I really don't know why I'm still awake. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that I was up until almost 6 am last night. It's really a bad sign if you can sleep until 1 and only get 7 hours of sleep. It doesn't help that I'm one of those people that needs an average of 9 hours of sleep to feel healthy, so for me 7 hours just leaves me feeling deprived. Lately I've also found myself lost in time -- by that I mean that I keep confusing the days. I've also developed this habit of waking up a few minutes before my alarm clock goes off (but who can blame me for that, my alarm clock is awful). This is nice in some ways, but in other ways it just leaves me more confused. Take Friday for example: at 9 am my eyes pop open; (<-- I'll just be frank here, I really don't know how to use semi-colons, but I'm trying to integrate them into my writing because they make you seem smarter. This didn't seem like an appropriate place for a . or a , so perhaps smashing them together into a ; will do the trick) my alarm clock is set for 9:02 because it's 2 minutes ahead, but I can't bear to short myself on sleep time. With trouble I turn over to look at the clock. Then I think to myself "I didn't hear any noise, why am I awake right now? Isn't it Saturday? .....ohh....right, it's only Friday and I have class. !@#$." On the bright side, today has felt like Sunday all day, so it's a relief to know that I still have another day of freedom. Perhaps this confusion has come from my current feelings of being in a deluded time warp -- I know logically that I only have 2.5 weeks left in Sewanee, but I've managed to fool myself into thinking that A) I have months left, or more accurately B) I'm never leaving because college never ends.
Guess what, college does end....temporarily at least. I'm one of those unwilling academic types: I always swear that this is the last of my education because I can't take it any more, and then I get roped into further schooling. Well, to be fair, it wasn't like that after high school, I've always intended to go to college. Grad school is definitely that way though. There's still time for me to chicken out, but I'm coming to the realization that school is much easier and more interesting than getting a real job. I just hate writing essays...and taking tests...and reading boring books.
I discovered last week that Scrubs is a hilarious tv show. One of my suite mates happens to own seasons 1-6, and so I popped a DVD in in order to entertain me during a solo dinner in the room. We have a pretty large collection of movies in the room (mainly thanks to the same suite mate), and it seemed impossible at first that I'd exhaust all of my choices, but movie nights are now met with long negotiations about which movies we can "stand" to watch again. 10 Things I Hate About You is almost always a contender. Anyway, I'd seen an episode of Scrubs here and there when it was on tv and I knew that it was amusing...but it turns out that it's hilarious! I'm so out of the loop of popular culture, but I'm not so sure that that's a bad thing...
Sewanee is going to be under a severe storm and tornado watch for the next week or so (seriously -- our last weather bulletin was entitled "It Ain't Over---yet. More to come."), but so far I've yet to see much of anything. The problem is that counties here are fairly large, so any time there's a watch on the other side of it, we get included. Apparently Nashville is legitimately flooded though, I watched a video of a building floating down I-24. There's certainly something to be said in favor of living on top of a mountain...flash flooding is a very minor concern. The wind has been a little crazy, but most of all it's just a tease. Kendra and I have tried diligently for the last 2 days to go kite flying, and every time we get out there the wind lets us down. It lures us outside, and then strings us along hopefully with gusts at perfect kite strength. However, the gusts are just far enough apart that the kite never gets up very high, and running doesn't help...in the end it just makes us look foolish. Friday afternoon I believe that there was a wedding or ceremony of some sort in Cravens Hall, which has large windows looking out onto the soccer field behind our dorm. I'm sure that they got quite the treat watching Kendra and I frantically run back and forth with unruly kites...it certainly didn't help that Kendra's kite is a rather elaborate pirate ship.
Coolio has, sadly, been delayed. Last weekend his plane got canceled due to heavy rain. We'll see if he ends up coming or not...perhaps he's just *cough* too cool for school?
Tomorrow's plans include a whole lot of nothing, so I guess I better go now and get rested up. It is, after all, 4:30 am.
HERE's a link to the video of the building floating down the interstate. I'm not entirely sure where it is, but I'm sure that I use that section of road regularly.
