and Sherlock Holmes. Also, the class is largely in a discussion form, which always makes me happy because it's how I perform the best. I expect to A) have good participation grades and B) enjoy myself.

So, all told, I think that my classes will be pretty great this semester. It's going to be a good introduction to graduate school, and I'm really looking forward to it. Granted, I need to read like, two books a week, but still. If my First Arguments class weren't about writing a book, I'd likely need to read three books a week. Good thing I'm a fast reader! =D

Also, Karaya arrives first thing tomorrow morning. Her train leaves Raleigh tonight, and gets to Atlanta at some absurdly early time tomorrow morning. So, you can expect her to begin to feature more prominently in my journal, starting tomorrow. Muahahahaha, my house of women will be complete! =D

Anyway, Megan just got back, so I believe that it's time to eat!

For the life of me, I can not believe we'd ever die for these sins...

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 23:13:31 GMT

So, today was like being a freshman all over again.

I got up and rode MARTA to school (Sorry, pirategirly, I know how dirty that sounds) today for the first time. I've ridden MARTA before, but I'd never walked my way to school and class and whatnot. I've always driven to GSU in the past, because it was off-season and there was parking available.

It went pretty well. I didn't encounter any problems in that respect. It took me approximately 35 minutes to make it from my door to the door of my classroom. I'd say that's not too bad. It'll pass pretty easily in the future, especially when I have books to read for my classes.

Speaking of my classes, I've been to two of my three classes. The first one is called First Arguments, which is actually a textbook. First Arguments, that is. The work in the class is writing said textbook, which is used the following year for the ENG1102 classes as one of their core texts. So, that should be interesting.

My second class is 18th Century British Fiction, with a focus on exotic worlds. It looks like it'll be really interesting. We went around the class, and the teacher asked us to introduce ourselves and say why we signed up for the class. Everyone gave their name and was like, "Uhhh, I took this class because I needed a class." When it got to me, I was like, "I specifically took this class because my area of interest is science fiction and fantasy, and I wanted to learn more about the origins and influences of the genre." The teacher was like, "Wow, that's great." So, this should be a really interesting class for me, specifically.

My third class is 19th Century British Fiction. Yeah, a lot of British stuff this term. They were just the best classes available, really. Which is kind of funny, because I've been watching so many British shows on TV, lately. Skins, Not Going Out, The IT Crowd, Doctor Who, Torchwood, Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmare, Cash in the Attic, Bargain Hunt, Primeval and Robin Hood are the main ones that come to mind. I don't know what the focus of this class is, since I haven't had it yet and the website was... uninformative.

Anyway, it was an odd experience. I got to campus early so that I'd have a chance to familiarize myself with the area, and also to give myself a buffer in case I got lost or whatever. While I was roaming around, I ran into my professor for First Arguments, who took me under her wing and walked me around a bit, and introduced me to a few people.

What was really awesome is that I was talking to this woman (who happens to be in charge of the Graduate English Association) who's writing her dissertation on horror movies. Seriously, her topic is probably the weirdest one I've ever heard, and even having spoken to her about it at length, I still don't know that I can adequately describe it. Basically, she's trying to show that all traditional horror monsters from the 80's (Freddy, Jason, Michael Myers, etc.) are, in their core, female lesbians.

I know, right? I can't wait to hear more about this, as it develops.

Man, today was so tiring. Being in a new place, surrounded by new people, and being thrust into a new system is, well, tiring. I was nervous the whole day, not only about making good impressions on people, but also about being in the right place at the right time, about being prepared, about being capable of doing the work... All of that. I got home and I was absolutely ravenous.

Oh, so, for anyone who also goes to GSU and wants to know my schedule, MW I have class from 1:30 to 4:15, and TR I have class from 11 to 12:15. So, there you go!

Looking to the future

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 05:35:59 GMT

Tomorrow is my first day of classes.

Imagine that! My first day as a graduate student!

P.S. My last post was referencing the fact that Mary is wearing a latex dress to DragonCon, and needed Megan to help her get into it. Just in case anyone had the wrong idea. ^_~

The things you miss out on by being male

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 00:25:27 GMT

I'm currently missing out on some hot, naked, latex action between Mary and Megan, in Mary's room.

