so, i hope that by writing something without pressure i can get the words flowing again, at least enough to write my personal statement. the gravity of the situation, applying to graduate programs, is building and accumulating more and more stress and imminence. i have what feels like a million and a half things to do at school, what with research paper season on the horizon, my archaeological projects looming in the distance, and simple things like having to make my tutoring hours. the GRE is on monday and it honestly slipped my mind this weekend. granted, i was busy working on other things so it wasn't like i was idling, but all of this just feels like too much. there is never enough time in each day and i can't even think about being social - my 23rd birthday is on saturday and now it looks like i won't be celebrating at all. well, celebrating by putting together grad school dossiers, editing my writing sample and drafting my personal statements. how did all of this sneak up on me? i like to think i'm more on top of things than a lot of people, so i can't imagine how anyone else could manage right now. the one thing i'm looking forward to most at the moment is knowing that next semester it will be smooth sailing - just french, herodotus with dr. yates and a directed study of vergil with dr. sypniewski. the one time in my college career that i will be taking less than 18-22 hours and i will be taking 12. i can't even imagine what that will feel like...i guess a girl can dream after all.
right now, i'm in the process of typing out passages in greek for my seminar paper and crafting my own translations. sure, i can translate in class, but trying to put something onto paper that isn't translationese, that a normal, run of the mill person could get the sense of the meaning - now that can be a challenge. i'm four passages in out of eight, so i'm making progress - just very slowly.
what do i want to do at grad school? how can i articulate my goals? i suffer from shiny ball syndrome - i'll chase anything that catches my eye. i know what i want to do - to a point. first and foremost, i want to learn. well, that isn't really going to be an award-winning answer, but it is true. i want to know more, i want to see what else is out there. i've only seen a very thin slice of what classics had to offer and i'm ready to spread my wings a bit. nothing appeals to me more than the thrill of the hunt - finding an idea and chasing it down. sometimes it can be disheartening, sometimes someone else fifty years ago, six months ago came up with the same argument, but finding that space for the way my mind works around an issue...that is worthwhile.
i don't have any doubts about whether i will be able to handle graduate school, it is just a matters of getting there. if only i had more time - if only i hadn't put so much on my plate this semester. luckily i have great mentors that are helping me along the way, but it is still overwhelming. yesterday, dr. turkeltaub and i were emailing back and forth and i hadn't really realized how much i miss him. i'm glad to have an ally outside of millsaps and i'm glad he isn't here to see the slightly panicked look in my eye every step of the way. i'm so tired, so exhausted all of the time - my body just can't keep up with all my mind has to do these days. a big part of the problem is that i have run out of coffee here in the room and i haven't had time to one, go get coffee off campus or two, heaven forbid make it to the grocery store. if billy weren't in the middle of initiation week, i know he would go do it for me, but he is in the same boat (for the time being) as i am. i don't like asking people for help, but there is really no escaping it at this point.
some things are looking up - my finger isn't hurting any more and i have a whole store of arthritis cream to keep the pain at bay. i thought with the weather cooling off it would start to flare up again, but i've been lucky thus far. all of the online components are completed, except for my personal statements and writing samples at this point. i have all my transcript requests ready, so that is another plus - just have to get those cover letters in place. it feels like such a distant memory applying to undergraduate programs, it is hard to believe that i've been through a similar process before. it is a bit more daunting to say the least, and now that i'm older i understand the gravity and weight of every word, misplaced punctuation, forgotten bureaucratic nonsense (no staples, only paper clips - last name first, social on every page, whatever the little inane details may be).
what is most frustrating of all is that i don't have any peers to talk to about this. dr. s has become that peer in a lot of ways, but no one i know has applied to graduate school in classics. i recently decided to drop chicago from the list of schools i was applying to and simply trying to explain why i dropped that school is a headache. the politics of classics, the way programs work...i can't even say that "oh, well chicago is like michigan...they chew you up and spit you out." outsiders don't know what it is like, what i have to "look forward" to in my education. it becomes more arduous to discuss the process than it is to tackle it (says the girl sitting at a computer writing a blog). class in an hour, then hopefully employing my survey for methods and statistics.
instant coffee in hand, i'm ready to face this first draft.