I found a good poem last night. With Russian poems I'm never sure if I've understood the meaning correctly or not, but in my mind it amused me. I'll make an attempt at translation (it's much prettier in Russian, of course).
Евгений В. Харитоновъ /Yevgeny V. Haritonov (the author)
В "Детском мире" / In "The child's world"
в детство впал / in childhood it sank in
невоздержимо / uncontrollably
захотелось купить / that I wanted to buy
пластмассовый / a plastic
пистолетик / pistolette
из тех / from which
что стреляются водой / shoots water
я хотел такой / I wanted that kind
в детстве/ in my childhood
но они были жутким / but there were terrible
дефицитом / deficits
теперь я счастлив - / but now I'm happy
и у меня есть / and I have a
пис / pist <-- you will not here that he's starting to break words apart
толетик / olette
стреляющий водой / that shoots water
есть у меня свой / I have my own
личный пистолетик / personal pistolette
писто / pisto
летик / lette
peace
peace!
сто
сто!
<--- peace сто лет = the same sounds as the word pistol, but means "peace for 100 years"
лет
лет!
лети
лети!
лети!!
<--- лети к = the diminutive ending, but means "fly away to..."
к...
иду / I'm walking
стреляю в прохожих / I'm shooting passersby
мокрый террорист/ I'm a water terrorist
из-за меня / because of me
не умирают люди / people don't die
+30° в тени / +86° in the shade
29.05.2007 / May 29, 2007
Well, I've passed my comprehensive exams, so it looks like I'll be officially graduating (not that there was ever any doubt that I would). I also apparently won honorable mention in a national Russian essay contest. My professors congratulated me Wednesday, and I happily accepted the congratulations (I had mostly forgotten about that contest, I'd done it once or twice before and never won anything) and decided that I would go online later and find out more information. However, I haven't been able to find anything! I really wanted to see who the other winners, since there's a good chance that I know at least one or two of them...and it's always fun to see your name in print. I think that I was in the 4th and hardest group, so that's pretty impressive.
The essay contest news couldn't have come at a better time either. I found out on the day that I had to give the oral part of my comps, and it's always a good idea to put your professors in a good mood before they begin the interrogation section of your exam.
With comps out of the way, I now just have to write my honors thesis, write another paper, survive a couple of more classes, and take my final exams. Unfortunately, I only have about a week to do the honors thesis (which will probably be 20-30 pages) and the other essay (probably 8ish pages), so I'm freaking out a little bit. I also found out a bit of irritating news. It looks like I'm going to graduate .001-.05 GPA points short of summa cum laude because Sewanee doesn't round. This didn't bother me before because I figured I either had it or I was too far away for it to be an option, so I could just get my work done and coast to the end with a clear conscience. If I end up getting a 3.749 I am going to be severely irked.
While we're on the subject of GPAs, let me rant a little bit more. Basically, it's unfair. Everything is severely weighted here. Unlike many schools, where an A is a 4.0 regardless of a plus or minus beside it, an A- here is a 3.67. A B-, in comparison, is a 2.67. Since when is a B of any sort below average? Teachers don't seem to realize the extent of the damage done by those pesky little minuses, and slap them on at random if there's any doubt. I also find math unfair..one bad grade can drop your entire GPA drastically, but one perfect grade can only bring it up a tiny bit. Math is also unfair in another sense...I only wanted to take Calculus I, but I was forced to take Calculus II because by some fluke I got a 5 on the AP exam. I know I suck at math, and I tried to say so...I blame that B- on Sewanee.
There's a reason I only donated $2 to the Sewanee Anual Gift Fund (that and the fact that I got a hilarious thank you card)....
In other news, Coolio (THE Coolio) is coming to Sewanee tomorrow. One of the fraternities was suspended from having parties last year, but they still collected dues. As a result, they've amassed a large quantity of money, and they figured that the best way to spend it would be to hire a famous rapper to come for Spring Party Weekend. It's a pretty good idea, I have to admit. Unfortunately, it's supposed to be really stormy tomorrow, so hopefully it won't get canceled.
