Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Auditions, exams, Job, Show Choir, William & Mary
I’ve been feeling so happy lately! I think it’s because I’ve been so busy.
Yesterday I felt like I accomplished a lot. After school I went by Best Buy and made an appointment for Saturday so that they couldn’t tell me that they were too busy or somesuch. (I actually had to wait there 15 minutes while some girl got off break.) I sat in the car and talked to Kat. She knows another reason why I’m so happy!
A lot more happened yesterday, but it’ll tie in better with what I’m doing on the weekend, so I’ll talk about it there. I have a VERY busy weekend!
I am in a show-choir, which is basically what that group in GLEE is, and Friday (tomorrow) night we’re having a massive rehearsal/sleepover. I’m making salsa for it. So that’ll be tomorrow right after my giant economics test. After the sleepover, on Saturday morning, Mary and I are going for musket training with the reenactment group! It’ll be so exciting. I’m pumped. I was creeping on the club president’s (the one with the massive beard) Facebook, and holy cow he is such a geek. He listed “playing the bagpipe” as his job, but said it all in a typed, heavily-affected Scottish accent. WE HAVE TO BE BEST FRIENDS. Also, wore a kilt to prom. He will fit in with the guys, wouldn’t you say Matt? (I hang out with kilt wearers for those of you who are confused.)
We’re doing musket training in the morning, because I go into Best Buy at 2 for the official negotiations and to job hours etc.
But! Here comes the exciting part!:
At three o’clock (suspenseful music accompanying a dramatic pause), I’m auditioning for a movie! There’s a fine arts school here in Williamsburg, and someone posted auditions for a student film that takes place in 18th century Virginia. (Probably because of the perfect set they have available.) They’re giving priority to people who can provide their own costumes. Which is lucky for me because I can totally do that. And filming’s only on weekends, so I don’t have to skip history class to pretend to be in history. It’s based on a short story called “The Shot” by a Russian guy. I say “based,” because from what I can see of the synopsis versus the actual story, they’re taking a lot of creative liberties. It promises to be awesome though! Pray that they don’t think that I look twelve though. The part that I’m auditioning for is mid-twenties, so I’m not that great in that department, but she needs long hair, which is something I’m pretty good at. There’s not a lot of hair around here with all the humidity making everybody look like Hermione.
So anyway, I’m super excited about that. At the same time though, I’m worried that I’m giving myself too many things to do. I mean, I just got a job, and I don’t know what kind of hours they’re going to give me, and I’m piling on all these extra things that I don’t know whether or not they’ll conflict. I’m hoping that I’m part-time enough that they’ll just let me switch around my hours if there are any conflicts, but you never know. In all reasonableness, I won’t get the part. So my rationale is: auditioning won’t hurt anything, so it’s kind of like a foot-in-the-door for connections. I’ll just have to make a good impression so they remember me. So . . . wish me luck. It’ll be a busy weekend.
Oh yeah, I also have a French exam Monday, so I’ll be studying for that.
And Emily wants to go see a movie or something Saturday night.
Filed under: Uncategorized
A lot has happened! In a relatively short amount of time.
First: I (kind of) officially got the job at Best Buy! I go in Saturday for the offer. (Which seems kind of dumb since they’ve already told me that I got the job?) I wold go in sooner, but I have to go in when the general manager is in, but she only comes in on Saturdays apparently. I don’t know how she manages. (That was a pun.)
Second: I went to Uncle Fred’s house for the weekend. It was fun! It was a three-hour drive down there, and let me tell you it wasn’t like any drive I’ve ever made in California. Firstly, there were no mountains: my ears did not pop once. There was a tunnel that went under water! That was awesome. And people were driving stinking 70 mph through it. (My mom was all “Don’t do that! Remember Princess Diana?” Well I was driving on the right side of the road, so I was safe.)
The entire way there, I was on an interstate highway (13), but it wasn’t like the highways I’m used to. The highway was composed of actual streets that were used in towns with stop signs and everything. Sometimes, you would even make turns at an intersection because the highway changed streets. It was more of a “route” than a highway. And some of the houses and businesses I saw along the way made me laugh. At the South. They’re so . . . Hickish.