I'm sad.

My day in haiku.

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 06:06:29 GMT

Today was boring.
Really unremarkable.
No, really. Honest.

You can skip this post.

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 06:55:10 GMT

If you're scrolling down your friends list, you can skip right over this post.

I don't really have anything of interest to say, and I don't even really know why I'm writing this post. I already made a few posts this morning, admittedly of low substance, so I don't think I'm by any means obligated to write something.

Yet here I am!

I think that I'm just using this post as a way to relax and prepare myself for sleep. I'm sitting in my living room with the lights off, against the back of the couch because the cushion got moved out of the way, with my feet up on the coffee table, listening to the ticking of my clock. I re-hung the clock, by the way, in case that wasn't obvious from the preceeding sentence. The chime doesn't work anymore, another victim of Judy.

I'll go ahead and summarize all the things that have broken since I moved into this house. List time!

Broken items

Several outlets.

Dishwasher.

Fan.

My rear-left tire on my car.

Megan's car's shift rod, twice.

The toaster oven.

The oven.

Megan's iron.

My tenant's dishwasher.

My tenant's screen door.

The garbage disposal.

My wall clock.

Several items involved in the moving process.

My HD cable box.

Miscellaneous

My car was infested with ants.

The house had fleas. We have no pets, nor did the previous tenants.

Injuries

Mary cut her finger.

I cut my finger.

Megan cut her finger.

My butt randomly started bleeding.

I scraped and bruised the hell out of my side.

To summarize:
Yes, every major household appliance has broken except for the refrigerator. The toaster oven and the oven actually broke at approximately the same time. I took the toaster oven apart today to see if I could fix it, but it didn't seem like there was any reason why it shouldn't work. So I bought a new one.

Maybe this post wasn't entirely skip-worthy, but of course I had no way of knowing that when I started writing. See, these posts are an organic process. I almost never know what I'm going to end up saying when I start one.

I hope you enjoyed my little list!

I totally did it.

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 19:04:27 GMT

So, I just called the home warranty company about my oven.

Allow me to transcribe the end of the conversation for you.

"Okay, I'll go ahead and file that service request for you."
"Oh, there's one other thing before you go."
"Yes, sir?"
"I've had a lot of things breaking in the house recently, and I'm beginning to think that there's some kind of spirit or poltergeist in the house. Do you guys cover exorcisms and things like that?"
"Absolutely not."
"Oh, okay. Thanks anyway."
"You're welcome."
*click*

So if you ever wondered whether a home warranty would cover hauntings, the answer is definitively no.

Strange requests

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 16:55:56 GMT

I had a request to turn this post into a haiku.

Here, for your viewing pleasure, are haikus.

I awoke to find,
crawling on top of my face,
a giant spider.

Quickly I killed him,
crawling on top of my face,
the giant spider.
_________________________

The worst thing to find
is a spider on your face
when you are sleeping.
_________________________

I killed a spider.
He was crawling on my face.
Can I sleep again?
_________________________

I slept peacefully
Until something tickled me.
I was not happy.

Eight legs on my face
ran like they were in a race;
tap-danced to keep pace.

With frightening speed
(I almost frighteningly peed)
I killed him, indeed.

O now he is gone,
though his memory lives on
every time I yawn.
_________________________

I did nothing wrong.
Now I sing a spider song.
I hate you, Judy.
_________________________

Hope you enjoyed my haikus!

I think they'd put a note in my permanent record for this.

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 16:16:20 GMT

Jordan (cagexxx) suggested that I call my home warranty company and ask them to fix my poltergeist.

I can just imagine how that conversation would go.