chemistry on ice
08.17.2010
visingsö
i'm so excited about leaving, about only having four nights left at the cottage that i actually started to pack up my things. dresses are rolled, work clothes put away, travel clothes neatly folded to the side in my dresser. i have a meeting with the curator at the jönköping museum tomorrow to collect and document my samples for my REU research project, so my turquoise striped ralph lauren polo, a white undershirt, and my black skinny jeans are sitting in another pile. my levi's and two t-shirts to switch between make up the rest of the outfits for my stay here. all of the souvenirs at risk of being broken are wrapped, secured, and tucked away in my suitcase. my toiletries that meet airline regulations are tucked away in my TSA-approved quart-sized container. billy's cable knit sweater is sitting in the bottom of my book sack for the plane. four more nights here, and i may be overzealous, but it is comforting, reassuring, and somehow a bit of a grounding in reality to watch my belongings find their place in my black rolling duffel. i'm so glad that i'm not living out of a backpack this time around. finished the remaining, crumbled bits of the bottom of the special k red berries box for breakfast, glass of orange juice and my routine cup of coffee and gave myself thirty minutes to read before heading to the big house for work. a long morning of chemistry, but without a lab partner, my ipod kept me company - a morning full of conor oberst. outer south to start the day, then i'm wide awake, it's morning followed by fever and mirrors. back to the cottage for lunch, tomato and cheese panini with a side of peach and passionfruit yogurt topped off with a fresh banana. after lunch, tina was back from dropping mike off at the bus station and helped me out for the afternoon. jessie wanted to help out, too, so she sat in a chair directly behind tina and i at the lab table, constantly glancing over my shoulder and doing menial jobs such as breaking apart dirt while it was still in the sample bag and holding open the grocery bag as i dumped in my finished samples. she wants to be an archaeologist because it is 'fun' and noted that she felt like we were in a stadium. let me explain: the floor lamp lighting the work table reminder her of spotlights at the hockey arena and she was in the 'second row.' apparently since she was in the audience, that meant we were on the ice, so of course it became an afternoon of 'chemistry on ice' for the imaginative six-year old. a stressful mix up with doubling and overlapping numbers in the next bag that i tried to sort, exacerbated by awful handwriting from a full-grown boy. nutella and banana toast and then i cozied up in my bed to watch true blood season two. tina brought over groceries, i took a luke-cold shower, then a nap before dinner. veggie burgers with dijon while listening to blonde redhead. starting a new book now - here's to hoping i can read all 664 pages before i leave for stockholm.
visingsö
i'm so excited about leaving, about only having four nights left at the cottage that i actually started to pack up my things. dresses are rolled, work clothes put away, travel clothes neatly folded to the side in my dresser. i have a meeting with the curator at the jönköping museum tomorrow to collect and document my samples for my REU research project, so my turquoise striped ralph lauren polo, a white undershirt, and my black skinny jeans are sitting in another pile. my levi's and two t-shirts to switch between make up the rest of the outfits for my stay here. all of the souvenirs at risk of being broken are wrapped, secured, and tucked away in my suitcase. my toiletries that meet airline regulations are tucked away in my TSA-approved quart-sized container. billy's cable knit sweater is sitting in the bottom of my book sack for the plane. four more nights here, and i may be overzealous, but it is comforting, reassuring, and somehow a bit of a grounding in reality to watch my belongings find their place in my black rolling duffel. i'm so glad that i'm not living out of a backpack this time around. finished the remaining, crumbled bits of the bottom of the special k red berries box for breakfast, glass of orange juice and my routine cup of coffee and gave myself thirty minutes to read before heading to the big house for work. a long morning of chemistry, but without a lab partner, my ipod kept me company - a morning full of conor oberst. outer south to start the day, then i'm wide awake, it's morning followed by fever and mirrors. back to the cottage for lunch, tomato and cheese panini with a side of peach and passionfruit yogurt topped off with a fresh banana. after lunch, tina was back from dropping mike off at the bus station and helped me out for the afternoon. jessie wanted to help out, too, so she sat in a chair directly behind tina and i at the lab table, constantly glancing over my shoulder and doing menial jobs such as breaking apart dirt while it was still in the sample bag and holding open the grocery bag as i dumped in my finished samples. she wants to be an archaeologist because it is 'fun' and noted that she felt like we were in a stadium. let me explain: the floor lamp lighting the work table reminder her of spotlights at the hockey arena and she was in the 'second row.' apparently since she was in the audience, that meant we were on the ice, so of course it became an afternoon of 'chemistry on ice' for the imaginative six-year old. a stressful mix up with doubling and overlapping numbers in the next bag that i tried to sort, exacerbated by awful handwriting from a full-grown boy. nutella and banana toast and then i cozied up in my bed to watch true blood season two. tina brought over groceries, i took a luke-cold shower, then a nap before dinner. veggie burgers with dijon while listening to blonde redhead. starting a new book now - here's to hoping i can read all 664 pages before i leave for stockholm.
