Lady Adventure

Wow, so it's really hard to print off a copy of your transcript (or graduate, for that matter) if you have a hold on your record until DECEMBER 31, 2099 because you didn't fill out your Perkins Exit Loan Survey.

Oops?

WORK FASTER, EMAIL. SOME OF US NEED TO GRADUATE.

Things that are made of win:
- I actually finished a paper due today at 2:00 LAST NIGHT! I got 8(ish) HOURS OF SLEEP! I can REVIEW IT AT MY LEISURE today!
- I GOT INTO PBK!

Things that are made of fail:
- projectile vomiting
- Kirstin's phone
- My oatmeal, which is more like soup

In conclusion: I need to go tutor small children now.

Aaaaaaaaand the first full week of class is complete! I like all my classes (Shakespeare's Comedies and Histories, Shame and Self-Respect, Worlds of Music, and Phonetics and Phonology), though I did have existential angst about dropping Language Patterns because 1) it looked really interesting, 2) the prof seemed awesome, and 3) there were lots of cool people in it! However, I decided that since I can't write an honors thesis (::grumble::), I'd like to work on my Monroe Slacker's Project instead, and I don't think I'd have enough time to do that with 5 classes. It made me very sad, though.

Last night was exciting fun. We had tea and scones at Katherine's, then played the King Arthur drinking game (not with actual alcohol, though, because A, you would die, and B, we were watching it in a classroom) because Natasha had never seen the movie, although since she didn't really hear a whole lot of the movie over the mockery, I'm not sure how much of it she actually absorbed. However, this is not necessarily a bad thing, since watching Clive Owen ride around in armor is movie enough for me. After that, we went over to David's, met his iiiiiiiiiinteresting middle-aged roommate Tim, and watched Anchorman on Tim's very excellent TV while eating watermelon soaked in Malibu, which was also iiiiiiiiinteresting. When we got back to campus, we ran through all the sprinklers on Barksdale, and it was awesome. Also, wet.

Kirstin called me today to inform me that she bought a silver Dodge Avenger. I told her that "The Silver Avenger" is definitely a superhero name. Fight crime with great gas mileage!

I finished reading The Merchant of Venice for the first time today. Not only did it remind me how awesome this movie was, but it has also led me to the conclusion that Portia is actually a professional secret agent. No one just happens to brilliantly cross-dress, have an intimate knowledge of Venetian law, and have an information network that can determine the status of Antonio's boats before he knows. Super spy!

Finally, link spam!

Wall-mounted keyboards? It must be THE FUTURE! Or anyways, what they thought the future would look like, a hundred years back.

Going along with the theme, this sounds like the AWESOMEST IDEA EVER. Except we obviously couldn't dress up like colonials because no one would notice. I really like the idea of setting off a smoke bomb, then staggering out of the ensuing clouds and going "WHAT YEAR IS IT?" It involves small explosions AND messing with people's heads! (Ryan North of Dinosaur Comics Awesomeness suggests after you receive the answer to yell "NO! I've gone too far! I'VE GONE TOO FAR!!!!!" which I also advocate.)

Finally, the music video of "Rapper's Delight" is proof positive that the 70's was a bad, bad time. Also, one of the more hilarious things I've ever seen. (Watch out for the guy jamming in the background around 3:50). Most rappers nowadays wouldn't be caught dead in a turtleneck, but compared to the leisure suits everyone else is wearing, Master Gee is the baddest mofo to hit the streets. We watched this in Worlds of Music, which should demonstrate the awesomeness of that class.

WHOO I AM DONE WITH SCHOOL STUFF!

Also, would anyone like a British kid's copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone? Too late! Sold it back.