"Hello, American Home Shield, how may I help you?"
"Hi, I need to schedule a repair."
"Okay, sir, what is it that's broken?"
"Well, nothing yet. But things keep breaking."
"I'm sorry?"
"See, I think that my house is being haunted by a poltergeist, and I'd like you to fix it."
"What?"
"You know, a poltergeist. A ghost? A spirit that causes damage to my house?"
"We don't... Are you serious?"
"Of course. I am covered for this sort of thing, right?"
"...No. When something breaks, we can send a technician to repair it, but I'm afraid that we don't..."
"What am I supposed to do, then? Judy is causing problems pretty much every day."
"Judy?"
"Yes, that's what we call the poltergeist."
"Maybe you could try the local church?"
"Will you reimburse me for that?"
"Um, no. It's not covered."
"Okay, okay, fine. Thanks for your help."
"Good luck?"
*click*

OR... This is how it could have gone!

"Hello, American Home Shield, Judy speaking, how may I help you?"
"OH MY GOD. JUDY, YOU BITCH, LEAVE MY HOUSE ALONE!"
*click*

<snickers>

Mixer? I hardly even know 'er!

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 06:05:54 GMT

Today was actually pretty interesting. I shall tell you why!

I got up on the early side, especially since my night last night was full of horrible things like face-eating spiders and eye surgery. Eugh.

Anyway, today was the Graduate English Association mixer at a pizza restaurant called Slice. It was downtown, so I had to use my hawk-like eyes to find a parking spot, which I had to pay entirely too much money to park at.

So I walked up to the restaurant and saw some people who had introduced themselves at the orientation as the GEA staff. I went and said hello, and introduced myself to them. As I was doing so, a woman walked up who said to me, "Your name is Austin?"
I replied, "Yes."
"Are you taking First Arguments this semester?"
"...Yes."
"I'm your professor!"
"...Oh. Erm, hi."

It was a very odd conversation.

Anyway, she went on to tell me all about the class. See, judging from the name of the class, First Arguments, I thought it was pretty reasonable to assume that it was a class about writing papers making an argument of some sort. Well, from the second she started talking, I was lost. It was a good few minutes into her explanation that it suddenly dawned on me that "First Arguments" is actually the title of a book. Then things began to fall into place. Apparently this class creates from scratch this entire book, doing everything necessary to send it to the printer. That certainly sounds fine to me, and I'm really interested to work on it. But I'm glad I met her, or else I would have been really confused on the first day of class.

Meanwhile, this professor is going on and on, and she eventually asks me what my area of interest is. I tell her that it's science fiction and fantasy, and her ears immediately perk up. Apparently there's a guy in her class who's also into sci-fi/fantasy and anime. Before I could blink, she had decided that me and this guy should work together and make a sci-fi/fantasy panel at GSU's resident multi-discipline academic conference that's coming up in September, and had started talking to one of the women in charge of the conference (who was also there at the mixer) about the possibility of he and I making said panel. Then that woman's ears perked up, and she got all excited about it. Mind you, no one had actually asked me if I were interested in such a thing, but now it seems that enough interest has been generated that I may have to follow through on it. Not that I have any problem with that, it just may be a little too much work for me to bite off so early in my academic career. We'll see what happens as it gets closer.

Good story, right?

Oh, my oven is broken. It heats to the proper temperature, but my theory on why things aren't cooking properly is that it's a convection oven (I don't actually know that for sure), and the heat isn't properly convecting. Our dishwasher, which is also broken, is being fixed tomorrow after a long period of malfunction while we waited for a part to arrive. While the repairman is here, I'm going to ask him if he knows anything about ovens. Let me tell you, my home warranty has been an absolute GODSEND. Do you have any idea how many things I've had to get fixed since I moved in? Jeez, it's been one thing after another. My dishwasher. My tenant's dishwasher. The wiring in the house, twice. Now my oven. Also, my garbage disposal wasn't working properly, but I think I managed to fix that one on my own. If I didn't have the home warranty, I would be so deplorably broke that I couldn't even pay attention.

Okay, I do believe that I've rambled on for long enough. Megan's preparing to get into bed, so I think it's about time to go join her!

Damn my eyes!

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 17:28:05 GMT

I finally managed to get back to sleep last night, after the spider incident.

However, I spent the night having an awesome dream where I had to get some kind of lasik surgery because someone I knew needed some part of her eye replaced. The guy doing it was my uncle, and he did it with a scalpel, not a laser.

