Today I Wore My Grown-Up Socks...

Well, these were actually my socks from yesterday (notice the nice floral pattern? a Christmas gift that finally got professional use...), but you'll have to take my word that I had my nice blacks on today and Sunday. Obviously, this was not a brief fling with playing dress-up for classes, so I was actually at a conference where I actually got to officially skip classes. How sweet is that?

Except for the fact that I have to make up all that work and collect notes...that is. However, I was able to learn a ton of information and feel that I made some very good contacts. My hope is that I'll really be able to get a foot into the International Programs field. I also managed to have some fun at the group activities and bonding with my co-workers. My "bosses" (who dislike the term) are amazing and have wicked senses of humor (which seems to go with the field). When the bellhop rolled in the roll-away bed, it was vertical, with straps fastening the mattress to the frame. We laughed a little, as the bed fit much better vertical so one of my bosses said:

"Well, since you've only been working for a few month...give it a few more and you'll have earned the right to sleep horizontal..."

So that was an on-going joke this weekend.

Other than the conference, I also got to see some friends this weekend. The first met us for dinner at a good Indian restaurant. It was the first time I'd seen B. since we got back from Germany (and the first time since Germany that we'd gotten Indian again too...yum) and it was fun to reminisce and catch up some. Eric was going crazy after being stuck in the apt all week and sick, so he was particularly glad to get out. He's particularly less happy about being hospitalized tomorrow due to his lagging and steadily worsening pneumonia, but you can't win them all, right?

Jokes aside, I will be relieved when he finally gets better - this has been going on waaaay too long. The "best" side-effect is when anyone asks how things are going I mention that my roommate has pneumonia, then they ask how "she" is doing. At which point I go through the following conversation:

"Oh, my roommate is actually a guy- Eric"
"Oh, I didn't realize you had a boyfriend...you're living together huh?"
"Um, no...we were just studying together in Germany and it just kind of worked out to be convenient for both of us - although I'm sure he'd much rather be living with his German girlfriend"
"Oh..."

I keep joking that I'm going to get a T-shirt with 3 arrows and texts on it:
------> Roommate who has a Girlfriend
Brother <-------
(Upwards arrow) SINGLE.

Not that I'm particularly upset with my dating status, but it is kind of awkward that people assume this (because I carpool with my brother and Eric and we have similar friend groups/ I mostly leech off of Eric's friend group...) and it's getting a little wearing. Once people actually know us, they immediately realize that Eric is the brother I never knew I wanted. But, I can't complain as we've proved to be compatible roommates with similar levels of clutter tolerance (high...).

Anyhow, I'm going to go and do homework now...the real world is calling and I've got WAY too much homework to answer.

Biohazard Roommate

Whew. Already a week? Talk about lame blogging standards. In my defense, I've been busy picking up not only my own slack, but Eric's as well.

Friday evening was Uli's birthday party. Eric and I staged a bitter, biting fight while Uli was in the car - telling him that we had to drive to my Grandma's to bake dinner, as I "broke" the oven. He was only slightly suspicious, but completely fell for our "fight". He was very surprised to see the whole group (pretty much) gathered at Applebees, and enjoyed his birthday dinner and cakes. We ended up back at our place, where some serious Apples to Apples and Guitar Hero happened. We rounded off the night with The Boondock Saints (where Uli learned why it was never released in theaters...). A great evening, and Uli's first (and most likely last, as Germans aren't into it) surprise birthday party.

Sunday evening, as Eric lay hacking and wheezing on the couch, he said that his dad said he should go to the ER. He said it in an off-hand manner, which I knew meant that he was going to try to tough it out. So I pulled rank, called my rents, got their official med-field endorsed recommendation to take him, and hauled him in - after he finished his current episode of scrubs. Long story short, we eventually made it to Urgent care where they gave him a nebulizer treatment, then a chest x-ray, eventually giving him bronchitis/pneumonia meds and a prescription for an inhaler. He's been back to the doctor, who yesterday was impressed at his raging sickness, and so now he's renting a nebulizer that he gets to take 4 times a day, along with more medicine and the inhaler. He's one sick puppy.