an american encounter
08.16.2010
visingsö
finally a day off! last week, i really wasn't able to sleep past nine, but today i was hard-pressed to roll out of bed when my alarm went off at ten despite the blindingly bright light outside my window. started to get dressed before heading down for breakfast and then realized i was not in a rush - why get dressed when there is no hurry? omelet in my pajamas, a slowly sipped cup of coffee over a chapter of the two towers and then i got dressed to face the day. katie and i rode our bikes down to the harbor and waited twenty minutes for the next ferry. left our bikes near the vättern fisk stand and walked across in passenger hold. as we were sitting on the dock waiting to board i heard the familiar but seldom-heard cadence of english speakers behind us, looked at katie and we asked under our breath - americans? that's odd. this is a tourist place that swedish people visit, not other nationalities. how odd. spread out on two benches in the pedestrian quarters and then, after a few minutes delay, the half dozen benches around us all filled up. in a content silence, we looked at the visingsö advertisements lining the walls, then i start to hear the same two guys behind me starting to talk about pitchfork and then fleet foxes of all bands. not two minutes latter, this guy (whose name turned out to be brendan) asked, so are you girls american or canadian? the banter continued on about the island, sweden, why we were here, where each of us was from, what we are/were studying. lars used to live in portland and now lives elsewhere in oregon. brendan lives in montreal, studied computer science and now has a 'real job.' both were surprised that i was from texas but didn't have an accent. what charmers. they, along with everyone else who had flooded the cabin, were on the island for a family reunion. as we were leaving the ferry, the guys invited us for a drink if we ran into each other again in gränna (which was inevitable) and i subsequently lead katie and myself away on a roundabout path to get to the main drag. priced lingonsylt and near beer (less than 4% alcohol per volume, which means it doesn't have to be bought or have its price marked up by the state systembolaget) at the konsum and then went in search of souvenirs. lots of indecisiveness and slowly made purchases, interspersed with coffee breaks from our thermos, free biscotti from the bakery, packed peanut butter and jordgubbsylt sandwiches, and a photo opp with a troll.
as soon as we got to the first gift shop, it was swarming with people, so i stepped outside while katie made her purchases. lo and behold, who was there on the bench outside but lars. it took katie a few minutes to complete her transaction and rescue me, but i had no intention of getting a drink with these random guys in the bustling village of gränna. finally bought some polkagris for the family and rounded out the souvenir shopping with the exception of something 'viking' for my dad. i'm hopeful that i will find something in stockholm, though. came back, loaded down with gift bags, carlsberg near beer, groceries and candy and took the 3:45 ferry back to the island.
the ride back was much less eventful and much less social, but the choppy waters were lulling me to sleep. once we docked, we realized it was raining outside and were going to have to bike back, soaking wet, extra baggage and all. luckily, the forest road kept us mostly dry and the most rain damage came in the form of wet bike seats. had some remnants of our morning coffee heated up and i watched mad men while resisting the urge to nap. as soon as i started the latest episode of true blood, mike showed up so we decided to cook dinner ahead of schedule. katie attempted the stir fry and then we supplemented the sesame nuggets with a side of mashed potatoes with veggies. whiskey and apple juice followed by lindt caramel intense (i even let me southern accent slip in front of everyone when i said caramel) for dessert then said goodbye to mike. tried to finish true blood but talked to billy instead, then finally wrapped up the episode over tea. i've been writing and talking to jess ever since, but now it is time to read and attempt to fall asleep.