That was a really, really scary dream.

NOT something I like waking up to

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 10:36:30 GMT

I was just sleeping.

I woke up because something was tickling my face.

Still mostly sleeping, I ran my hand over my face.

And killed a giant spider.

That was on my face.

Holding my breath

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 06:57:13 GMT

I'm still just waiting around to see what Judy does next. Nothing has happened so far today, but there's still time! There was certainly still time two nights ago. T_T

While I'm waiting for Judy to continue to misbehave, I've been trying to sort out exactly what my schedule will be like for this coming semester. Thank you to all of you who commented... It seems like everyone feels pretty strongly that I should start out with three classes. After some consideration, I've decided that I agree. The next question, however, is what days to take my classes on. Do I consolidate to two days a week at the cost of having 5 straight hours of class each day? Or do I spread it out over four days and have the benefit of more leisurely days at the cost of having to go to campus every day?

That was a rhetorical question, really, because I don't expect anyone to answer it for me. I need to decide what will suit my personal preferences better. It's a tough call!

In happy news, Karaya (bejipan) is finally moving in with us! Not today, unfortunately, but this coming Wednesday. You all may or may not remember that she's moving down from North Carolina to live with us, to work for Megan, and to get a part-time job. She also plans to eventually get back into school.

It'll be nice to have her here. I prefer a house that's active as opposed to one that's quiet. Especially with Judy lurking around. Last night Mary had a hard time going to sleep, because Megan started talking about how she heard noises in the house the night before last. Silly girls. I slept like a log last night, though according to Megan, I was talking in my sleep.

I've always talked in my sleep on rare occasions, ever since I was little. Not anything really impressive, just nonsensical mumblings, mostly. Every now and then, there'll be a sentence that's really clear, but not very often. Anyway, either I've started talking in my sleep more often lately, or I've just never had anyone spending that much time around me, awake, while I was sleeping. Unfortunately, Megan doesn't often remember what I say in my sleep. That makes me terribly sad, as I sort of feel cheated. Like, I'm talking, but I don't know what I'm saying? I feel entitled to those words, you know? I said them, and they belong to me.

I wonder if I could set up a voice-activated recorder, to put next to me. Hmmm. I bet I could do something like that. Though I don't know how sensitive such things are, and maybe it would just record hours of me snoring. <chuckles> But maybe I'll get lucky! Maybe if I get something really good, I could even post it here for you guys to laugh about.

Anyway, it's late and I'm tired. Tomorrow is the Graduate English Association mixer, so we'll see how exciting (or not) that is. The incoming graduate students at the orientation looked either A) really nerdy in the bad way (like in the 'my mom used to dress me and still does' way) or B) really normal. There were a small number of exceptions, but the group as a whole didn't inspire confidence within me that I will become good friends with them. Tomorrow I'll get to know them a little bit better, I hope.

But not now. Now, I sleep.

Links

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 06:08:18 GMT

I found the perfect shoes for my friend Jeremy (hollow1). You guys can check them out, too, because they're weeeeeird.
http://www.zcoil.com/products_styles.html

In the meantime, here's an awesome rap video about the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) that those of you who read Slashdot may already have seen. This is specifically for baldghoti and djinubito, but if you like science and nerdy rap music, you should also check it out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j50ZssEojtM

I have decided that we have a poltergeist.

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 04:56:30 GMT

So, a number of people have suggested that perhaps we have a poltergeist at the house. Mary, in particular, does not think that that is the case. She says that she is... sensitive, and that she would know if we had one.

Personally speaking, I don't really believe in poltergeists.

However! I have decided that we do, in fact, have a poltergeist.

I talked it over with Kats, and she thinks the poltergeist should be named Judy. Personally speaking, I think it should be Suzy.

Either way, I have every intention of giving it a name. What purpose does this serve, you might ask. Well, if it has a name, then there's a name that I can curse whenever anything goes wrong.

It may not actually help anything, but it sure will make me feel better!

EDIT: LOL, Mary just came out of her room and said, "I was just watching Ghost Hunters, and they said that poltergeists feed off of intense stress. So just chill out, and Judy will, too!"