There were signs for auto-repair shops, but there’d just be a house there. And there was even an auto sales place that was just in a grassy field. They were pretty ok cars, but still.
While I was there, we were in a sailing race! I was so nervous to begin with because I was afraid that I wouldn’t be good enough. Luckily for me, the family wind-curse kicked in, and the wind died when we got to the marina. Luckily for everyone else, and me by that point, it picked up during the race. I didn’t do much in the first race aside from staying out of the way when we tacked, but on the second race I was on the tiller. They told me that I was so good that I’m welcome to come back and steer for them for all of their races! (I wasn’t sure if they were just saying that to be nice or not, but Uncle Fred called my dad to brag on me, so I guess they were serious?) On the first race we got third, and on the second we got second.
On a down side, which is coincidentally a bright side if you look at it in a ‘pun’ light, I got a massively painful sunburn. Except on my face. My shoulders and back are reminiscent of someone who got too tired in the kitchen and fell asleep on the stove. My knees are reminiscent of someone who kneeled to pray on a piece of sheet medal in Bakersfield in July.
It’s amazing the stuff you normally take for granted that is excruciating to do with a sunburn. Like showering: taking a cold shower is no fun, but taking a hot shower burns to no end! Shaving: everyone’s going to have to deal with my hairy legs until the razor burn isn’t enhancing the sunburn. Wearing clothes: everyone’s going to have to deal with me not . . . ok. I’ll wear clothes. But it hurts so much just to put them on! Walking: If I leave my legs bent for a while, like if I’m sitting in class, when I go to straighten them out, it crinkles the burn which is so much fun! The same goes for the opposite: it stretches the burn. Scratching: I have bug bites on my burn. They laughed evil laughs as they bit me.
Mary and I ate lunch in the garden of the Governor’s Palace today. It was fun! We took pictures for some old ladies. It was kind of funny. The one with the camera wouldn’t let go of it until I was holding the exact same place she had it.
I thought I was over my cold, but I’ve come back and gotten again. I think I’m allergic to Williamsburg. It could just be that we have mold too. Either way.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: food, History of the Middle East, job search, phone, William & Mary
So, I haven’t updated in a couple of days. But, a lot has happened!
Most excitingly: my phone got broken. Let me explain it in anecdotal form.
I had just gotten out of History of the Middles East which was as boring as would be expected, but without the added bonus of talking about the Late Poop. On top of that, I was already really tired because I hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before. Don’t remember why. Just didn’t. Long shower perhaps? I don’t know.
Anyhow, I was done with classes for the day, but I wanted to use up a meal swipe and get some chili. Since I was barely awake, I ducked into the bathroom to make sure that I didn’t looked entirely stoned (red eyes with giant bags hanging from them). The bathroom was full of people, so I decided just to go to bathroom so I wouldn’t be the loser that went into the bathroom just to look at herself in the mirror.
My cell phone was in my back pocket. For a bit. It slid out as I was hanging my bag on the door, and I heard a “kerplunk.” Just like that. “Kerplunk.” I turned and looked, and sure enough there it was sleeping peacefully at the bottom of the toilet. I think the best part of the whole story was the second that I hesitated before reaching in to get it. This is exactly what went through my head: “It’s a public toilet!” then “America’s the only country that purifies its toilet water.”
So I grabbed it, washed my hands, and ran down the stairs, blowing frantically on it as hard as I could to force the water from the inside. I booked it over to Best Buy, the only electronics place of which I knew. After waiting in line, twitching in agitation, for 15 STINKING MINUTES, they told me that they couldn’t fix it and recommended that I take it to an AT&T store. Luckily, my GPS was able to find an AT&T store (unlike Enterprise or a Petsmart). Unluckily, they couldn’t fix it either. They sent me to “Boo Boo Wireless.” In a different town.
So, I drove to the next town, asked directions at the police station only for them to point me across the street, and found the store. It was smack dab in the middle of the ghetto. I was the only girl there with real eyebrows. There was a painting of Michele Obama. Also, Baraq Obama’s head unnaturally close to Martin Luther King’s head (which had a very uncomfortable expression on it). (I would too.)