visingsö
finally a day off! last week, i really wasn't able to sleep past nine, but today i was hard-pressed to roll out of bed when my alarm went off at ten despite the blindingly bright light outside my window. started to get dressed before heading down for breakfast and then realized i was not in a rush - why get dressed when there is no hurry? omelet in my pajamas, a slowly sipped cup of coffee over a chapter of the two towers and then i got dressed to face the day. katie and i rode our bikes down to the harbor and waited twenty minutes for the next ferry. left our bikes near the vättern fisk stand and walked across in passenger hold. as we were sitting on the dock waiting to board i heard the familiar but seldom-heard cadence of english speakers behind us, looked at katie and we asked under our breath - americans? that's odd. this is a tourist place that swedish people visit, not other nationalities. how odd. spread out on two benches in the pedestrian quarters and then, after a few minutes delay, the half dozen benches around us all filled up. in a content silence, we looked at the visingsö advertisements lining the walls, then i start to hear the same two guys behind me starting to talk about pitchfork and then fleet foxes of all bands. not two minutes latter, this guy (whose name turned out to be brendan) asked, so are you girls american or canadian? the banter continued on about the island, sweden, why we were here, where each of us was from, what we are/were studying. lars used to live in portland and now lives elsewhere in oregon. brendan lives in montreal, studied computer science and now has a 'real job.' both were surprised that i was from texas but didn't have an accent. what charmers. they, along with everyone else who had flooded the cabin, were on the island for a family reunion. as we were leaving the ferry, the guys invited us for a drink if we ran into each other again in gränna (which was inevitable) and i subsequently lead katie and myself away on a roundabout path to get to the main drag. priced lingonsylt and near beer (less than 4% alcohol per volume, which means it doesn't have to be bought or have its price marked up by the state systembolaget) at the konsum and then went in search of souvenirs. lots of indecisiveness and slowly made purchases, interspersed with coffee breaks from our thermos, free biscotti from the bakery, packed peanut butter and jordgubbsylt sandwiches, and a photo opp with a troll.
as soon as we got to the first gift shop, it was swarming with people, so i stepped outside while katie made her purchases. lo and behold, who was there on the bench outside but lars. it took katie a few minutes to complete her transaction and rescue me, but i had no intention of getting a drink with these random guys in the bustling village of gränna. finally bought some polkagris for the family and rounded out the souvenir shopping with the exception of something 'viking' for my dad. i'm hopeful that i will find something in stockholm, though. came back, loaded down with gift bags, carlsberg near beer, groceries and candy and took the 3:45 ferry back to the island.
the ride back was much less eventful and much less social, but the choppy waters were lulling me to sleep. once we docked, we realized it was raining outside and were going to have to bike back, soaking wet, extra baggage and all. luckily, the forest road kept us mostly dry and the most rain damage came in the form of wet bike seats. had some remnants of our morning coffee heated up and i watched mad men while resisting the urge to nap. as soon as i started the latest episode of true blood, mike showed up so we decided to cook dinner ahead of schedule. katie attempted the stir fry and then we supplemented the sesame nuggets with a side of mashed potatoes with veggies. whiskey and apple juice followed by lindt caramel intense (i even let me southern accent slip in front of everyone when i said caramel) for dessert then said goodbye to mike. tried to finish true blood but talked to billy instead, then finally wrapped up the episode over tea. i've been writing and talking to jess ever since, but now it is time to read and attempt to fall asleep.
