( lol oral; work babble )

IN OTHER NEWS, I have been invited to a Halloween party! And Halloween is...the day after tomorrow! It's being thrown by some of the grad students I work closely with, and while I am fairly certain that they all secretly hate me, I am also pretty certain that I am being neurotic and incorrect in my opinions, and also that social interaction is good for me. So I need a Halloween costume! internet, what should I be for Halloween that is a) cheap and b) not too labor-intensive? I thought about wearing leggings as pants and a wretched plaid shirt and going as my students, but that might be a joke that would only be funny to me, and also I'd have to wear leggings as pants, which, NO.

Come talk to meeeeeeee, internet. Other acceptable topics: Middleman, Castle, Farscape, Whip It; any and all crossovers between the aforementioned fandoms; lol ORAL.

The problem with LJ: We all think we are so close, but really we know nothing about one another. So I want you to ask me something you think you should know about me. Something that should be obvious, but you have no idea about. Ask away.

rl-shenanigans update: was in boston (\o/), am now NOT in boston (boooooo), am probably going to try to get over to chicago at...some point?, am still not getting anything written (but hope to change that soon?), am still only sort of getting shit done w/r/t future plans (but am DEFINTELY going to kick that into high gear pretty soon), am tinhatting john crichton and aeryn sun HARDER THAN ANY PAIRING EVER* WHAT THE HELLLLLLL, am still living in my parents' basement and basically okay with that fact, am still mostly loving my job (and still love to complain about it). Still bad at commenting; still love your faces.

Oral exams this week! Let's see how many terrible jokes I can make about this fact. (HINT: probably more than any of you really want to hear.)



*with the exception of etben/jai, which is my otp to end all otps. ♥

I keep thinking about posting, and then realizing that I don't have anything interesting to say, and then not posting, and then feeling like, since I haven't posted in a while, I need to say something EXTRA interesting to make up for the radio silence, but I don't have anything interesting to say, much less something extra-special, and so I don't say anything.

But, hey, I exist! Great plans are...not really afoot? I am pretty intensely boring these days; I...knit a lot? and I've been sewing again, and reading books with actual pages, and planning lessons and teaching classes and being perplexed by my students (most of whom are actually awesome! ...but some of whom are the most special of special snowflakes). And grading! Oh, the grading.

For the most part I continue to adore my job! There are aspects of it that I find really frustrating—the way that the department is structured, and the occasionally STUNNING demonstrations of privilege-related fail (in myself, in the students, in my colleagues and my supervisors)—but there have also been some awesome moments. Guys, education is awesome *_____*

Today they have their second chapter test! NGL, I think I am actually more nervous than some of them are—what if they forget how demonstrative adjectives work? did we spend enough time on some of the weirder vocabulary? Did the kid from Brazil actually study, or is he just going to write in Portuguese again and hope I don't notice the difference? AGGLE. Plus I can't actually write any lesson plans for the next chapter until I get the homework sheets; the course is centrally coordinated, so while I have to make my own lesson plans, the day-to-day organization of topics is handed down to me—except for how it hasn't been, yet.

SO HEY. I used to do this thing called...writing? And I would not be opposed to doing it again! So prompt prompts: best bets are probably Middleman-related shenanigans, but I am, has oft been noted, pretty easy.

THIS GIRL! \o/

*twirls*

Since getting home at about 2pm today, I have ( been, um. BUSY. )

Guys, I don't even KNOW what's going on. Or, well, I do: I have to be OUT OUT OUT of this apartment tomorrow, and even though my flight doesn't leave until 4pm (and my last class of the day ends at 11:30), I am being UBERtidy just in case something disastrous occurs and I, like, lose all capacity for rational thought. I have a to-do list for tomorrow that includes such STAGGERINGLY INSIGHTFUL instructions as go to school (take stuff back!). Because, you know, I'm totally going to forget to do that.

Dear hindbrain: there is nothing left to wash! now will you kindly SHUT THE ACTUAL FUCK UP.

BUT now I am going to take the tea I just made myself and sit on the (functional!) futon in my PJs and read Middlesex. For all that it is not actually a book about the True Love of Wendy Watson, her roommate, and her boss, it is pretty awesome! So that's nice.

Also, ATTENTION CHICAGO: I am going to hit your fair city like an awesomenado (a tornado made of awesome!) sometime around 8pm tomorrow evening! I have non-negotiable Things going on Thursday morning, and unspecified Shenanigans (involving at least impertinence and inbetweendays, but theoretically open to all!) for...I think we said Thursday evening? and then I have a bus out of town on Saturday afternoon. In between then, we should totally hang out! My goals for this span of time include but are not limited to: going to a diner, eating sushi, drinking alcohol, hanging out, making shoemaster watch The Middleman, and being ridiculous. LET'S TALK, CHICAGO.