Due to this, I got to pick up his slack as far as German night went. Which was tonight. So I spent a good 3 hours shopping for the evening, plus more time picking up orders and trying to manage the chaos. Everything went off without a hitch, and we have enough peasoup left that I could take a bath in it. Ok, not really, but as I'm not a fan of pea soup, it seems that way. The food was a hit though and the program went smoothly. Some of my dance TA's showed up to Waltz (which was nice that they agreed to come), and so that was kind of fun too.

Speaking of dance, I have some catching up to do! Monday we were instructed to bring a blindfold, so I dutifully brought my scarf. My first partner was actually a returned dance TA, with his wife and adorable 3 month son. Who, he assured us will be a dancer. Very cute. So that went really well. The next one...not so much. The melody was ok (or I thought so, hard to tell when you can't see your partner's feet...), but I kept losing him on moves. And I did NOT want to be groping around when we back-passed (you drag your hand across his back, in theory...but I wasn't going to take any chances) and did other moves. But it could have been much, much worse.

On Wednesday, we chose our dance partners for the test on this up-coming Monday. Since I'm going to be at a conference, I wasn't sure if I should pick one. However, the main male TA told me to go ahead, that we'll just test on Wednesday. Luckily, the guy that I ended up was perfectly all right with this. We also danced a few songs with our partners. We learned a new move - the "grapevine", which, yes, involves stepping backwards and sideways while dancing. Anyhow, we made a beautiful transition in and out (oh, and he's about 4 inches taller than me, so we're well matched...) and he excitedly exclaimed "We are the grapevine masters!" in a very gleeful tone to the the couple nearest us. This happened to be "Counts with his eyes" and his partner. He retorted that he would grapevine all over us. Any time, any place, hmm boys? I got a kick out of the testosterone rush, and really, dancing was fun.

Today in my Brit lit class we were discussing Dr. Faustus and specifically, the concept of hell presented. The Professor said "Think of something you really like...and now imagine not having it...times infinity". Now, admittedly, the first thing that came to mind was chocolate ice cream...so it was hilarious when my friend Ashely muttered under her breath...ice cream....Great minds think alike!

As busy as this week has been, it'll be nice to be in the weekend. However, I've noticed a trend with some of the guys in my classes. Now, I know a lot of guys hunt - but really, how many tree stands can you fall out of? To clarify...A lot of guys come back to school on Monday with mysterious scrapes, bumps and bruises and no forthcoming stories. These are obvious injuries too, like scratches and black eyes on their faces. Admittedly, I did once dance with a guy who assured me that the scrapes were from his new puppy - he hadn't been assaulted or vice versa. He said he didn't want to look creepy. So, really, I think my question is fair enough - what do guys do on their weekends to get so beat up?! I suppose I really don't expect an answer...

Finally, another quick story from my brit lit class. We were discussing how Faustus seems to fall into every deadly sin. My Professor referred to his fling with lechery as his "erotic appetite". As this Professor considers himself a bit of a wit and likes to stretch the comfort zone of his students, he caught one student apparently making a strange face and whispering so he said:
"You don't like the term Erotic Appetite?!"
To which the poor girl blushed and responded...
"No...my stomach was growling..."
Which, is pretty hilarious...given the context.
Anyhow, if it wasn't funny, you have to give me a break as I'm coming down with the sniffles - hopefully just from my allergies...

A Note From Steph's Body

Hey...
So I realize that you're pushing our boundaries...this whole ballroom thing is totally a step in the right direction (see, you're not the only one making bad puns...). However, did we really need to become intimately acquainted with the dead fall hammer? Like, losing skin acquainted? We prefer to keep the blood in veins, so please do try to be careful.