when i'm with you
08.15.2010
visingsö
the pages remaining in this slim folio are slowly dwindling down and the end of this journey seems imminent. the days seem less and less eventful as they pass by and the sand is picking up speed falling into the hour glass, counting down my time. i can almost catch hold of each individual grain as it passes by. a restless night, awoken by the early scandinavian sunrise. the island is becoming increasingly desolate as tourist season winds down. fewer and fewer tourists litter the well-trodden paths and a silence hangs in the air - even the horses outside seem to be coming to terms with the calm of autumn setting in. the weather has shifted since my initial arrival and marks a distinct break between the two halves of this adventure. a slight unease coursing through my veins this morning as i stirred and started into my morning routine. a quiet, contemplative morning and i realized that i am actually going to miss the act of making my own meal as i start each new day. there is something so satisfying about accomplishing even a small, mundane task when facing the day. i'm finally getting to relish in normal, everyday tasks for a change. i can definitely find happiness in these things, once i have the luxury of indulging in them. endless repetition of ordering soil sample bags, counting out groups of twenty, setting up sample strips, running a series, recording, repeat. i have an incredible sense of what three and a half minutes feels like now. when the edges of my consciousness start to lose focus, go numb, i would stop for a cup of coffee, a break in the cycle. torrential rain came and went and the outlook for an enjoyable evening outing was dim at best. before i leave, i want to bike back down to näs at the far south end of the island and read, laying on the smooth sand stones, lost in another's story while simultaneously living out my own. waited for tina to come back with groceries after work ended at 4:30 and cut myself with the cheese slicer fixing myself a snack. between my clumsiness this morning at work, the cheese slicer cut, and tom's insistence that my nausea was the result of lyme disease, i was not a happy camper. nota bene: katie and i inspected my body for the red ring of death, but i'm all clear! no (deadly) tick problems for me. mike cooked pasta at the big house and we discussed the arrangements for our day off tomorrow. tina invited to visit the museum excavation outside of jönköping, but today is day seven with no break, so i wasn't ready to sacrifice my one day of freedom. katie and i are going to bike down to the harbor and spend some time in gränna to run our last set of errands, tying up loose ends before we leave. i'm not sure what work will be filling our days once (and if) we finish chemistry, but this is our last hurrah. after dinner, all of us staying at the cottage went for a walk to the mulberry orchard despite the ominous clouds rolling in - it was our first time doing something all together not work-related in a while. we all came back smiling and in good spirits. got online and caught up with an old friend, saw more e-mails filling my inbox serving as more reminders that there are only nine more days standing between me and the start of classes. time for skype with various parties scattered across the southern states - texas, mississippi, alabama - and then off to bed.
visingsö
the pages remaining in this slim folio are slowly dwindling down and the end of this journey seems imminent. the days seem less and less eventful as they pass by and the sand is picking up speed falling into the hour glass, counting down my time. i can almost catch hold of each individual grain as it passes by. a restless night, awoken by the early scandinavian sunrise. the island is becoming increasingly desolate as tourist season winds down. fewer and fewer tourists litter the well-trodden paths and a silence hangs in the air - even the horses outside seem to be coming to terms with the calm of autumn setting in. the weather has shifted since my initial arrival and marks a distinct break between the two halves of this adventure. a slight unease coursing through my veins this morning as i stirred and started into my morning routine. a quiet, contemplative morning and i realized that i am actually going to miss the act of making my own meal as i start each new day. there is something so satisfying about accomplishing even a small, mundane task when facing the day. i'm finally getting to relish in normal, everyday tasks for a change. i can definitely find happiness in these things, once i have the luxury of indulging in them. endless repetition of ordering soil sample bags, counting out groups of twenty, setting up sample strips, running a series, recording, repeat. i have an incredible sense of what three and a half minutes feels like now. when the edges of my consciousness start to lose focus, go numb, i would stop for a cup of coffee, a break in the cycle. torrential rain came and went and the outlook for an enjoyable evening outing was dim at best. before i leave, i want to bike back down to näs at the far south end of the island and read, laying on the smooth sand stones, lost in another's story while simultaneously living out my own. waited for tina to come back with groceries after work ended at 4:30 and cut myself with the cheese slicer fixing myself a snack. between my clumsiness this morning at work, the cheese slicer cut, and tom's insistence that my nausea was the result of lyme disease, i was not a happy camper. nota bene: katie and i inspected my body for the red ring of death, but i'm all clear! no (deadly) tick problems for me. mike cooked pasta at the big house and we discussed the arrangements for our day off tomorrow. tina invited to visit the museum excavation outside of jönköping, but today is day seven with no break, so i wasn't ready to sacrifice my one day of freedom. katie and i are going to bike down to the harbor and spend some time in gränna to run our last set of errands, tying up loose ends before we leave. i'm not sure what work will be filling our days once (and if) we finish chemistry, but this is our last hurrah. after dinner, all of us staying at the cottage went for a walk to the mulberry orchard despite the ominous clouds rolling in - it was our first time doing something all together not work-related in a while. we all came back smiling and in good spirits. got online and caught up with an old friend, saw more e-mails filling my inbox serving as more reminders that there are only nine more days standing between me and the start of classes. time for skype with various parties scattered across the southern states - texas, mississippi, alabama - and then off to bed.
