When did I ask for more excitement?

Adventure #1:
I was sitting in my room, headphones on, door closed, doing homework. Suddenly Kathleen busts through the door screaming "BAT!!! BAT!!!" and slams it behind her to go hide under her covers. I had been hearing wierd squeeking coming from the bathroom ceiling all day, so I figured she had found the source of the sound. I go out to investigate, leaving poor Kathleen with her ear pressed to the inside of the door waiting to hear sounds of my being eaten by the rabid flying rodent. Alyssa called campus safety to come collect the thing, but first we needed to find it. We carefully checked the dark rooms on this floor, and were gazing behind furniture when I saw it. Climbing over the top of the corner cabinet is this furry face. Oh man, it was scary. I for some reason ran to the door to my bedroom, and planted myself opposite of Kathleen's ear. By this time, the thing was flying at an amazing rate around the living room, zooming about 2 inches from my face. I'm usually not afraid of animals or stuff like that, but I was screaming like a little girl. The campus safety dude showed up real quick after that, which was good cause Kath totally thought I was going to die of fright. He caught it really fast, one good swoop of his net. He quickly deposited it outside, and I calmed down. Scary, man, that thing was scary.

Adventure #2:
My friend Mary is in my senior seminar class with me. She wasn't feeling very good yesterday. We went to class to sit through a few people's lifeview presentations, including mine about my life being a box. During the first girl's presentation, Mary whispers to me, "Paula, I feel really light headed." I didn't want her puking, but I didn't know how bad it was, so I just gave her some water and told her to put her head on her desk and rest. Then, a few minutes later, I hear, "Paula, I think I'm going to throw up." Mary was really not looking so good. See the white paint on that wall? That's about how pale she was. I believed the sincerity of the situation then, and tried to help her out of the room. It was more like I dragged her half-fainted form across the carpet and about half-way down the hall to the bathroom. We almost made it when she busted out. She got a good portion all over the floor before I could grab the nearest garbage can. After more came out than I thought possible could go into such a tiny person, we got her to the bathroom to calm down some. After a few minutes of telling stories of my puking history, she was breathing more normally, the tingling in her hands had come down, and she was closer to yellow than white. I called my other housemates to come gather the poor child and take her home, and by the time they arrived at least her cheeks were a little rosier. I then got to go back to class and give a rousing version of "Paula's life." It went off without a hitch, unless you count the whole friend nearly fainting and puking all over the floor thing.

Hey God, no more adventures for a few days, okay? I need to get some work done.

Thanksgiving

Mama and I had a great talk in the car. And being more aware of my adult-hood at home was very helpful in warding off the teenage ghost of my former self that lurks at 831 Hemlock. We decided on a Christmas present for me, on a new plan for me to have a job in NY, she tried to comfort my loneliness for Michael. It was a good drive.

The babies were so cute. The boys talked and played, ran and spit on everything. Anna slept and slept, and woke up just long enough to look adorable in her pretty dress for the family picture. They were all a little overtired the next day, but all the fun was worth it.

I planned a good portion of my lifeview paper and presentation in the car on the drive back. The traffic afforded me a good opportunity to jot down some notes this time, so I didn't forget it all by the time I got to it later. The decision is, my life is a box. Sounds kinda boring I guess, but the visual aide looks pretty good. I even worked my fear of clowns in.

My housemate Alyssa got engaged. Most of the girls have gotten to a point where they can be happy for her. I'm still a little befuddled. I'm happy for her, I know she's happy and he's good for her and they will be happy together. But, I don't know. So many feelings about it.

I have like a million projects to do in the next 2 weeks. A 20 page lifeview paper, a 20 minute lifeview presentation, an article review, a 5 page final paper for dance therapy, a research project for biomechanics, a unit test, 2 final exams, and the GRE. Fun. But then home to see the Nutcracker. 3 weeks is both too long and too short.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10004296/

Pictures

Here are some pictures I got off my camera today:

A couple from the Arkansas trip:



This was on the electrical box thing outside the theater we were at. What kind of sign is this? I was scared just standing next to the thing.











As dancers, our bodies aren't too keen on sitting for long periods of time. During the return journey, we got especially cramped. The entire company was out stretching at this rest stop (Jessica is the smiling one, then there's the legs of Clarissa, Jillian, and Josh. In the other direction, there's my leg, then the director Steven, Brandon our techie, David's foot, and Erin's smiling face)





This is Jennica and I on Halloween. I was an athletic trainer (I just stole Alyssa's clothes), and Jennica was an injured dancer (she stole mine). We made a great pair. Convincing, right?















This is the beautiful sunset I got to drive into on my trip back from New York last weekend. Kathleen sent me on the scenic route past lots of
wineries, and the view was wonderful.



















And, per Mama's request, a picture of my Michael. This isn't a new picture, but a good one none the less.

Amendment

To add to my last post (to keep together the crazy one):

I had a wonderful time with my great boyfriend Michael. He made the weekend super fun and exciting, entertaining me and making my life better just by being there next to me. He is a fabulous guy. I apologize for not mentioning him in more detail as a highlight of my trip, and hope that this little addition makes things better. I also apologize to everyone but him who has no problems with me being normal and not needing to gush about him all the time. Maybe mentioning him now will get him to stop doing so much homework and visit me more often.