So, they fixed it, and I got it back the next day (Friday). Emily had to work until 9 that day, and when she came home, we made dinner. Yeah. We’re college students. We were looking through all the cookbooks we have trying to find something that basically just used chicken thighs or ground beef. Nothing else. And we found something! Sort of. We had to improvise on it a bit because we didn’t have all the ingredients.
It was a taco casserole from the cookbook that Sis. Foster gave me. It just used ground beef which we had, tortilla chips which we had, taco seasoning which we had, refried beans which we replaced with chili beans because we didn’t have, and onions which we had. Also, green peppers and stuff to garnish the top which we just left out. It was so good. We didn’t end up eating dinner until like 10:30. It was nice though. It tasted good, and we set my computer on the coffee table in front of the couch and watched Master and Commander.
Today, I had my final interview with Best Buy. It went great! The girl told me “We’re not allowed to hire people on the weekend, so I will review your application and give you a call on Monday.” Soo. . . not to jump the gun or anything, but I think I have a job!
In the afternoon, Emily and I went through all the cookbooks and picked out 4 things to get ingredients for along with the staples. We had the hardest time finding a grocery store because her GPS kept turning off. It was the worst thing ever! We drove around lost, and as soon as we got ready to turn into the parking lot of the grocery store, it finally kicked in. We were ready to throw it out the window. On top of that, apparently no one here it’s alfalfa sprouts since the grocery doesn’t stock them. And nobody eats lamb. We were looking for ground lamb and could not find lamb of any form anywhere! Finally, we went to another grocery and were able to find lamb shoulders. That’s it. And they wouldn’t grind it up for us because they used to the machine to grind beef and beef and lamb don’t get along on machines like that. By the end, we were so frustrated that we bought a vanilla bean cheesecake to console ourselves.
We were going to have a picnic for dinner, but by the time we got back, it was dark. We ended up using ground ham instead of ground lamb, and it tasted pretty good. It was a pita sandwich that called for “minted pea hummus” which we also made. We were both kinda wary about the hummus (mint and peas?), but it ended up REALLY good. We also made a drink out of orange juice, ginger ale, and cantaloupe. It was very good.
We’ve decided that we’re going to have at least one person over for dinner every weekend. That way we’ll have to make friends. I said we should make bringing us dessert a requirement for coming.
Filed under: Uncategorized
So, I’m sitting here at the dinner table keeping myself awake until my car gets here. Any minute now. Seriously. Any minute.
Anyway. Not much happened at actual school today, but this evening I went to the Reenacting Club meeting. It was intense! Which is why it only lasted about fifteen minutes. Mary and I were the only new members who weren’t freshmen. Not much happened. They told us what we were going to do throughout the semester (of which all I could interpret was “Awesome Awesome Awesome”), and it was headed up by a redheaded guy with an epic beard. He did most of the talking, which was cool, except all I heard when he spoke through his beard was “Testosterone.” I took a picture of it. I think he thinks I’m a loser. But hey, you can’t grow a beard like that and expect it NOT to be a tourist attraction.
We listened to a speech by Martin Luther King in World Music today. Apparently, his voice is music.
The guy I sit next to in economics, Trip (who’s called that because he’s the third generation with his name), writes like a typewriter. It’s pretty amazing. It makes me self-conscious.
I got the appointment for my second stage of interviewing at Best Buy! I go in on Saturday to speak to the head manager. They said that she’d basically ask me the same questions that they already asked me. And I found out that they don’t work on commission, so that’s a relief.
—
I got my car! It’s 11:43. It was so exciting. They couldn’t get to the apartment, so they stopped in front of the funeral home. We went out and watched the drive the car off the giant semi, then parked it and carried everything into the kitchen. The car is filthy! It was on the bottom, so it has oil drips on it from the cars above it. And the windshield’s so dusty I can’t even see out of it. I don’t how I’m going to wash it though since we don’t have any water spigots or hoses. I’ll probably have to go to the next town over to find a car wash. And there’s a bolt of fabric missing! I’m sure it’s just that Pappa had to take it out of the car when they repacked it, but who knows. I am bushed. I have an 8:30 AM class tomorrow, and have to unpack. Yay.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Clubs, History of the Middle East, job search, School, William & Mary
As the name suggests, today was typical for a Tuesday, except for all the atypical things that happened!