This means that the poltergeist's name has been cemented as Judy.

Updates

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 03:04:39 GMT

Alright, so I was quite upset yesterday when I went to bed. Understandably so, I think.

This morning, I woke up and immediately called the clock repair shop. They said that there's a company in Texas that makes replacement glass for clocks, and that they can get me a replacement for somewhere between $25 and $50. I didn't doubt that I'd be able to find replacement glass... The problem is that the glass will be newly-manufactured. It won't be the original glass from 1905. If I want original, 1905 glass, I would need to buy another similar clock, and take the glass from it. Considering how pricey such things are, I'm really not excited about that.

I'm glad that I'll have some kind of glass replacement, but still. Meh.

Anyway, after my trip to the clock store (I had to drop the broken glass off with them so that they could get measurements), I came home and made myself some eggs for breakfast, and then it was time to go to school.

As I mentioned yesterday, today was my new student orientation. I left early so that I'd have plenty of time to make sure I found the right place and whatnot.

It was... nice. I didn't really get the chance to talk to too many people because it was mostly just a seminar type thing. But I did talk to a couple of people, and they seemed nice.

Basically, they laid out some of the basics for what we'll be doing over the next couple of years in terms of coursework. They explained some of the courses we needed to take, and explained thesis requirements. It seems... like things will be okay. I'm still pretty nervous about the classes, but I think that once I get into it and start writing papers again that I'll find that it's not as hard as I fear.

Anyway, now that I know more about the classes and requirements, I've registered for some of my classes today. I think that I'm going to be taking three classes this semester, though we'll see. I could potentially take four classes, but they made a big deal of telling us how hard four classes was going to be. So it may or may not be a good idea to take four in my first graduate semester. Does anyone have any experience with that, that they'd like to share?

Oh, in other news, I spoke to Bruno today. Some of you may remember that I wrote a screenplay version of my short story, "As In A Mirror, Dimly" and gave it to Bruno to make into a short film. Well, that was a year ago. Today, Bruno said that if he managed to get one of his co-workers on board, he may start filming very soon. That would be very awesome! It'd be nice to have a film credit to my name. ;)

On Thursday is a "mixer" put on by the Graduate English Association at a local pizza place. I think it'll be nice to go and meet with some of the people I'll be working with for the next several years, in a social setting rather than in a school setting.

Okay, Megan is now watching a TV show about some woman who has an inoperable brain tumor, so they're giving her clothes to look nice. I need to wrap this post up so that I can put something else on TV.

Continued

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 06:57:27 GMT

You know, I don't want to just tack an 'EDIT' to the end of my last post, but as I've had time to think about it, I've realized that I'm not done talking about it.

I'm really, really upset that the glass on my clock broke. That clock was my favorite thing in this entire house, with the potential singular exception of my computer. Just seeing the clock on the wall made me so happy every time I looked at it. Every time I walked by it, not only did it make me smile, but it made me feel proud.

I'm getting seriously tired of this. I'm getting angry about this.

My car is full of ants? Okay, I'm annoyed.

My butt spontaneously starts bleeding? Annoying.

Kats' car breaks down twice? Annoying.

House has fleas? That's really annoying.

Flat tire? Annoying.

The dishwasher breaks? The wiring needs to be fixed? The light fixture for my office doesn't fit the fan? The cable doesn't work? It seems like the oven isn't working properly? These things are all annoying, that's all.

The ONE thing in this house that I love more than all of the other things breaks? Okay, now I'm beyond annoyed. I'm upset, and I'm angry.

All of those things I was prepared to accept as a homeowner. Just comes with the territory, you know? Well, except for the butt bleeding; that was weird. But I just wasn't mentally prepared for something I loved so much to break. Yes, that's exactly it. I wasn't ready for it. It broke so suddenly, just as I was getting used to the idea of having it on the wall.

I've come very close to crying about it, because I'm just getting so tired of it all.

This sucks.

I can't fucking believe that I jinxed myself like that.

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 06:24:25 GMT

Okay, that is SERIOUSLY the last time I jinx myself.

