I should probably eat an orange

    Dear Harriet Walter,

    Who invented midterms
    are they still alive
    can I kick them in the face
    if they are dead can I travel to their grave and kick their headstone
    please

    Let's have a picture of you. Based on logic and statistics in my brain, that will probably cheer me up.

    WAIT WAIT WAIT let's have a haiku too, Professor-Madame King Arthur made us write haiku in Lit class a few weeks ago so I can write them now.

    midterms are stupid
    they cause frustration and pain
    Yugoslavia

    (EDIT about half an hour later: Okay I had an orange and some instant noodles and then a Hershey's kiss and I smelled Krista's coffee and I just remembered  something that's going to make my work much easier and it's a beautiful day and I like sunshine and I'm really looking forward to spending spring break at fellow student Gabby's house in the desert and there's going to be food at our Oscars party this evening and really I'm quite happy and everything is ok.)

it's a metaphor for feeling oppressed by academia

    Dear Harriet Walter,

    Being stuck inside doing schoolwork on a beautiful Saturday afternoon is a very productive time and I get a lot done

    totally absolutely

learning is good

    Dear Harriet Walter,

    I'm having a good day. Despite the fact that I'm still getting over another cold. I woke up of my own accord, about fifteen minutes before my alarm went off, which only happens when I get lots and lots of sleep or there are loud noises and there were no loud noises. The cafeteria had chili, chips and cheese as a lunch option, which is my favorite lunch. My homework is going well. My Auntlet sent me a lovely e-card that brightened the world. I did laundry and replied to emails. I just got a surprise package from my Mumsy which was full of shirts that she bought for me presumably because I'd said once or twice that I hated all my shirts and why hadn't I bought shirts over Christmas break and so on. I love my Mumsy so much.
    And it's only 2:30pm. Goodness.

    I wanted to briefly mention last weekend, because last weekend was an interesting weekend. My (tiny) college has this program where twice a semester, a faculty/staff member or two will take a group of us out into the world to go to interesting places and do interesting things. We choose which excursions we want to go on out of a list - usually things like going to the theater, museums, concerts, trips to Mexico, etc. It helps being so close to Los Angeles. This semester I chose to go on a Jewish Cultural Study and a tour of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and last weekend (Feb. 3-6) was the time for the former.
    Friday evening Professor Mine Enemy started the thing with an introductory lecture about what we were going to be doing and what was up with modern Judaism and how Christians should relate to Jews and stuff, because the whole Jewish culture thing is his area and he does this every year, and then a couple hours later we all dressed up and headed out and attended a Shabbat service at a local temple - I believe it was a Reform congregation. That was a really cool experience. Sat in the front seat of PME's car on the drive there, with Danielle and Sarah H in the back, because it was more comfortable than the mammoth school vehicle driven by Mr B and because PME always blasts good music in his car. Several people who didn't sign up for the Jewish Cultural Study tagged along to the Shabbat service, including friend Jim. (There was a box of kippahs at the entrance to the temple, which the boys at least were supposed to take advantage of to be polite, and Jim selected a blue one because it matched his tie. I wish I'd taken my camera.)
    Saturday nothing happened except some of us girls got up fiendishly early and went to the LA flower market and wandered around some floral warehouses, which was awesome. Bought a cheap and lovely bunch of Sweet Williams.

Like a six-year-old, I took about a million pictures of flowers.