My History of the Middle East class was boring as one would except, except the professor made up for it entirely. I mentioned before his difficult-to-understand accent, but today it came in handy. He likes to ramble. Today, he was rambling about the Pope. Or, as he liked to put it, the Poop. I was having the hardest time not laughing. I don’t know how everybody else kept such stoic expressions on their faces! I think they were just so bored that they had died inside. I, on the other hand, had been taking notes such as “I can write faster than he talks” to keep myself interested. He went on and on about the Poop. My favorite was when he referenced “the late Poop” going to Damascus. The late Poops are the best Poops.
Tonight, I went to Swing Club (beginning swing dancing lessons) which was fun except that classes like that have to work at the speed of the slowest learner. So we didn’t do much. The guy that was leading the lessons reminded me so much of Tyler Shanklin! You guys should all meet him. It’s uncanny. It makes me want to be his friend. The whole thing was awkward though. They kept making us rotate partners, which was fine, but nobody was confident enough in their abilities to make eye-contact, so everyone just sort of stared at my ear. There was one guy that looked at the ceiling, which was slightly less awkward because he was like six-feet tall: he may have just been worried about hitting his head on the ceiling.
After that, Emily and I booked it over the Rowing Team meeting. And were thirty-minutes late. We got lost. Over and over again. But they were still happy to get us! Apparently, they’re really in need of coxswains, the only position I’m good for (being the size of an average twelve-year-old).
I thought my car was going to come today. I didn’t. Which is a shame because I took back the rental car. And have no way to get to the initiation into the Reenactment Club and Sailing Team. (Shut up. I know I’m over-stretching myself, but I at least want to see which ones I can do, and have the posibility of doing them.)
On a happier note, my job interview went so well! I think they would’ve hired me on the spot if the general manager was there. I dropped how I was obsessed with cameras, and they position they want me for is the camera section. How cool is that? Get this coincidence: the other guy in the camera section is also a history major nerd. One bad thing I did do during the interview was laugh when the guy asked me something about “Cali.” I couldn’t even answer because I was so thrown off by that word.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: church, Clubs, History of the Middle East, job search, School, William & Mary
Sorry that I didn’t write over the weekend. Emily’s parents came by for her birthday, then we lost internet. They showed up Saturday just as I was getting back from the bank, which was good because Emily had gone to Wal-mart to get her hair cut. Yes, they give you haircuts at Wal-mart here. They also give you lobotomies. At a discounted rate.
They brought their giant boxer named Casius. He stayed the night at our house. He loved Mr. Darcy. By loved, I mean like how I love bacon. He would stare at the cage with every muscle in his body rigid. It was funny, if a little disconcerting.
On Sunday, we went to Walnut Hills Baptist Church. It was nice, but we don’t think we’ll go back. Everyone was really friendly, it just didn’t feel like the right church. (That and that the sermon started off by preaching against that you can backslide by using the analogy of reaching into your pocket to get some Chapstick and accidentally dropping Jesus.) There’s another church right across that street from the school that we’re going to try next week. They warned the students that it has a very traditional, conservative service, so it should be good.
Today, my French teacher teased me. I think that he thought that he was complimenting me, but it was more embarrassing than not. He pointed out how fashionably I was dressed that I should be on a runway, then asked the class to agree. Unfortunately, I will not be wearing hats to French class anymore. Too bad too, because it totally was adorable.
It rained today! Which is good since I bought an umbrella Saturday. After the reading the Art of Manliness’ article about the acceptable styles of umbrellas, I am proud to say that I am now the proud owner of a fairly-manly umbrella. I say “fairly-manly” only because it is not black. It’s a full size umbrella with one of those lightning-rods sticking out at the top which helps is serve its double purpose as a cane for when I am crippled with infirmary. It’s a muted gold color, so if not manly, at least its subtly elegant. Just like me! Quick! Notice how elegant I am!