So, I was lurking around shaksper_random when I discovered this marvelous discussion (and its inspiration here). Basically, the Ninja Replacement Scale evaluates how badly a work of literature needs ninjas in order to be vastly improved, on a scale of 0 (no ninjas needed) to ∞ (everyone needs to be replaced by a ninja, STAT). I'm sure you can see the value of such a system. Anyways, in celebration of my LAST DAY OF CLASSES, I have decided to give the NRS (Ninja Replacement Score) of all the books I read this semester.

Firstly, ( Shakespeare )

( Ghosts and Goths )

( Nineteenth-Century Women Novelists )

( Children's Literature )

4:05 AM

Paper Topic: Discuss the way in Julius Caesar language is used as a manipulative tool.

Really tempted to write "Mark Antony is a manipulative tool", because he is. However, this is not exactly helpful.

So, these past two weeks kind of sucked out loud. Week one, I had my 19th Century Women Novelists paper due, which even though I started three days before it was due -- THREE -- still had me up til 5:00 AM the night before it was due. However, thank God for time zone differences, because this meant I felt (relatively) unguilty about making Meera read it. And this past week, I had a 1500-2000 word essay due on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, which meant that I started writing on Saturday and didn't stop until yesterday morning. Yeah. But now I don't have to worry about writing papers for another 5 weeks! Of course, then I have FOUR due in one week, but I'm choosing to ignore that for now.

In more entertaining school news, yesterday was the Ides of March, and we started reading Julius Caesar. Apparently, it wasn't on purpose. Heh. Also, tomorrow we leave for Oxford!

Kirstin got me a t-shirt that says "Saving people. Hunting things." for my birthday. She wins.

( Speaking of Spoon... )

In conclusion, I found this on Maya's Livejournal and had to share:

This book reminded me of a dreadful TV show about Romantic Heroes, in which the opinion was expressed that every woman wanted to marry Heathcliff, Mr Rochester or Mr Darcy.

I took offence, both for myself and for my beloved Mr Darcy. I mean, can you imagine them all in a room together?

TV PRESENTER: Boys, would you like to talk about your interest and hobbies?
ROCHESTER: Well, there’s the compulsive lying. And then there’s the cross-dressing.
HEATHCLIFF: I enjoy long romantic walks on the moors-
TV PRESENTER: Oh, that’s nice!
HEATHCLIFF: And then I round off the day by hanging a puppy.
DARCY: …
TV PRESENTER: So, do any of you have a special lady?
ROCHESTER: Well, I may have gotten the syph from my score of mistresses. And I have this illegitimate kid. And I do have a wife, but she’s crazy and in the care of a drunk, so that won’t stick.
HEATHCLIFF: Oh snap, I have a wife too! I beat her.
DARCY: I am as yet unmarried, madam.
TV PRESENTER: Thank God for that… So, uh, what would you consider your greatest, uh, fault?
ROCHESTER: Some narrow-minded fools frown on tricking defenceless girls into bigamy.
HEATHCLIFF: So I practise incestuous necrophilia. Don’t be a hater.
DARCY: Sometimes I’m a little judgemental. And aloof at parties.
TV PRESENTER: *hides behind Mr Darcy*

Hee.

( Why 'Heroes' Wins: )

In other news, I have realized that I need to read both Frankenstein and The Secret Garden for the beginning of next week, and I'm going to be in London this weekend. ::sigh:: I guess this means I'll have to do actual work tomorrow.

YAY I AM DONE WITH SCHOOL.

So, I've been sitting here, freaking out about finishing my papers for Celtic Narrative, because the only constraints on the due dates are "sometime before the end of finals", but my professor wants hard copies and I leave this afternoon, and I'm going "WOE IS ME, IF ONLY THERE WERE SOME WAY FOR ME TO WORK ON MY PAPER ON THE TRAIN, YET HAVE IT PRINTED OUT IN WILLIAMSBURG," and then I realize, "Wait, if my only problem is handing in hard copies, I can just email them to Meera, who is here until FRIDAY."

::facepalm::

To think: I could have thought of this last night, and my three hours of sleep would not have been haunted by dreams of failure and doom.