This summer is looking like it's going to be hectic, to say the least. However, I think that it will be an improvement from last summer, which was completely inactive (save for 5 or 6 days in there). I'm going to begin by driving solo cross-country. I've driven up to 13 hours by myself, but I've never had to go for multiple days. More specifically..I've never had to book a hotel room on my own before. I think it'll be pretty easy though...as long as the credit card works.
Well..this is enough procrastinating for now. Mostly I just wanted to rant about my grades, and there's no one online and everyone that I live with has disappeared. That's the way it usually works.
When you're perfect in every way. I can't wait to look in the mirror, 'cause I get better looking each day!"
I can identify with this song so much.
Well, today is Easter. It's kind of hard to contrast mentally with last Easter when I was still in Irkutsk. I suppose the dates don't exactly match up, but the general time frame is still the same. Last Easter it was still cold and snowy, and I remember Igor's family invited me to spend the night with them. It's interesting that Easter here is more of a morning event, generally involving a sunrise service or morning church service, followed by lunch and Easter egg hunts. In Russia the most interesting events happen at night. The most devout people spend an entire day and night in services, but I only went for an hour or so.....mostly because I'm not Orthodox, and I lock my knees, so standing up for hours and hours wasn't a smart idea. Inside the church everyone crowds together holding lit candles (seems dangerous to me, but Russia never was one to be much concerned with safety) and listening to a priest recite prayers. I suspect it's sort of like what happens here -- most people never go to church except for the big religious holidays, so on those days the churches are completely packed. At midnight (I don't actually remember if it's at midnight, but it seems like a logical time) everyone left the church and stood outside. Then a couple of priests come out and led a procession around the church (I believe 3 times). I found it somewhat funny that there was a police officer stationed in one spot to make sure that no one fell into an open drain while walking around in the dark (it seemed like an awful lot of foresight for Russia). After the solemn candlelit procession, everyone stopped and gathered around the priests, who then led the gathering in a chant about the fact that Christ had risen. After that we went back to Igor's house (while the more devout returned to the church for more services). There we had a long meal that lasted until about 3am. The whole family got together and ate, toasted, talked, and exchanged gifts. Then Igor and I stayed up even later watching some movie on tv and then soccer. It was a pretty good Easter. I probably should have written about it sooner so that I could remember more, but sometimes it's annoying to take time to write about things when they happen..it feels like you're wasting the time that you could be using for more interesting things. It's weird to think that Igor is dead. I still can't decide if I want to remember these memories more or forget them completely because of it.
Today, in contrast, is bright and sunny and almost uncomfortably warm. I woke up late and then had lunch with Kendra. To our pleasant surprise, the cafeteria workers at McClurg had hidden Easter eggs, and we found a few of them. It always feels strange to be away from home on Easter, but I guess in reality it's been 4 years since I was home. For a religiously affiliated school, we sure don't get much time off for holidays. In celebration of the day we went to the library and got a movie to watch later, and may or may not spend some time outside enjoying the weather (the couch is awfully comfy..I'm content to enjoy the weather via the window).
Yesterday I had my last regatta ever...at the collegiate level at least, I suppose that there's always the possibility that I could join a club later. A lot of people asked me if I was sad that it was my last race, and I answered them all with a "NO!". I'm pretty glad that crew is over, but yesterday did make me wish a little that there was more time. My first race was with my regular boat, and we improved dramatically from last week's regatta. We ended up 4th in our race and just missed finals...but that was probably the perfect position to be in, because if we had made it to finals we would have had to row again. I think that with a couple of more weeks and some coaching we could have done even better. I'm the only senior though, so perhaps the boat will stay together and that can be their project for next year. My next race was in a "mixed 8", which means that you put boys and girls together. Not all regattas have this category, so for us it was more of a fun/experimental race. None of us had any high hopes because we'd never rowed together before (I'm not sure why, we already knew who was going to be in the boat). We had a somewhat shaky row up to the starting blocks and practiced a start or two for the heck of it (it's hard enough to start with 4 rowers who are used to each other, we were pretty sure that there was no hope for the 8 of us). We get there to find that all the other teams are pretty jovial about this event too...although I think that they had at least practiced a few times together. After some jostling about to get pointed the correct way (the wind had picked up by then, which makes it very hard to stay straight in your lane), we were off! When you're going backwards it's very hard to tell where your competition is at...especially when you're a club sport who practices 2-3 times a week vs. a varsity school who practices twice a day and you are pretty sure they are way ahead of you. There were 4 boats in our heat, and 2 shot ahead of us in the beginning..but one was behind us the whole way. They looked like they were struggling quite a bit (especially since the water was insanely choppy by now), but I just figured that they weren't very good rowers. I guess we weren't actually that far behind the other boats though, because at one point our cox shouted "You're almost there, and it's not as embarrassing as you think it is!". We got 3rd in our heat...and as it turns out, 3rd in our race (there were 2 heats), meaning that we medalled! Our time was a 7:37..which isn't THAT fast in the whole scheme of things, but it's certainly faster than I've ever rowed (it helped that there were boys with us). The winning boat had a time of 7:06 and the other was about a 7:10, so we really weren't that far behind.