I have also come to a rather startling conclusion regarding plaid: while being the manliest thing ever as far as clothes and many other things go, it is not the manliest thing ever when it comes to umbrellas. If you have a plaid umbrella, it’s pretty much guaranteed that you’re either gay or a woman. Also, plaid backpacks. If you grunge them up or they’re also made of flannel, they’re except. Those flannel backpacks are the manliest bags ever invented. If they haven’t yet been, get to it Calvin Klein. They will sell like wild-fire in California.
So anyway, tomorrow’s a busy day for me. I only have two classes, but one’s history of the middle east. Joy. At 2:00, I have a job interview for Best Buy, then I’m going to Swing Dancing with Mary, then on to Rowing with Emily. I’m thinking of maybe becoming a coxswain since they’ll be able to fit two more rowers in the space I don’t take up. Only draw-back: practice is in the morning. You know me and mornings. (We’re both generally happier if I just stay asleep during them.)
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Convocation, Party, Reveley, William & Mary
Today was fun. I had a long lunch break, so Emily and I hung out in the Starbucks at the front of the library, then went and got hamburgers in the marketplace. I had trouble finding the hot water for the tea I order, so ended up putting a little coffee in my cup. Weirdest-tasting tea I’ve ever had. It was almost like it was too sweet, or a little chai or something. It made my esophagus want to gag at every swallow. I drank the whole cup.
This evening was convocation, which is a ceremony in which you are officially declared a student. It was all geared toward freshmen, with a giant 2013 banner. I felt so represented. Beforehand, the transfers were all supposed to meet at Baskin-Robbins. Very few of us actually showed up, so Emily and I got free ice cream! After we finished, we had to go outside and stand on a bench and introduce ourselves. In the pouring rain. It was awesome.
After that, Emily, Heart, Mary, and I walked from Baskin-Robbins back to the school (which was deemed the route that left us in the rain for the shortest amount of time due to the difficulty of Williamsburg’s parking situation) and to the convocation. It was all pretty fun, and we all sang the wrong verse of the Alma Mater, which you can see in the video.
After that, here’s the exciting part: Mary came over for dinner! I know it doesn’t sound exciting, but it totally was. She’s the first guest we’ve had, and we did our first real cooking. I made tilapia (from my mom’s special no-ingredient recipe), and Emily made a salad and some bread. It wasn’t very much food, yes, but it was enough. And it was really good! I took a picture to mark the occasion.
This is our first college weekend. We were laughing about that because Emily’s parents are coming down to visit for her birthday. So, we’re spending our first college weekend hanging out with her parents, haha. It should be fun.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Awkward Advances, History of the Middle East, job search, William & Mary
I only had one new class today: Middle Eastern History. As with my other classes, I will tell you my impression of the class in chronological order.
Walking in, I was a little wary of the class because of the reviews I had read on ratemyprofessor.com. They said that since he’s Albanian or somesuch he’s nearly impossibly to understand, and his handwriting on the chalkboard is just as incomprehensible. As soon as he walked in, though, my impression changed. He reminded of a mixture of Grandpa Alvin, so I thought he’d be nice, and an angry Jewish man, so I thought he’d be inadvertently hilarious. So, an inadvertently hilarious nice-guy. I could definitely deal with that. Even if he was biased the opposite way as me.
Then he started going over the syllabus. And my impression changed back. He did have quite a thick accent, but he talked slowly so I could understand. A plus! For about a minute. It wasn’t long before his droning, slow, repetitive speech started to wear on me. He spent most of the class period rambling about the outline on the syllabus, and finished up with a short lecture.
Since I was in the front row, and (sort of) keeping eye-contact so as to look engaged, he spent much of his lecture looking at me, as was usually the case with my previous professors. Only this time, I was having a very hard time keeping my eyes focused and, more importantly, open.
I don’t know how I’m going to stand his class! It was so dull! We have to write a 12 page paper, due in November, and I know I’m going to have a hard time on it because he’s biased the exact opposite way I’m biased. Any paper I will enjoy writing will offend him. Not like my history of France paper for which I already have a topic picked.
As for the rest of the day, I went into Best Buy to check up on my application, and they immediately set me up with an interview for next Tuesday. Pray that this one goes better than the last one (which I actually thought went pretty well). I will definitely enjoy my employee discount when it comes to cameras if I work there. Especially now since the shutter-button on my camera has mysteriously disappeared. I don’t even know how one of those would even fall off. And just think of all the great electronic gifts you all could get for Christmas!