Red Bull and Gummi Worms

Some highlights of my Blitzreise:

"Fatigue Kills, Take a Break" sign

In Ithaca at 1am, normal amount of traffic, people all over. In Western MI at 1am, 1 car on the road.

The Hundred Secret Senses, by Amy Tan. Funny, witty, moving, only slightly annoying lady reading on the tape.

I-Pass doubles as EZ-Pass. Sweet.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit, on Cartoon Network. Does anyone else think that "Love Cup," the nickname given to Jessica by Roger is super obscene? I still love the part when the dude gets run over by the steam-roller thingy and gets up all flat.

"Deer Crossing" signs with deer standing literally right under them, staring at you with those glowing eyes. Wierd. Guess that's better than the one that got hit by a GMC truck on my return drive, it looked like it spontaneously combusted all over the road. Nothing really left for the hicks to claim.

The Canadian border patrol guys being super confused by my multiple state issues. "Where are you from?" "MI." "You have WI plates." "Oh yeah, I go to school in MI, I live in WI." "I'm gonna need to see some ID and your registration, and please pop your trunk." Great, I'm a criminal cause I have no real permanent address. Good thing I've got nothing but clothes and jumper cables in the car. And some empty Red Bull cans.

Losing at Scrabble, even though I had the Q, Z, J, V, and W during the game. I need to learn not to set up the triple word scores so nicely.

I had this whole entry written out in my head, as well as my 20 page final senior paper, but of course now that I'm not alone in a car at 2am on an empty highway I can't remember any of the stuff I planned. I need one of those tape recorder things that journalists always seem to carry in their pockets.

Mini break

I'm getting out this weekend. Away from this little town I've been stuck in since August 20th. Away from the stupid classes I'm taking. Away from my crowded house. Away from uber-frustrating Production rehearsals. Away from the superficial escapes I've been employing for months.
It feels good to have a place to go, a plan to move, a little hop skip and jump to loosen up my knotted ends. I realize that a road trip doesn't in fact solve all ills, but I know it will help at least a little. I'll listen to a book on tape and be able to cry or laugh out loud without being embarrassed. I'll think about my lifeview without getting distracted by other homework I could be doing. I'll study for the GRE because I won't have much else to keep me entertained while Michael does some homework. I'll sleep with no lights on and no train going by. I'll call myself a world traveler because I'll be in Canada for like 3 hours. This is going to be nice.

November Already???

I cannot believe it's already November. I want my semester back!! Except, I really don't want to do it all over again. It has been a doosie, that's for sure. Some highlights of the last while:

My exercise physiology, instead of moving our next test back like normal professors do, moved it up a whole week. Gotta love that.

This last weekend was my weekend of yuckiness, with about 16 hours of extra class between Thursday and Saturday. But thankfully, the horrible thing is over. I don't have to pretend to be interested in the craziness of my teacher, in the apparent worth of dance therapy, or the delving into my subconscious through movement. I love improv, but I don't think it really helps me sort out my emotional problems. Especially when I'm super frustrated at having to be in class for 10 hours on a Saturday. All I have to do is write a 5 page paper, though, and I won't have to deal with it again. Yay for never again having to spend long periods of time with crazy DT teacher lady.

Even Year won the Nykerk Cup this year. Almost my whole house went to the competition, and we had a very good time. The songs were good, the orations were great, and our play rocked. Odd Year play was really weak this year, way too many wierd arm actions and way too few funny jokes. They tried really hard to get all the normal jokes in there, ripping on black squirrels and having someone from Calvin be the bad guy. It just didn't go over well. Even Year's play, however, was one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time. There was a character based on Napolean Dynamite, and the girl did an amazing job keeping a straight face the whole time. The bad guy was a Calvin grad, but had turned to the "good side," admiting to his blood running orange and blue. They also worked in the black squirrels, and the president of the school, and the Pull, but they did it with such aplomb that it was hilarious. Just plain funny.

I'm in this class called Production this semester, where the entire class is devoted to this huge choreography project. The whole thing is collaborative, but some tasks are divided up into smaller groups. I'm in charge of music. Today, I got to make the final editing cut of the music with the sound technician guy. It was super cool. We added reverb, layered stuff, faded all over, and made the whole thing sound awesome. I can't wait to have way cool choreography on top of this new musical masterpiece (we're a little behind on the actual dance part...).

I registered for classes today. Due to some odd scheduling things, I'm only signed up for 14 credits right now. I can hardly handle it. Don't fret, I'll still manage to get up over 16 credits (what do normal people do with only a regular course load?), I just need to get signatures to actually register. I'm all set for my independant study on dancer fitness levels, and I am finishing up everything for both my majors, and then some. It should be a better semester, as there are classes I actually care about and want to take. I'm dancing like crazy, but still managed to leave time for some life (amazing). As much as I'm shocked that it's already November, I'm actually kindof excited about next semester already. Bring on January!!