Revolution, enlightenment, and enslavement
POSITIVE: I'll be learning about a time period that we really skimmed over in middle and high school. We're reading Paradise Lost. The professor seems really nice.
NEGATIVE: The English department know-it-all/kiss-ass is in the class too.
comparative literature
POSITIVE: We're reading lit that ISN'T transatlantic. One of our books is actually a graphic novel.
NEGATIVE: I know absolutely no one in the class.
modernism
POSITIVE:The professor is pretty funny.
NEGATIVE: She's kind of long-winded.
English syntax
POSITIVE: Compared to my other classes, the workload is pretty light. What I'm learning can easily be applied to my professional future. The professor is cool.
NEGATIVE:So far none. Woot!
Shakespeare
POSITVE: I've already read two of the plays we're covering, and we get to choose which play we want to read for our big semester-long project.
NEGATIVE: The professor is a little intense. I like that she's enthusiastic about the subject, because I think that will make the class a lot more interesting, but it makes me think she'll grade super harshly since she's kind of obsessed. The semester-long project is pretty daunting as well.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Thursday, August 19, 2010
sleep deprived
I have not been sleeping well since I moved back to Winona. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because I'm still adjusting to the new digs. Maybe I'm still a little paranoid that some blood-sucking flying rat is going to make its way into my room again. I don't know. But last night I planned on at least trying to get a full night's sleep so I'd be awake and alert for the freshman orientation panel I'm helping out with today. Unfortunately, that's not how things worked out.
My room mate and five of her obnoxious friends burst into our apartment at 2 AM. I tried my best to tune them out but it was impossible. They didn't bother keeping their voices down either because my room mate "had no idea if I was there." When am I NOT home at 2 AM on a Wednesday? I mean, there have been exceptions, but for the most part I am home and asleep (or at least, tossing and turning fitfully in my bed) by then. Finally, one of her especially intoxicated friends came into my room to see if I was sleeping. When she saw that I wasn't, she kept bugging me to come out to the living room to chill with them. These are some of the last people I'd want to hang out with, but I figured I wasn't sleeping anyway, so I shuffled out in my moose (or as the especially drunk friend kept yelling "CariBOU!!!!!!") pajamas and bedhead and joined them.
It was a HUGE headache sitting out there listening to them. At least in my room I was able to put a pillow over my head to block out my head (or smother myself). The group was comprised of the kind of guy who gives frat boys a bad name, two loud, melodramatic girls arguing about some lesbian love triangle, and a girl who kept trying to make herself sound cool and kept repeating that she'd been arrested four times and going on about how much she loved jail. One guy was actually okay, because he was somewhat sober and was planning on doing an internship in Sevilla, so we had a decent amount to talk about that DIDN'T revolve around Greek life or trivial college not-quite-relationships.
I finally ended up falling asleep at five and waking up at eight thirty when my alarm went off. I hit the snooze button until about ten, got dressed, grabbed my stuff, and made my way over to campus. Now I'm sitting in the Smaug, enjoying a muffin and iced mocha, trying to wake up before I have to deal with sixty rowdy freshman for three hours. Hopefully once classes start these impromptu parties won't be as frequent, but I'm not holding my breath.
My room mate and five of her obnoxious friends burst into our apartment at 2 AM. I tried my best to tune them out but it was impossible. They didn't bother keeping their voices down either because my room mate "had no idea if I was there." When am I NOT home at 2 AM on a Wednesday? I mean, there have been exceptions, but for the most part I am home and asleep (or at least, tossing and turning fitfully in my bed) by then. Finally, one of her especially intoxicated friends came into my room to see if I was sleeping. When she saw that I wasn't, she kept bugging me to come out to the living room to chill with them. These are some of the last people I'd want to hang out with, but I figured I wasn't sleeping anyway, so I shuffled out in my moose (or as the especially drunk friend kept yelling "CariBOU!!!!!!") pajamas and bedhead and joined them.
