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Life As It Is
Well, I've made it through the summer, and now the semester is pretty much here!
This week is orientation for the history department. I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to it or not. Today there's a thing at 1:30, the Welcome apparently, and then tomorrow is lunch with our departments, and either Tues or Weds we meet up with our faculty adviser and get to know each other. On Thurs there's some stuff that looks boring ("Get Oriented @ IU" with the GPSO) and some dinner thing, and then on Friday there's a potluck dinner, which I may have to miss since I already made tentative plans for Friday night. Classes start Monday.
I really don't like meeting large groups of new people, especially when I know they are unlikely to be people I have much in common with (hence, meeting a bunch of new people at a game or a con is much easier for me than something like this) - I can make myself do it, but it kind of freaks me out, so I'm a bit nervous about the stuff today and tomorrow. I hope everyone is nice, and that I'm not the only total geek. Hey, maybe I'll find some poor lonely geek who doesn't know any other geeks in the area, and I can help them out. This leads to my second problem - I think a lot of the stuff will be oriented towards people who, oh, I don't know, HAVEN'T spent the last 14 months in Bloomington. Sigh. I wonder if I can get away with skipping some parts of it?
The new place is working out nicely so far. We need to vacuum desperately, and Jonie keeps freaking out and chewing things - though this morning this prompted her to throw up, which hopefully has taught her what a fricken bad idea this is, though I doubt it some how. So far she hasn't destroyed anything terribly important, though my slippers have been demolished (they were getting old and nasty anyway) and when I caught her this morning she was nailing one my sneakers, but I think I managed to stop her before the damage was too bad; I don't like wearing sneakers much, but this is my only pair and they were a little expensive. Right! I'm supposed to be talking about the new place.
I'm almost completely unpacked - I even got some boxes unpacked that I hadn't opened since I left Binghamton (and one that I don't think I'd opened since my mother packed it in like 2001, which contained a great deal of garbage...). I'm working on getting things actually set, though - like I've been organizing all my papers into this file crate I got (I fear I'm going to need another), and organizing my crafts (I'm about half way finished, and almost out of space already - most of it never fit in the space I had, so this doesn't, sadly, surprise me) and the like. I'm still hunting for couches (in decent shape) and a bed (queen size, preferably new) and a few other pieces of furniture, but I have enough to get by, including a matress given to me by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lightwhispers which has been very helpful and much better to sleep on than an air matress would have been. I picked up a whole bunch of frames at Goodwill (which has a 20% student discount at the moment, folks should check it out!) which should help out with my dire picture situation (lots of expensive originals that I haven't gotten around to framing = bad). Pretty much, I'm settling in pretty well.
The restart of the diet is going very well. It's been one week; when I weighed myself last Monday morning, I was 165 lbs.; as of this morning, I was 161, despite having pigged out on a burger and a mudpie desert thing with ice cream last night at Chili's, and despite having eaten ample quantities of junk at the State Fair, which I went to last Tuesday. I'm fairly happy, though of course I knew that the first bunch of pounds would go quickly; it'll get harder the longer it goes, but it's always nice to have a strong start anyway. I also restarted my DDR playing ways on Friday, starting DDR Extreme, which I'd played very little before...I swept through standard (the average song on standard apparently burns about 10 calories...) and today I launched into Hard. Hard is sweet for the exercise; in one hour, in which not every song I did was on hard (I had to finish up standard first) I burned almost 450 calories, which is totally awesome and will really help with the dieting, especially if I can keep myself from eating the difference (as in, stop myself from eating an additional 450 calories, and instead just stick to the approximately 1000 I normally allow myself).
The best finds of this diet so far have been (for the benefit of others making an attempt):
-Low fat provolone: Cheese that's only 50 calories a slice!! This makes me happy...
-Crystal Light Lemonade: I've been on a lemonade kick this summer, and I'm sooo tired of drinking only water; I could drink the entire pitcher of this stuff (about 8 cups) and it'd only be like 45 calories.
-Low Sugar Life Savers: These things are yummy (they taste like regular life savers) have less than ten calories each, and kill my appetite for like 45 minutes after eating one.
-Mini-Muffins: I don't have to give up baked goods! Making the muffins tiny, I can eat one or two, they'll have about 50 calories each, and I'll still be getting to eat yummy baked stuff.
