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My Apologies

For all my readers who await with bated breath for my next entry, my apologies. I have been mucho busy-o. And continue to be. Some things I have been doing:

• flying
• eating turkey and yams
• playing yahtzee
• rolling a yahtzee on the first try TWICE
• watching movies (like Zorba the Greek, the Thin Man, Elf, Harry Potter, and Waiting for Guffman)
• reading about English-only/Official English policy
• settling Catan
• studying in (beautiful) libraries
• walking on leaf-covered paths at Duke's campus
• picnicking at Duke Gardens
• looking at art in the (Duke) museum
• driving to and from Indy (twice)
• going to the Spanish branch
• writing snide comments
• S(wab)bing
• mailing off letters
• waiting for emails (you know who you are!)
• birthdaying
• losing a hubcap (somewhere)
• avoiding assignments
• crying
• comforting others
• writing a syllabus
• rethinking the entire course of my life

Phew... it's been a long week (or two). And yet, there's still so much to do.

Anyway, pictures from North Carolina are coming soon. I just wanted to give a shoutout to Mike and Amanda for being such cozy hosts. Really, everything was grand. I enjoyed my time immensely.

Ugh.

There's so much that I don't know. It's frustrates me.

Dear Me:

Get over it and write your papers already.

Much love and repulsion,

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Dear Grad School:

I hate you. Why do you have to tear me down so much? Why are you so full of yourself? Why do you drain all the joy from my life?

Maliciously,

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Dear Squirrels on Campus:

You live such a charmed life. I envy how you get to leap around, bringing smiles to all who see you. How much simpler life would be as a squirrel.

Jealously,

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Dear Librarians:

Could somebody please sharpen the golf pencils available for writing down the call numbers of books that I need for my research paper I haven't started? I had to sort through about 15 of them to find the least stubby one.

Sincerely,

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D.C.: Part Two

Well, I meant to read some more of The Possessive Investment in Whiteness (which is really making me feel horrible), but I wanted to share about the rest of the trip. So of course, since that's more fun, that's what I'm going to do.

On Friday, we slept in after our raucous night at the quasi-Irish pub and then attended a session of the conference. Afterwards, Erica, Cristen, and I decided to head to the National Mall to take advantage of some of the Smithsonian and see some of the monuments. Can someone please explain why the museums are only open until 5:30? What are we - Europe? I mean, my day is barely getting started at 5:30. So by the time we got out there, we only had a couple hours, which we decided to split between the National Gallery and the Museum of American History.

First of all, the weather in DC would make you jealous. It was beautiful all weekend. I wore a long-sleeved t-shirt and flip-flops and was slighly warm. The sky was perfectly blue and the trees were colorful. Here's what one of the streets near the mall looked like:

Since we didn't have much time in the National Gallery, we used the map to strategically plan which salons we wanted to visit. Unfortunately, we got kind of turned around. You know, I hate not being able to spend as much time as I would like. When I was thining of going to school in DC (before those schools declined my offer of attendance), I had this grand idea of going to the National Gallery once a week and going through it room by room. That way, I wouldn't feel rushed. I could enjoy a leisurely gaze at my favorite works of art. Being there made me sad that this dream didn't work out. I took some photos of the art.

These next three are all little scenes from the same painting. I sometimes wish I could live in a Rococo painting.

Just a few more:

We went to the museum store afterwards, but I was sorely disappointed at the price hike in prints since the last time I was there, so I just got a couple postcards.

We stayed longer than intended, so we didn't end up going to the Museum of American History. We saw some monuments instead, starting with the Washington Monument.

If you look way down at the other end of the mall, you can see the Capitol.

And then, of course, the President's abode. You know, the funny thing about DC is that there were protestors outside of H&M, but none outside of the White House.

If I could appropriate one of the monuments to the founding fathers for my own, I would choose the Jefferson. I don't know why, really. It's just always been one of my favorites. So we decided to walk over to it. Of course, it's quite a ways away. We had to cross this bridge:

And walk around a lake. We didn't end up making it the whole way. It was just so far, but we did take some great pictures, if I do say so myself:

The three of us took advantage of this serene moment to reflect on the meaning of life.

And then we headed toward the Lincoln. I made Cristen and Erica pause at this little bend in the road because it seemed like a perfect scene, with the red trees and scattered leaves. If we were at a college campus, this would be the picture they'd put on their brochure:

It was getting dark, which means my camera wasn't working so great anymore (getting all blurry), so out of the about twenty photos I took of the WWII and Lincoln monuments, I ended up with these two:

Then we rushed back home for dinner. Well, Erica and Cristen went out to dinner. I wasn't feeling up to it, so I chilled and watched TV.

The next day can be summed up pretty quickly (I didn't take too many photos), so I'm just going to tag it on right now. After some conference sessions, five of us hopped onto the metro to Georgetown. I loved Georgetown. I wish I had taken photos of all the details. Another time, I guess. We just wandered the streets until we found the university. Then we went to the bookstore to get some Georgetown attire. I did take a few snapshots of the campus.