It was a HUGE headache sitting out there listening to them. At least in my room I was able to put a pillow over my head to block out my head (or smother myself). The group was comprised of the kind of guy who gives frat boys a bad name, two loud, melodramatic girls arguing about some lesbian love triangle, and a girl who kept trying to make herself sound cool and kept repeating that she'd been arrested four times and going on about how much she loved jail. One guy was actually okay, because he was somewhat sober and was planning on doing an internship in Sevilla, so we had a decent amount to talk about that DIDN'T revolve around Greek life or trivial college not-quite-relationships.
I finally ended up falling asleep at five and waking up at eight thirty when my alarm went off. I hit the snooze button until about ten, got dressed, grabbed my stuff, and made my way over to campus. Now I'm sitting in the Smaug, enjoying a muffin and iced mocha, trying to wake up before I have to deal with sixty rowdy freshman for three hours. Hopefully once classes start these impromptu parties won't be as frequent, but I'm not holding my breath.
Friday, August 6, 2010
BAT ATTACK: part dos
The next day a maintenance guy from my housing office came out to see if the bat was still there and find where it got in. He said the bat was most likely gone, because it would still be flying around if it was still in the apartment. He found a gap in the wall of the furnace room that leads to the chimney and we figured that was how it got in. He sealed it up, said he'd come back the next day to put a rubber stopper on the bottom of the furnace room door just to be safe, and left. I thought that was the end of it. Silly me.
I heard flapping around around two the next morning. I reluctantly turned on my light, not wanting to see what I knew would be there. Sure enough, the nasty thing was hanging on the wall next to my door. Actually, he was hanging on a block of wood on the wall by my door. The wood was there when I moved in, and I assumed it was covering a hole, but apparently it didn't cover all of it. I tried to scare the bat out of my room with a broom and he squeezed into a gap above the block of wood. I hit the block of wood, trying to scare it out so I could get it out the front door but it wouldn't fly out.
I refused to sleep in the house with a bat for another night, so I called my roommate and filled her in. Her friend had two couches for us to crash on, which was great. Unfortunately, they wanted to hang out at the TKE frat house for a while before we went to her friend's apartment. They ended up staying until about 6 AM. I got fed up with their pointless ramblings about Greek life around four and went back to my roommate's car to sleep in the back seat. We eventually made it back to her friend's apartment and got a few more hours of sleep, then called the housing office again. They sent the same guy over and he managed to scare the bat out for good. He sealed up the hole in the wall so now there is no way that creepy little flying rat is getting back in here.
I used to love bats. I thought they were so cute. They were my favorite part of the nocturnal exhibit at the zoo. My sister and I even used to pretend we were bats when we were little and used our bunk bed as a bat cave (yeah, I was a weird kid). That image has been shattered. They are not nearly as adorable when they are dive bombing your head in a tiny apartment with low ceilings.
Want to know something cool? The word for bat in Spanish is "murcielago." It has each vowel. It might be my favorite Spanish word, even if it's not my favorite animal anymore.
I heard flapping around around two the next morning. I reluctantly turned on my light, not wanting to see what I knew would be there. Sure enough, the nasty thing was hanging on the wall next to my door. Actually, he was hanging on a block of wood on the wall by my door. The wood was there when I moved in, and I assumed it was covering a hole, but apparently it didn't cover all of it. I tried to scare the bat out of my room with a broom and he squeezed into a gap above the block of wood. I hit the block of wood, trying to scare it out so I could get it out the front door but it wouldn't fly out.
I refused to sleep in the house with a bat for another night, so I called my roommate and filled her in. Her friend had two couches for us to crash on, which was great. Unfortunately, they wanted to hang out at the TKE frat house for a while before we went to her friend's apartment. They ended up staying until about 6 AM. I got fed up with their pointless ramblings about Greek life around four and went back to my roommate's car to sleep in the back seat. We eventually made it back to her friend's apartment and got a few more hours of sleep, then called the housing office again. They sent the same guy over and he managed to scare the bat out for good. He sealed up the hole in the wall so now there is no way that creepy little flying rat is getting back in here.
I used to love bats. I thought they were so cute. They were my favorite part of the nocturnal exhibit at the zoo. My sister and I even used to pretend we were bats when we were little and used our bunk bed as a bat cave (yeah, I was a weird kid). That image has been shattered. They are not nearly as adorable when they are dive bombing your head in a tiny apartment with low ceilings.
