1/8 Cherokee and a lot of freckles.
Although McCain has a poor pick for VP (especially considering that she has a state investigation against her), Sarah Palin has a pretty awesome beehive. And boy does she know how to reproduce and name babies. Trig??? In fact, I think I’m switching just for those reasons. That was a joke. I fear some people will think that way, though.
“John McCain likes to say he’ll follow Osama Bin Laden to the gates of hell, but he won’t even follow him to the cave that he lives in” –paraphrase of Obama during his acceptance speech.
To this, I say, “Soplice,” which is Anglo-Saxon for “amen.”
I’ve never fully understood why McCain always says that bit regarding Osama. Don’t you say that about someone you LIKE?
I’m happy with Obama’s pick for VP.
There is something great about the beginning of the school year. I guess the fresh start and potential of what’s ahead becomes exciting. Although it is still warm, fall will mean pumpkin spice lattes and pea coats. Also, since this is my final year of grad school at Liberty, I am looking to the future, weighing my options, preparing applications for Ph.D. and M.F.A. programs. That always leaves me feeling optimistic.
Everything is going good for now. Give me a few weeks and I’ll probably feel like my world is crashing in as I get closer to presenting my thesis proposal.
Woke up at 5:30 am this morning. Got about four hours of sleep. Maybe.
Four classes filled with reading the syllabus to the Engl 101 students. Half-way done right now, breaking for lunch.
Then dinner. Then on to Miller-Motte to teach until 10:00 pm.
My own grad classes start tomorrow.
The school year has begun. Exhausting, but I love it.
Dante is so emo. He just pines and whines.
We have new graduate assistant offices–I mean “space.” We used to share cubicles, but now we have “spaces,” which mostly means we have desks with dividers. Of course, it isn’t completely built all the way yet and we got kicked out when we tried to see how it was coming along. Right now it looks like a dance studio. I asked if it was going to be colorful and someone replied that it was three shades of blue. That sounds like the title of an adolescent book.
I know that this sounds like an exaggeration, but this was seriously one of the most amazing places I have ever been.
We camped on the Mount Pleasant Loop last night. It was virtually empty; we only saw two other groups and neither stayed long at all.
It looked like Lord of the Rings almost the entire way up.
We were able to sit on the summit to watch the sunset and the meteor shower.
Our camping spot was only about a twenty-second walk away.
More photos here.
J. Crew is no longer in my life. We broke up. I knew that it was just a summer romance from the start, or, in other words, a seasonal summer job. I could have stayed on if I wanted to, but I have way too much going on during the school year.
One more year left of grad school. Just one more! Then I get to relive that “scariest time of my life ever” when I found myself in between undergrad and an unknown future. All that I knew was that I was newlymarried with a college degree running out of time and money. It worked out, though, and it’ll work out again as I transition to the next stage of life, but I also know that it is going to be terrifying in the process.
There are about 50 geese who chill in the pond behind out apartment. They come and go. But where to?
I finally finished Player Piano. That took way too long. 340 pages with small font and a young Vonnegut writing voice…. It was his first novel. While it does have his humor, this is more of an undertone. It is different than the rest of his works. Slow-going, but the material is still brilliant. One of my favorite ideas from the book is that all humans need to have the feeling of being useful or else all purpose in life sort of decays. Also, if machines work as slaves and we find ourselves in competition with machines for employment, then we too become slaves.
Now I have moved onto Galapagos, which I have read half of before. At this point, I am just reading over parts that I recall from my last reading, but I am enjoying it immensely. After that, I will pick up God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, which revisits Eliot Rosewater from Slaughterhouse-Five and, of course, Kilgore Trout.
This time we tried the James River Face Wilderness.
Pretending to look at the map while taking a break at the shelter.
Onto our campsite at the top of the mountain.
Awesome view of the mountains and the James River.
Awesome breeze.
Awesome loud rail road in the middle of the night–well, maybe that part wasn’t so awesome.
And how far did we have to drive to get the parking lot?
Only thirty minutes! Loves it!
More photos on flickr.
So I’m not alone in my criticism!
I’ve been whining big time about needing an adventure because every time we try to go camping, it either rains or something comes up. We finally got to go again and I am so exhausted.
Well, before we got to our destination, we saw an awesome Christmas tree farm that we just couldn’t pass up. We pulled over and were having a good time taking pictures when a guy drives by and points at us. Beginning to feel nervous, we considered heading back to the car, but he drove on. Then he came back and got out of his car. At this point, I knew we were in for it for something. Was it illegal to take photos of Christmas trees? Are they that delicate? A conversation similar to this ensues…..
Weird guy: Hey. This might sound like a random question, but do you know where we can score some lid?
Chris: [classic Chris moment] What’s that?
Me: I guess you have your answer.
Weird guy: Oh…. Weed?
Chris: No.
The guy gets in his car and tries to do a u-turn, but a Willie Nelson look-alike rides up on a motorcycle and gets just inches away from weird guy’s window. They exchange some sarcastic words while Chris and I scamper off to the car hand in hand.
Picking out a Christmas tree.
So, we drove the rest of the way to our destination: the Priest Wilderness. The weather was absolutely beautiful, not too hot with a nice breeze. We hiked for a couple of hours, found a nice little spot, and set up camp. The woods were pretty much empty aside from a nice guy who warned us about a “7 foot timber rattler” at the summit and another hiker with a nice black lab named Jake. We slept through the night great with the help of my parents’ old sleeping mats. Those things work wonders.
The next morning we got up early and headed back since I have to teach tonight.
Saying good-bye on the way out….
