Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel, and Kevin Arnold

[If you're short on time, skip the following paragraph and insert "long, busy day with greasy hair."]

Spring Cleaning

Since I'm moving in a little over a month, I've started...

eating all my food.

burning down my candles.

giving away my clothes.

de-cluttering my house -- and life.

I don't want to waste, but neither do I want to walk away with more than I can carry. I have only this question: Why don't I live like this all the time?

coming and going

That's what I've been doing.

ch-ch-changin

      Well, it's officially over. I am no longer a college student -- pending Dr. G. posting my bio grade, which I expect to be at least passing, and that will be sufficient. So the big question seems to be, "How does it feel to be a grown-up?" This makes me laugh because I already went through this a few months ago after graduation, when I had to explain that I would still be in classes until the end of summer. Now it's a little different. My new task is explaining to people that I'm not going to college more; I'm going to graduate school. I'll be a graduate student. It sounds so much more sophisticated and intellectual and somewhat tortured.
      Think about it. What do you think when you hear "college student"? The first thing that pops into my head is pizza. A few weekends ago Maria remarked, "Look, we're finally real college students, eating pizza in the room on Saturday night." Not just pizza, but pizza out of a box on my bed in the dorm room. There are also such associations as ramen noodles, overflowing laundry baskets, strange characters always showing up to hang out, thumping music in the hallway... kind of like being a teenager, but with less cash.
      Now, what do you think when you hear "graduate student"? I think of a twenty-something living in an apartment, riding a bike to save gas, eating leftovers for three days, table covered with books, staying up late in the name of erudition (new word I learned from Dr. B.), and for some people maybe a glass of cheap wine instead of a cold beer (of course I prefer a very large cup of coffee). I'm not sure where I got this mental image, and it's probably all wrong. I'll let you know when I find out.
      But you have to admit, when someone asks if you're a college student, you see or at least imagine a raised eyebrow and some kind of speculation about how you probaly went wild when you left home. It could just be me, but when I hear someone claim to be a grad student, I think, "Oh, must be pretty smart." Yeah. Don't even act like you don't do the same thing.

panic NOW

Graduation was hard enough...

Sunday Afternoon

      There is nothing like a Sunday afternoon nap on the couch after a big, greasy lunch from your local truckstop diner. These are the things I miss about home -- the excitement of seeing "country fried steak" on the daily special menu, the sunset the way it looks from our living room, the puppy licking my hand to let me know I'm the only one in the house still asleep... even the smell of horses and chickens (and donkey) and the nasty scratches on my legs because my dog is happy to see me. There is nothing like a few weeks at home after a long, stressful year filled with too much work and many good times, and not enough chances to breathe it all in before it suddenly and finally came to an end.

let's play a game!

I'm going to tell you a story. Listen [read] closely and don't miss a single detail. Then tell me what you think it means. When I read allegory, I always wonder if I get what I'm supposed to, but usually the author is dead. This is an exercise in reading allegory. You have to figure out what the story means. Tell me what you think, and I'll tell you if you got it right. 

This is how I feel about school right now...