Catch-Up

I just mapped out my bus route to the Paramount Theatre for tomorrow because I am going to see Regina Spektor, so obviously everything is just dandy.

This was after doing all of my reading for tomorrow--a rarity--though it seems no matter how much you do, you're never entirely caught up. I still have two papers due this week, two group projects to work on, oh-so-much-more reading, and my inbox is overflowing with emails--of which most of the information will already be outdated by the time I get around to reading them. "Yesterday's news more remote than a cuneiform tablet smashed to bits." Also, information overload.

Today, I realized that I hate LIS 510--Information Behavior--and that I want to be more on the library side of LIS than the information science part. After most of the readings, and classes, I ask "So effing what?" The so what is a question that our professor told us is the staple of our program. That and "stuff." The Information Science field is still maturing and much about it is ill-defined. She also wants us to think critically about our readings. Thing is, it's backfired. I'm critical of the class and think "so bloody what?" about the readings, most of which are written by our professor. Also, the last three weeks of class will be devoted to group projects and no lecturing. Aside from my own group project, the workload will be rather light, but that's not what I'm really paying thousands of dollars in tuition for.

Oh, and this week I need to arrange and register for next quarter's classes. Add that to the "to do" list.

I'm not very fond of the term "guybrarian," but ever since beginning the LIS program, I have become ever so much more domestic. Okay, all I'm doing is cooking--my room, the living room, the bathroom--they've all been taken over by chaos--but the kitchen is loverly. I'm also spending way too much money on food--my grocery bill is at least twice what it used to be as an undergraduate in Cedar City--and it wasn't cheap then either. However, I am buying real food. In college, I didn't cook, I heated various frozen, canned, and boxed foodstuffs with the microwave, stove, or oven and called that good. It can't have been that healthy, but watch how the pounds melted off of me. Now eating supposedly healthy real food has the opposite effect. FML. Of course, all the beer could be affecting the results. Still, I'm eating well. I've made moussaka, potage parmentier, real macaroni and cheese, risotto, and the like. Delicious. And on Fridays when I don't have class, I sleep in and then watch the Food Network. I make a day out of it. Beautiful.

I miss being an English major, though of course I'm not so sure I want to pursue a post-graduate degree in the field, and though English professor was my ideal job for a while, I know I can't handle the competitive nature of the field. I'm not even so sure I'm going to get a job as a librarian at the end of this thing. Going into the program, I thought I will have my Master's before I turn twenty-five. Now I'm starting to think that the five+ years of work experience that my fellow students have on me might be to my disadvantage. Today I thought I would like to be a personal assistant/secretary. I know right away that I would make a terrible one--I'm not detail oriented. But I also thought--it's not my life, it's someone else's life. I would get to pay their bills with their money--that's a lot more fun than paying my own bills, an activity I tend to avoid for as long as possible. So I'm still deciding what I want to be when I grow up.

The lines are being drawn and the ranks are closing in. It looks likes I'm pretty much set up with my friends in the program, and while the lines will be redrawn based on the classes we take in the future and group projects, I'm not going to be making any new friends this quarter. And the people I am friends with are a lovely bunch, and I'm sure (well hopeful) that our friendships with flourish, but it's never quite what one expected. I believe, and have believed for some time, that my perfect best friends are out there, waiting. This brings me to three realizations: 1) I already met them are they are Elise, Dain, and Whitney; 2) I really just want to meet myself and apparently I am unique; and 3) I am never the best friend. So it's a sorta fairytale.

Thursday night's alright for drinking. On Thursday, after class, I met some members of my cohort at the College Inn Pub for happy hour. Our time there lasted a long, long time past happy hour and then some of us moved along to Brauers for more beer and more importantly delicious frites. On Friday night, I went to a game night in Greenwood with Maggie and met some gaming people--that was interesting. I came home to find Netflix sent me the first disc of The Forsyte Saga. I am not sure how I feel about this BBC miniseries. Sidecars are a delicious amusement when watching a confusing and semi-boring miniseries.

Saturday was Halloween, and I needed to buy a couple of things for my costume, such as black shoes since I foolishly left my one and only pair in Utah. So I went to the GAP and bought a lot of lovely clothing but nothing that helped me in my costuming endeavors. So then I drove to Northgate Mall and bought a bitchin' pair of black Robert Wayne dress shoes. They're a bit narrow but I chose them over the much more sensible and comfortable Steve Maddens which weren't nearly as cool. Once my Newsie outfit was complete (with newsprint on my face), I went to Jeannie's for our pre-party game plan, much wine, beer, and champagne was consumed. We then piled into a taxi and went to the Baltic Room in Capitol Hill--a very loud dance club. More beer. And we picked up Emily. Then we stuffed ourselves into another taxi and were headed to a so-called "rave" but decided that the cover charge was too much and ended up in Belltown instead. We went to the Buddha Bar, more beer, and there was a costume competition and a screening of Orange County. WTF? We then stumbled to Belltown Billiards where there was a $10 cover just for the guys, and we were a bit strapped for cash at that point. Have I mentioned that I don't like clubs? Bars are great, but I hate clubs. Emily and I were about ready to crash, so we finally left, got into another taxi and went back to Jeannie's and eventually I got myself back home. Home, sweet, home. Also, my feet really hurt.

And then yesterday I woke up at noon only to realize an hour later that I hadn't set my clock back, so it was noon again. Lovely. I ignored my homework, went grocery shopping, and decided to see Bright Star which is a film about John Keats and his love affair with Fanny Brawne. The performances are good and the cinematography is beautiful. Afterward, I stopped at Dick's Drive-In and got myself a deluxe and some fries. Dick's it's perfect fast food. SO effing good! And then it was Monday. Blerg.

Class today was an exercise in staying awake. All that's keeping me going is Regina tomorrow. And Guy Fawkes Day on Thursday.