After walking a couple miles (seriously), we all met up for a big program dinner and then some of us headed for Dupont Circle where we eventually found a cafe called L'Enfant for coffee, crepes, tea, beer, whatever.

Next morning, I bought some books that I don't know when I will ever read, piled back in the van, and drove on home to Indiana.

Intermission

Some weird people (mostly just my brother) wanted to see what my devil eye looks like, so I took a picture today (in an effort to procrastinate working on my sociolinguistics exam). It's looking a bit better. Right now, the blood looks kind of like the state of New Jersey.

If you are normal and don't want to be grossed out, DO NOT click on the "Continue reading" link. For those of you who want to see the devil eye, you're just one click away.

D.C.: Part One

After about 1.5 hours of sleep, we bundled into a Purdue van to begin the 11 hour trip to DC. It was 4:00 am. The idea was to have one person (well-rested) drive while the rest of us caught up on our sleep. The problem was, no one could really sleep. Oh, we tried. We rolled our head back on the seat, crushed a pillow against the window, or slumped forward, but it never really quite worked. This meant, however, that I got to see the sun rise over Ohio. (I had never been to Ohio before, either.) Here are some more pictures of the sunrise, taken through the van window.

The funny thing about a sunrise is that it seems an awful lot like a sunset. This makes me wonder what makes people get up really early in the morning just to see it. Not to mention hike up a mountainside to see it. I mean, it's pretty, but it's not that spectacular.

Moving on, we went through lots of Ohio, a little bit of West Virginia, and a strip of Maryland until we finally saw the dome and phallus of the D.C. skyline.

Of course, the first thing to do is check into the hotel and drop off our baggage. We weren't sure what to expect from our hotel. The program was paying for it (so cheap) but it was right in downtown (so possibly cool). It was pretty cool, in a cheap sort of way. First of all, it had the bat symbol as its logo. Then, it had awesome art work all through the halls, stuff straight from children's magazines with, you know, lions and dinosaurs and wild animals. But the best part of the hotel room was the toilet. And by best, I mean funniest. When we first got to the room, I noticed the toilet seat was up, and I thought "One of the guys must've used our bathroom." (Cuz a van of people got there the day before, including our other roommate, Erica). So I closed the door and put the seat down and ... um... relieved myself. After I washed my hands, I went to open the door, but it got stuck! Apparently, to open and close the door, the toilet seat had to be up. Anyway, enough talk, pictures:

We freshened up and went to H&M, where I bought some much needed accessories. Then we met the cool people from the group at the Capitol City Brewing Company for dinner.

After I finished my delicious cobb salad (and everyone else finished eating, too, of course), we retired to the hotel to change for an evening out. Someone recommended a "German pub" down the street for a nice hangout. We got there and found corinthian columns and reflective marble. Too posh. So we went to an "Irish pub" in Chinatown. This was much more bustling and gritty. Although not terribly Irish, even though they did try to make it authentic.

Ok, so the rest of the night was spent chewing the fat at the bar. And of course, taking photos. Here are a couple different sequences. First, some of the guys:

And then some of the girls:

Cristen and Me (pre-devil eye, obviously)

Erica and Me:

Tom made it a point to include me by asking me all sorts of questions about what it's like to be Mormon.

Erica, Cristen, and Brian couldn't decide on one expression at any given time:

Here's Darrow - he was saying all sorts of funny stuff that we wrote down and quoted to him the next night:

Cristen sneaking into Erica's picture:

Christmas snacks:

Everyone knows how much I enjoy taking self-portraits, which sometimes turn out quite sassy. So enjoy the artistic renderings of the group.

Cristen, mocking my sassiness:

Erica, also sassy:

Tom:

Darrow (Bryan):

Brian:

Chris:

And Mark (who doesn't like to have his picture taken):

I left the pub around 12:30 for a well-lit walk back to the hotel. For any friends who might be concerned about me being in a pub, here's the proof of my temperance. The water I nursed all night long:

I slept soundly that night. More D.C. fun to come tomorrow, but for now, I've gotta read. Or maybe just go to bed.

I'm Back (Did you know I was gone?)

Phew. Just got back from whirlwind trip to the American Studies Association conference in DC. Pictures and more information forthcoming. Don't worry. There was nary an academic moment. Even the few panels and papers I went to didn't seem terribly academic. Bob Dylan, Hawaiian-themed restaurants, and folk music. I love my program.

Right now I gotta get to bed. I woke up yesterday morning with a devil eye - half red. Blood red. It's scary. I'm a little nervous that when I wake up tomorrow, the transformation will be complete and my whole eye will be glowing. It sucks. It doesn't hurt or anything. Just looks nasty and forces me to wear my glasses (that I can't see with because old perscription). If it takes a while to heal, I'm thinking of getting a patch so that I can at least wear one contact and look extra cool. Secretly, I'm afraid it's going to explode and leave a cavernous gap. My one beauty.