attention, attention
starting this coming monday, my blog will be moving
you can find me here
http://onyourfrequency.blogspot.com
promise and precision
08.14.2010
visingsö
eight days left in sweden. where has all of this time gone? it still felt like a lifetime laid ahead of me here, but suddenly the days are flying by. woke up this morning, relieved. i haven't been sleeping well lately and i've had to resort to taking benedryl to sleep at all and my nights have been plagued with dreams and misgivings, but this morning i woke up with no recollection of the preceding eight hours of sleep. eggs and toast then over to the ad hob lab in the living room at the big house. tina, nez, and jessie took a ferry around eleven to go check out a house on the mainland they are looking into renting for the project next summer and mike tagged along to get more internet time in gränna. with mike gone and the rest of the team paired up, i was left to work on my own which was fine by me - i like working alone and i was still going as quick as the other pairs working together. apple and cinnamon oatmeal at lunch while uploading photos - some of which turned out neat with the mist. more chemistry and mike was back by the afternoon work session, so our collaborative efforts continued until a bit past four. oh, and billy gave me the mix he made this morning over skype! he tagged me in a post on facebook talking about it but hadn't uploaded it until i was heading to work, so i started to listen to it over lunch once it finished downloading and then finished it out after work. now i'm halfway through my third listen and i live it. such a great addition to my day. this is how i fell in love with this boy in the first place - that first mix stole my heart and he has had it in his possession ever since. on a different note, today was a bit frustrating because, well, some adults wouldn't act like adults. it isn't even important or interesting enough to elaborate on, but people never cease to amaze me with their lack of reason and rationality. there is no explaining or understanding this kind of thing, however, so i'm not going to bother. i was in a bit of a funk after work, probably due to my lack of exercise, the mediocre weather, and the immaturity of some of those around me, but against my better (financial) judgment, i went to dinner with tom, gisela, katie, and mike. katie and i split a margherita pizza again at solbacken and i skipped on the $8 beer, so i really only spent a little under $5. we started to head back once this awful "tex mex band" known as the carlssonz started covering CCR. katie and mike got ice cream and we all walked down by the harbor toward the base of the castle while they ate their cones. spirits rising, we headed home and i turned on billy's mix and caught up on some things online and got in touch with some people who i was long overdue in responding to. as this mix winds down once aain, i'm off to write a few e-mails and read, waiting for billy to get online. pretty mundane saturday, but i'll take it.
visingsö
eight days left in sweden. where has all of this time gone? it still felt like a lifetime laid ahead of me here, but suddenly the days are flying by. woke up this morning, relieved. i haven't been sleeping well lately and i've had to resort to taking benedryl to sleep at all and my nights have been plagued with dreams and misgivings, but this morning i woke up with no recollection of the preceding eight hours of sleep. eggs and toast then over to the ad hob lab in the living room at the big house. tina, nez, and jessie took a ferry around eleven to go check out a house on the mainland they are looking into renting for the project next summer and mike tagged along to get more internet time in gränna. with mike gone and the rest of the team paired up, i was left to work on my own which was fine by me - i like working alone and i was still going as quick as the other pairs working together. apple and cinnamon oatmeal at lunch while uploading photos - some of which turned out neat with the mist. more chemistry and mike was back by the afternoon work session, so our collaborative efforts continued until a bit past four. oh, and billy gave me the mix he made this morning over skype! he tagged me in a post on facebook talking about it but hadn't uploaded it until i was heading to work, so i started to listen to it over lunch once it finished downloading and then finished it out after work. now i'm halfway through my third listen and i live it. such a great addition to my day. this is how i fell in love with this boy in the first place - that first mix stole my heart and he has had it in his possession ever since. on a different note, today was a bit frustrating because, well, some adults wouldn't act like adults. it isn't even important or interesting enough to elaborate on, but people never cease to amaze me with their lack of reason and rationality. there is no explaining or understanding this kind of thing, however, so i'm not going to bother. i was in a bit of a funk after work, probably due to my lack of exercise, the mediocre weather, and the immaturity of some of those around me, but against my better (financial) judgment, i went to dinner with tom, gisela, katie, and mike. katie and i split a margherita pizza again at solbacken and i skipped on the $8 beer, so i really only spent a little under $5. we started to head back once this awful "tex mex band" known as the carlssonz started covering CCR. katie and mike got ice cream and we all walked down by the harbor toward the base of the castle while they ate their cones. spirits rising, we headed home and i turned on billy's mix and caught up on some things online and got in touch with some people who i was long overdue in responding to. as this mix winds down once aain, i'm off to write a few e-mails and read, waiting for billy to get online. pretty mundane saturday, but i'll take it.