Speaking of careful, we're not quite sure what the hell you were thinking later on. Let's see, eyes showed you that your piece was literally orange-hot, and yet you decided to nudge your piece with your finger! Uh, hello?!?! That sucker cauterized so fast, but we don't appreciate the new square scar you've given yourself. We think the cigarette burn adds character enough.

Speaking of skin, we really do appreciate the new facial medication...the not-being-nauseous thing is definitely an improvement...so, really, we can be grateful. However, hair is a bit miffed that it's currently shorter than it has been in years - although neck is grateful for the lighter weight. Additionally, we're all not sure how we liked being touched by a complete stranger: do you even know how many other heads of hair this woman touched? Let's be a little more careful in the future. Small town mentality we may be, but we all agree hair is serious.

Finally, can we discuss your eating habits? We appreciate you don't cause us to be in abject hunger too often, but how about some meal-time regulation? Mondays and Wednesdays get a little tough with night classes, but for pete's sake, pack yourself a sandwich. And, would a little protein be too much to ask for? We know you don't have the time to cook, and that meat is inconvenient, but - hey- peanut butter! Finally, that multi-vitamin you keep sitting in the kitchen? You're supposed to ingest it...it doesn't use osmosis.

All right. We just wanted to let you know where we stand. Obviously we're still all right - we're young enough that we're practically made out of rubber - but lets try to establish some healthier habits now, mmmk?
Thanks. Good talk.

You Spin Me Right Round Baby, Right Round...

And if you keep spinning me, I will probably throw up on you. At least, that's what I wanted to tell the tall TA who kept me whirling through combinations so fast I didn't have the time to keep the time. Now, spinning and alcohol-breath aside, I was actually nauseous for a good part of Monday. My dermatologist gave me the face-medicine-from-hell and the torment kicked in Monday morning. However, as I did not want to be labeled as "The girl who puked in ball room", I concentrated and luckily made it through the hour. The rest of the day was iffy, on and off, but I made it through. I called the dermatologist this morning, and they found another antibiotic that hopefully won't try to turn my stomach inside out.

On a much less disgusting note, I got my scholarship check today. It'll help pay for the next few months of rent and the haircut I got tonight. I was looking at my splintered ends, and forced myself to bite the bullet. I called for an appointment (following a cousin's suggestion), and was peeved when I came to "walk-in" and they were somehow booked for the night. So I found a back up. I was terrified to have a strange lady touching my hair (yes, yes...small town mentality...the first stranger to ever cut my hair...and I'm 21...). She must have sensed my nervousness, and double checked every cut. I ended up lopping off my longest layer, but it feels much healthier now. Otherwise summed up as: "I Feel Pretty".

My classes weren't terribly exciting so far this week. My art instructor took a look at my project sketch for the bracelet I wanted to do and asked me: "Are you crazy?". So we made some compromises about scale and difficulty and I got to start drawing some wire for the project. A lot of the people in my class have some very interesting concepts and it's nice that we're all on individual projects now.

Tomorrow I have a presentation on Margery Kemp: A Saint Wannabe and Anchorite/Anchoress Groupie. Plus she's pretty much a full blown psychopath. Though, her ability to bend a traditional woman's role in 1300-1400 medieval England is quite admirable. Nevertheless, there's 183 pages of my life that I'll never have back that could have been summed up with "She prayed diligently and spent most of her life pregnant or weeping hysterically". Plus, she was quite the collector of Saints' characteristics. However, I am more than ready to get into the next section: witchcraft. It'll be interesting to see the fine line between "saint" and "witch".

Seriously Slacking...in this area of life

Wow.
So it's been a pathetically long time since my last update...
This week has been crazy. China night was a new kind of crazy. The massive amount of food that they had (catered in...my dreams of making a recipe book is slipping away) was absolute overwhelming. There was barely enough room in the warming ovens in the industrial kitchen to hold it all! They had at least 10 different main varieties of food, although we could only keep 8 chafing dishes running at a time. We almost ran into the same problem as last week - the chafing dishes were locked up in catering...and no one had the key. Turns out that the building manager (shocking...) has the key! Last time they had to call the poor woman back to work, and we still had to use the industrial sized ones from the hot room. It was quite the ordeal.