I also got some of the glory that I've felt that I've deserved since I'm the only senior who has stayed (my freshman year there were at least 20-30 of us, and of those 20-30 I'm the only one who has remained). The coach/team gave me a Sewanee sweatshirt and a little necklace with an oar on it. So, I came away with a medal, a sweatshirt, a necklace, a shirt from the event, and an overall feeling of satisfaction with my races. I'd say that's a pretty good way to end a 4-year athletic career. I've been unspeakably irritated with crew before, but I've had some really good times too, so I'd say that overall it was worth it.
As always I have a ton of homework to get done that I don't want to do. Comps are looming ever nearer, but more frighteningly so is my honors thesis. However, it's a beautiful Easter afternoon, and I am going to watch a movie instead of thinking about that.
Happy Easter everyone!
Here is a song for you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tn1Qolv4ntQ
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9mpDAJOPac
Well, I've already told enough people (who read this) that there's no reason to beat around the bush (that's an odd expression..) --
I GOT THE FULBRIGHT!
This is GREAT news for many reasons:
1) I had no backup plans
2) It's a paid trip to Russia for a year
3) I can officially put off applying/thinking about grad school for another year
4) I have an answer for when people ask "What are you going to do after graduation?"
In typical Fulbright fashion I've only found out the bare essentials so far. I don't know which city I'll be going to or when exactly I'm leaving, but I do know that I must: complete college, get a very in-depth physical done, and attend orientation in July.
For those who don't know, what I received was the Fulbright ETA (English Teaching Assistantship), which is a highly competitive government-sponsored program that will send me to Russia for 10 months to be a resident English speaker. Basically I help an English teacher by giving presentations on various aspects of American life and by conversing with students...however, from what I've heard from others who have received this, I think I'll be doing a good deal of actual teaching too. In my spare time I'm supposed to get involved in the community, have a personal project, and essentially be awesome and make people love America. I think I can handle that.
Yesterday started out rather, for lack of a better word, "blah". I woke up at 5:45 am to drive Kendra to Nashville for an interview because I'm an amazing roommate. When we left it was dark and so foggy that I could barely see 20 feet in front of me (typical Sewanee weather). To fortify our bodies for the long day ahead, we made a quick stop by the Waffle House. They overcharged me for my eggs and toast, but I let it go since the waitress was new and we were in a hurry. The first hour of the trip was pretty uneventful. Kendra and I listened to bad pop music and focused on staying awake......which was made pretty easy by the next event. I'm always wary of semi-trucks and pieces of big machinery, so I was cautiously (yet hurriedly) passing an oversized construction vehicle (whose purpose I can't even guess at) when all of a sudden I heard "BLAM!!!" and a puff of smoke enveloped the right side of my car. I swerved instinctively to the left (but not too dramatically) and hit the gas. My first muddled assessment of the event was that someone had simultaneously shot a rifle and thrown a brick at my car. In actuality, I had had the dubious luck of passing the vehicle right as one of its 12-18 tires blew out. Luckily the only damage to my car was a tiny chip in my windshield.