So, I just made a post about how I was having moderately good luck today, right?

I just made a post about how great my clock was, and how happy I was with it, right?

Well, my post had me thinking about the clock, and so I was scouring the web to learn more about it. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to. So in an effort to learn more about the clock, I took it down off the wall to read the back.

I learned that the clock model ended in 'rie', but the area of the label that included the first letter of the name was torn off. Slightly frustrated but still intrigued, I put the clock back on the wall. I opened the bottom cabinet to put the pendulum back in, turned away for a second, and the clock fell right off the wall.

With superhuman speed, I caught the clock with my foot, so the clock itself wasn't damaged. However, the original glass that read 'regulator' and had decorative trim (which was from around 1905, from my sleuthing on the internet) shattered. Yup, all over the floor.

Do I even want to know how much that glass will cost to replace, if it even can be replaced? No, not really. I would like my original glass back, please.

I am very, very, very sad right now.

Finally! A day with an average amount of luck!

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 04:56:33 GMT

I don't want to jinx myself, but so far nothing bad has happened, today.

I woke up and immediately went to go get my tire fixed. Unfortunately, it had a huge gash in the side, so it was impossible to patch. I was able to get it replaced with a used tire for only $30, so that was good.

Meanwhile, I struck up a conversation with the guy changing my tire, who is apparently minorly involved in the Atlanta street racing scene. He told me that if I ever wanted to check it out, I should give him a call and he'd let me know when the next meet-up was. I may do that at some point, if I feel like I'm in the mood to be ridiculed because my WRX is an automatic. <chuckles>

The rest of the day passed pretty uneventfully, which was surprising, given my recent trend of luck.

My side, which had a gash not unlike that belonging to my tire, is healing up. It's also turning a pretty wicked blue-ish/purple-ish/yellow-ish color, because in addition to cutting myself, I bruised myself pretty bad.

Kats cooked a nice dinner tonight of chicken-and-cheese omelets and tater tots. As Mary said, "Mmm, tots."

I don't know if I mentioned it or not, but I went out awhile ago to find a replacement winding key for my antique wall clock. I was successful in my task, and since I can wind the clock, I went ahead and hung it on the wall.

So now our house reverberates with the comforting ticking of an old clock. I have to say, it's pretty awesome. The clock chimes the hour, and also chimes once on the half-hour, but the chime is very soft. Unfortunately, I don't have any idea whether it's supposed to be soft, or if the clock needs to be serviced. And, of course, a clock servicing costs over $100. So perhaps I'll just wait. <chuckles>

When I went to the clock store, the guy working there told me that he couldn't say exactly what year my clock was made, but he said that it was between 1890 and 1920, and that it was in very good condition for the type of clock it was. Actually, rather than describing it, I just realized that I took a picture of it with my iPhone for my parents. Let me upload that, and I'll include it below:

There you have it. If you come in the front door, close the door behind you and look to your immediate right, that's what you'll see. Leaning against the wall are our two mirrors that we still need to hang. Then there's the clock, which I hung on the wall. You can see the pendulum inside, which is like a big brass disc, or somesuch. Inside the living room, you can see the corner of our couch peeking out. Our coffee table is a wood frame with travertine panels on the top. The wood chair with a blue cushion is the glider that I picked up at the Salvation Army for $30. It's a freaking awesome chair. The rug, Megan picked up at a church sale for cheap, and the trunk that's behind the coffee table is also Megan's. You can also see how messy our coffee table is. Excuse us, because we're still in the process of getting everything together. On the mantle, above the fireplace, is my old, wooden radio. To the right of it is a piece of embrodiery that Kats made for me by hand, and to the right of that is two stuffed-animal kiwi birds. Like teddy bears, not like taxidermy.

I think that that's everything you can see in that picture! Man, that was a lot of stuff.

In other news, tomorrow is my graduate school orientation. I'm excited! Seriously, I can't wait, and I hope that I don't lose any sleep over it, tonight. It's crazy... It's like, a new chapter opening in my life, etc. Almost like a fresh start, you know? I did really badly at UF, and that poor performance followed me for a long time. But now that I'm in graduate school, I can finally leave that behind. It's relieving, but at the same time, it's scary.