on chemistry
8.13.2010
visingsö
friday the thirteenth and i didn't even realize it. woke up this morning hoping it was going to rain so that we could start chemistry according to plan. still wore field clothes because i wasn't sure if we would go out if the weather cleared up, but it turns out that we will be doing chemistry for days on end. the procedure is incredibly easy and horribly simplistic - kid's stuff compared to the kind of chemistry to which i was formerly accustomed. the warnings about 6N HCL were laughable at best - if that is the most dangerous thing on the table, there is definitely no reason to fuss. lunch at the cottage and a little coffee - now instead of curbing my caffeine to spare my bladder, i'm cautious so that my hands don't shake when i'm running tests. finished at a little past four and headed back to the cottage. the rain let up for a bit but i didn't want to try my luck so i just took a quick ride to the mulberry orchard and back. shower and then watched some old episodes of dexter because i was bored and lethargic.
made pad thai for dinner which ended up being amazing and then headed over to the big house to make bus reservations with tina for stockholm. luckily, she was able to get a reservation to bring her car over on the ferry despite the going-ons of the island on our departure date (there is a jousting tournament that is supposed to be a big deal), which will save us two connections - i'm tired of traveling at this point. i've been on the go for three months to the day and i don't feel like making things any more complicated than they need to be. after making the reservations, jessie (tina's daughter) woke up from her nap and told me that she was going to give me her bracelet that she had made at a craft exhibit at the museum because she was worried i would be gone before she had a chance to make another one - so sweet! mike talked katie and i into a walk as we were leaving, which ultimately turned into a two and a half hour affair. no rain, but lots of eerie mist which was at moments all-encompassing but never quite off putting. walked all the way down to the southern burial mounds and then headed back - had a scoop of blarbar/vanilj (blueberry vanilla) and chocolate ice cream with mike and then came back to the house and had a great conversation with billy. i need more days like today! it is too late to do photos tonight, but knowing that i only have chemistry to face tomorrow and my time here is drawing to an end, i couldn't be in better spirits. i'm an emotional yo yo.
visingsö
friday the thirteenth and i didn't even realize it. woke up this morning hoping it was going to rain so that we could start chemistry according to plan. still wore field clothes because i wasn't sure if we would go out if the weather cleared up, but it turns out that we will be doing chemistry for days on end. the procedure is incredibly easy and horribly simplistic - kid's stuff compared to the kind of chemistry to which i was formerly accustomed. the warnings about 6N HCL were laughable at best - if that is the most dangerous thing on the table, there is definitely no reason to fuss. lunch at the cottage and a little coffee - now instead of curbing my caffeine to spare my bladder, i'm cautious so that my hands don't shake when i'm running tests. finished at a little past four and headed back to the cottage. the rain let up for a bit but i didn't want to try my luck so i just took a quick ride to the mulberry orchard and back. shower and then watched some old episodes of dexter because i was bored and lethargic.
made pad thai for dinner which ended up being amazing and then headed over to the big house to make bus reservations with tina for stockholm. luckily, she was able to get a reservation to bring her car over on the ferry despite the going-ons of the island on our departure date (there is a jousting tournament that is supposed to be a big deal), which will save us two connections - i'm tired of traveling at this point. i've been on the go for three months to the day and i don't feel like making things any more complicated than they need to be. after making the reservations, jessie (tina's daughter) woke up from her nap and told me that she was going to give me her bracelet that she had made at a craft exhibit at the museum because she was worried i would be gone before she had a chance to make another one - so sweet! mike talked katie and i into a walk as we were leaving, which ultimately turned into a two and a half hour affair. no rain, but lots of eerie mist which was at moments all-encompassing but never quite off putting. walked all the way down to the southern burial mounds and then headed back - had a scoop of blarbar/vanilj (blueberry vanilla) and chocolate ice cream with mike and then came back to the house and had a great conversation with billy. i need more days like today! it is too late to do photos tonight, but knowing that i only have chemistry to face tomorrow and my time here is drawing to an end, i couldn't be in better spirits. i'm an emotional yo yo.
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