After that, Emily and I went to IHOP for her birthday and had a late, dinner-time Breakfast. Afterward, our forty-something, Eastern-European waiter, Vladimir, took it upon himself to lean over to me, a little too familiarly, as I waited up front for Emily and invite me to a party. Luckily, I could not understand much of what he said, including the time and place, so have no obligation to go.
Other than that, I just did homework. Read a hilarious prime document for history of France that probably was not meant to be funny, and did my French homework in un stylo orange. A part of me is worried that my professor won’t be able to see colors that high in the spectrum.
Today was the first day of class, and I have some good news: I love all my classes! I will now commence with describing them all in chronological order.
From 9:00 – 9:50, I had History of France from 1638 – 1800. It’s like the professor said to herself, “I want to teach French history, but let’s go ahead and skip all the boring parts.” The class covers from Louis XV, the Sun King, through the French Revolution. I’m so excited. This is one of those classes where I’ve already decided what my term paper is going to be about and am a bit anxious to get started on it. My professer, Gail Bossenga, is very nice too. I wasn’t able to register into the class, but upon emailing her with my plight, she gave me an override so I could still get in. Nearly the whole class are history majors, with only one or two studying something like European Studies, so we’re all interested in the subject. To remember our names, Professor Bossenga called role twice, and after every name would stare at the person. The second time around, she got like five right. Progress!
From 10:00 – 10:50, I had Worlds of Music with Anne Rasmussen. It’s registered as Anthropology 241, but cross-listed as a Music course. I am, I think, the only person in the class, including the teacher, that’s taking it as an anthropology course as opposed to a music course. The class is filled with music majors, dance majors, and nothing majors (lots of Freshmen).
After that class, I have a one hour break. Luckily for me, Worlds of Music is the next building over from the reportedly best place to eat on campus: The Marketplace. Instead of being like a cafeteria, it has different restaraunts (like a Chick-Fil-A, an Italian place, a “Mexican” place, a Southern place, a Deli, and monster salad bar, and a sushi place) that let you either buy food or use your meal plan to get something. I used my meal plan at the Italian place. It was a lot of food! One meal swipe got me two slices of pizza, which were covered in topics and not greasy at all, a small caesar salad, which incidentally didn’t have dressing, a piece of fruit, and a fountain drink. I was surprised by how well they feed you.
After my break, I used my newly Italian-ized breath to go to French 101 (from 12:00 to 12:50). Needless to say, the class was mostly freshmen. The professor, Professor Sykes, seemed nice, if a little . . . old. I had heard of bottle-bottom glasses, but never seen them before now. His glasses are so thick that I don’t know how he doesn’t see everything in fish eye! The class was fun, despite the glasses. We repeated phrases after him repeatedly, which is a different approach to how I was taught Spanish. But it’s only first day, so who knows.
Ten minutes after that class, leaving just enough time for a mad rush across campus, I had Principles of Microeconomics (1:00 – 1:50). I know what you’re thinking: Sarcastically the best class ever right? It actually wasn’t as bad and dry as I expected it to be. The professor is straight out of Yale, so is still young and kind of goofy. He reminds me a lot of my cousin Luke. The class was really fun. We spent basically the whole thing coming up with ways he could decide which twenty of the forty people that weren’t registered for the class he could let in, then he tied that into the basica principles of economics.
After school, Emily (my roommate) and I walked through the tourist shops in Merchant Square, then through the historical area. It had to be half a million degrees outside. Celsius. It was ridiculous. If I sweat gold, I would be pretty rich right now. Also, pretty dead. We watched the fife and drum corps march through the street, then the military exercises behind the courthouse. Afterward, we stopped by the sushi place. For her first taste of sushi, Emily got the only fishy-tasting piece on the tray! Then she couldn’t bring herself to have anymore. All in all, it was pretty tasty, but it took so long because the one guy working the place made it all fresh after you told him what you wanted. For mine, he took the shrimp out first, because that’s what I wanted on it, then spent nearly five minutes looking through the canisters for the shrimp. I wanted to poke him in the eye.