-No Sugar Jello: 40 calories per package, about 10 calories per cup. Still tastes fine.
These, of course, tie into some old discoveries, and have really been helping.
Now if only I could find a good, low calorie salty snack. Maybe I should consider rice cakes. They taste okay, and they are salty...
Despite all the work, I have managed to do some stuff that's been pretty sweet in the last month or so. I'm sure I'm forgetting some stuff, but here are some highlights.
-Mikado:schenker28, dyrecorn, miraeko, khaoskitty, and saracariad convinced me to go see Mikado with them, and I'm glad I did. It was really cool. We're talking about getting season tickets to the opera; I never liked opera before, but I think it'd be fun to go with folk, and I've done so little cultural stuff of late that it'd be nice to get out and go see some theater. On that note, I noticed Hair Spray is coming through the area, I should check when, I'd like to see it, my mom said it was really cute. :) Modified Rapture!
-The State Fair: I went to the State Fair withdrake_rocket and dracaena_rocket. It was so much fun! I've never been to a State Fair before (though I've been to a couple county ones)...there were lots of animals (huuuuge carraige horses are totally awesome!) and tons of yummy food - I had duck for the first time in like 7 years, and it was as tasty as I remembered, and I tried funnel cake and deep fried oreo cookies and it was really nifty. Sheep are cute, though some breeds apparently have huge, stupidly placed testicles. You'd have to see it to believe it (I sadly can't find a picture). I didn't manage to find the building with the local crafts (the quilts and stuff) but that's okay, I saw a giant pumpkin instead.
-Star Gazing: Onschenker28's birthday (which was last week) we went over to Lake Monroe (where I'd never been) at around midnight and did some star gazing, some a bunch of shooting stars, and generally had fun. I demonstrated my ability to forget things I once knew by being adamant about one or two facts which, when looked up upon return home, were in fact completely wrong. Go me! :) Stupid Andromeda...
-Bloomington Angel Post Apocalyptic LARP (Bapa):drydem and buzzermccain are running this spiffy LARP. I seriously considered if I should play - I'm not the worlds biggest Buffy fan, and have only seen three seasons of it, but I allowed myself to be convinced for one reason: saracariad was in the high school faction, and I've wanted to do the popular girl thing with her ever since that session of the BHSS game run by feyangel in which we were both transmuted in to the epitomy of popular. I'm playing a Cordelia sort of character in the High School faction (which is also at BHSS, amusingly enough...) and though I had some trouble sinking into the first session, it went a lot better during the second session (which was Friday). "Have pride in yourself...and in the Panthers!"
That's all I can think of for now, though I'm sure there's been more.
A couple of weeks ago, I was doing the reading for my internship (which I'm done with and passed and stuff, which is good :) ) when I had the thought that I there was no way I could pick up the skills I needed to do book conservation at SLIS - we just don't offer the courses that teach it. I kept reading, but my mind kept processing this, and before I knew it, I'd had a deep and awesome insight: I should go and get a certificate in conservation after I finish with SLIS. I did some looking in to it, and this is in fact something I could do! The only program I know of (it's well known in the field) is in Austin at the University of Texas (I'd be scant hours away from my uncle, who lives in College Station and works at Texas A&M) and I'm qualified to enter it (the requirements are a portfolio of works done in three dimensions (which I have - I've bound two books, made some boxes, and have done a shit ton of sewing...), a year of chemistry, and a semester of organic chemistry and the accompanying lab. I've done all of this except for organic chemsitry lab. Yes, I took organic chemistry. ;) It's like a three year program, but it teaches all kinds of hands on skills and it's totally sweet.
I'm pretty excited.
I also mapped out all my remaining course work. With a bit of juggling and an extra class or two, I can graduate with a MLS, a MA in history and a certification in rare books. If I need to, I'll retake organic chemsitry...all in all, I'm pretty happy about the future. Now I just need to find some other programs to apply to, see what the requirements are if one already has a MLS degree (technically, the program includes an MLS degree; they say to get in touch with them if you already have a degree). Jim (my internship adviser) seemed to think it was an okay idea...and it just feels "right" some how.
My schedule is a bit up in the air at the moment, I think...
Monday: Nothing
Tuesday: 5:45 - 8:30 - Class (I think - I haven't actually registered for this one yet...)