    Sunday I came along to a church I don't normally go to because Professor Mine Enemy and Mrs. Mine Enemy were having us kids (who went to that church that day, they go there too) over at their house for the afternoon to watch the Superbowl. Think there were about 20 of us there. Great food, perfect weather, relaxing conversation, beautiful day all around. (Saw some extremely enlightening family portraits from the 1980s or so hanging on the hallway walls inside. Should have taken pictures of pictures.)
    Monday we resumed our Jewish studies and all went (I in PME's car again, I really like his car) to the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, where we mostly just went through the exhibit on the Holocaust. After that we were off to a Jewish deli, where before we ordered what we wanted from the menu, Professor Mine Enemy first made us all try pickled herring, creamed herring, latkes with applesauce and sour cream, and chopped liver. Liked the creamed herring but not the pickled, latkes were all right but not my thing, chopped liver was all right for the first few seconds and then more of the taste hit and I would have been like "I know what hell looks like now" if I hadn't been too busy choking and trying not to cry. Fortunately there was water and I soon got my paws on a chicken panini with avocado, pesto, sun-dried tomato, and mozzarella.
    From there we had a nice little visit to a different, bigger synagogue, again Reform, where a nice cantor dude showed us around and explained the religious imagery in the stained glass windows and took down one of the Torah scrolls from the ark and unrolled it and talked to us about how it was made and the history of scribes making scrolls like that, then took us into a smaller room for smaller services and explained modern Jewish approaches to architecture in places meant for worship.

The stained glass and the ark.

Torah scroll! They had five.

    Also on that Wednesday our guest speaker at chapel was involved in the organization Jews for Jesus and he spoke a bit about the relations of Judaism and Christianity, and we have to watch a film about Hasidic Jews by this Wednesday which I really should have done by now but I was totally swamped with papers last week like dude.

    Speaking of which, I have to go write a paper about ancient Hebrew poetry now, it's due tomorrow. No idea when I'll post next.

the croak was slightly deliberate

    Dear Harriet Walter,

    Here are 3 bits of dialogue from today.

    1. I walked through the cafeteria door and joined the lunch line directly behind former Navy boy Dane.
    "Ruby," he said.
    "Dane," I said.
    "It's Tuesday. Do you know what that means?"
    I thought about it. Tuesday. Three classes for me today? Bible exam study session this evening? Beginning of the school week for most of us? I shook my head at him.
    Dane turned his lunch tray sideways, as he would hold a guitar, and began banging on it with his empty blue cup and loudly singing, "Goooooodbye, Ruuuby Tuuuesday, who could hang a name on you?"
    Ah yes.


    2. I stood on the steps outside the main classroom building, getting a breath of fresh air after my first of three classes in a row. (The first had been Bible and it would be followed by Literature and Philosophy. The class had been our third session covering the Psalms and Professor Mine Enemy had proceeded at a rapid pace almost the whole way through, owing to the fact that we needed to finish up that book today and he had lots of connections to make and information to cram into our heads, and despite the fact that he was sick today and had been hoarse to a degree that was almost painful to listen to.) Brielle and Danielle stood on the steps with me, and Danielle was expressing concern for Brielle's health, as Brielle is also sick.
    Communications Professor (Comprof?) passed us on the stairs and overheard some of this concern. "Is she ok?" he asked.
    "I have bronchitis a little bit," said Brielle. "I'm getting better."
    "Oh, yeah, seems like so many people have that lately," said Comprof. "My son's got it, too, my one-year-old son. I'm trying really hard not to get it."
    "Aww, that's too bad [for him]," said Danielle.
    "Gotta stay away from these bronchitis people!" Comprof joked to Professor Mine Enemy as PME passed us, descending the stairs.
    "What are you talking about?" said Professor Mine Enemy in a ghastly death-croak.
    Brielle, Danielle and I exploded with laughter. Comprof gave an only half-joking cry of horror. Professor Mine Enemy grinned and continued on to the offices.


    3. Dr. Mac, having just dismissed us from Philosophy (critical thinking), turned to his four- or six-year-old son (not sure which one it was), who had been writing on the whiteboard during the last few minutes and distracting us all in the best possible way.
     "Mount," he said, correcting his boy's spelling. "With a U. 'Zeus lived on Mount Olympus.' That's moont you've got there." Having thus pronounced, he erased the top half of the second O of Moont Olympus.
    His boy did not seem bothered.