This week, even as I was running around trying to get everything set up in time, I realized I was having the time of my life. And getting paid for it. This is wonderful. I also realized that I can't wait to not be a poor college student. I know, I know, the real world sucks - but I hate knowing that everything I buy is pretty much putting me into debt twice. Student Loans...what a mixed blessing!

Let's see...oooh. Midterms...So I facebook stalked my dance partner (but told him, in order to avoid the inherit pathetic-ness of this measure...) - and it's a small, small world. His hometown is less than an hour away from mine, and he's dating a girl who went to my high school. As for the dancing part, it went pretty well. We didn't, by any means, get through all the moves. However, the smiling part (non-optional), was easy as our song was "The Rainbow Connection". Honestly, who can be upset with Kermit crooning in the background?

My midterm in Modern Grammar didn't massacre me, as I feared. I did decently, but will have to work harder for the next two tests. However, as more than half of the class got a C or below, the class is starting to thin out. I think I figured out that I technically don't need the course, but as I'm learning a lot I think it was a good decision. My other English midterm, Brit Lit, was pretty much a complete waste of time...busy work. It was open-book, open-note, so there wasn't a lot of independent thought required. On a side note, my essays are starting to drive the both of us nuts. He starts off by writing something snarky in the first paragraph (usually asking me if I'm going to support my claims), which drives me absolutely insane. Of course I'm going to back my claims up...that's why you're going to have to read the damn paper! That 's the whole point of a introduction. Then, he write a longish paragraph (about 75% legible, give or take 50) where he admits he has to give me a good grade, but has a slew of suggestions.

This is frustrating, as I know that I can write better papers...of course I can. The problem is the lack of motivation and good assignments. I literally wrote two papers for the last essay. The first was the paper he was expecting, the second was one that was actually a challenge. Did I have time to do this? Not really, but I'm that discontent with his course. I then asked him which one he wanted, (the first, second or both) and he only wanted the first, of course. I fully understand that he has a lot of work as it is, but I wish he could see how limiting his assignments really are. Be careful for what you wish for though, right?

Finally, I completed my art project. My grade was what I expected from him. He and I both know I can do better on the next one, so I'm satisfied for the time being. I'm also, of course, inordinately proud of my little gewgad, but that's besides the point. Oh, and it's extremely shiny.

At any rate, I should probably get back to doing more homework...I did the worst first already, but have a lot of reading ahead of me this evening...

Could You Show Me Your Hot Room?

So, I discovered what a "hot room" is today. It's a room in the basement of the building where I do the cultural nights at the university. It has a generator of some sort down there, and (believe it or not), it's hot. I got to see this room because of a chafing dish semi-fiasco. Actually, I was never really that worried, but that's besides the point. Sweden went very well, it was a good attendance, and without the craziness of India. The room the chafing dishes are in was locked, but they eventually got someone to come. I retrieved the dish, only to find out that they'd be needing two. However, the lady who had unlocked the door said they kept th big banquet ones in the "hot room". It didn't help that the next person I asked had absolutely no idea what room I meant. However, things went smoothly and we were even done relatively early.

Yesterday in ballroom dance was interesting, to say the least. I started out with a male TA, which went fine. I ended up with The Freshman, and it was pretty awful. Talk about a 180 personality change. He snapped at me twice when I misread his cues and very nearly dropped me when he dipped me. He spun me around so fast and carelessly that I almost freaked out. No apology either. Perhaps it's the fact that midterms are around the corner and reality is sinking in, but it made for a rather unpleasant experience.