Wednesday: 9:30AM - 12:15 - Class (L516: Introduction to Archiving)
8:30 - 10:30 - Contra dancing
Thursday: 9:00AM - 12:15 - Class (L587: Rare Book Librarianship)
8:00 - ?? - Singing
Friday: Nothing
Saturday: Nothing
Sunday: Aberrant/Changeling.
There are exceptions, of course. And hopefully, I'll be picking up 10 hours per week at the preservation lab, which will affect things a lot. :)
I should probably go anyway - I have to shower, feed the dog, walk the dog, clean my room enough that Jonie won't chew anything important while I'm gone, figure out where Ballantine Hall is, and find a parking spot, all before 1:30. :) I may write more later - it's been a long time since I've written anything of note, and I want to have some stuff written so I when I look back in a bunch of years, I'll have some clue how I spent my summer. ;)
This week is orientation for the history department. I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to it or not. Today there's a thing at 1:30, the Welcome apparently, and then tomorrow is lunch with our departments, and either Tues or Weds we meet up with our faculty adviser and get to know each other. On Thurs there's some stuff that looks boring ("Get Oriented @ IU" with the GPSO) and some dinner thing, and then on Friday there's a potluck dinner, which I may have to miss since I already made tentative plans for Friday night. Classes start Monday.
I really don't like meeting large groups of new people, especially when I know they are unlikely to be people I have much in common with (hence, meeting a bunch of new people at a game or a con is much easier for me than something like this) - I can make myself do it, but it kind of freaks me out, so I'm a bit nervous about the stuff today and tomorrow. I hope everyone is nice, and that I'm not the only total geek. Hey, maybe I'll find some poor lonely geek who doesn't know any other geeks in the area, and I can help them out. This leads to my second problem - I think a lot of the stuff will be oriented towards people who, oh, I don't know, HAVEN'T spent the last 14 months in Bloomington. Sigh. I wonder if I can get away with skipping some parts of it?
The new place is working out nicely so far. We need to vacuum desperately, and Jonie keeps freaking out and chewing things - though this morning this prompted her to throw up, which hopefully has taught her what a fricken bad idea this is, though I doubt it some how. So far she hasn't destroyed anything terribly important, though my slippers have been demolished (they were getting old and nasty anyway) and when I caught her this morning she was nailing one my sneakers, but I think I managed to stop her before the damage was too bad; I don't like wearing sneakers much, but this is my only pair and they were a little expensive. Right! I'm supposed to be talking about the new place.
I'm almost completely unpacked - I even got some boxes unpacked that I hadn't opened since I left Binghamton (and one that I don't think I'd opened since my mother packed it in like 2001, which contained a great deal of garbage...). I'm working on getting things actually set, though - like I've been organizing all my papers into this file crate I got (I fear I'm going to need another), and organizing my crafts (I'm about half way finished, and almost out of space already - most of it never fit in the space I had, so this doesn't, sadly, surprise me) and the like. I'm still hunting for couches (in decent shape) and a bed (queen size, preferably new) and a few other pieces of furniture, but I have enough to get by, including a matress given to me by
lightwhispers which has been very helpful and much better to sleep on than an air matress would have been. I picked up a whole bunch of frames at Goodwill (which has a 20% student discount at the moment, folks should check it out!) which should help out with my dire picture situation (lots of expensive originals that I haven't gotten around to framing = bad). Pretty much, I'm settling in pretty well.The restart of the diet is going very well. It's been one week; when I weighed myself last Monday morning, I was 165 lbs.; as of this morning, I was 161, despite having pigged out on a burger and a mudpie desert thing with ice cream last night at Chili's, and despite having eaten ample quantities of junk at the State Fair, which I went to last Tuesday. I'm fairly happy, though of course I knew that the first bunch of pounds would go quickly; it'll get harder the longer it goes, but it's always nice to have a strong start anyway. I also restarted my DDR playing ways on Friday, starting DDR Extreme, which I'd played very little before...I swept through standard (the average song on standard apparently burns about 10 calories...) and today I launched into Hard. Hard is sweet for the exercise; in one hour, in which not every song I did was on hard (I had to finish up standard first) I burned almost 450 calories, which is totally awesome and will really help with the dieting, especially if I can keep myself from eating the difference (as in, stop myself from eating an additional 450 calories, and instead just stick to the approximately 1000 I normally allow myself).
