Arjuna's Wedding
Tonight is the big show! First it's the group puppet show, then, our individual performances.
On a totally unrelated note, I am addicted to myspace right now. A couple of my girlfriends have just recently set up a page (I've been on there for a while now) and told me about all these kids we went to high school that are on there. I've had one mini reunion after another.
(If you are extremely bored take a look at my myspace profile
here.)
I had mucho fun with my friend over the weekend. (The pic on my myspace profile is of us taking jello shots and, yes, that's jello on my lip.)
she blinded me with science
Is technology not the greatest thing ever!?!
I got a call from one of my soon to be housemates only to learn that he will not be living there by the end of the summer because he is buying a house. After making sure that everything will still be alright for myself to live there, I sent a message to my other future housemate about finding someone to take the departing housemate's place. To which he has already responded, only hours later- (and this is were the wonders of technology comes in) from Russia.
Yikes! Stripes, fruit stripe gum!
As with the end of most quarters/semesters I am working over time to get everything completed. Why I continue to procrastinate is beyond me. Tomorrow I'm giving a 20 minute presentation on human rights in Burma (or should I say the lack there of). Not to mention, I have 12 days to write a 20 page history paper and prepare for an exam in that class. 14 days to turn my final paper on Indonesian puppet theatre (plus, next Tuesday we are putting on our group and individual final performances- in front of people) 15 days before I have to turn a 15 page paper in my human rights class. But I am happy to announce that the whole Thai class dropping has come through- I'm out!! Needless to say, I have to get back to work.
Yay!
One of my best friends is coming to visit me this weekend!
Goodbye
I told the ex goodbye and it went surprisingly well. Apparently because of the fact that I have been completely honest with him this whole time, he finally realized that I was never going to love him again. The conversation did not last that long and it ended with him saying, "This is getting a little awkward, I don't know what to say." To which I replied, "Then lets just say goodbye."
Alice in Wonderland
I smoked from a hookah last night, after hours, at some Middle Eastern restaurant- who knew Athens was so trendy and that tobacco could be in so many favors.
I also came to the conclusion that most of the people I have met in Athens were all second year grad students and will be leaving in just couple of weeks. So sad to see them go. It was also made very clear to me by all the 2nd year students that my class sucks- well of course except for me, naturally. Apparently I'm the only one they ever really asked to hang with them as no one else in my class is as social as I. Graduation time is so bittersweet.
Some good time randomness
Friendly flirtation that turned into something more.
Is it odd that I told my Mom that I made-out with a guy I've had a few classes with? Is it even more odd that she said, "Well, at least tell me you stayed the night there instead of walking home in the middle of the night?"
Anyway, I'm actually doing homework at the library. Need to finish up a power point and paper by Monday. And I just wanted to say that I love just how wonderfully random things seem to be in my life right now.
~ a few hours have passed and I'm sitting wondering why the library smells of baked beans.
Just what do they want from me?
I don't know if anyone else has this problem at the graduate level but sometimes I just don't get it. We have to write a lot of "reflective" papers- meaning they want less quotes from outside sources and more of your opinion. But, I spent the entirety of my undergraduate life learning that my opinion wasn't all that great unless you could back it with lots of quotes and proof. So when I wrote my first "reflective" paper for my puppet class the professor said that I used too many quotes and more or less "reported" on the topic rather than givining my true thoughts on the subject. Now my second paper is basically all thoughts and opinions and the professor gives me a lesser grade and tells me that I am not "reflective enough". Apparently I do not know what it means to be reflective.
(reflective means: characterized or given to meditation or contemplation; thoughtful)
Even though I used the phrases, "I feel", "I think," "I realize," etc... in my paper multiple times, it was not reflective. Bull shit.
Confession
I have been hanging out with my ex-boyfriend (as in the one I broke up with last summer) for about two full months now. I've reached some sort of...something, I dunno, a turning point. See, the thing is I don't like all the reasons I've been hanging out with him. Mainly, well at first anyway it was revenge- and that's not me. He started telling me just how much he loves me and wants me back and I told him that I was getting a kick out of watching him grovel. Seriously, I have held nothing back from him. I told him that I do not love him anymore. But never-the-less we have been hanging out and having fun. Only now, while I still have no feelings for him that way, I have kinda started to depend on him as a friend. While I have made friends here in Athens, there isn't anyone here that I
can
really talk to in person about whatever I need to talk about. So even though I've told him to stop telling me how he feels about me doesn't change the fact that he is still in love with me. So what should I do? Part of me says I should end it because it would be the right thing- I'm just leading him on (you know the whole actions speak louder than words thing). The other side doesn't want to end it because I will miss the support and friendship- but is that just being selfish? And believe me, the "just being friends" thing is not an option (it has been tried).
Catch me, I'm fallin'
My "good luck week" got even better on Friday when I fell into a puddle- not once, but twice. How did this happen, you ask? I had a meeting with the professor that I work with Friday afternoon and because it was raining and showed no signs of stopping I decided to drive rather than walk to campus. As I got close to my car I saw a good size puddle right at the foot of the driver side door. Since it was a couple inches deep and I had on sandels, stepping in the puddle had to be avoided. So this clever idea popped in my head- I'll open the door and sort of do a Dukes of Hazard enterance where I'll hold on to the roof and swing into the car. Only I hesitated, which caused my hands to slip and my ass landing in the puddle. And if this wasn't enough, as I went to turn over and stand up my left foot slips and I fall back into the puddle almost face first only my forearm broke the fall. Needless to say I quicky looked around to see if anyone was out in the parking lot and ran back into my apartment.