Then, in Nashville we discovered that mapquest's directions were completely wrong. Just so you know, exit 46B doesn't even exist. We eventually corrected the first step, only to find that the second step was also wrong (should have taken a left instead of a right). To confuse matters even more, in the center of Nashville there are two roads: Rosa Parks Blvd and Rosa Parks Ave. As far as I can tell, they intertwine at random. At one point the road literally looked like this: --\__ (with a stoplight in-between). In keeping with our usual luck, the only person that we found to ask directions from was from out of town. However, he did give us a cute, but completely useless, map of downtown Nashville. We should have arrived 15-20 minutes early, but instead Kendra finally made it to her interview 2 minutes late.
On the way back I decided to be productive and get my oil changed. I stopped by Wal-mart figuring that I could get lunch and do a little shopping while I waited. Wrong. Apparently I chose oil change rush-hour and the current wait was 2 hours. That was definitely more time than I could handle loitering in an unfamiliar Wal-mart on 3.5 hours of sleep, so I skipped the oil and shopped instead. There was a small glimmer of good fortune when, as I was holding the first aloe-containing lotion that I found (to treat my sunburns from my last regatta), and elderly lady gave me a coupon that she had for it, since she didn't plan to buy it. Saved me 55 cents.
In Monteagle I decided to see if the automotive place changed oil. It turns out that they do, but Tuesdays they have sales on oil changes, so I was advised to come back the next day (today). Dejected by my lack of productivity and my waning energy levels, I halfheartedly decided to check my mail. I knew that it was a bad habit to check my mail every day in expectation of receiving word about the Fulbright, since I was sure that I wouldn't find out anything for another couple of weeks. Even worse, I'd done some online stalking and found out that acceptance and alternate letters came in a big manila envelope, and denials come in small envelopes (You should never know this ahead of time! It would just make you instantly depressed if you got a small envelope). However, I automatically drove to the post office. Low and behold, stuffed into my mailbox was a large manila envelope! I made myself wait until I got back to my dorm to open it (I needed to compose myself in case I was just an alternate). After I hesitantly opened it, I quickly scanned the first couple of words and found "congratulations" and "accepted". Phew.
Out of habit I checked my mail again today, and now I have a mystery package. I'm a little skeptical though, last week I had a mystery package too, but it turned out that it was for Adams Conrad and not for me. Seriously, how does a 2000-something school have another person whose name is so close to mine?
Comps (comprehensive exams to graduate) are in a couple of weeks, I need to write my honor's thesis, write some other papers, and do a whole lot of paperwork and studying.....................but instead I'm blogging. At least I did laundry tonight.
Forecast for spring break:
Speaking of.....did you know that spring break starts tomorrow? Yeah, I can't really believe it either. I've known that it was so soon, but it seems that I've mostly just ignored that knowledge since I'm not prepared at all. I need to do laundry, and pack....and study for my last midterm and eat dinner and go to orchestra. Sometimes there just isn't enough time in the day. Good thing I have a washing machine at home!
I reluctantly took my Art of Diplomacy midterm today. I apparently ignored the fact that midterms are upon me as well, since I only allowed myself an hour to study (even though I'd had all of last night and all day today). I think I did alright. Not spectacular, but hey, who cares? IT'S PASS/FAIL!
I'm still debating on if I want to take my french horn home or not. As far as practicing goes, I need to, but as far as traveling goes, I have no desire to deal with the hassle. I also don't think it would be monetarily worth it -- the size is just unusual enough that it wouldn't fit in an overhead bin, so I would have to check it, pay another of those ridiculous fees, and risk damaging my instrument. My french horn isn't the grandest model ever, but it's still a good $800. Am I just trying to find another excuse not to practice? Probably. I guess I'll just go to orchestra tonight and see how it goes. Maybe someday if I ever get rich and I still play the french horn then I'll get one of the fancy ones with the bells that screw off (meaning that the case is square-ish).
I wish that the year would just chill out a little. I'll be glad to graduate, but I'm not ready to do all the work that's waiting for me between now and then. We are now beginning the perilous slide into the end of the year: finals, comps, and papers -- OH MY!
I'm still waiting to find out any news about the Fulbright. I've heard from various sources that most people either find out in March or April, so we'll see.
I thought about this thing called "5 second movies" today....
Here are some good ones: Titanic, Rocky I-V, Star Wars II