1. I am on dreamwidth! Mostly still poking around; probably won't say anything of import for a while while I get settled. Add me, don't add me—just drop me a line if I know you and haven't found you yet. (especially if you have changed your name!) Will be crossposting for a while, I think? so there's no real need to follow me both places.

2. The weather here (in the northwoods. Not at Dreamwidth. There is no weather on the internet.) is absolutely glorious. Mid-sixties! in APRIL! I totally walked to the office today to see if I had mail, and it was so wonderful out that I totally didn't care about my utter lack of mail.

3. I have been being BEAUTIFULLY organized this week, and we now have a daily kitchen schedule that actually looks like it won't kill anybody! Or, well, won't kill anybody more than camp usually kills people. Which—let's not lie, camp is pretty intense. But in the good way!

My boss hasn't emailed me back to mock my OCD yet, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time.

4. Real life nonsense: I am still waiting to hear back from the Last Grad School, who have waitlisted me. On the one hand, they are a totally awesome program and my first choice in every conceivable way, and if they accept me and it is not a total financial shitstorm I will be there in a microt. On the other hand, I can't lie: it is kind of frustrating to have to keep waiting. "I don't know! Um, stuff?" is not a good answer to "What are you doing next year?"

On the OTHER other hand, I applied for a job that is not exactly relevant to my interests but pretty darn close, and just yesterday got the good word that I should hear some kind of response within two weeks! And of course it is entirely likely that I will get a polite "no thanks", or that I'll get a rigorous round of interviews and then a polite "no thanks", but still. I like timelines!

5. In other news (and because I know what the girls like), I can now no longer buy bras at Target, because they don't stock 32DD. Which—I know it is all about my ribcage, and that my boobs have not actually gotten bigger? But double letters seem so ominous. WHAT THE HELL, COULDN'T YOU SHARE THE ONE LETTER BETWEEN YOU? Greedy.

( three conversations that go a long way towards illustrating how my life works. )

IN CONCLUSION, I am seriously going to murder this guy. He manages to be utterly uninteresting and also completely indefatigable when it comes to making conversation with me, despite clear and constant indications that I do not feel like talking.

Also Bossman is in Baltimore and so I am basically in charge (along with my intrepid coworkers, hooray) and I am KIND OF REALLY NERVOUS. But also excited! because on Monday I will be on VACATION with my GIRL.

So, hey, Philadelphia is pretty rad! For one thing, the airport is obscenely close to the city, and seems generally clean and well-kept. Plus, free wireless! That is never a bad thing. And also the weather was gorgeous, which I do understand is not guaranteed, but still. STILL. Like, it was actually very nice weather, not just "oh, it's only ten below! how nice!" weather. Sunshiiiiiiine, I have missed you! And then I got to traumatize a lot of people with my crazy talk of -40 weather! IT IS A REAL TEMPERATURE I SWEAR.

Also Philly has a riadsala, who purchased muffins with me! And then we wandered around and were chatty and awkward in that "hi, we know each other from the internet!" kind of way. FUN TIMES. ♥

And then of course there was the Thing I Am Still Not Discussing Online, which went...well? I think? But it's hard to be sure. I did my best to be impressive, and the people I talked to did seem to be impressed! Which was certainly a good sign. At the same time, though, everybody else was also VERY VERY IMPRESSIVE! And the big cheeses can say all the things they like about wanting to take all of us, but the fact of the matter is that they probably don't have that much space available, and so ultimately it comes down to somebody being more awesome than somebody else. SO. I'll just be over here fidgeting until March.

Aaaaaaaand now it is about time for me to get on an airplane! I'll be in Chicago for about two hours in about an hour and a half, if any of you happen to be out at O'Hare for whatever bizarre reason.

I APPLIED TO GRAD SCHOOL!

*twirls and twirls and then falls over*

I still have to do a FAFSA (a FAFSA, what the actual fuck) and convince the almighties that I'm a Michigan resident and possibly send a writing sample to California, but HI I APPLIED TO GRAD SCHOOL AND DIDN'T DIE IN THE PROCESS. DRINKS ALL AROUND, OR POSSIBLY A BOWL OF RASPBERRIES AND A NICE NAP.

*

In other news, I don't have internet access during the day, so I check the tubes when I get up; this morning I pretty much just had time to figure out that bandflesh was really gone before I had to go deal with kindergarteners. I spent the whole day in a haze of crankiness and disbelief, and then got home and glued myself to the internet.

And the thing that I'm thinking about most right now is November 4th. Election Day. I was refreshing like a maniac that night, especially once the results started pouring in, and it wasn't about hate—it was about being excited with your friends, about sharing information and hope and fear and a million trivial things. It was about community.

And that post—that moment—is gone, now. And that sucks.

There are other things to say, I know—plenty of people far smarter than me have already said them—but that's what I keep sticking on.

that, and I APPLIED TO GRAD SCHOOL, MOTHERFUCKERS!