Want to know something cool? The word for bat in Spanish is "murcielago." It has each vowel. It might be my favorite Spanish word, even if it's not my favorite animal anymore.
Monday, August 2, 2010
BAT ATTACK
Around 2 AM this morning I heard a scratching noise. At first, I didn't think anything of it. I figured my fan was blowing one of my posters against the wall or something. When it didn't stop, my imagination kicked in, and thanks to the horror movie I watched earlier in the evening, I wildly thought that someone was outside my window, trying to break in. I turned on the light next to my bed and looked around my room. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Nothing was moving, I didn't see any suspicious shadows outside of my window. I was just starting to think that I had overreacted when a small, furry, gray-brown head poked out from the heating vent on my ceiling.
Naturally, I was shocked. It looked like a mouse until it unfolded its wings, squeezed out, and started flapping around my room. That's when I started screaming. I can't believe my roommate didn't hear me. If anyone DOES ever break into my room I'm going to have a serious problem, because apparently I'm incommunicado from my corner of the apartment. When she didn't come to my rescue, I called my parents. I felt bad, because it was so early in the morning and they live two hours away so they couldn't do anything, but I had no idea who else to call.
While they tried to calm me down and offer suggestions I wrapped myself in my comforter for protection and ran out of the room. The bat had gotten out as well and was fluttering around the kitchen and living room. We have two front doors; there's the one that leads outside, a little entrance area, and another door. I propped open the second one with a folded-up card table, but I couldn't find anything to prop open the second one while I tried to chase out the bat. I ended up running into my roommate's room and waking her up. Turns out she's no help because she's terrified of bats, so she called one of her frat boy friends.
He came over and THINKS he saw something fly past him when he opened the front door,and after a pretty thorough search of the apartment and couldn't find the bat. He left, and my roommate went with him, but of course I can't sleep. I never saw the bat leave and he only thinks he saw something fly out. I keep hearing random clicking and scratching noises that I'm not sure are just normal house noises or if it means the bat is still in here. I closed my bedroom door after they left-I'm in the living room and I was just too creeped out to leave all the doors open and leave myself open to attacks-so for all I know he's flying around in there again but I'm too scared to check, so right now I'm curled up on the futon watching Three's Company and trying to work up the guts to double check my room. I don't know what I'll do if it IS still in there, since I'm completely alone now and have no one around to help me.
This sucks. My landlord is going to get a VERY unpleasant phone call in a few hours.
Naturally, I was shocked. It looked like a mouse until it unfolded its wings, squeezed out, and started flapping around my room. That's when I started screaming. I can't believe my roommate didn't hear me. If anyone DOES ever break into my room I'm going to have a serious problem, because apparently I'm incommunicado from my corner of the apartment. When she didn't come to my rescue, I called my parents. I felt bad, because it was so early in the morning and they live two hours away so they couldn't do anything, but I had no idea who else to call.
While they tried to calm me down and offer suggestions I wrapped myself in my comforter for protection and ran out of the room. The bat had gotten out as well and was fluttering around the kitchen and living room. We have two front doors; there's the one that leads outside, a little entrance area, and another door. I propped open the second one with a folded-up card table, but I couldn't find anything to prop open the second one while I tried to chase out the bat. I ended up running into my roommate's room and waking her up. Turns out she's no help because she's terrified of bats, so she called one of her frat boy friends.
He came over and THINKS he saw something fly past him when he opened the front door,and after a pretty thorough search of the apartment and couldn't find the bat. He left, and my roommate went with him, but of course I can't sleep. I never saw the bat leave and he only thinks he saw something fly out. I keep hearing random clicking and scratching noises that I'm not sure are just normal house noises or if it means the bat is still in here. I closed my bedroom door after they left-I'm in the living room and I was just too creeped out to leave all the doors open and leave myself open to attacks-so for all I know he's flying around in there again but I'm too scared to check, so right now I'm curled up on the futon watching Three's Company and trying to work up the guts to double check my room. I don't know what I'll do if it IS still in there, since I'm completely alone now and have no one around to help me.
This sucks. My landlord is going to get a VERY unpleasant phone call in a few hours.
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