I've met a lot of people who are scholars and academics, and a lot of times they make me feel... Well, incompetent. I can keep up, but only barely, and it's given me serious worries about going into graduate school. Rationally speaking, I know that it'll all be fine, but I can't help but be... intimidated? Yes, intimidated is the right word.

Meh.

Well, I think that after tomorrow, I'll have a much better handle on graduate school in general, just as I'm sure that as I actually begin taking classes, I'll feel better about the whole process.

Rargh, okay, I feel myself digressing into a depressing tirade about my psyche, so I think I'll cut this post off here, and leave you by asking for comments on how the house looks so far!

How to get in shape?

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 17:20:11 GMT

So, I want to start getting in shape. I could potentially just start jogging around my block, but it's been too hot during the day and at night there are roaches everywhere.

Two blocks from my house, there are three different places that I could go to get in shape.

One: A local gym. They have all the machines you would expect from a gym. Included in membership are various classes, such as yoga, pilates and spin.

Two: A Tai Chi studio. Classes are every day, and they cover beginning to advanced, as well as using a sword. In case anyone's curious, it's traditional Yang style.

Three: A Tae Kwon Do dojo. Classes are every day except Sunday. Adult classes are all in the evening, except on Saturday.

So, what do I do? TKD appeals to me because I've always wanted to learn a martial art, but then again, TKD is far from my favorite candidate for martial arts. Tai Chi is pretty awesome, but I'm worried that it wouldn't be enough exercise. The gym, of course, is a great fallback, and this is a particularly good gym, it seems.

You tell me! I'm interested to hear your suggestions and/or experiences.

I'm not that fat, I swear!

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 06:43:47 GMT

This is what Kats says that I look like. =(

Sack race

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 04:08:23 GMT

Yesterday I went to the post office with Megan. She had a package to send out, and I had a letter to drop off.

Since it was a Saturday shortly before the post office closed, the line was huge.

Megan and I dutifully waited in line, like good little automatons.

Behind us in line two spaces was a black woman on crutches. She looked pretty averagely dressed, and had a bandage around one ankle. It was clear from looking at her that she wasn't permanently disabled, she just had a sprained ankle, or something of the sort.

After waiting in line for a few minutes, she says to herself, but out loud, "I don't know how long I can stand here in line with my ankle."

With a few mumbles to the same effect, she goes around the line, and approaches the counter.

The woman at the counter saw what the situation was, and said, "Is it alright with everyone if I take this woman first?"

Now, personally speaking, I didn't think she should have gone ahead. Having had cancer and been effectively disabled, I didn't expect to be able to skip lines, even if I was really tired and it was a pain to stand around. Megan, too, found that it was very hard for her to stand up, after her surgery. But she always waited through the line at the post office. Especially when you have a very visible injury, it's entirely permissible to ask for a chair, perhaps, or even sit down on the floor.

However, I couldn't say anything, because she was black. The last thing I want is to say something that could be construed as uncaring or rude to a black person in Atlanta. Even though my feelings were pretty colorblind on the subject, I still couldn't say anything. It made me sad. There were also plenty of other white people in line who remained noticeably silent, but their feelings were writ large across their faces.

Meanwhile, the black lady in front of us in line had absolutely no problems with responding. She said, "No, it's not alright. I'm late for work, and I need to get back."

The injured lady said, "But I can't stand in line with my leg."

She then stayed at the counter so that the clerk had no choice but to help her. The woman in front of me in line made a loud, frustrated noise, and walked out of the post office.

Moral of the story? You're allowed to be a bitch to someone if you belong to their race.

Best part of the story? As we were leaving, Megan told me that she saw the injured woman walk into the post office, and she was walking like she didn't need the crutches.

String of... annoying... luck continuing.

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 16:37:48 GMT

Some of you may have noticed that I haven't been having bad luck, exactly, as much as I've been having annoying luck.

Yesterday, my car got a flat tire.

Sigh.