No Whining
My Mom use to have this button that said No Whining. I feel like such a whiner lately. Sure this whole Thai thing is getting ridiculous (I just read an e-mail from the director of my program who stated that he has written a supporting letter, but is NOT optimistic it will be approved by the Dean of our school, which also happens to be the position he will have next year). But other than that I live in paradise- there are more bars in a one mile radius than parking spaces here. And the classes are not
that hard- its just more work because I'm at the graduate level. The area is beautiful and I get to walk everywhere I want. And, hello, I'm going to Vietnam this summer (well unless I get kicked out of school because they will not let me drop this class and I get an F*). Mostly, I think I'm just mad at myself for not dropping the Thai class earlier in the quarter because the situation has turned into some big deal when it really isn't.
* Look I can't even write about not whining, without whining.
The Thai language hates me
So here I thought I dropped that class a couple of weeks ago- turns out I was wrong. Ohio University sends out your class schedule several times during a quarter through e-mail, I always wondered why they did this, until now. My journey began yesterday morning, when I opened one of these e-mails and saw that I am in fact still registered for my Thai class. First I go to the registrars office, who then tell me to go to the graduate services office, where I receive the news that because it is SO LATE (we are only on the 4th or 5th week, I think) in the quarter (we just had mid-terms) that I have to get permission from the Dean in order to drop the class. I fill out the form and take it to her office, only to have her look over it and say. "Where is your statement" and "We usually only do this for medical reasons." (Great.) I reply, "I wasn't sure how formal I needed to be since I have already cleared this through the director of my program and thought I dropped it weeks ago. Not to mention, at my last school this wasn't as complicated of a process." To which she decided to let the director of my program "handle it".
I also burned my hand yesterday making steamed dumplings (at least they were tasty).
And on Monday night I began my application process for the Peace Corp (I have been told that sometime it can take months and months to find out if you are accepted)- for those concerned, this isn't like joining the army, I can back out at anytime, even after I'm in the country that I'm suppose to volunteer in.
Home sweet home
I went back home for the Kentucky Derby over the weekend. One of my friends from school wanted to go (normally the locals don't go to the infield, though I've been several times). It's always fun to hear a new perspective on Louisville- you get so use to seeing things everyday that it takes a set of new eyes to really see what is going on around you. For example, my friend noticed how everyone was walking around (heading to Churchill) with what was obviously alcohol in their hands. While Louisville is no where near allowing this sort of thing normally, around Derby time the police let these kind of things pass because there is much more for them to worry about. We also went to watch the celebrities enter the Barnstable-Brown party (it's the party that the original Wrigley's Gum twins throw). They decorate their Manson with giant Christmas figures, like the Nutcracker and have tap dancers along the red carpet. While we heard the names being called, we never actually saw any of them (like Dennis Hopper or Jewel). I didn't win- but it was a drunken good time so I sort of did. Plus it was nice not to think about anything but having fun for a change.
What is this?
I think that for the first time, in a long time (or maybe ever, for that matter), I'm stressed out. I foolishly decided to take 18 credit hours this quarter, thinking that the Indonesian puppet class would be cake (well it is easy but very time consuming). Only, what would posses me to think I could handle 18 hours? I have no idea. As an undergrad I usually went part time and at the most I took 15 hours- but then again that was under the semester, not the quarter system I have now. The quarter system takes all the same amount of reading, paper writing, studying and research that a semester has only gives you less time to do it in. As I am a graduate student my papers have to be longer and I have read more than ever before. I guess the fun of Ohio University as worn off and I'm starting to think- what have I gotten myself into? This is a lot of work. I'm starting to dream about school- nightmares about whether I have studied enough for an exam or made my puppets correctly. Plus, I'm also taking this history and just have my first exam- in two years. I felt I did okay but an 80 isn't exactly the greatest grade (I might add here that I stopped taking history classes years ago because I could never get better than a B in them- and perhaps I should have stayed with this policy). Then there's the whole Thai issue- I really hate feeling like a quitter- but there is no way I will do well in that class. I need to take a deep breath.
Thai 89 Katie 5
The Thai language has officially kicked my butt! Now I am hoping to cut my loss and drop it like its hot. The only thing is that I have fulfill my foreign language requirement in order to graduate. What's a girl to do? Take Indonesian. Why? In this class we actually learn to read and write the language, plus it has a romanized writing system. Did Thai have this? No. Plus Thai does not have a standardized phonetic alphabet, say like Chinese has pinyin. For example, take the word for name: chue. Only in my class it could be spelled chuu or chyy- and hence my confusion begins. I study my flash cards but if the teacher spells things different from the way I memorized it, I go blank or have no idea what the word is and then come in the bad grades. Yeah, it will be hard to get to the level I need to be by next year, but I could say the same thing of Thai if stay with it.