The best finds of this diet so far have been (for the benefit of others making an attempt):
-Low fat provolone: Cheese that's only 50 calories a slice!! This makes me happy...
-Crystal Light Lemonade: I've been on a lemonade kick this summer, and I'm sooo tired of drinking only water; I could drink the entire pitcher of this stuff (about 8 cups) and it'd only be like 45 calories.
-Low Sugar Life Savers: These things are yummy (they taste like regular life savers) have less than ten calories each, and kill my appetite for like 45 minutes after eating one.
-Mini-Muffins: I don't have to give up baked goods! Making the muffins tiny, I can eat one or two, they'll have about 50 calories each, and I'll still be getting to eat yummy baked stuff.
-No Sugar Jello: 40 calories per package, about 10 calories per cup. Still tastes fine.
These, of course, tie into some old discoveries, and have really been helping.
Now if only I could find a good, low calorie salty snack. Maybe I should consider rice cakes. They taste okay, and they are salty...
Despite all the work, I have managed to do some stuff that's been pretty sweet in the last month or so. I'm sure I'm forgetting some stuff, but here are some highlights.
-Mikado:
schenker28, dyrecorn, miraeko, khaoskitty, and saracariad convinced me to go see Mikado with them, and I'm glad I did. It was really cool. We're talking about getting season tickets to the opera; I never liked opera before, but I think it'd be fun to go with folk, and I've done so little cultural stuff of late that it'd be nice to get out and go see some theater. On that note, I noticed Hair Spray is coming through the area, I should check when, I'd like to see it, my mom said it was really cute. :) Modified Rapture!-The State Fair: I went to the State Fair with
drake_rocket and dracaena_rocket. It was so much fun! I've never been to a State Fair before (though I've been to a couple county ones)...there were lots of animals (huuuuge carraige horses are totally awesome!) and tons of yummy food - I had duck for the first time in like 7 years, and it was as tasty as I remembered, and I tried funnel cake and deep fried oreo cookies and it was really nifty. Sheep are cute, though some breeds apparently have huge, stupidly placed testicles. You'd have to see it to believe it (I sadly can't find a picture). I didn't manage to find the building with the local crafts (the quilts and stuff) but that's okay, I saw a giant pumpkin instead.-Star Gazing: On
schenker28's birthday (which was last week) we went over to Lake Monroe (where I'd never been) at around midnight and did some star gazing, some a bunch of shooting stars, and generally had fun. I demonstrated my ability to forget things I once knew by being adamant about one or two facts which, when looked up upon return home, were in fact completely wrong. Go me! :) Stupid Andromeda...-Bloomington Angel Post Apocalyptic LARP (Bapa):
drydem and buzzermccain are running this spiffy LARP. I seriously considered if I should play - I'm not the worlds biggest Buffy fan, and have only seen three seasons of it, but I allowed myself to be convinced for one reason: saracariad was in the high school faction, and I've wanted to do the popular girl thing with her ever since that session of the BHSS game run by feyangel in which we were both transmuted in to the epitomy of popular. I'm playing a Cordelia sort of character in the High School faction (which is also at BHSS, amusingly enough...) and though I had some trouble sinking into the first session, it went a lot better during the second session (which was Friday). "Have pride in yourself...and in the Panthers!"That's all I can think of for now, though I'm sure there's been more.
A couple of weeks ago, I was doing the reading for my internship (which I'm done with and passed and stuff, which is good :) ) when I had the thought that I there was no way I could pick up the skills I needed to do book conservation at SLIS - we just don't offer the courses that teach it. I kept reading, but my mind kept processing this, and before I knew it, I'd had a deep and awesome insight: I should go and get a certificate in conservation after I finish with SLIS. I did some looking in to it, and this is in fact something I could do! The only program I know of (it's well known in the field) is in Austin at the University of Texas (I'd be scant hours away from my uncle, who lives in College Station and works at Texas A&M) and I'm qualified to enter it (the requirements are a portfolio of works done in three dimensions (which I have - I've bound two books, made some boxes, and have done a shit ton of sewing...), a year of chemistry, and a semester of organic chemistry and the accompanying lab. I've done all of this except for organic chemsitry lab. Yes, I took organic chemistry. ;) It's like a three year program, but it teaches all kinds of hands on skills and it's totally sweet.
I'm pretty excited.