To make matters more awkward. We had to "choose" partners for the dance...girls asked = free for all. I feel sorry for the guy I ended up with, as his face is about level with my shoulders. Almost. He has to go on tiptoe when I get twirled. However, he was much more enthused about the notion of dressing up and color coordinating (we made two rounds around the floor without him spinning me before he finally blurted out "Geez, I'm the guy and I'm the one really getting into this!"), as we get extra credit for it. He has good rhythm, and was a fun partner. I think we both feel confident about the test on Monday, so that's also a plus.

In metalsmithing, I ended up conceding a bit with my project. The more it got finished, the more flaws came up. However, on Wednesday it was pretty hectic with a lot of people farther behind than I was who needed the polishing machines for their first time, not second or third. When the instructor asked if I was pleased, I told him the truth, mostly. That I wasn't, but I'd fix it after I got it back from grading. That kind of threw him. I know I'm not a pro, but with the time restraints and people needing the machines, I should've realized sooner and corrected the mistakes before the last night. The most important thing for me is getting the piece to how I want it, not necessarily the grade. I'm not claiming this is entirely sane.

Ironically, I'm going to go finish my reading for tomorrow: Margery Kemp. Psychopath and anchorite groupie. The narrative has been quite interesting so far...Anyhow, I'm out.

Build Me Up Buttercup

I have had "Build Me Up Buttercup" stuck in my head for the last 4 days. I never know when it will stop lurking in my subconscious and spring at me. I mean, I obviously feel worse for the poor innocents when may overhear me launch into an off-key rendition, but talk about an ear worm...

In other news...I'll get to my weekend last.
I just got home from my night class, and we're THIS close to being done. This Wednesday we'll slap a patina on that sucker and call 'er finished. I hadn't realized how emotionally invested I am in it until a guy from class asked if he could see it. I noticeably drew my hand back even as the words "Of Course..." slipped through my lips. Worst of all, he noticed. A little embarrassing, but he understood of course and so we just laughed about it.

Another funny thing was at my work study today. I got to assemble 50 orientation packets for some incoming students. Each with about 20 different pages. I only had to 3-hole punch 2 of the documents, but apparently it was enough of a difference that I couldn't simply put them together. So, I got to put them together in chunks. The funny part was that my boss was so apologetic. However, the only bad about it is that it's mind-numbingly boring. Much like wrapping condoms or shredding documents for hours. It has the added bonus of not being manure to shovel. At any rate, I will take mindless work over sitting bored any day, so in comparison I found her comment on the situation merely funny.

Today was an interesting day in dance. We learned the last moves for the Waltz (except one) and they went pretty disastrously for me with a partner. Not helping the situation was that I only danced with one guy that I'd danced with before. However, the other 3 were actually all from English classes I've taken (one from back in my sophomore year and he clearly didn't remember me. Fair enough since he's had a lot more classes at UND than me), including 2 currently in classes with me. Regardless, I still had fun and I'm glad I'm taking the class. Our test is coming up next week, but I think it'll go ok. I actually had to tell one of my partners not only the count, but also the cues for almost every move we made - so that has boosted my confidence.

My weekend was pretty much amazing. I saw my family and watched the soccer game they'd come up for. They took a beating...but apparently it's their 5th game in 8 days. I'd probably be a little broken too by then. I spent Friday night watching the debate with some international students (we mostly watched the lines and made jokes about Tom, erm, John, but plenty about both candidates). Then I hung out with Eric and some of his friends, although Guitar Hero is definitely not my forte. Saturday night Eric and I went out with the international students to a couple of places and had a blast. I hadn't been out since Regensburg, and it was nice to have people around. This was after a family dinner where Uli and Eric got to meet Benny (and some other family members as well). On Sunday, after church I did homework until Eric made some amazing Alfredo at the guys' apartment and then I went home. It was a pretty long and tiring weekend, but definitely a lot of fun.

Anyhow, I need to go and do more homework (shocking...) and should finish my food before it gets cold.