I also mapped out all my remaining course work. With a bit of juggling and an extra class or two, I can graduate with a MLS, a MA in history and a certification in rare books. If I need to, I'll retake organic chemsitry...all in all, I'm pretty happy about the future. Now I just need to find some other programs to apply to, see what the requirements are if one already has a MLS degree (technically, the program includes an MLS degree; they say to get in touch with them if you already have a degree). Jim (my internship adviser) seemed to think it was an okay idea...and it just feels "right" some how.
My schedule is a bit up in the air at the moment, I think...
Monday: Nothing
Tuesday: 5:45 - 8:30 - Class (I think - I haven't actually registered for this one yet...)
Wednesday: 9:30AM - 12:15 - Class (L516: Introduction to Archiving)
8:30 - 10:30 - Contra dancing
Thursday: 9:00AM - 12:15 - Class (L587: Rare Book Librarianship)
8:00 - ?? - Singing
Friday: Nothing
Saturday: Nothing
Sunday: Aberrant/Changeling.
There are exceptions, of course. And hopefully, I'll be picking up 10 hours per week at the preservation lab, which will affect things a lot. :)
I should probably go anyway - I have to shower, feed the dog, walk the dog, clean my room enough that Jonie won't chew anything important while I'm gone, figure out where Ballantine Hall is, and find a parking spot, all before 1:30. :) I may write more later - it's been a long time since I've written anything of note, and I want to have some stuff written so I when I look back in a bunch of years, I'll have some clue how I spent my summer. ;)
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As for salty snacks, I recommend mini bags of microwave popcorn, Kettle Korn being my personal favorite. I too have to swap from junk food binges to diet/exercise ones...
And the conservation program sounds awesome! It's always fun to fix up old books....especially when you know how to really do it. Good luck!
Let me know about your Firefly/doggy play date availabilities :)
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As for Firefly and doggy play date...what are you up to this weekend?
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And I forgot that Saturday mornings I usually take Cody out to walk 4 1/2 miles on the Clear Creek trail (which is a ways southwest of where I live, although not out of town by any means). If that sounds like something you--and Jonie--might be interested in let me know! I'm not sure about this Saturday morning because a friend of mine unexpectedly has the morning off, but next Saturday I should be on...
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Damn student loans, however.
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1. it helps in the rare books field
2. I love history
3. I want to have some additional options in case the library science thing doesn't work out for any reason
4. it's nice to be over educated (what? it is! ;) )
If you can think of good reasons, you should consider it...you're in state at this point (which makes it damn cheap...you could take a class a semester at like $1000 or so, I think), IU has a good program...
I really wanted to do history of science for a while. ;) Course, you want to look into magic, if I recall...
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* Not only Hairspray, but AIDA is coming to town this coming season. AIDA is just incredible, except for Elton John's little "Gee, I love playing dress-up!" song called "My Strongest Suit". But at least that cong has good costumes.
* You successfully inspired me to resist the tempting cookies at Subway today at lunch. Anytime you need a DDR partner, lemme know.
* Did you ever figure out where the Andromeda constellation is? I can only vouch for the location of the galaxy.
* I actually dropped by computer science orientation, albeit pretty late. I just met a handful of people from Bombay. Anyway, I don't really care to meet CS geeks since they're not really my crowd... all this gave me a brilliant idea for next year: Why go to one's own lame department orientation, when you have a whole smorgasbord of possible orientations across campus to choose from! Next time I think I'll crash the ones where the cool kids are, like History of Science, Early Music, Arab Women Studies, Dental Hygiene, etc.
* All around town (Walnut St, at both 3rd and 10th, in particular) I keep seeing "mattress sale" signs. Just FYI.
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-I'm less interested in Aida; the concept of the Disney musical offends me. I try to resist such elitest thinking, but this is an instance where I really can't. That said, I'd still be willing to go see it. :)
-I'm doing DDR most mornings, though I won't be mornings I have class, usually around 10. It's not a definite schedule; rather it's "right after I wake up and before I do anything else." You're welcome to join me; if you wanted to, I could set it up as a more regular thing.
-Andromeda the galaxy is in Andromeda the constellation to the best of my knowledge.
-The one problem I see with crashing other folks' orientations is that you are supposed to, you know, introduce yourself and such. At least that was the case at ours. :)
-I don't have the money right now, unfortunately. :( Thanks for the info, though.